logo Sign In

Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Discussion * SPOILER THREAD * — Page 139

Author
Time

Gleeson being a clone of Tarkin doesn't sound right. With everyone bending over backwards to distance these movies from the prequels, bringing cloning into the mix again seems counterproductive. Of course, a single clone of a significant figure from the past does sound more like 90s-era EU than the prequels, which could be . . . interesting? Not the route I'd have gone, but I'll withhold judgement. Story mechanics aside, I don't think cloning Tarkin would even work in-universe, though, after that book last year that harped so much on how intense his upbringing was. Unless that flash-learning stuff from the old EU carries over. I'm going to stop thinking about this until after tomorrow's SDCC panel. I have a feeling we're getting some new character names there, so that has the potential to put this particular topic to bed.

Also, I would much rather Rey turn out to be a Kenobi than a Skywalker/Solo.

Author
Time

I hope the supposed behind the scenes doc gets leaked somehow.

Author
Time

Well the panel is being live-blogged, and I'd assume they'll just release any videos and photos they show shortly after the panel finishes.

Author
Time

They might still be holding something back for the Disney Expo next month.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time

The Falcon cockpit set on a gimbal. Whoa! To think they just had stagehands shaking the set on the original film.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

At least from a visual standpoint, this film already looks WAY better than much of the PT.  The cinematography feels so much more inspired and some of those sets seem to just take you right into the experience. Though I can say I'm not a fan of some of the tealness of the darker shots.  But, I think a lot of what is seen here is a nice balance of traditional Star Wars and the best of modern filmmaking.

Of course, the story could still completely suck though.  And if the story is anything like the rumors at the moment, well I currently don't know where I'd stand, would have to see it play out on screen to know.

Author
Time

Sounds like it was a great presentation. Now I wish I had gone.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I'm guessing a very few percentage of fans such as myself will be torn about the cinematography. Many shots have that "Into Darkness" teal... but some shots look absolutely "Star Wars". If only the producers hid those Roscolux 395 gels from Dan Mindel and had him study more "Empire Strikes Back" footage. 

When it's lit right, it really looks great, though.

I took the liberty of altering a frame... I'm quite astounded at how amazingly they nailed that Star Wars look with just a bit of color teal removal:

original: http://i.imgur.com/VZBafN2.jpg

alternate: http://i.imgur.com/9MIFDe6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/Lord_Phillock/starwarssig.png

Author
Time

OMG, real sets ! No f***ing green screen rooms. Animatronics! Puppets ! Robots ! Gee, it almost looks like Star Wars ! This video made me excited to be honest, which is a feeling I haven't had with anything Star Wars related for a long, LONG time.

Author
Time

they really are going out of their way to emphasize the REAL LOCATIONS, PRACTICAL EFFECTS, PHYSICAL SETS , REAL ACTORS in Rubber suits as the creatures, every shot in that Comic-Con clip has got to be a virtual slap in the face to everything George did with the prequels.

We finally get our first glimpse at Leia, I have a slight suspicion that they won't actually reveal Luke before the movie is out, especially if there is even a hint of truth  to the rumours that he doesn't appear until the final act.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Only other major thing is Domhnall Gleeson plays Major General Tarkin, a clone of the original Tarkin. It's rumored he dies in the film but will obviously implied he could be cloned again.

They actually announced Domhall Gleeson's character at Comic-con as General Hux 

Author
Time
 (Edited)

buddy-x-wing said:

REAL LOCATIONS, PRACTICAL EFFECTS, PHYSICAL SETS , REAL ACTORS in Rubber suits as the creatures, every shot in that Comic-Con clip has got to be a virtual slap in the face to everything George did with the prequels.

 I like to make fun of the prequels as much as the next guy, but this sort of stuff has never been new to this film series at any point.

https://imgur.com/a/QYfpA

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v463/Lord_Phillock/starwarssig.png

Author
Time

Lord Phillock said:

I'm guessing a very few percentage of fans such as myself will be torn about the cinematography. Many shots have that "Into Darkness" teal... but some shots look absolutely "Star Wars". If only the producers hid those Roscolux 395 gels from Dan Mindel and had him study more "Empire Strikes Back" footage. 

When it's lit right, it really looks great, though.

I took the liberty of altering a frame... I'm quite astounded at how amazingly they nailed that Star Wars look with just a bit of color teal removal:

original: http://i.imgur.com/VZBafN2.jpg

alternate: http://i.imgur.com/9MIFDe6.jpg

 It will indeed be a shame if the final film has many shots that are teal/orange for no specific reason. At least it's clear that the entire movie isn't going to look like that. Oh well, I assume plenty of people around these parts will be doing their own fan color corrections of it no matter what. It would be amazing if the film itself ends up being good enough that we (mostly) all prefer watching it without editing scenes/plot/etc. 

Great little video, though. Carrie ended up looking pretty good in the final makeup/wardrobe! Do we know what Simon Pegg is going to play yet? Got a slight glimpse of his costume here.

Author
Time

Lord Phillock said:

buddy-x-wing said:

REAL LOCATIONS, PRACTICAL EFFECTS, PHYSICAL SETS , REAL ACTORS in Rubber suits as the creatures, every shot in that Comic-Con clip has got to be a virtual slap in the face to everything George did with the prequels.

 I like to make fun of the prequels as much as the next guy, but this sort of stuff has never been new to this film series at any point.

https://imgur.com/a/QYfpA

 There were plenty of practical effects in TPM. The problem wasn't really the ratio of practical:CGI in that case, but the misuse of CGI at times. I actually think that it's the least of the film's problems. By the time RoTS rolled around, though, practical effects were certainly at a minimum. At times it works, other times not so much. CGI R2 blasting around in the first scenes is pretty damn poorly done.

Author
Time

That's the reason The Phantom Menace is my favorite prequel. It just looks more like a movie. AOTC and ROTS look like old video game cutscenes, and they both look worse each time you rewatch them.

"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas

<span> </span>

Author
Time

TPM has a good, well constructed story, much moreso than AOTC and arguably ROTS.

The execution of the story is unfortunately unwatchable.

Author
Time

towne32 said: Oh well, I assume plenty of people around these parts will be doing their own fan color corrections of it no matter what. It would be amazing if the film itself ends up being good enough that we (mostly) all prefer watching it without editing scenes/plot/etc.

 I find it troubling that the film isn't even finished yet and folks are already contemplating their own personal revisions.

Can you not enjoy the primary experience of seeing brand new Star Wars without treating it like so much raw material to be reshaped to your whim?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

emanswfan said:

Full panel in excellent quality is available online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fMx670jOnw

Alright, well let's dive in. Just from my one quick viewing, the biggest takeaway I had was that it seems as if the website someone posted here a bit ago that collected all the spoilers into one clickable plot timeline seems pretty darn accurate. That site had the movie split into three acts, and I only read through the first two, but from what I read in those two, a lot of this footage seems to match up.

If those rumors are indeed that reliable, then I do have side somewhat with the people who are skeptical that this all revolves around finding Luke’s old lightsaber. If that is the case, it is inherently neither here nor there, but how it is pulled off (without making it feel like a MacGuffin) will be a very tricky balance to find.

However, I always give the benefit of the doubt until I am proven wrong, so all aboard the hype train with me, choo choo.

Other noteworthy bits: we get a glimpse of costumed Leia, and seeing Han sit down in the Millennium Falcon's pilot seat again was pretty cool.

May the Force be with you.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Jonno said:

 I find it troubling that the film isn't even finished yet and folks are already contemplating their own personal revisions.

Can you not enjoy the primary experience of seeing brand new Star Wars without treating it like so much raw material to be reshaped to your whim?

 I agree.  A great many of us have been waiting for a proper Star Wars film for decades.  This film is still several months away and all we've seen are two short trailers and some behind the scenes footage. Yet there are a fair number of folks here trying to decide what they're going to "correct" first.  I'm surprised by that.  

Forum Moderator
Author
Time
 (Edited)

This part of the video got me really exited. It's 0:40 sec. into the video and it shows an animatronic in lip-sync with what appears to be a motion-capture animation on the computer screen. So it could be that both Serkis and Nyongo's mo-cap characters will actually be animatronics, and not CGI. 
I could be wrong, but I really hope that's the case. Mixing mo-cap and animatronics would definitely be a great way to mix modern digital technology with practical effects.

 

Oh, and here's our mystery alien as he/she'll look in the final film (more or less). I'm pretty sure this isn't going to be Maz Kanata though. It's seems a bit strange that they would reveal such an important character in such a casual manner in this video. So it's probably just another one of her pirate friends.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

Author
Time

Jonno said:

towne32 said: Oh well, I assume plenty of people around these parts will be doing their own fan color corrections of it no matter what. It would be amazing if the film itself ends up being good enough that we (mostly) all prefer watching it without editing scenes/plot/etc.

 I find it troubling that the film isn't even finished yet and folks are already contemplating their own personal revisions.

Can you not enjoy the primary experience of seeing brand new Star Wars without treating it like so much raw material to be reshaped to your whim?

 I think you misunderstand my post. I am very much looking forward to watching the new film. Probably many times in the theater and on Bluray. And I really don't mean to comment on specifics that 'I think' should be modified. There is nothing that I think should be modified, yet, as I haven't seen the film. Modern day color timing seems like will inevitably upset a few here, but I doubt many of us are going to walk out of the theater in December with fanedit hopes and dreams.

I was pointing out that it's interesting that this film will inevitably be added to the list of things that people around here modify. And in whatever regards that the film does let people down (this is a fan site on the internet, those people *will* exist), it probably will be reshaped.

It could be that it's just people who are never satisfied with a film that has scenes with blue color timing that need to "fix" it.

It could be a complete success that most of us dare not touch and shake our heads at people who make really silly alterations.

But someone here will hate it and tinker with it. People make fan edits of RoTJ and occasionally even the first two films.

Maybe it will be a complete disastrous flop and every single one of us will be discussing how it could be edited into something somewhat watchable (my money isn't on this outcome).

Hell, maybe in a year we will be talking about restoring the 4K Bluray to its theatrical state after they fucked with the look of the film. 

I'm merely pondering what sort of new dimension this community will have in a year. It's going to happen, we just don't know in what way. It's absolutely incredible that we're going to have new Star Wars in five months. But I also find it incredible that at some point later, VII is going to be a part of the Star Wars catalogue and history. It's real and it will be treated as such. For better or worse. For work of art or raw material.

Author
Time

regularjoe said:

TPM has a good, well constructed story

 What? There is another version of TPM?