Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Discussion * SPOILER THREAD * — Page 110

Watch every scene in the OT with Chewbacca as far away from the camera as in is in the new trailer shot, you can't always see his eyes. They look dark. It was the same way back then.

I think the reason people are reacting to Harrison in the trailer the way they are is because people have been wanting a film with the original cast again for many years.  If you remember back in 1997-98 when they announced the prequels, people still thought Luke, Leia and Han would show up.  They had to do alot of education in the press (and calling it episode 1) to bring home the point that they wouldn't show up.

So finally, alot of the old and casual fans are getting what they want.  The old trio back again and the old ships too.  Maybe it really will all work again like the original trilogy.  The trailer was certainly pretty good.

The sequel trilogy I would have wanted would have more advanced looking ships.  The one thing about the prequels that worked so well was the design was so new and different.  It wasn't tired.  Bringing back x wings and ties is fun but how original is it all going to be?

Could you always see his eyes in these shots? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKMV2WXLNgk

Ryan McAvoy said:

John Boyega and Daisy Ridley somehow look so OT-Star Wars in this 2nd trailer (Not totally sure I know what I mean by that).

For one, this many hairs being out of place wouldn't have been tolerated on the Prequels. Also Daisy distorting her facial muscles into something that aproximates convincing acting wouldn't have been allowed either ;-)

 And on location.

^^ This for me is the main triumph in the trailer that the characters look real and not cardboard cut outs. 

and I am shocked the ball droid is also real too. (sorry if I am late on that one)

The only things that is really un star wars like is the new trailer camera angles / zooms on the falcon sequence. which we saw a bit of previously in trailer 1 Star wars films had a nice flow to the special effects shots of the spaceships and how they were composed but the new trailer shows us that we could be in for a bit of a bumpy ride and a bit confusing from what watching a star wars film normally is.

If it aint broke don't fix it. Even the special edition did not have these way out camera moves on space ship shots, and I can imagine in 3d it would be perhaps even more confusing and breaking the flow.

I really think they should scrap the documentary hand held style shaky cam and just realize it's just not needed... It's not an improvement.

lovelikewinter said:

woofermazing said:

On Chewies eyes, I'm not sure there's any doctoring, or it's incomplete. He has the same look in a Force for Change video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48dGX8zmK4I

I'm wondering if Peters vision is not what it used to be and he cannot wear contacts, or the original design is no longer comfortable at 70. There's also a taller guy in there in a black jump suit with eye black that might be a stunt double. He didn't appear to have blue eyes, but you'd think they would just give him blue contacts.

The growl also seems out of sync and too hard of a sound effect for a subtle mouth movement. I bet it's a generic placeholder from their sfx archives, and Han and Chewie were a last minute addition to the trailer.

 

Is it Peter's stunt double in the trailer? I know it is in the Force For Change video. Even with the knee replacement he has trouble walking and I'm afraid that they will need to have a new person learn from Mayhew to take over as Chewbacca.  Especially if he is going to be a big part of the next two, which makes sense because everyone loves Chewie.  

Probably. I saw Peter at a Disney World Star Wars Weekend maybe a month after they had started shooting. He was in an emv most of the time and really struggled to move at all without a lot of assistance. It was nice to see him walking so well at this celebration.

Akton said:

Ryan McAvoy said:

John Boyega and Daisy Ridley somehow look so OT-Star Wars in this 2nd trailer (Not totally sure I know what I mean by that).

For one, this many hairs being out of place wouldn't have been tolerated on the Prequels. Also Daisy distorting her facial muscles into something that aproximates convincing acting wouldn't have been allowed either ;-)

 

Point well taken.

To wit:

But darned if 20 year old Natalie Portman wasn't one of the most gorgeous creatures in history...

Not that Daisy Ridley is any slouch either...

 How did Padme look during her action sequences?  Was her hair and makeup still perfect? 

To be fair, Leia's hair in SW went from messy to clean on occasion.  Sometimes from shot to shot. :-)

Akton said:

unamochilla2 said:

That's true for the OT.  Interestingly, I don't think that applies to the PT, though.  I think the effects decreased in quality in AOTC, but got better for ROTS.  I still think TPM looks the best out of the PT... effects-wise.

 

That's probably due to the fact that Lucas, in his utterly irrational desire that AOTC be the first major film shot entirely digitally, considerably downscaled everything by going from real 35mm film in TPA to native 1080p in Episode II.

How well I remember sitting in the theater on May 16, 2002; and, when the Naboo ship explodes as Padme's decoy walks down the ramp, I gasped and said aloud: "That looks so bad! Why does that look so bad?!"

 I just watched clones tonight for the first time since it was in theaters. I must have blocked it all out, the effects really are just awful. Thank god it's forever stuck at 1080p.

And why the hell is Wessel a changeling? No character ever acknowledges it, it doesn't advance the plot in any way, and it is confusing as hell for the audience.

Ronster said:

I really think they should scrap the documentary hand held style shaky cam and just realize it's just not needed... It's not an improvement.

Overt camerawork can be effective in some stories, but not in epics. A mythological narrative like Star Wars needs a certain gravitas to it, but it gets stripped away if the filmmaker goes for a more "real" look.

Akton said:

 And yet the space battles in SW were shot and edited to emulate WWII dogfight footage... precisely because Lucas wanted an element of dynamic realism that had never been seen in a sci fi film before.

The new stuff is simply following that philosophy with modern filmmaking tools...

The dogfights were effective because of the editing, not the camerawork.

Oh and I was referring to the shaky cam. There's nothing "real" about snap zooms. It's very unnatural.

RU.08 said:

A brilliant plan by Disney to have Christensen removed from ROTJ?

Darn, I was hoping they would replace Alec Guinness with Ewan McGregor, and maybe even manage to squeeze Kit Fisto and Mace Windu high-fiving each other into the background.

unamochilla2 said:

How did Padme look during her action sequences?  Was her hair and makeup still perfect? 

To be fair, Leia's hair in SW went from messy to clean on occasion.  Sometimes from shot to shot. :-)

 What action sequences? TPM had her in like one, barely. Otherwise she just sat around talking on couches for three movies.

I don't remember Attack of The.