George Lucas Predicts Fanediting Back in 1989 (Seriously)

EDIT: The following interview is from June 3, 1995, NOT 1989. George Lucas was admitted into the Academy of Achievement in 1989, however, 2 interviews of him were conducted for the academy in '95 and '99. Lucas’s remarks about fan-editing are in fact from 1995, 6 years later than previously thought, however, still showcase a remarkable level of foresight and imagination.

When discussing the future of cinema and the digital filmmaking revolution, George Lucas quite literally predicts fan-editing as an art form, and that it will inevitably will emerge with the internet age and computer technology.

George was heavily involved not only with revolutionizing CGI and HD digital cinema cameras, but also digital editing software with the creation of EditDroid.

Go see for yourself, and let me know what you think!

George Lucas, Academy Class of 1989, Full Interview:
https://youtu.be/djBSxW4PrmY?t=2461 (Skip to 41:01)

Lovely video but I doubt this is from 89, looks closer to 97, somewhere around TPM production.

Here’s George in 89, shooting Last Crusade for comparison.

Or him dressed in the Emperor’s robes from ROTJ, also in '89, which is just here cause I thought it was fun.

Bobson Dugnutt said:

Lovely video but I doubt this is from 89, looks closer to 97, somewhere around TPM production.

Love the photos, and yes, that makes sense. I tried to do some research on the Academy Achievement interview to fact check if it really was '89, but I can’t seem to find confirmation. Anyways, I still think his foresight is very impressive even if the interview was taken just before or around TPM’s production.

Double post. Whoops.

Emre1601 said:

Hal 9000 said:

Good point. I recall some ‘official’ condemnation of it, but I can’t say I’m aware of anything that came from GL personally.

There are some quotes from George and Lucasfilm on fan editing, and also a lot about The Phantom Edit in oojason’s Star Wars Fan Edit Index, in “The Phantom Edit(s) - a catalyst for Star Wars fan edits…” section.

I’ve only read some of it, but it appears he/Lucasfilm were okay with it.
 

Nice thread and interview find, SWOTFAN25.

Thank you for that resource!

SWOTFAN25 said:

In the midst of listening to the hour-long Academy of Achievement interview with George Lucas, I had to pause the video to make sure of what I had just heard. When discussing the future of cinema and the digital filmmaking revolution, George Lucas quite literally predicts fanediting as an art form, and that it will inevitably will emerge with the internet age and computer technology. I immediately thought to myself, “how could he have possibly had the foresight to predict all of this back in 1989?”. My mind was blown.

Amazing find, SWOTFAN25. I wonder if some of that was part of his reluctance to put out certain Lucasfilm titles on DVD in the late 90’s and early 2000’s? That he foresaw people editing is films, and it would be much easier to do in a digital format, than on tape or other analogue format? Just a “shower thought”, anyway.

Didn’t one of the fan editors from on here get invited up to Skywalker Ranch and very briefly met with Lucas or some of the execs around at the time?

It may have been the Phantom Editor themselves, I can’t quite remember. I remember reading a post on it at one of the older fan forums, and being surprised about the whole thing, and also envious.

Juno Eclipse said:

Didn’t one of the fan editors from on here get invited up to Skywalker Ranch and very briefly met with Lucas or some of the execs around at the time?

It may have been the Phantom Editor themselves, I can’t quite remember. I remember reading a post on it at one of the older fan forums, and being surprised about the whole thing, and also envious.

According to some of the posts on here that was an editor called MagnoliaFan. It is listed in the ‘The Phantom Edit(s) - a catalyst for Star Wars fan edits’ section of An Index Of Projects & Help Thread for Star Wars Fan Edits and Other Projects.

But others like the Phantom Editor could also have been invited too?

CORRECTION: The following interview is from June 3, 1995, NOT 1989.

George Lucas was admitted into the Academy of Achievement in 1989, however, two interviews of him were conducted for the academy in '95 and '99. Lucas’s remarks about fan-editing are in fact from 1995, 6 years later than previously thought, however, still showcase a remarkable level of foresight and imagination.

Source:
https://youtu.be/djBSxW4PrmY?si=fhHiicbrI3nfNotu&t=8