logo Sign In

Michael Arndt heavily involved in writing the new SW trilogy — Page 8

Author
Time

Easterhay said:

Such Luddite thinking. The CGI in the prequels was staggeringly good, raising the benchmark for the industry. Consider: Jar Jar Binks was the first completely CGI main character in a movie (who cares if he was loved or loathed, the technical achievement of that character is something to celebrate and paved the way for Gollum in LOTR); the land battle between battle droids and Gungans was unprecedented and again pushed the envelope; AOTC was the first movie to be made digitally so again that broke new ground, as divisive as that move was; the CGI in ROTS built on the advancements made by the previous two films and raised the bar even higher.

The problem with full-on CGI (as in the PT), IMO, is that it puts the actors in a sterile environment. This often results in acting that's... out-of-touch.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Post 102 is worth more.

I’m late to the party, but I think this is the best song. Enjoy!

—Teams Jetrell Fo 1, Jetrell Fo 2, and Jetrell Fo 3

Author
Time

Easterhay said:

Such Luddite thinking. The CGI in the prequels was staggeringly good, raising the benchmark for the industry. Consider: Jar Jar Binks was the first completely CGI main character in a movie (who cares if he was loved or loathed, the technical achievement of that character is something to celebrate and paved the way for Gollum in LOTR); the land battle between battle droids and Gungans was unprecedented and again pushed the envelope; AOTC was the first movie to be made digitally so again that broke new ground, as divisive as that move was; the CGI in ROTS built on the advancements made by the previous two films and raised the bar even higher.

Yep, Lucas has been constantly paving the way and changing the film making process...also pushing for digital projection.

But there can be too many green screen sequences....eventually it overloads and can spoil the film. 

You should watch The Furious Gods: The Making of Prometheus Sir Ridley made a conscious decision to support physical effects with CG.....

J

Author
Time

Will do, J (once I've seen the film of course!).

As for putting actors in a sterile environment well that's the point at which they have to act, isn't it? Christopher Lee said he had no problem with it and said he'd often acted opposite people who weren't really there, if you will.

That's some bad hat, Harry
Author
Time

The thing is, yeah it's a good acting challenge. But you need to know what you're doing, you have to know what the environment your supposed to be in is. That requires good directing. 

I'm not one of the many people here who say Lucas was a bad director, but I think the evidence is clear he was not an "actor's director."

Author
Time

Lots of great directors have been accused of same. Wasn't Hitchcock supposed to be pretty poor with actors, too?

Some actors are more talented than others and need little direction other than "Do that again, only slower". Others clearly need everything spelling out to them. I think, though, that Lucas has been pretty lucky with his choices. Neeson, McGregor, McDiairmid...there's three stand-out talents there.

That's some bad hat, Harry
Author
Time

I just hope Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams aren't offered the director's chair.

"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

Admittedly, it would be pretty tough for the two of them to squeeze into that one chair.

Every 27th customer will get a ball-peen hammer, free!

Author
Time

Jaitea said:

Easterhay said:

Such Luddite thinking. The CGI in the prequels was staggeringly good, raising the benchmark for the industry....

Yep, Lucas has been constantly paving the way and changing the film making process...also pushing for digital projection.

But there can be too many green screen sequences....eventually it overloads and can spoil the film. 

Well, I'm not a luddite in the literal sense. I do not think CGI is bad simply because it is new. I think it's bad because it looks terrible. Even the stuff it can do convincing job of, like distant background scenery, sticks out like a sore thumb because it's often so over-the-top. At any rate LOTR proved that miniatures can look really REALLY good when using CGI to supplement them. Jackson also made a point of filming on location whenever possible.

The other thing is, I fear another tremendous visual disparity between the OT and the next movie. Not that a new movie shouldn't have its own style; but I think if Disney really wants to bring this out of the Kids Only territory, it has to look like the old Star Wars universe, not that of the prequels or the cartoons.

Also, they really gotta shoot this on film. In the traditional aspect ratio. Don't follow Peter Jackson's example there, plsthx.

Author
Time

They need to go back to basics for the new movies. No obsession with continuity or heavy sci-fi like you see in Star Trek. The original Star Wars was like a fairy tale. A young farmers boy goes in search of his fortune and becomes a man in the process, defeating the bad guy and saving the galaxy. Who didn't want to be Luke Skywalker growing up? Characters like Yoda and Vader have become part of our culture. They need to go back to telling an old fashioned adventure story that everyone can relate to

Author
Time

The lucky person selected as director is probably going to have their own preferences on what format to shoot in, and the levels of CGI used.

Even the Clone Wars series is 2:35 aspect, although it isn't shown that way on the Cartoon Network. I doubt they will shoot the sequels in any other ratio.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

humanracer said:

They need to go back to basics for the new movies. No obsession with continuity or heavy sci-fi like you see in Star Trek. The original Star Wars was like a fairy tale. A young farmers boy goes in search of his fortune and becomes a man in the process, defeating the bad guy and saving the galaxy. Who didn't want to be Luke Skywalker growing up? Characters like Yoda and Vader have become part of our culture. They need to go back to telling an old fashioned adventure story that everyone can relate to

I don't think they left that.

Anakin is the lowly kind-hearted knave who becomes a great knight, tastes forbidden love and falls from grace...only badly written and acted etc.

Palpatine is the evil wizard who disguises himself as the kindly king.

It's more important they drop the cartoon elements and have a more human cast of characters.

In the OT even Chewie and Artoo felt like real people on a human level in the PT even the characters played by great actors felt like they might as well have been made of plasticine.

Author
Time

humanracer said:

They need to go back to basics for the new movies. No obsession with continuity or heavy sci-fi like you see in Star Trek.

Umm...are you implying that the prequels are obseessed with continuity? 'Cause if so, we must've seen different prequel trilogies.

Every 27th customer will get a ball-peen hammer, free!

Author
Time

I think lighting is one of the huge problems with CGI and virtual sets. A light 30 feet away can mimic the sun effectively, but it's got to be done really well. Most of the time when these movies look bad it's to do with the lighting not being realistically "outdoors," but being sound-stagey.

You can see it a fair bit even in the LOTR movies. The slow-mo shot of the fellowship in the first one (yes, I know that every other shot is slow motion), when they're crossing the mountains, shows that kind of studio lighting, and the background looks like a cyclorama.  Maybe it was shot on location, but it doesn't look it.

Author
Time

That Kasdan is rumored to be in the writing wings, is music to my ears. That would help get things moving in the blink of an eye. But maintaining that momentum and actually recapturing some of the human vitality of the OOT? That's something else.

If they can combine the spirit of the first film with its vastly unexplored universe so open to any imagination, with the Kasdan infused more realized and detailed central plotting-then you've pulled the ears off the gundark.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader