The Art of the Prequels

I saw the magazine ImagineFX at the bookstore today (and would have bought it if it weren't $16) which featured a piece on the art of Star Wars. I realized that much of the artistic design for the PT was pretty decent. I even had appreciation for the work of Terryl Whitlatch who designed Jar Jar. I definitely appreciated that she hinted she didn't like what was done with Jar Jar on the screen. I liked the hippy Yoda design. I liked that one of the vehicle designers criticized the excessive use of CGI which looked like "plastic" and that the universe ended up looking too pristine, unlike the OT which he loved for its realistic dirtiness accentuated by the film grain.

It all reminded me of the promise and hope for the PT that I felt before '99. And that even the designers who were so enmeshed in creating the PT realize the execution was not good.

Mrebo said:

 I definitely appreciated that she hinted she didn't like what was done with Jar Jar on the screen.

I liked that one of the vehicle designers criticized the excessive use of CGI which looked like "plastic" and that the universe ended up looking too pristine, unlike the OT which he loved for its realistic dirtiness accentuated by the film grain.

It all reminded me of the promise and hope for the PT that I felt before '99. And that even the designers who were so enmeshed in creating the PT realize the execution was not good.

 didn't know that even the art designers were less than enthusiastic :(

  Although I heard a rumor that lucas and doug chaing butted heads.

I was very impressed with terryl whitlach during those episode I webcasts- especially when she said she always tries to create a skeleton first, which helps create realistic creatures.  was thinking to myself 'man, this is gonna be great - these guys know what they're doing!!"  :(

Art of ATOC was the only PT thing I ever got.  There was something about the art design i was drawn too, even if the movie was still not good.  wasn't until a few years ago i finally realized what it was.  There's actually something very interesting visually with that movie that I never saw anyone else mention - and i don't think it was intentional because ROTS did not share the same characteristic.

would have considered the ROTS art book but I kept hearing about this so-called 'visual script'  which was supposed to be cool.  sadly, it was never released.

all kinds of fans insist that whatever one thinks of the PT, it was an injustice that Trisha Biggar did not get recognized with any oscar nominations.  That may be true,  but honestly  they should blast lucas for letting everyone down and allowing the seriously acute flaws of the PT overshadow any plusses. :(

Most of the art design was good...but not great. And I second the notion that the AOTC art design was very compelling. Sadly, the way it was realized on screen just sucked.

The prequels don't fail purely on a visual level, they fail at telling a good story, having good acting and a good screenplay.

The only film in the whole bunch that seemed to have any humanity at all was the phantom menace and was the only one that was a film, but still was a big drop in quality from return of the jedi.

Hayden Christensens's acting i find to be so painfully bad i cannot even watch episode II or III without wanting to hit the mute button whenever he talks.

I've considered buying those several times, and may if I find them for cheap somewhere. I remember getting them from the library when I was younger (12 years old for art of TPM) and distinctly recall how they inspired me to draw more.

Also, Frink, that may be my favorite post ever. Thank you.

skyjedi2005 said:

 

Hayden Christensens's acting i find to be so painfully bad i cannot even watch episode II or III without wanting to hit the mute button whenever he talks.

For someone who hates the prequels so much, you seem to mention watching them (or at least attempting to) quite often. Strange. I hate em too and so I haven't watched em since ROTS was released.

Back on topic, I think the visual design for Jar-Jar was really cool. I was really excited to see what he was like in the film (I kept myself from spoilers). Disappointing to say the very least.

I have to agree to some level with the general sentiment here.  I have the "Creating the Worlds of Star Wars" book, which is super wide and has 365 "spreads" and I turn every so often like a page-a-day calendar you turn very sporadically.  It's in 7 sections, one for each movie and a section for all three 1997 SEs.  I really, really, really enjoyed turning pages the first half of the book.  Even the SE stuff was interesting to see and read about.  I considered not continuuing once I got to the PT, but from a technical standpoint, it's still very interesting to see how it was all done.

I don't like the movies, but the behinds the scenes stuff is still incredible.