13las

Mocata said:

oojason said:

‘STAR WARS CHANGES (Part 1 of 4) — A New Hope’:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn2eD-RI-dc - from the ‘Original Thrillogy’ youtube channel
 

I haven’t had a chance to watch all of it yet - though looks promising going on the first 4-5 minutes…

(Is it by one of us from here?)
 

This really needs more views.

…I hope it doesn’t get taken down though.

Hey, thanks! That’s my vid and I appreciate the positive response in this thread. I couldn’t have done it without this site.

There’s a couple of copyright claims against it for the music (I’m assuming from the music in some scenes I let play out in their entirety). Apparently it’s just preventing me from monetizing the video? I’m new to YouTube, but that’s my understanding so far so I think it’s safe for now.

The ESB video is up now, btw. (And Jedi in the works)

Wow, I can’t believe how much I agree with your original post and editing philosophy. It’s almost like I wrote it. The appearance of Tarkin and Leia left such a bad taste in my mouth that Rogue One is the only Star Wars film I haven’t cared to rewatch. And I found the Darth Vader hallway scene similarly distasteful. But I know there’s a lot to love in the film besides all of that.

I wish I had more to offer in terms of suggestions, but all I can say is that I’m interested and excited to follow the progress of this edit.

This is going to be a lengthy one. I don’t think I’ve seen this exact list on here before, and I don’t for a minute pretend to be unbiased. My _/10 ratings reflect only Star Wars films, so the top and bottom films reflect the absolute ends of the spectrum. In other words, these ratings would be different if I were rating them in the landscape of cinema in general.
From favorite to least:
These first two are almost equal, though Star Wars is DEFINITELY first:

1. Star Wars: Not only my favorite Star Wars movie, but my absolute favorite movie in general. I could watch it every day and it would never lose its magic. Some of my very earliest memories are of being transfixed by the opening battle on the Tantive IV and the droids’ adventure on Tatooine. This defined what Star Wars means to me - and I mean just the first 15 minutes or so. I like the weirder, goofier, more experimental parts of the saga than most people do, I think. It’s true escapism for me. And that’s not to devalue the rest of the film. It’s all perfect. It’s the movie to which I compare all other movies. But what else can I say that hasn’t already been said. 10/10

2. The Empire Strikes Back: Again, not much to say that hasn’t been said. It’s phenomenal. Star Wars ‘77 is just a little better. 9.5/10

3. Return of the Jedi: Not quite as satisfying as the previous two for me, but I have a hard time separating the OT too much. It’s all one thing in my mind, so it couldn’t go anywhere but third. I actually like the goofiness of it (creatures, stuff with Jabba, even most of the Ewok stuff) and of course the space battle and Emperor stuff is great. The stuff that knocks it slightly below the previous two are the elements George put in to wrap the saga up quickly (Leia being the other Skywalker, the cheesy happy ending) and the whole second Death Star thing. 8/10

4. The Last Jedi: While nothing will ever fully live up to the OT, this came damn closer than I ever would have expected. I’ve seen it FOUR times already. I went in with practically no expectations having avoided all trailers. I understand how it could have been a shock (and an unpleasant one) to a certain type of fan, but I approach Star Wars without much feeling of ownership. I like being shown someone else’s vision of the galaxy far, far away. That’s why I tend to enjoy the prequels more than most, I think. And, for me, the stakes aren’t that high. The OT is never going anywhere (the OOT as well, thanks to the talented members of this forum) and I’m willing to let this franchise take chances even if not all of them pay off. I’d much rather see a distinct creative vision that fails than a movie-by-committee that is passable. That being said, I don’t think Johnson failed. At all. It all clicked for me like I never thought Star Wars would. I could go on about what I loved about TLJ (and the things I didn’t), but I’m sure people are tired of that by now. Real quick, though, shout out to John Williams’ score. I don’t hear people talking about it, but I think it is fantastic. 8/10

5. The Force Awakens: First time I saw it, I wasn’t crazy about it. The excitement building up to the release was something that no movie could have lived up to. I waited in line at the theater for ten hours. I didn’t hate it, but it felt a little cold to me. Like someone was trying too hard to reverse engineer what Star Wars feels like without adding the heart. The problem is, it’s so damn entertaining that I can’t possibly put it any lower on this list haha. 7/10

6. The Phantom Menace: One of the first films I can remember seeing in theaters upon its original release. Of course I loved it then. I went through a phase of trashing it as I grew up, but now I’ve reevaluated. I honestly don’t think it’s that bad. It feels like Star Wars and if the gungans and the nemoidians weren’t so irritating, this one would jump up above TFA for me. I really like the story it tells. Again, I’m all for that strong creative voice, I just don’t think George stuck the landing in a few places. 6.5/10

7. Revenge of the Sith: This one is weird for me. I loved it the first time I saw it. It was the first midnight screening I had ever been to and I got to show up to school the next day to rub it in my friends’ faces. For a lot of years I would have put this one much higher. But every time I watch it, I like it less. I can’t exactly put my finger on it. 5.5/10

8. Attack of the Clones: Eh. I still watch it every now and then. I don’t hate it, but it’s definitely the weakest of the saga films. 5/10

9. Rogue One: I get it. I know why people like it. But I hate it. It’s the only SW film I never have any desire to see again. It felt so sterile, like it was made in a lab. It tells an inconsequential story, throws in jarring callbacks that have no story purpose (I don’t find TFA as guilty of this because nostalgia is a theme in that film) and the digital Tarkin and Leia characters make me sick to my stomach. I hate that technology. It devalues an actor’s work and seems to imply that their superficial appearance is their only worthy contribution. Even the Darth Vader scenes felt this way. I didn’t need to see him take out a hallway of rebels. It was gratuitous and left a bad taste in my mouth. The rest of the film was so bland and disjointed that I hardly remember it. 1/10

My roommate is an exchange student from China who had never seen a Star Wars film.
He started working somewhere that encourages at least a basic knowledge of the franchise (we both work at Disneyland), so I’ve been putting him through the crash course.

He was already familiar with and could hum the main title theme and the imperial march as they are “a part of popular culture that everyone knows”.

We watched the latest special digital editions of the original trilogy, just because they are (sadly) the official versions of the films.

He enjoyed ANH quite a bit (was slightly disappointed in the absence of the imperial march lol) and immediately wanted to watch ESB and ROTJ, which we did.

His comments were not quite as illuminating as I would have hoped. Most often, he pointed out story elements that felt authentic to the fairy tales he enjoyed as a child in China: Yoda being a small and unlikely creature who is revealed to be a powerful sage, Luke’s internal struggle, etc.

We then saw TFA. He definitely enjoyed it a lot. Upon leaving the theatre he was energized and excited, but wasn’t sure if Rey was Luke’s daughter or not. He asked because, without subtitles, he thought he might have missed that confirmation.

He watched TPM without me (I don’t oppose watching it, I just had other things to do).
He didn’t outright hate it either. He laughed at the Nemoidians’ clearly Asian-inspired way of speaking, and really enjoyed the Lightsaber fight. His problem with the film, however, was that there was ‘no struggle’. I assume he meant an internal struggle like Luke’s in the OT that he had enjoyed so much. It’s an interesting issue, I think. Possibly a symptom of TPM’s supposed lack of a clear main character (although, I do believe it to be Jar Jar).

Since then, he hasn’t watched AOTC or ROTS. Not because TPM was offensively awful, but because it was flat.

This would also be one of the first times a newbie was introduced to the saga in the order: IV, V, VI, VII, I, II, III.

I hope this was at least a little bit of an interesting read for someone!

Funny story. I went to a screening at the Tech Museum in San Jose with my dad who had had spinal surgery a few weeks earlier. He couldn’t handle the ‘stimulation overload’ so we had to leave after about five minutes.

I loved what I saw (and heard) of the film. The image was slightly distorted, but this didn’t bother me.

Also, I noticed that the opening crawl seemed to jitter independently of the star field. Does anyone know if they did this on purpose? There’s no reason for that to happen if it was done digitally which I assume that it was. Right?

The best part was seeing the audience’s heads move left and right to read the crawl. The sound of the film projector before the film started was an awesome throwback as well. I really hope that they exhibit Episode VIII in this format next year.

Count me as a +1 for wanting a VHS transfer.
I find it a more ‘cozy’ viewing experience, if that makes any sense, which is a nice change of pace from other media.

I know what you mean, yet I have a very strong feeling that there is a ton of stuff that we know nothing about yet.

In addition to a certain someone who has not been featured in any footage or stills, I’m willing to bet several exciting sequences or locations are still being kept under wraps.

After successfully avoiding the final trailer for over a month, I was dragged to see the Hunger Games in the theatre and couldn’t bring myself to sprint out of the theatre or pull my hoodie over my head when the TFA trailer played.

I’m so glad I avoided up until that point so I could experience it for the first time on the big screen. It was the first time that I can remember where I saw a trailer for a movie that I was eagerly anticipating on a big screen in a long time. So much more incredible than it would have been on Monday Night Football or a computer screen.

I sat there with a big dumb smile on my face the entire time while the my friends and family glanced over to me, knowing that I hadn’t seen the trailer before.

Even if the movie is garbage (I can’t imagine it will be), I’ll forever remember the joy that this trailer brought me when I had no idea what to expect.

So for those of you who still haven’t seen anything from the film, keep it up! It will be so goddamn worth it.

“Similar to Story and Plot, there’s a clear difference between Mystery and Suspense, but basically Suspense > Mystery. Why? Suspense also has to do with emotion while Mystery is just something you don’t know. Oh my god there’s a green cat for some reason. Such mystery. Call Sherlock Holmes.”

-Is it really necessary to point out the flaw in this logic? Suspense and mystery are not comparable concepts, and you negated your own definition of Mystery as ‘something you don’t know’ with a reference to Sherlock Holmes – titular character of some of the the most famous mysteries in literature that were astronomically more sophisticated than ‘something you don’t know’. A large part of that was suspense, as in consequences for not solving the mystery or a ticking clock. Just to show that suspense is a means of driving mystery.

“Let’s me give you Alfredo’s favorite example. Say there’s two people sitting and talking. Under them is a bomb that will blow up at 2 o clock. Neither the audience nor the characters know this. Bomb blows up. Two seconds of tension. Let’s redo it. We tell the audience there’s a bomb under the two people. Through the conversation, you begin to care about them. You wanna scream at them “THERE’S A BOMB! GET OUT!”. They keep talking. It’s 2:00. Don’t show the bomb blowing up. Up to 10 minutes of tension. THAT’S suspense.”

-Hitchcock was describing the difference between SURPRISE and SUSPENSE in this example. Mystery is not present here except for if the audience is meant to wonder who placed the bomb under the table and why. Or if the mystery a detective was solving elsewhere could prevent the bomb from detonating.

"The other main PLOT is the romance, and of course we know that was masterful sarcasm. "

-This is not plot. This is STORY. The plot is Anakin and Padmé hide on Naboo from Padmé’s attackers.

—I agree with a lot of what you’re saying in general terms but someone needed to take you down a peg, you’ve been wrong about almost everything you’ve said so arrogantly.

Cheer up, people just want to discuss about something they love, that's exactly what Disney expect us to do right now. It's an opportunity for everyone, after all. Don't worry: every fan will give the movie a chance one way or another, me too, even if by now I have mixed opinions.

P.S.: If Hollywood need to rob a bank to make a movie, it's their fault: people I know ask for good stories, not bigger budgets, as far as I know.

I didn't mean to sound so negative. I have no problew with civil discussion. It's just when people have set criteria in their head that will make or break the movie for them beforehand. That's not how I think movies should work. Let the theatrical experience speak for itself.

And people may not be asking for bigger budgets but the reality is that movies are ridiculously expensive to produce, there's no getting around that.

This is why Hollywood can't take risks any more. Every movie is analyzed to death before it comes out ("it'll suck if X character is in it" or "X thing will happen so it's going to be the best movie ever!"). With the cost of producing a blockbuster movie, would you blame them from pandering as much as possible to the fans? This film will be guilty of it, to be sure. But pre-judging it on those merits is perpetuating the problem, if you as me. 

Some 'fans' are stupid, why set up such specific criteria for a film before it is even released? It doesn't make sense to me, that's why I've chosen to avoid spoilers and trailers going forward for the Force Awakens. Because I love Star Wars and want to experience a Star Wars movie as a theatrical experience (was born after the OT was released). I may not end up enjoying the movie, but I'll be glad to give it a chance. 

It's really sad that some people can't do something as simple as that.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk: one of the last great oceanside amusement parks. If you're looking for some good food in that area, try Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing (local favorite/hole in the wall but featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay) or any of a number of restaurants at Capitola Beach (great place to walk around/people watch). Monterrey and Carmel are also really nice, Monterrey Bay Aquarium is one of the finest in the world. 

I have plenty more recommendations for the San Francisco/Silicon Valley/Monterrey area if you'd like them. And it would help to know what you would like to do.

I also have (less) knowledge about the LA area.

Looks awesome! I think with panning/zooming/focusing it will be even better. The only potentially helpful thought I can share is that you might want to animate the Star Destroyer as traveling faster than the Tantive. In the preview they appear to be going the same speed.

Really excited about this project. Amazing work so far!

Thanks for the support! I've had a lot on my plate lately in the real world (good things), so I haven't done much editing for a few weeks. But it's always good to hear people are interested. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to work very soon.

regularjoe said:

I watched the cantina draft scene and liked what I watched.  The volume of the music is too loud and after a while I turned it off due to that.  The intention of the clip was great but the music overpowered it so much that it undermined what you're trying to do.  You're off to a great start and I think that sort of thing will be easily conquered by you.  

 For the record, that clip was for a different project I sorta started a few months ago (turning the OT into a single western-type film win Han Solo as the main character), where I got similar feedback. But thanks for the kind words of support otherwise!

Also, does anyone know where I could find a high quality picture of concept art for the imperial castle that was in the early drafts of either ESB or ROTJ? I know the picture exists, because it's one of the final properties on the pre-SE SW Monopoly that I have lol.

Thanks, both of you! 

I'll be looking for someone to do voiceover work for a couple small character once I am a little farther along in this project. Just throwing that out there early in case anyone would be interested.

I've started editing the Original Trilogy into about 6-8 episodes of a late 1970s TV series. My goal here isn't to make an awesome TV series -- because the films are awesome enough on their own. Believe it or not, my plan for this edit is to be able to include the best parts of the Holiday Special as an episode in this series and have it match the rest (in terms of apparent budget, cheesiness and AV quality). I'll be using the Despecialized versions as a basis and try to work in as many deleted/alternate scenes as possible. There will also be numerous story changes that I have already planned, but would like to keep secret for now :)

Ideas similar to this have been tossed around on this forum plenty of times, but to my knowledge no one has actually attempted it.

I'm still very new to editing, so work on this might be slow, but once I have the majority of work done on these episodes, the plan is to release them once per week on Vimeo.

Check out the title sequence I've created so far:

http://vimeo.com/126467504

(Password: OT)

*I haven't yet started to degrade the film footage to Holiday Special quality, maybe someone with Vegas experience could provide some tips on the subject?

Just read through all 24 pages of this thread after rewatching ROTJ and thought it would be worth resurrecting to make a major point in the film's favor. 

In ROTJ we get to see all of the major characters (Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie and the droids) in the same location embarking on an adventure together! This really hadn't happened since SW! (not counting the Holiday Special or dialogue towards the beginning of ESB referencing three years of awesome adventures we'll never get to see :( 

Am I wrong or was the Hoth medical center the only time all three of our main human characters shared a scene together in ESB? I think that's my sole complaint about that film, that they had to split the stories between training on Dagobah and hiding in the asteroid field. And then when they're stories are about to intersect near the end of the film, that darn Darth Vader has to have Han frozen and shipped away. 

I think the beginning of the Endor section on the film (and I suppose the end of the Jabba sequence) elevate the whole film, just for being an honest-to-goodness adventure involving all of our main characters. 

So, while I wouldn't say ROTJ is my favorite of the three, it gets bonus points in my book for doing the one thing that I missed in ESB. 

*On a side note, I wish they hadn't deleted the sandstorm scene or the shots of those guys running around the Falcon during the battle of Endor. They would have given our favorite bucket of bolts a little more of a presence in the film.

Vladius said:

Cool idea, to be sure.
The only issue I have is where does Maul go if he beats Qui-Gon?

 Thanks! I'm not sure what you mean though. In this edit, he'd just be a hired killer who'd do his job and leave. Not an apprentice of Vader or Sith Lord or anything like that. We could assume that he was eventually killed by the time of the OT.

I had a very exciting idea for a 3-in-1 Prequel Edit last night. I was thinking about how Sophocles' three Theban plays and how they are only tangentially related to each other. So how about a 3-in-1 Prequel Edit that actually contains three separate but related stories in a 3ish hour runtime? The edit would be broken into three parts, each about one hour in length and each with a different main character. 

Pulp Fiction's non-linear structure is also an influence in this outline, as the second story takes place chronologically last:

Story One: Obi-Wan is the focus. We follow him as he tries to protect Senator Padme from harm and then tracks down the evil Count Dooku.

Story Two: Young Luke Skywalker (portrayed by Jake Lloyd) is the focus. We see him growing up on Tatooine. He races pods through the desert for fun, works of Watto and get's into a fight with young Greedo. A mysterious man named Qui-Gon Jinn enters Watto's shop one day. Watto suspects he is a Jedi and has young Luke follow him. Watto reports this Jedi to Darth Vader, who is busy hunting Jedi elsewhere and sends his henchman Maul. Maul and Qui-Gon fight and Qui-Gon is defeated. Years pass and Luke remains on Tatooine. An adult Luke looks to the stars longingly and talks with his friend Biggs who is going to join the rebellion. 

Story Three: Darth Vader is the focus. Fully grown Anakin lives on Tatooine with Cliegg, Owen and his mother. When he and his girlfriend return from a trip to Mos Espa to watch the Boonta Eve classic, he discovers that his mother is missing. After finding her dead, he kills a camp of Tusken Raiders and confesses to his brother Owen. Anakin leaves to fight in the Clone War and is driven to the dark side by Palpatine's dark influence until he becomes Darth Vader.

I might try to do this one myself eventually but I probably won't get around to it for a while. If someone (more competent) wants to give it a shot in the meantime, I wouldn't mind. 

Haha! Wow, I just spent a good ten minutes looking for pictures to make a comparison before I understood what you meant. Okay, so did they look digitally altered to anyone else? Please tell me I'm not crazy.

Did anyone else think that Chewbacca's eyes looked a little bit too realistic? That's probably about the most nitpicky thing a guy could say, but isn't that what the internet is all about? Other than that (and the crash zoom), what a great trailer!

Thanks for the suggestions, Ryan. I have seen a few bits of Father Ted -- my parents were into British TV for a period when I was growing up, but I think it's worth a revisit. I'll definitely check out the other shows soon. Limmy's Show sounds right up my alley, I love shows that aren't afraid to get bizarre. I'm a fan of Portlandia, a sketch show set in Oregon that does a pretty great job of satirizing west coast Americans as far as I'm concerned but it does sometimes feel as though it lacks a certain bite that I've seen more often in British TV.

Post Praetorian, I find your description of Canadian humor interesting because that seems to be the stereotypical view of Canada here in the U.S. But I totally dig that kind of humor too. That was me in high school, not worried about making big changes in the world, more focused on cracking jokes with a few close friends. I see the appeal of that kind of mindset. 

Ah yes, forgive me for completing forgetting Canadian humor from the OP, but that's another interesting angle for this discussion. I've seen a few episodes of Trailer Park Boys, but that is about the extent of my knowledge. Maybe you could elaborate a bit on differences you have seen between the three countries?

And I'm with you in terms of 70's and 80's as far as British television goes. I enjoy Fawlty Towers and Blackadder a lot more than anything more recent that I have seen from across the pond. Maybe I'm just watching the wrong shows?

I’m a very rare poster here, but I’ve noticed through years of lurking that many of the site’s members are from either the United States or the United Kingdom. I thought this would be a great place to start a discussion about the differences between the senses of humor of the two cultures.

I’ve always enjoyed the dryness and sarcasm that characterizes a lot of British comedy because I’m generally less inclined to be overly sentimental than some of my American peers. But there are still some things in British comedy that don’t translate for me: references to British history/ current events, and the lack of unconditional optimism that is common in the American public. For this reason, I tend to prefer American cable comedies the most (Louie, Curb Your Enthusiasm) because I find them relatable and not artificially sappy.

As an American college student studying TV and Film Production with an emphasis on screenwriting who is planning to study a semester in England, I’m very interested in hearing from people on both sides of the pond on the subject of television and film specifically. In addition to the content of comedies it is worth noting the differences in format as well. Do you prefer the British format of six episodes generally written by one or two people or the American format of up to twenty-six episodes written by a staff of writers.

Here are a couple of links to articles written by Ricky Gervais and Simon Pegg about the subject:

http://time.com/3720218/difference-between-american-british-humour/

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/feb/10/comedy.television

So go ahead and comment on the relationship between American Humor and British Humour / argue for your preferred flavor / share your favorite (favourite) shows from either side of the pond / whatever...