ImperialFighter

Thanks for sticking up that last shot of the Stormtroopers Ryan, as I didn't have time to grab it the other day when I mentioned it.

______________________________

As far as the actual teaser itself, turned out I was pretty happy with it myself overall.  It was much shorter, and less revealing than a lot of the first teasers/trailers for the previous chapters, that's for sure...and here's a good round-up of all the others in the saga for comparison - http://toybox.io9.com/looking-back-at-the-history-of-star-wars-teaser-trailer-1664150160/+charliejane

I had an idea that J.J.'s filming style was going to give this sequel a distinctly different 'look' to previous instalments, and I'm perfectly okay with that.  Cinematography and SFX techniques have evolved since the days of the Original Trilogy after all, and I'm just hoping we get something that approaches the overall fun and adventure of those particular chapters this time around...even if there's some 'shakey cam', dubious 'colour-grading', or plenty of 'lens flares' going on. 

A different kind of 'cinematic' look for a 'Star Wars' movie might be quite refreshing at this point, I reckon...and with all the other upcoming movies planned with different directors in the coming years, things are bound to have a bit of a 'shock-of-the-new' vibe for those of us used to the look of the originals.  So I'll welcome the change if that's what's coming...and hope that they'll turn out to be enjoyable.  

Judging by the teaser itself, some of the effects shots are certainly going to have a 'faster, more intense' feel to them in this latest one - the dizzying Falcon shots alone seem to bear that out, and along with the brief X-wing shots, they looked fabulous as far as I'm concerned.  And I thought the 'lens flares' in both the Falcon and X-wing shots were suitably subtle in those effects shots.  I'm hoping J.J. keeps things as restrained throughout.  Oh, and I'm delighted that the original TIE fighter design is making an appearance too!  It was always one of my favourite ship designs from the OT, and I didn't necessarily expect to see any of them at this future point in the saga.

We're heading into a whole new era of 'Star Wars'-related movies now, starting with this one...and I have a feeling that J.J. and his effects team are going to set quite a high bar for the look of things with this episode to kick things off.  I liked the look of the Stormtrooper shots for sure, and 'roller'-droid (or 'Ball-E' as walking_carpet coined it!) is just the latest in a long line of 'comedic' droids with a 'personality' - such as the startled 'mouse droid' that scurries away on the Deathstar, for instance.  But while it's verging on the 'overly cute', I just hope it's antics are 'child-like' rather than 'childish', if it gets a lot of screentime...  And I really liked the unusual look of Daisy Ridley's 'lollypop'-speeder too - it had a kinda Original Trilogy vibe to it's design I thought.  As far as the new-fangled 'sword'-saber goes...both my kids loved the look of it, so I'm happy with their verdict.  I'm okay with it myself, although I remember thinking at the time that I would have preferred the 'guard glows' to have ignited at the exact same time as the main blade glow - but that's just a minor thing on my part, and no big deal. 

However, I've no doubt the next, more revealing trailer will have them absolutely straining at the leash to go see this come next Christmas.  And that's how it should be, where this franchise is concerned...and things can surely only improve on the last trilogy we ended up with.  I hope J.J.'s entry is a good 'un, so that anyone who is seeing a 'Star Wars' movie for the first time will be keen to check out the earlier onscreen adventures of Luke and Co. too - even if it's a pity they are only likely to see the latest 'Special Editions' of those as things stand...

Of course, I'd assumed that we'd be getting some brief headshots of some of the original characters such as Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, C3PO, and R2...but how wrong I was.  J.J. completely blind-sided me on that score, as I'd hoped to see some footage of how they appeared onscreen in this.  So as he's likely keeping them for the next trailer (which is bound to make everyone go even more nuts over this movie), I'd have to risk seeing a lot more footage/potential spoilers if I want to see how they look, dammit.  As far as the person in the black robes with the new lightsaber goes, that 'leaked' image which .Mac. linked to about a month ago on page 42, may indeed turn out to be legit after all.  The pic certainly seems to match what we see in the teaser, and I quite like the look of this character if that's the case.  Here's the link again for any of you that may have forgotten what it looked like.  It's a little indistinct, but you'll get the idea - http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2014/10/rumor-star-wars-episode-vii-villain.html

Anyway, the Force has indeed awakened with this early preview as far as I'm concerned.  The only thing I kinda missed were the '20th Century Fox' logo/'Lucasfilm Ltd.' logo/and 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...' text appearing beforehand, this time around...but if the worst comes to the worst, and I feel this movie ends up requiring a re-edit someday...then I guess I can always include them anyway for continuity's sake, and dispose of any 'Disney/Bad Robot' logo nonsense while I'm at it... 

But I hope it doesn't come to that, and that J.J. knocks this outta the park for us all.  :)     

I'm currently wondering if Fanedit.info will return anytime soon...as the site's been suspended today it seems, dammit! :(

walking_carpet said:

im not good at spotting the whole teal/orange thing but this trailer it looks like the overall color is slightly dialed back.  I think the nighttime forest scene in the teaser was fine, and we dont know if the blue light with the stormtroopers was because it just had interior light thats blue.

walking_carpet, I just happened to comment on this over on Fanedit.org in response to emanswfan's recolouration of the teaser, but I'll repeat it here also -

The other day I actually paused the teaser at the very last moment of the shot showing the back of the legs of the new Stormtroopers as they are about to disembark down the ramp - the reason?...I was curious to see if it was possible to get a glimpse in that shot of what their 'footwear' looked like in any way, as it changed considerably between the Original Trilogy versions and the Prequel versions (or the other way round to be technically correct).  No luck however, as the shot just cuts off as it pans down the back of their legs towards their heels.

However, while I originally thought those Stormtrooper shots had been given a distinctly blueish/teal colour-grading overall, it actually turns out that it indeed seems that it's just the colour of the lighting inside the transport they're waiting in that is reflecting the hue on their armour...as the precise moment I paused the end of the shot shows the legs of the Stormtroopers turning to gleaming white after all at that point, as the ramp door opens wider.  It's just that the shot ends abruptly at this point, too quickly for our eyes to catch this last frame.  So I'm satisfied that the blueish/teal look of those particular shots is just due to the colour of the lighting reflecting off their armour after all, rather than due to deliberate colour-meddling.

_____________________________________

I'm pretty pleased with the teaser overall, and I'll go into more detail why later on today sometime.

SilverWook said:

Not sure if real...

Hmmm, female Imperial Officer (?) without a cap.  Interesting, if legit.

Lens flare ahoy, but I guess he can't help it.

Y'know, as much as I hope I can avoid most of the merchandise reveals/spoilers before J.J.'s movie reaches cinemas next year, I'm sure looking forward to finally getting a glimpse at this initial teaser.

Despite the odd behind-the-scenes photo or two during production, I still find the notion of the original cast being re-united onscreen after all these years, kinda hard to believe.  But when this teaser hits, I know it will suddenly become very real for me at last...and all these questions will be answered -

What will the tone of the teaser be like...?

How will the original cast look in it...?

Will it have a very leisurely pacing, or will it have heaps of quick cuts to scrutinise...?

Am I going to get used to the Millennium Falcon's new radar dish...?

Will I get teary-eyed watching all this unfold as some new John Williams music plays out...? 

Of course, the excellent Episode I teaser proved that it was no true indicator of how the actual movie will turn out...but I'm gonna remain cautiously optimistic.  Either way, it's good to know that the 'Star Wars' franchise is going to be on a lot of people's radar once again, when this footage is released.

Not long now.  Anticipation building...  :)

SilverWook said:

Unless somebody else besides Jackson makes a feature film in 48fps, it might just end up an interesting, but mostly forgotten experiment, just like Smell-O-Vision. Pushing the technology ahead of the story is arguably the trap Lucas fell into.

I only caught the standard frame rate showings of Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies, so can't really comment on the 48fps aspect - except to say that I recall a few negative reports at the time that it gave them a kinda dubious 'video quality' overall.

However, looks like we haven't heard the last of this higher frame rate issue yet, as James Cameron is going to be using it on his Avatar sequels too...which are bound to be as equally high profile as Jackson's movies - http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=42852

I recall enthusiastic descriptions of Douglas Trumbull's 60fps 'Showscan' innovation from years ago, and was somewhat interested that Cameron was initially planning this for his sequels - but it seems he's decided to only match Jackson's same frame rate after all.

Whether real, fake, or 'test' footage, the lighting in that looks horrendous.

JediZombie said:

And I think the decision to go with a square dish instead of a round one on the Falcon was a bold choice.

I'm not too keen on the new rectangular dish myself, compared to the round original.  It's Lando's fault for letting J.J. be able to take this design liberty! ;) 

So, that's it all over then - out of an 85% turnout of the Scottish electorate, 55% voted NO, and 45% voted YES.

Although I thought it would be even closer on the day, that still leaves a lot of disenchanted people overall.

Now, my next problem is - who do I vote for in the next U.K. General Election?  Well, I'm seriously thinking about joining the movement to get this on the ballot papers for starters - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Candidate_Deserves_My_Vote!

RicOlie_2 said:

Did I say imperialscum? I meant ImperialFighter.... :P

Yes, tis I that is Scottish too...and I can happily confirm that I currently reside in Scotland. 

Anyway, I've added a few thoughts on some of the issues on the politics thread (which I never usually frequent), and came over here to let you know how I've decided to vote today...

After much careful thought and hand-wringing, here's what I decided - http://www.syp.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Aye-Naw-Mibbe-Logo-twiiter-2.jpg

(I'm not sure if my vote will swing things one way or the other, but either way, there's gonna be about half of Scotland *very* disenchanted come Friday morning)

DominicCobb said:

Scotland's kind of weird because they wear kilts (and I think that's all they do? oh wait they play bagpipes)

Hey DC, don't forget that we eat haggis all day too...after we've exhausted ourselves running about trying to catch 'em. ;)

adywan said:

Well i have been trying to go back to answer some of the questions posted a while ago, but so much ha been going on since then and clogging up the thread i've lost track of what i have and haven't replied to or ones that others have given the answer to.  So, if you are awaiting an answer from me about something, would it be possible for you to repost the questions?  Imperial fighter, i know you are one person who i never got around to answering. 

No worries whatsoever, as you were extremely busy with the likes of your Dagobah miniatures and other things at the time if I recall, when you posted this last month 4 pages back. 

(I've been too busy recently to get back to you on this, but will find certain things from during the time you're referring to as soon as I can, as I remember the few pages that you were especially distracted from answering anything about) 

Best of luck with your commission adywan.  I'm sure you'll do some excellent work on it, whatever it entails.  

Wait...you haven't told mrs. adywan yet that it involves having to build something big enough to take over her whole kitchen again, have you?!  ;)

eiyosus said:

Woah.  This whole time I thought ImperialFighter and imperialscum were the same person.

Nope. I did wonder if anyone would mistakenly think that when imperialscum joined, but we're very different just so you know.  TV's Frink is one of my favourite things around these parts, for one. ;)

If these rumours are true and it were up to me...I'd ideally release the HD's of the originals a few weeks before J.J.'s sequel arrives to maximise on all the likely hooplah surrounding the fact that Han, Luke, and Leia etc. are about to return on the big screen shortly...while at the same time completely removing *all* the existing SE versions off the shelves and putting them on a very long 'moratorium'! - click on the word 'moratorium' in the 2nd line of the description here for some comprehensive details - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Vault

New fans who were only seeing the OT for the first time would get to see the superior (in my view) way that these movies from the late 70's and early 80's were edited back then...but would also get nicely primed for the forthcoming Sequel Trilogy if the originals were released with a fanfare beforehand.  And everyone else could get used to seeing the original cuts as the 'de facto' versions again, with the others effectively out of the way.

I would also clear the shelves of the Prequel Trilogy, and put them on a long 'moratorium' too...and that goes for t.v. showings of any sort also!

As a bit of extra fun though, I might just consider putting the current SE's as non-anamorphic dvd 'bonus' extras on this HD release of the originals too...and this would be the only way to see them for a long, long time.

Unfortunately it's *not* up to me...but hey, a guy can wish, can't he?

DominicCobb said:

So they'd probably think (incorrectly) that OTers would not care for and possibly complain about a new SE.

Good point.  As an addendum, I'd also eventually announce that adywan's HD Revisited Saga would be getting an official release after the Sequel Trilogy is done, as it's highly likely to be the best SE that could ever be worth producing...and confirm that he'd be rewarded with more wealth than you can imagine.

How much?  I don't know...I can imagine quite a bit! :)    

imperialscum said:

 

TV's Frink is a kind of clown of this forum.

Indeed, I won't rest until you add a big red nose to your avatar Frinky.  ;)

The Original Trilogy was my absolute favourite series of movies in my younger days, and it was disheartening to see how GL's 'creative choices' became increasingly erratic towards his creation. 

I can't tell you how much I looked forward to his 'Special Editions' when they were first announced, as I was more than happy to see them given a little spruce up for their worldwide theatrical re-release in '97 - especially since GL had so successfully pushed things on the effects side over the years.  But while some of the new effects touch-ups were welcome, the likes of ANH's silly-looking Jabba and ROTJ's 'Jedi Rocks' were certainly NOT! 

Still, there was always the *original* OT to look forward to on dvd before too long, I thought...or so I believed at the time.

But by the time we ended up with the 'Special Edition' dvds in 2004 (which made things even worse in many ways - due to abysmal colouration, a very unevenly-finished feel to the enhancements, and elderly Anakin replaced by young Anakin...), it was becoming clear that George was looking on these as his preferred, 'de facto' versions of the movies...and seemed to think they were superior to the earlier, *original* releases.  But he was wrong about that in many ways!  

So by the time his disappointing Prequel Trilogy was completed in 2005, the overall saga seemed 'diminished' to me by that point.

But then to round things off, George finally released the slap-in-the-face that was the non-anamorphic 'bonus' dvd discs in the 2006 release...  Far less-deserving movies than the *original* OT were being given lovingly-treated presentations on the format at this point, and it all seemed too little and too late.

However, despite all of George's misjudgements, the particular 'Special Edition' that adywan conjured up with STAR WARS:REVISITED managed to rekindle the old magic for me...and it was far more than I could have hoped for at the time.  And as there are further dubious alterations to the 'Special Editions' of the OT on the Blu-ray release, SW:R seems even better still to me.  And the forthcoming STAR WARS:REVISITED HD edit will no doubt improve on the current version too.  I already know that ESB:R is shaping up to be a revelation as a 'special edition', and am confident that ROTJ:R will too, eventually.

Sure, I hope the rumours of a decently-remastered release of the *original* Original Trilogy come true eventually, for the sake of myself and everyone else who looked forward to that happening years ago.  But many will have only experienced the uneven 'Special Edition' versions as their introduction to the 'Star Wars' saga now  - regrettably to my mind - and more will continue to do so on future format releases and t.v. showings too...probably starting with the Prequels...  So all of George's additional 'creative choices' will endure regardless, no matter if the *original* OT gets a decent release or not at this stage.  Too bad.  

While I certainly understand that not everyone may like all of adywan's personal changes in his version, I'd have far rathered that George had come up with a 'Special Edition' of ANH more along the lines of the STAR WARS:REVISITED edit...which gave the movie such an impressive extra spit and polish.  The movie deserved a better 'enhancement' than it ultimately got from George, as far as I'm concerned...and it was adywan who delivered the 'special' bit for me.

Padme said:

http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2014/08/report-disney-to-release-unaltered.html?m=1

Please forgive me if this has already been discussed elsewhere. im still finding my way around here ;)

If this is really happening, im so psyched. i have the dvd set with the changes. like haydens face in ROTJ. and i absolutely hate that!!

My parents have the originals, but when i went to get my own, all i could get was the modified one. 

Yay!! :)

Yes Padme, digitalfreaknyc had brought the comicbook.com article up on page 32 of this thread a little earlier - http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/4K-restoration-on-Star-Wars-Official/topic/16857/page/32/

The dvd releases of the original versions (that your parents presumably have) are merely non-anamorphic 'bonus' discs on 'limited edition' 2-disc versions which had the 2004 Special Edition dvd versions contained too.  And the prints used for the original cuts hadn't been cleaned up very well either.  They are still readily available on the likes of Amazon and E-bay, but at inflated prices now, so it could be worth scouring anywhere that sells 2nd-hand dvds near you.

But considering how long fans waited to get an official dvd release of the original cuts, these proved a real slap in the face as far as the quality goes, when they came out.  Let's hope that all these rumours of a better quality release turn out to be true.  If that proves to be the case, I just hope that some idiot doesn't decide to give them a 'stylized colour-timing' and 'crushed blacks' similar to how the SE versions look!

Check out the threads on Harmy's DESPECIALIZED versions, and adywan's ongoing REVISITED project for a great way to see these movies in the meantime.

Jaitea said:

Some more un-official images

This one is from the ReplicaPropForum

This is by a comic book artist who sketched this based on the leaked image

http://www.starwars7news.com/2014/08...mtroopers.html

J

Considering that the 'Sandtrooper with orange shoulder-pad' was my favourite costume design from the many in the saga (the behind-the-scenes shot of the one astride a Dewback was my first-ever image from the upcoming STAR WARS back in '77...and I'm still gutted about that great angled shot not being in the actual movie!), I was kinda underwhelmed when I saw the recent 'sketch from memory' that artist Tom Hodges released recently, as seen here - http://www.joblo.com/newsimages1/hodges-ep7-stormtrooper.jpg

So I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked on emanswfan's link to what are claimed to be the actual new Stormtrooper helmet designs.  A *big* improvement over the way the rough sketch looked, thankfully.

A couple of little things though - after seeing freelance digital artist Juan Fernandez's great mock-up on the bottom pic that Jaitea showed, I'm now not too keen on the actual single 'breather/vent' on just one side of the new helmet upgrade.  The artist had only seen *one* side of the newly released pics it seems, but has now revised his rendering to incorporate this non-symmetrical aspect - http://www.starwars7news.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/ST1.jpg

I still prefer the look of the symmetrical breather/vents that he wrongly painted, as I think the helmet was already re-designed enough...but compared to how I *thought* they were going to look due to the early sketch, I'm happy to say that I like the new look overall.  I look forward to seeing how the rest of their costumes have been upgraded during this 30-year span.

As far as the other helmet design goes (the one referred to as a 'Jungle Trooper'/'Snow Trooper' by some)...the Starwars7news.com site that Jaitea linked to at the very bottom has an update that claims it belongs to a new class known as 'Incendiary Troopers' who carry flamethrowers...

I sure hope this one turns out to be true.  Flamethrowers?  Yes please J.J.

SilverWook said:

Tom Hodges, who did the previous sketch based on the helmet he saw, took his rendering down after taking crap from A holes fanboys.  What is wrong with these people?

https://www.facebook.com/Hodgesart

It's sad that certain people seem to have given him harsh feedback on his Stormtrooper helmet impression.  He's admitted himself that he got quite a few details wrong, and that it turned out to be a poor representation.  But I recall it was only meant to be a rough 'memory sketch' from whatever source he'd seen originally...and he obviously never saw the non-symmetrical aspect either that it's now claimed to have.  He does some terrific work though - If you type in Tom Hodges art on 'google images', you'll find some excellent and prolific work that includes heaps of Star Wars characters amongst his portfolio.

.Mac. said:

Jaitea said:

.....I wonder if there'll be a shot out of the cockpit window where we can see the mandible

(image by SteveStarkiller at the ReplicaPropForum)

J

 That would be cool, I really hope so.

 

This is *absolutely* one of my most hoped-for new camera angles of the Falcon now! 

How the hell do I contact J.J. to ask him to get his effects guys to include it?

(By the way, I seem to remember that editing another member's post to quote certain things used to be easier.  There seems to be additional weird 'boxes' and stuff when I click on to 'Reply with quote' nowadays that I don't recall getting a while back...and .Mac.'s post kept disappearing altogether when I tried to edit out the bottom bit of it before I added my response.  You'll see for instance that I had to leave in a long 'blank block' under his "That would be cool, I really hope so" wording, as I couldn't fully get rid of that without everything disappearing on me when I tried to edit it out.  I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this happening?) 

Too bad that even if things look great for a theatrical release, that certain movies are then overly 're-mastered' and strangely 're-colourised' for their home releases.  Kinda defeats the original purpose I feel.

adywan said:

Until the site problems have been fixed i won't be replying to all the previous replies. I'm fed up with typing out a lengthy response only to press "post reply" and the damn site has gone down and i lose everything i've typed. Hopefully the issues will be fixed soon

Ah, that explains it.  Although you're very busy with various things, I'd been wondering why you hadn't gone into some of the various queries to your last couple of clips here this last while.

It's certainly frustrating to lose a lengthy post like the ones you sometimes give us.  I know, having done so on a few occasions myself!  Until it looks like things are more stable, perhaps you can find time to fit in short, separate posts to cover some of the things you intended to reply to instead? 

It's not ideal I know, but at least when a short post (or pm) gets 'lost' when I send it, I don't feel the need to chew my own leg off anymore...

By the way, I was sorry to see that it looks like we just missed out on a new clip the other day, but I love the model pics I've seen on the facebook page recently.

Congrats to the winners.  Now, has everyone seen the last few model pics that have been put up on the facebook page recently? Some interesting stuff here... - https://www.facebook.com/swrevisited

Akratus said:

TWENNY FIFTEEN

MARK YO CALENDAR

Akratus, if adywan ends up using this wording on any trailer, then I may need to boycott this project on principle.  ;)

As far as any future trailer for the Star Wars Revisited:HD release goes, I thought this portion of your wording worked quite well, if any brief text was to be included at all -

This Summer (or *whatever* season it's released)

Han

Shoots

First

...but on the other hand, I know there are some out there who might claim that the wording should say - 

This Summer

Han

Is 

The

Only

One

To

Shoot. Period.'  ;)

Either way, I'm hoping we get a final ESB:R trailer once it's completed, and I seem to recall that we might be getting a 'Saga' teaser at some point too eventually.  With or without text, adywan always manages to put a dramatic trailer together...and certain sites will definitely take notice once this latest edit comes out.

Just a thought adywan, but perhaps you could consider filming a short, basic Youtube 'video draw' that you could eventually link to here and on the 'Revisited' Facebook page? 

It might add a little extra pizzazz to the proceedings...and you could even rope in one of the family in the same kind of discrete way this guy did if you wish.  This is just an example of the kind of thing I mean, but I'm sure you could include shots of the prizes too, for instance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_20T_DRQHMM

The 'ankle'-gate incident seems to have taken on a life of it's own.  Our best-selling national newspaper (the Sun) has the story taking up today's front page here in the U.K.

And I've just seen another update on the BBC news which showed clips of Harrison from the O.T., as well as words of comfort from a middle-aged U.K. 'star wars fan' named 'Luke Skywalker' (yes, seriously) who was seen playing about with his extensive figure/toy collection.  Lol.

Ford's injury has just been mentioned on the BBC news here in the U.K.  It says there's going to be a 'condition update' in 15 mins. time...  I'll stay tuned and let you know.

*update* - The news said that the 'dark side of the Force' had hit the production, and that Ford was immediately taken by air-ambulance (helicopter) from the set at Pinewood Studios to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford yesterday, and was kept in overnight with a suspected broken ankle - which isn't good when it comes to 71 year old folks, as bones are likely to be more brittle when it comes to healing etc. 

He's still in there it seems (it's a 'National Health Service' hospital, not a private one, by the way), but no further update on his progress is being given by the hospital at the moment.  The news item also said it was unconfirmed whether the section of set that fell on him was from the 'Millennium Falcon' itself or not, but that the 'health and safety' procedures on the set would likely be under scrutiny now.

I don't care what universe you're from, that's gotta hurt!  No reward is worth this! etc, etc.  Get well soon Harrison.