logo Sign In

Neil S. Bulk

User Group
Members
Join date
10-Mar-2003
Last activity
7-Nov-2023
Posts
316

Post History

Post
#284048
Topic
Possible original Star Wars screening?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/284048/action/topic#284048
Time
I went last night. I despised it. What was shown was not a 30 year old movie, instead it was a digitally projected version of the master used for the 2004 release. Sure it was HD, but it had the ridiculous color scheme that the DVD is known for and worse still it had that atrocious 2004 sound mix.

The Q&A was fun though. Lucas left after only a few minutes, so Gary Kurtz got to be the center of attention. I'd rather hear what he had to say, anyway. And Mark Hamill was bored out of his mind and squirming and fidgeting the entire time, and that was entertaining, too. The best part was when he was sitting like Al Bundy. No lie!

Neil
Post
#283126
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/283126/action/topic#283126
Time
Originally posted by: Darth Solo
But the one thing that has always bugged me is where just before 3CPO says the line "come on R2 were going" the previously in-focus Falcon image in the background seems to stretch out and blur, as if to shift focus or something, but it looks really uneasy on the eye when your looking for it. I know this is a problem from the original cut, but im just wondering if the top half of the image before distortion takes place can be held through the remaining frames to keep the Falcon in focus there at all?

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/4741/pdvd004wk0.jpg
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/3800/pdvd005bq5.jpg

That's not a problem at all. It's called a "rack focus". You're supposed to pay attention to the in focus stormtroopers running from the Falcon first, then Threepio. Note that Threepio is out of focus in the top shot but in focus at the bottom.

Neil
Post
#282687
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282687/action/topic#282687
Time
Originally posted by: Mojo_LA
Re: Lightsaber fight music

Adywan, remember that sometimes the ABSENCE of music can be just as powerful. Not having music during the ObiWan/Vader fight makes the moment feel more real because it has not been "movied up." In all the Star Wars films, despite the long and powerful score, Lucas has always found moments to leave the music out, making it that much more effective.

Personally, I think taking a part of the movie that has no music and adding it is an example of "doing something because I can." Again, consider that the music is left out of that scene FOR A REASON.

Also, consider how powerful the musical score is that is about to follow; when Luke sees Ben die and screams, it's one of the best musical moments in the film. Again, the absence of music preceeding it "clears the pallete" if you will and makes the cue more emotional.

It's called music spotting. Knowing where the music comes in and goes out is as important as the music itself. Star Wars was a well spotted film. The movie is 121 minutes and there is about 84 minutes of music in it. Compare that with The Empire Strikes Back, which is 124 minutes long with about 118 minutes of music composed (much of the Empire score was dropped after it was written and recorded). Return of the Jedi had more music composed than the final films running time! The prequels, as much of a mess musically as they are, also continue the trend of having wall-to-wall music. It's just one other aspect of Star Wars that makes it stand out as it's own, superior film.

Star Wars and Empire are also the only two films in the series not to have music during the light saber fights. Williams composed a lot for the duel in Empire, but only a tiny bit is heard in the final film. It's never been clear who's choice it was to drop the music (Kershner? Lucas?) but the scenes do play better without it. After that, all of the sword fights in the films have been scored. It's an interesting dichotomy.

And as noted, "Ben's Death and TIE Fighter Attack" is one of the finest examples of film scoring. It comes in at just the right time, punctuating the death of Ben and Luke's (and the audiences) shock and then covers one of the most exciting sequences in the film. The proper use of music is one of the reasons this sequence (and the original film) was so successful.

For more on music spotting, check out the editorial in the new Film Score Monthly magazine which came out just today.

Neil
Post
#274870
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274870/action/topic#274870
Time
Originally posted by: TheCassidy

Calling someone's hard work garbage is being a dick.

And you've never critiqued a movie or a book or a piece of music? Everything is wonderful? You're either a sycophant or a hypocrite.

I praised Adywan's technical ability. I just don't care for the movie he chose to work on or the manner in which he's doing it and I stand behind that totally. Making creatures blink from a technical stand point is impressive. But in a practical sense, it doesn't serve the movie. Why replace the shot of the Falcon going into hyperspace for the first time? It's a powerful dramatic moment that now looks amateurish.

I didn't threaten him. I passed along an opinion. It wasn't an attack, and it wasn't meant as one. Any artist must learn to deal with criticism and I think he has. He's not the one insulting me and he seemed to have a bit of sense of humor about it. That's good.

Neil
Post
#274838
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274838/action/topic#274838
Time
Originally posted by: TheCassidy
I guess the person behind the mystery e-mail threats has finally been revealed, eh?

Neil, dude, you seem like a cool guy but leave this project alone and don't be such a dick.

I'm not the person behind the anonymous e-mail and I don't appreciate being called a "dick". If I was so concerned about being private, why would I be one of the few people here to use my real name? I never shy away from voicing my opinion, (which I did precisely once in this thread). It may not be a popular opinion, but I would never make the threats that were made in that e-mail and I wouldn't resort to name calling.

And "BMadden" what rude comments did I make? A direct quote would be nice.

Neil
Post
#274430
Topic
New Direction For The Petition
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274430/action/topic#274430
Time
Thanks for pointing this thread out to me.

This site needs to be re-focused on something. Whether any of us want any part of it after that is another matter. As I see it, this is originaltrilogy.com, a site about the original versions of the Star Wars films. It could be argued that the "original" in OT.com could also just mean the original stories which would then also include the SEs since it is essentially the same story, but we all know that's not why this site was created. I first signed the petition here (and joined the board) when I saw a signature at another forum about Han shooting first (actually he's the only one that fires, but that's just semantics). At the time, I wanted a high quality version of the original Star Wars on DVD and it was nice to talk with others who had the same wishes. A lot of great things came out of it. A high quality version of the almost complete mono track emerged. Fan made LD-to-DVD conversions were coming out regularly. We all had one goal uniting us and it was nice. The result? Lucasfilm released the ultimate LD master-to-DVD conversion. It's not quite what we wanted so the battle goes on...

Since that happened I haven't been here much. Star Wars was out, looking as good as it possibly could given the horrible circumstances. What could be done? Not much it seems. Now when I come to OT.com I see people making their own versions of Star Wars with CG special effects. Wasn't this site created to get the originals back and to leave the CG out of it? It's a slap in the face to those of us who came here originally to sign the petition asking for the true original films and spend hours explaining and discussing the differences between the various versions of the movies. I know I came here to try and make a difference and right a cinematic wrong. Now I come here and see, "This is the way Lucas should have changed the movie". That goes against the very core of why I joined and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. It goes against the founding principle of this site and legitimizes what Lucas has done to the films. Not only that, it sends the message that the fans want things changed and think that it's alright. Maybe some do, but this site should not be part of that mentality.

I think this site needs to get to a hard line stance of "it's the original or bust". There are tons of places on line to discuss the SEs. There's even a place to discuss your own fan edits (though if you're a fan why would you want to change it?). But where is the site exclusively for the original Star Wars? It used to be originaltrilogy.com.

And yes, we should still all be petitioning and working to get a high quality version of the original movies released. The current DVDs aren't anything close to acceptable.

Neil
Post
#274268
Topic
STAR WARS: EP IV 2004 <strong>REVISITED</strong> ADYWAN *<em>1080p HD VERSION NOW IN PRODUCTION</em>
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274268/action/topic#274268
Time
Originally posted by: HotRod
Originally posted by: Marvolo
Originally posted by: Weezer12
"Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival."


Thanks. I never knew that that line was for ANH.


Since when was that line for ANH?

Where in the film would they use that?

I thought it was recorded especially for ESB SE.

Huh??

It's bullshit about that line being recorded for Star Wars. I'm not sure what Ben Burtt was thinking when he said that. And it's easy to prove that it's not from a cut Star Wars scene on several counts. First of all, there is no scene where Vader boards an Imperial ship in Star Wars. A scene where this occurs isn't even in any of the scripts.

Also, in Star Wars they are "Imperial Cruisers". The term "Star Destroyer" was not used until The Empire Strikes Back.

And now about Adywan's project......

I didn't join originaltrilogy.com to advocate more changes to the movie. The whole point was to try and get a classic film back to its original form. This micro-managed, "It's better because now 3PO is seen in the macrobinoculars" is the same sort of garbage Lucas has been doing to the films (both old and new) for over 10 years now. It's the story that counts, not how many creatures blink. Adywan, you're demonstrating a talent for effects, but your efforts would be far better suited to screwing around with your own work and not worshiping the heels of Lucas.

Neil
Post
#244132
Topic
Tune Into G4 This Afternoon...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/244132/action/topic#244132
Time
Originally posted by: Cable-X1
This is the mail I just sent to that Chris Gore prick....

Saw your appearence on that G4 show about the recent Star Wars release and I think you are way out of line with that comment about making the fans happy. Here's the exact quote....

"There's not going to make the fans happy cuz there's no money in making the fans happy."


So you're basically advocating that fans get consistently ripped off, huh? You got real balls saying something like that. I've never heard of you before that show, but now you have ZERO respect from me and I will not see or read anything from you. Whose lackey are you that you advocate this shit? Reviewers like you are SUPPOSED to look out for the consumer and here you are saying that we deserve never to get what we want because it's not profitable.

You have no credibility if you hold that opinion....if anything, you should be speaking AGAINST this kind of wallet raping.

Piss off, asshole....you've got shit for brains.

Retard.

As mentioned above, Chris Gore didn't say that. Can you post his response and your apology? Thanks!

Neil
Post
#241766
Topic
So, this is how the DVDs are going to look...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/241766/action/topic#241766
Time
Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
And I don't appreciate being called delusional, with the implication that I am a liar.
I wasn't implying a thing. Would it be better if I said you were mistaken and confused?

Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
I don't think we need to feed the troll any more on this issue.

Now I really hope that wasn't meant for me, because if it was, now you're really mistaken. See that little article in my signature? I wrote that piece. You know all the talk about the messed up music mix on the 2004 edition of Star Wars? I was the first person to point that out, both the missing music in the Death Star dive and the messed up surround channels. I was also the first person to point out that the old 1993 video transfers were being used for this release. I have a very good track record of providing accurate information about the Star Wars films on DVD.

Just like when I say there have been only two releases so far (the four disc box set and the three disc re-issue) of the Star Wars films. The first release of them individually on DVD is coming this Tuesday

I may be many things. A troll is not one of them.

Neil