Whatever happened to Gaffer Tape?
They’ve posted as recently as November 2019, so I imagine that they check back on occasion.
Yeah. A very strange experience, but it wasn’t actually a bad one. It was more like looking at a Salvador Dali painting than watching a movie with a plot and characters, if that makes sense.
Sorry to just now be responding, Ziggy. I genuinely missed your comment for a while.
I’d like to finish up this edit and some other projects which are stuck in limbo, but my workstation isn’t currently set up for editing or writing. For Christmas I got a big graphics tablet so I’ve moved everything to a dual monitor setup and built a table for all this to focus on getting some form of an art career off the ground…so yeah. Really I just need another monitor to quickly switch back to a normal computer workflow, and eventually that will happen and I can get back to editing and writing.
As to why I haven’t rendered a decent version of the edit, the new Hosnian destruction is still a work in progress and its placement back in the Oscillator sequence means that the Starkiller destruction must be reworked as well. It shouldn’t take that long once I’ve gotten in there since it’s mostly pulling out a lot of the duct tape and spackle that I originally put there to hold that part together, reverting it to its theatrical version.
Other than that, I want to test out that idea for an alternate Poe interrogation since that bit of the edit isn’t finished even in the workprint. The last big thing would be to rework the dream sequence after Rey is captured by Poe. I don’t think it works, and I might just break down and put the completed Jakku vision back in after Rey’s dinner since she’s apparently got the Force in her blood due to the current canon. As long as we get a tease of Luke’s island somewhere in the film before her vision at the end, I’m happy.
I’d like to do a rough version, if I break down and buy it instead of watching on Disney+. There are some things where I have no idea if they could even work, especially the Rebel briefing scene which would be split into two scenes. Each of these would have to convey sufficient cause for Jyn to go to the next location, and there’s some awkwardness in the fact that she must visit Yavin 4 three times for this edit to work.
A sticking point in my head is that the Rebel Alliance at no point says that they have knowledge of actionable intelligence in Saw’s possession, which I feel like might be an issue going into act two. It might feel like the Jedah business is little more than following up on a potential lead rather than a critically important intelligence operation.
The biggest issue though is that this edit is intended to make Jyn a more active protagonist, yet there are few instances of her taking charge before act three. It would be really helpful if she said that she knew where her father was, or if she decided to go herself, or her deciding to go to Jedah so she could discover the final message of her father. Trouble is, those lines don’t exist so it may feel like she’s still just as passive as before.
Yesterday we watched Rogue One followed by Star Wars 4K77.
I realized that due to working on my years-long project of shot-by-shot color correction of A New Hope, the experience of watching Star Wars has broken down into a series of varying emotional reactions to the colors on screen. For example, I was forced to remark several times on the beauty of particular shots while gazing sadly at those that failed to live up to the Technicolor standard. The story of the film and its greater universe totally disappeared while in this state, even though we just finished watching Rogue One.
I was also struck by the massive stylistic difference between Star Wars and almost all subsequent entries in the series. It truly is surrealist fantasy, and time only serves to make this more apparent. From the way ships fly at the speed of feeling through impressionistic space to the visible seams between live action and painted location, the film plays like a dream. And like a dream, as it ended I felt I couldn’t say what happened or why, only that it felt like a place apart, a place of myth and adventure.
Truly strange.
After rewatching Rogue One today, I realized that there’s no dedicated thread to this concept from the general thread:
I have some new ideas for the edit now, so in brief:
The first scene is of Jyn as a child and the director’s visit. Krennic promises to keep the mother and child safe. We see Lyra’s hatred of Krennic and her death, but Galen’s part is unclear. There is no talk of him being morally opposed to the construction project, so it could be reasonably construed that Lyra was the only one against it. After Lyra’s death, immediately cut to Jyn waking up in prison.
We are introduced to Cassian at the trading post, and learn of the Death Star.
Next we have Jyn being ‘rescued’ from Imperial prison.
Jyn is brought to the Rebel base, where the talk focuses on Galen. The implication is that Jyn knows where he is, and the commander threatens to put her back in prison if she doesn’t tell them everything. Mon Mothma says that they want to extract Galen to testify in the Senate.
Outside, Cassian is told to ignore Mothma’s order and kill Galen due to the risk of him building a functioning superweapon.
Tarkin meets Krennic about the security breach on Jedah, saying that the station must be tested immediately. Perhaps add a line from later saying that the pilot was from Eadu. Krennic says that he will not fail.
There’s a brief scene of Jyn dreaming of Coruscant, and mutterings in the other room of the apartment. The word ‘Eadu’ is heard. Jyn wakes up, and they have arrived at Galen’s facility.
The U-wing crashes on the surface. Only Cassian, K2, and Jyn are clearly identifiable on board. Jyn goes to get her father and Cassian goes with a faceless rebel to a vantage point to assassinate Galen.
The Yavin base sends reinforcements to carry out the assassination after losing contact with their team.
Krennic arrives for Galen, and it is only here that Jyn and Cassian get a clear idea that Galen himself is the defector. Krennic mutters to Galen about Jedah and the weapon’s power, now cast as a threat of future action. The X-wings attack and kill Galen, who as he dies speaks to Jyn about her being Stardust and how there’s so much for him yet to tell her.
Back on board the stolen transport, Jyn and Cassian have their row. Cassian says that Yavin should expect a stolen shuttle.
Jyn has a flashback to the day her father was taken from her. She recalls fleeing to a cave and being rescued by Saw. She comes out of the reverie as Mon Mothma is talking. She is saying that the Rebellion has no choice but to repair the trust between themselves and Saw’s organization. Jyn asks what she will get in return for helping them get through the door, and it is only here that the Rebellion offers her freedom.
They get a new U-wing and they talk of trust as Cassian allows Jyn a blaster. They blast off for Jedah.
Bodhi is taken by Saw in a combination of his scenes and is given over to Bor Gullet.
The crew arrives on Jedah and the scenes play out as before. Jyn hears her father’s last message, and realizing that she was the one who killed him with her doubt and giving up his location, she breaks down. He doesn’t say the specifics of a sabotage to the Death Star, just that it has a weakness. His transmission is garbled in those places and they flee the destruction of the weapon. They return directly to Jedah.
The final act needs no changes. There is Krennic’s meeting with Vader, Jyn’s plea to the council, stealing the Imperial transport that they got in act one, etc. I would only change the ending so that the final shot of the film is of Vader watching the departing Tantive IV.
…
The reason I enjoy this structure is that it gives Jyn a very personal, tragic part to play in the story from the beginning instead of her wandering through a series of scenes and situations until act two, at which point she’s still merely an observer. Now her trust in the Rebellion is broken in act one and must be rebuilt through the rest of the film. She also doesn’t need to take the hologram of her father from Jedah since it doesn’t give any specifics of a weakness, only a destination. The screentime of the supporting crew are concentrated in acts two and three instead of being wasted on the Eadu sidequest, which now focuses entirely on Jyn and Cassian.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Deepfake them with low-resolution images of their own faces, perhaps becoming progressively distorted throughout the film.
Anakin and Obi-wan’s Final Battle Would Have Smelled Slightly Like a Car Air Freshener - A Video Essay By StarWarsTheory
If the OT was released in today’s climate, it would receive the exact same level of ridicule as the prequels and sequels.
Sorry, but this isn’t a sentiment that makes sense to me. To focus just on the original film; it was like nothing people had ever seen in '77 with special effects that were invented for the movie and made by a group of world-class talents at the pinnacle of their skills, and which tapped into the zeitgeist so deeply that most of the people in the US had seen the movie, mostly through word-of-mouth, by the time it left theaters.
To extract the film from its historical context and compare it to something released today is ludicrous, especially since it would undoubtedly suffer John Carter issues where it is seen as predictable due to the multitude of films that had been made in emulation of the elements which made Star Wars great. It’s like saying the moon landing wasn’t actually that great because we know how to make better spaceships and would do that differently today.
Finally, you say ‘in today’s climate’, but I assume you mean in the climate of the Star Wars fandom or movie fans in general. People are always comparing new movies in a franchise to the originals, so these films couldn’t be released ‘in today’s climate’, because that same climate has been built out of expectations set by…the originals.
Here’s an acid test - if the originals were objectively no better than the prequels or sequels, with rudimentary and sometimes embarrassingly dated effects, then I guarantee that there would be talks to remake them. Robocop, The Thing, Final Recall…they all got the remake treatment. But films like Blade Runner, 2001, Indiana Jones…nobody even considers a remake even though they would have massive name recognition, and I think we all know the reason for that isn’t some arcane legal one.
Read my comment just before this one where I said I like the originals more than the prequels or sequels. I also said my comment was more of a critique of movie reviews in general.
I like your NASA analogy. Yes the OT was a groundbreaking achievement, certainly more so than the prequels or sequels. I’m a fan of the Saturn V rocket. I have a model of it displayed in my movie room. The moon landing was an incredible achievement. But to use your same analogy, would be like saying the Space Shuttle or Falcon 9 are inferior to the Saturn V, even though technologically superior, just because they weren’t around for the moon landing. I’m sure the SR-71 is superior to what the Wright brothers flew. I’m just saying if you evaluate them on their own, side by side. But I see your point about being groundbreaking for their time.
Again though, my comment was more of a critique of the mudslinging reviews that are popular now. How people go on a seek and destroy mission with a hate-for-clicks revenue stream. I’m not one who thinks movie making has significantly declined. I think reviews have become too critical. I love the Original Trilogy. But when I look at them objectively, I see similar flaws in them that people lambaste other movies for. If social media was around back then, the contrarians would have had plenty to say about the OT.
Not so sure your comment about remakes will stand the test of time though. I think everything will be remade eventually. Interstellar is extremely similar to 2001. They wouldn’t remake Blade Runner because slow brooding noir isn’t known for box office results. Look at BR 2049. Blade Runner is another of my favorites by the way. I think Indiana Jones will get rebooted with another actor very soon actually.
I love the OT, but I don’t think it’s irreproachable, and I also think other movies, especially those in the Star Wars franchise, get critiqued on a whole other level.
Certainly everything with name recognition will be in danger of eventual remakeland, but famous movies are usually famous for being exceptional in some way. From what I’ve heard, the remakes of each of the movies I listed were fairly standard and unexceptional. It’s the catch-22 of remakes; for a film to be considered for a remake it has to be of unusually high quality, but any remake is unlikely to escape mediocrity itself. The exceptions to this rule where people are interested in a remake of a boring mess of a film, like Dune or Eragon, are themselves adaptations of source material which is of above average quality in the first place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxwEX_J_6CQ
Obi-wan finally admits it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJT1P9PlVGo
A look at how the Death Star might move through Hyperspace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNxa9ec3N9M
Some short amusing things.
I can already imagine the fanedits pulling out Eadu and filling runtime with parts of the show.
There’s already a shuttle visible in the wreckage of the Death Star.
Boba flies high above the Great Pit of Carkoon and prepares to unleash a dizzying array of missile-based weaponry from his armor. His targeting system locks on to Luke, Han, R2, Lando, even Leia and C-3PO. He looks at Luke. “For my father…Jedi.” he growls in an Australian accent. Suddenly a tentacle shoots out of the Sarlacc beak, ensnaring the formidable bounty-hunter. He turns his attention to the menace beneath him, but his weapons can’t get a lock. He fires missiles at the Sarlacc but they go wide and he is dragged down into the depths.
Luke stares at the pit as a deep rumbling is heard. He races to the other side of the barge, Leia in tow. “Let’s go, and don’t forget the droids!” He shouts, swinging to freedom. Behind them the pit ignites in a fireball of Mandalorian glory, engulfing the sail barge and sending Jabba’s crime syndicate into the stratosphere.
If the OT was released in today’s climate, it would receive the exact same level of ridicule as the prequels and sequels.
Sorry, but this isn’t a sentiment that makes sense to me. To focus just on the original film; it was like nothing people had ever seen in '77 with special effects that were invented for the movie and made by a group of world-class talents at the pinnacle of their skills, and which tapped into the zeitgeist so deeply that most of the people in the US had seen the movie, mostly through word-of-mouth, by the time it left theaters.
To extract the film from its historical context and compare it to something released today is ludicrous, especially since it would undoubtedly suffer John Carter issues where it is seen as predictable due to the multitude of films that had been made in emulation of the elements which made Star Wars great. It’s like saying the moon landing wasn’t actually that great because we know how to make better spaceships and would do that differently today.
Finally, you say ‘in today’s climate’, but I assume you mean in the climate of the Star Wars fandom or movie fans in general. People are always comparing new movies in a franchise to the originals, so these films couldn’t be released ‘in today’s climate’, because that same climate has been built out of expectations set by…the originals.
Here’s an acid test - if the originals were objectively no better than the prequels or sequels, with rudimentary and sometimes embarrassingly dated effects, then I guarantee that there would be talks to remake them. Robocop, The Thing, Final Recall…they all got the remake treatment. But films like Blade Runner, 2001, Indiana Jones…nobody even considers a remake even though they would have massive name recognition, and I think we all know the reason for that isn’t some arcane legal one.
Later, Hux gives his speech and then we see the fleet jump away into hyperspace.
Scene test!
Now, I really don’t know how to handle the Resistance briefing scene. All I’ve managed to do is change Poe’s line from “Lower the shield, destroy that oscillator, and blow up their big gun” to “…blow up their base”
I would play with having him still say ‘This fierce machine which you have built…will bring an end to the senate, to their cherished fleet’ since he could be using the word ‘machine’ to suggest the First Order war machine in general.
Oh, that’s what you focus on, the lack of eye stalks? Why isn’t anyone complimenting him on his delicious, succulent marbling?
Spotted weird mistake on Ajan Kloss, Poe’s X-Wing on the Resistance Base set only appears to have 1 s-foil either side when it should be 2 by 2,
The image doesn’t work, but are you aware that the s-foils of the sequel X-wings lie one behind the other instead of stacked on top of each other?
I think some sort of full shot is needed, just to see what’s going on with these new elements.
I wonder if there’s any part of the destruction of Kijimi that could be used.
As I understand it, a movie not having ‘tight’ writing doesn’t mean it has plotholes per say, just that it isn’t as efficient with its scenes/dialogue/plot as another movie.
I don’t have an opinion on if ANH or ESB has tighter writing, since they are both incredibly efficient with the amount of character/plot progression per minute of screentime. Even ROTJ is fairly tight in terms of bringing the Luke/Vader relationship to a conclusion.
I think a good example of flabby writing would be Anakin/Padme in AOTC, where they have a half-dozen scenes which don’t move their characters forward at all in the eyes of the audience. Another is the Exegol plot from TROS, where our characters go to four or five locations just to find a mcGuffin while barely developing as characters at all. But again, the problem is a lack of character progression per scene, not necessarily how flabby/nonsensical the plot becomes. Tight writing, in this case, does not equal a tight plot. Fury Road has a simplistic, borderline stupid plot, but it packs so much character work into each scene that one would never call the writing flabby.
It’s also a funny line.
Besides, the opening crawl says “first major victory”. I didn’t expect the Rebel alliance to have had absolutely no success against the Empire before that, I just expected it to be smaller victories, which is what we see in Rebels.
What?
It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have won
their first victory against
the evil Galactic Empire.
And yes, you could lawyer your way out of the victory on Lothal, but that’s weasel words.
The point is that I can’t imagine they will hold to a single brief line from a less-than-popular movie if it means keeping the main character out of the show.
