Hey, the series expands, so not everyone's going to like every part of it, that's all I can say. Immerse yourself in the parts you like instead of being stuck on the parts you hate.
I saw these at the store the other day. When I noticed the depth of the case, I started wondering - what are the discs packed in? It looked like a Digipak, and I was just interested in seeing the packaging. (I actually like the external designs, at least, on these sets better than any of the other DVDs)
I've built up a DVD collection for almost 10 years, so I'm not keen on converting (until/unless they stop releasing movies on DVD). At a store I saw clips of Spider-man 2 in a video showing off the quality of Blu-Ray on an HDTV, and it made everything look faker (I can only imagine what older movies look like).
I like having physical copies because I don't like having to back things up all the time. Plus I'm sentimental and like displaying a collection. :P
RE: the Sail Barge scenes - is the sand supposed to look that orange? Just seems weird to me. In the other movies I remember it a lot lighter.
Johnny Ringo said:the ONE thing they really should have taken from the OT was to introduce a core group of characters - and stick with them. Introducing background characters purely to be fodder later on is a bit weak. A lot of the Jedi never spoke onscreen or were referred to by name, yet we were meant to feel something for them when things went pear shaped.
Number20 said:Instead of so many throwaway villains, they should of stuck with one or two and carried them through. I remember that it was suggested on here back in time that it would of been better if Grevious turned out to be Darth Maul. At least then there would of been a connection between TPM and ROTS and a reason for Obi-Wan to really be after Grevious.
Another waste of great potential was Dooku. He started out with so much potential, then killed off in the first 10 minutes of ROTS. Why not carry him through to the end, or maybe have him turn out to be genuinely good, and the only one who realizes what is really going on, and nobody else believes him, turning him into a tragic character?
Ah man, ain't it the truth? I think it would have helped if the same actor had at least played Anakin throughout the series. I think that Yoda was too involved, and we didn't see enough out of Palps or Bail.
To top it off, we don't really have a figurehead villain, like we did in the OT with Vader. Maul, Jango, and Grievous could have easily been one character. Plus there wasn't much point to Sidious. Dooku should have looked like the mastermind of the prequels, until he got offed in the last one and it turns out he was a puppet to begin with.
That being said, I was thrilled by the prequels (at least when I first saw each of them). Looking back, they weren't masterpieces, but they could've been worse. Actually, I kind of prefer Phantom to the other 2. Hehe.
I used to be obsessed with the EU from about when I was 10 to 13. After tuning out a few years, I came back and, reading online, I thought God, what were they thinking? Every character who was onsreen for 2 seconds needs an in-depth story, and every discrepancy between installments has to be explained with some drawn-out technobabble. The way they've explained everything leaves bupkis to the imagination. Everything's part of a bigger picture.
There are some stories that are pretty cool. Everyone likes Zahn's stuff. I like the Infinities comics because they can get away with anything. Plus some of the games are fun, like Rogue Leader, Jedi Outcast and KOTOR. I like the shorter, self-contained stories than ongoing arcs.
I didn't bother to see the Clone Wars movie last summer, but I watched a couple of episodes on TV last week, and I actually liked it. It's a campy cartoon - that's basically what Star Wars is to me. Forget the moapy 20-book soap operas they're pushing now - just distract me with some adventure for a half hour. :P
Haha I actually figured that would happen to me. :P Only I was on Ubuntu, and I was too lazy to boot Windows so I could tool around in PhotoShop.
I 'm sure you can do it if you're using PhotoShop.
First, you'll want to use just the solid version of the font for the graphic.
Now if you left click on the layer while holding the control key, you'll select the entire area of the text (given it's the only solid object in the layer).
From here, go to a menu at the top called "Select" or "Selection", then scroll down to "modify" and choose "Contract".
Do it by a small number of pixels at first to make the black background for the text. Keeping the contracted selection, use the paint bucket and fill the selection with black.
Finally, go back to the original layer, contract the selection more, and delete the selection. If I explained that right, the text should be hollow now.
I just had a thought recently, not to edit the films themselves but to bookend them with some short clips. Basically, like how a story arc on a TV show might have a cold opening recaping major events from the previous installment, and a post-credits scene would show clips from the next story. I liked the idea to simultaneously connect the movies while allowing them to be easily understood by newbs when viewed separately.
Phantom and Hope would have to give away the least details in the beginning - I think Phantom would just be a collection of clips from all 6 movies, maybe with Obi-Wan’s speech about the Jedi Knights being the guardians of the Republic. Meanwhile Hope could maybe show a few clips from Sith, like Order 66 or Vader on the operating table without giving too much away (so you can watch from 1-6 or 4-6, 1-3).
So that’s the idea.
Interesting what you're doing with the logos, but I find the varying line weights distracting. I think the outlines of the bigger letters should be the same as the smaller letters, while the smallest words, like "the" and "of" should just be solid.
I think it's interesting using different colors for the opening crawls, but Jedi needs to be lighter (nothing really wrong with Empire,but the blue crawl does remind me of Spaceballs. :P)
bkev said:That last Empire logo you showed is perfect for both the OUT discs and your regular plans.
*wants his own set of Faces DVD covers, but can't remember where he saw them*
Nah, the color's too low-intensity to fit with the normal ones (it's supposed to look silver).
I saw those face covers somewhere in this thread and saved them, if you want copies. I still can't really use them because the top half is covered. I'm going ahead and putting out an open request right here for some high-res scans of those VHS or LaserDisc releases, posters, or really anything with those graphics on them. I just want to have enough material to edit the logos out.
Sluggo said:Great work with those logos! It is nice to see this thread still kicking!
Thanks, man. This is probably my biggest success in graphic design.
I'm still playing around with the logos a little bit (the Empire thing is at the back of my head ATM). I came up with different colors for the OUT discs (basically ripped from the logos on the '97 soundtracks).
More importantly, I've worked on the actual layout for the cover. I'm close to what I want for the whole case now.
The squares will eventually be filled with various publicity shots (trying to think of some good shots to use). I'm still looking for some higher-res scans of the face designs for the back (and I'll probably have to cobble them together from a few sources, due to different positioning and visibility on various items).
I'm toying with a few adaptations of these designs, too. I have a Blu-Ray version of the front and the front panel for the soundtrack.
I think Boba should be left alone in the OT. I actually liked him better before I knew he had a name.
A few suggestions for Jedi -
-Others have been talking about distinguishing the shuttles more - I think that's a good idea. Someone was experimenting earlier with turning the Tyderium into one of the Revenge shuttles. Maybe give the Emperor's some special markings like we see on ships in the prequels.
And I know audio can be a bitch to edit, but since I got the soundtracks to the trilogy a few years ago, a lot of edits in the movie have bothered me. Empire's not so bad, the edits in Jedi are more arbitrary and annoying.
Empire -
-The original cue "Snowspeeders Take Flight" is replaced with an arrangement of "Hyperspace" with an awkward sort of cut towards the end (it's passable, though - the original sounds a little goofy)
-The first reveal of the Empire's fleet - the standard Imperial March works pretty well here, but there was originally another cue supposed to play here (continuing unused music from the probe droid scene)
-A bit from "Yoda and the Force" is reused to lead into the finale, but since it doesn't really replace anything, BFD
Jedi -
-When Leia first enters as Boushh with Chewie, the beginning of the cue is replaced with an excerpt from when Luke confronts Vader on the landing pad.
-In the scene when Luke enters Jabba's throne room, the middle of the cue is replaced with an excerpt from the duel later (The "You have a twin sister!" part).
-The beginning of the scene when Luke and Leia are talking on Endor tracks music from Empire ("Yoda and the Force")
-When Luke tries to kill the Emperor, a clip is played from later when the Emperor orders him to kill Vader
-When Lando and Wedge are about to enter the core, the beginning of "Through the Flames" is replaced with more music from Empire ("Losing a Hand")
Yeah, Empire's given me some trouble. There's either too much blue or too much red, depending on which copy I've made. Take a look at this edit - went into PhotoShop, -15 in the Hue window.
Left new vs. right old
Dredge - a long one, too.
Creating covers for the Star Wars movies is something I've been itching to do for ages, but I've only recently learned the software I need to accomplish that.
Earlier when I was designing covers, I went for the more uniform "Episode I"-type logos, and each cover highlighted with gold and silver, like the official covers. But recently I've become more nostalgic for my first experiences with the movies back in the '90s, when the movies were set apart from each other more. (The logos and color schemes are pretty directly inspired by the '95 "face" videos).
Logos
I took the basic idea from this tutorial, which I liked for the grungy look it had. Here's what I've worked on:
I made an alternate version of the New Hope logo, basically cos it was close to this on the '95 and '97 videos, plus casual viewers identify with the movie as just "Star Wars" anyway.
This is a logo I was working on for the front of the box set. Going back farther, to the '80s, for inspiration this time - the action figures' logo.
Covers
I plan on using official artwork for each movie, instead of those photo collages on the official DVDs. The main covers will all use Drew Struzan's poster art (but I'm making alternative covers for the unaltered OT, using art from the original releases).
I'm considering altering some of the posters, though. Struzan's art for the '97 special editions feature stars shooting out from inside the frame, starting in Empire and spreading out to Hope and Jedi. I wanted to incorporate these features in the other posters for consistency (since there isn't really a consistent style for the Pre-SE posters, this would also provide a greater sense of unity throughout the set). Here's an early attempt I posted on DeviantArt. I know it seems blasphemous to alter the original artwork at all, but I'm open to alternatives.
It took me a long time to figure out how to line up the artwork consistently on each cover, but I've got a layout working now. Here's a mockup of what I plan for the fronts:
As for the back covers, I'm still playing with a few ideas. One idea I want to try is to use the old "face" covers in some way (with original creations for the prequels).
Box
Somehow, I want to include Noriyoshi Ohrai's "starfall" poster art for Return of the Jedi on the actual box cover. On the other side, my idea is to play on the the "faces" concept again, this time with Vader and Hayden.
The End?
It's all a work-in-progress, and I'm not exactly experienced, so I'd like to hear opinions and suggestions. I've got scraps and brainstorms on my DeviantArt profile, and I upload stuff there a lot of the time, if you want to take a look. Later.