I don’t think I’ve ever posted in this thread because I have no knowledge or sources that could begin to add to the plethora here. But thank you, poita. And, far more importantly, good luck to you all.
I completely understand if you choose to remain silent on this question, Harmy. But I’ve been wondering (as I’m sure many have) with everything happening surrounding teamnegative1 and the unfortunate circumstances with poita, will this have any effect on your current or future plans?
With all the awesome projects being released recently, I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to finally upgrade to a blu ray burner. Trouble is, my budget is tight and my laptop is ancient. All of the external USB blu ray burners I’ve found have minimum requirements much higher than my machine.
I’m using an HP Pavillion with an AMD Turion 64 chip at 1.9GHz and 2GB RAM. If anyone has any suggestions (other than buying a new laptop, which is sadly out of the question right now) I’m all ears.
So what exactly has been released? From what I gather a version of this is out there already, but it’s not the finalized release tn1 is planning?
My apologies for having to ask. I’ve tried to skim as much as I can of this thread but I have a toddler and a newborn and reading all 120 pages will take me months… I barely had time to make this post!
I jumped in before realizing what had been done, like the Grindhouse ESB earlier on.
This is a test issue basically that is the 35 Eastman/LPP mix of prints. v2.0. A later v2.5 will be finalized and include stereo and mono. Also, TN1 have a preview of the IB R5.
I didn’t realize until now, but this preliminary copy only has the GOUT DVD 2.0 ac3 synced to it.
Thank you! So it sounds like I’d be safe waiting for the next (soon to come?) version that is more finalized if I’m not in a hurry anyway.
So what exactly has been released? From what I gather a version of this is out there already, but it’s not the finalized release tn1 is planning?
My apologies for having to ask. I’ve tried to skim as much as I can of this thread but I have a toddler and a newborn and reading all 120 pages will take me months… I barely had time to make this post!
Thanks for the replies! Yeah I saw it in 70mm on a proper flat IMAX screen in Indianapolis opening weekend, and it was WELL worth it and was incredibly immersive (especially the Falcon escape sequence).
I made a special trip just for that and am glad I did. But this time I’m just gonna be in Saint Louis for work and saw that they’re still showing the 70mm print when I’ll be there so I thought I might try to take advantage of it. But seeing it’s a dome theater gave me pause.
I just don’t understand why they show normally formatted movies and documentaries on the domes. It really hurts the experience IMO. And as one person above implied when he mentioned on the dome the falcon escape scene expanded some, but not a lot - you’re not seeing the full image. Since the screen is more or less a circle, it cuts off all the corners. I’ve never seen anything that discusses or calculates this, but I’d bet you’re easily losing 25% of the image. Maybe more.
And it’s all the more baffling when you find out that at least some of the dome theaters can rotate the dome up out of the way and reveal a full size normal flat IMAX screen behind it. The obvious intent being that the theater can show any IMAX film on the proper screen for which it is formatted. But the handful of theaters I’ve been to that have this capability never seem to use it and just project everything on the dome.
It’s a shame too b/c if you ever have the chance to see a film that was actually shot for the dome with the special lenses and everything they really are quite amazing. And unlike a normal film on the dome, you don’t have to lie flat in your seat and stare straight up because the special fisheye lense they use is calibrated to put the focus near the bottom of the image. So the focus is out in front of you, NOT In the middle of the image which is actually high above your head.
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JEDIT: In that image, not only can you see how the optical axis is NOT in the center of the frame, you can see just how much of the frame is cut off on the dome screen…
I thought I’d make a thread specifically for discussing the (awesome!) 70mm print IMAX screenings since previous discussion had been scattered around in various other threads.
Anyway, I’d like to start out by asking if anyone here has seen it at the Omnimax/IMAX Dome in Saint Louis, or any of the other dome theaters that have shown it? I’d like to know how bad the distortion in the image is when projected on the dome screen. Was it really bad? Did you even notice?
I might have a chance to see this in 15/70 a second time in Saint Louis but I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth the trouble it would be to get to the theater (I won’t have a car and I’ll be way across town from the museum/theater). Part of me of course says, “absolutely! You may never get to see another Star Wars film in 70mm again!” But the other part of me says “eh… I’ve seen non dome-formatted IMAX documentaries on a dome screen before and it kind of sucked…”
Excellent point. At least he only does it once though.
Below is a link to a little half hour documentary ESPN aired recently. It’s about the lightsaber duels in Star Wars and the real world martial art - kendo - that was one of the key influences in developing them. The part on the OT is quite good. The part on the PT is absolute bupkis as nothing in the PT even remotely resembles actual kendo. I laughed when George trotted out the tired old “faster and more intense.” And I almost choked when Nick Gillard demonstrated his “kendo” and then how he “evolved” it into the prequel baton twirling (his kendo demonstration was utter garbage and not even close to proper technique - he didn’t even grip the sword correctly, which is something even a novice with only a few lessons should be able to do).
I’ve noticed that while Bob Anderson’s noted as an accomplished fencer and fight chereographer, Gillard’s only ever been described as a stunt man/coordinator. Makes me wonder if the guy actually has any real knowledge of swordplay whatsoever.
My educated guess would be no. If anything, he might have some knowledge of some form of Kung fu, as that’s what a lot of his twirly spinny moves most closely resemble in my eyes. But I’m no expert on Kung fu and have never studied it in any form. What very little of it I have seen, specifically regarding sword use, often seems more flashy acrobatics than genuine combat. Much like the prequels… Heck, ray Park (Darth Maul) is a Kung fu guy.
But strictly speaking about Nick Gillard, I’ve only seen little clips of him in interviews like this and behind the scenes stuff, but making a judgement solely on that info I’d have to guess he doesn’t know a thing about real sword fighting. There’s just too many things in his choreography that are blatantly showy and have no remote basis in anything that actually works (such as holding your sword with one hand behind your back at 90 degrees to the incoming sword while you do a pirouette and thinking you have a snowball’s chance in hell of actually stopping that attack and not being severely wounded). His choreography often makes the same mistake that so many novices make - assuming that just because you put your sword between you and your opponent’s as he attacks then you’ve successfully blocked his attack. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sparred with someone new to kendo and still struck them even though they held their sword up in my way. You can generate so much force so easily with proper technique that their sword just bounces out of the way and you still make a strong cut into the target. He also has his opponents turn their backs on each other with spins WAY too much to get away with, IMO.
It’s not entirely unheard of to spin past your opponent, exposing your back to them, in sword fighting (there are some very specific instances in kendo where it’s the fastest way to get past your opponent and get your sword pointed back at them again) but it is generally a VERY bad idea with terrible consequences. Luke does it once or twice that I can remember in the OT, but at least one of those times (in ESB) is actually credible because he’s pinned against a wall and ducks under Vader’s attack as he spins away and out onto the catwalk.
I think a good litmus test might be to see if Gillard has ever choreographed any other movie sword fights and see how they compare to the prequels. I’ve never bothered to look into that…
Oh, and I just have to say I LOVE what JJ says about which are his favorite lightsaber duels and why towards the end of that show! As he kind of implies, in any movie conflict (whether swords are involved or not) the characters and the drama between them is SO MUCH more important than any choreography. It’s the same concept as that line from Lucas about “a special effect with no story isn’t very interesting.”
Below is a link to a little half hour documentary ESPN aired recently. It’s about the lightsaber duels in Star Wars and the real world martial art - kendo - that was one of the key influences in developing them. The part on the OT is quite good. The part on the PT is absolute bupkis as nothing in the PT even remotely resembles actual kendo. I laughed when George trotted out the tired old “faster and more intense.” And I almost choked when Nick Gillard demonstrated his “kendo” and then how he “evolved” it into the prequel baton twirling (his kendo demonstration was utter garbage and not even close to proper technique - he didn’t even grip the sword correctly, which is something even a novice with only a few lessons should be able to do).
But it’s kind of nice to see this considering I’ve enjoyed having several discussions about the sword fights in Star Wars both here on OT.com and elsewhere. Especially because I’ve often related and used my own personal experience with Olympic style fencing and nearly a decade of practicing Kendo to try to enhance the conversation and educate anyone who may not know much about sword combat. And this doc does a pretty good job giving succinct visual representations of things I’ve often tried to describe with words. Just ignore all the garbage about the prequels being anything remotely like kendo b/c that part is total BS.
I seem to recall a great deal of Star Wars lore indicating that the dark side is the quick and easy path, wherein its weilders often learn powerful tricks swiftly, but at the cost of other skills, particularly with self mastery. I could easily see a Dark user like Kylo Ren, who is clearly powerful and talented, but also immature and lacking in self control, performing such a potent move, but in a rage motivated battle losing to someone inherently stronger.
This is a GREAT observation and needs to be spread all over the Internet. Seriously!
Just a random thought:
I’ve seen people here and elsewhere mention Kylo Ren stopping the laser blast mid-air with the force as being different, or a little hard to swallow, or unusual, or whathaveyou. As if it’s some totally new use of the force that has no precedent and came out of left field. Not really outright complaints so much as just something that stood out and is taking some getting used to.
But I have to ask, do people not remember Darth Vader stopping Han Solo’s shots with the palms of his hands in ESB? It’s always been one of my favorite force uses as it just makes him seem completely unstoppable by mere mortals. Kylo’s display seems like a totally natural and logical extension/progression of that ability. And it was really cool too!
I’ve been hesitant to post my opinion of the film until it had plenty of time to settle. I’ve seen it twice now and feel like my opinion is pretty well formed. My first viewing was 70mm IMAX at the Indiana State Museum and it was spectacular and incredibly immersive. My second was just a standard 2d digital projection at an Alamo Drafthouse (snagged a couple of those cool Millennium Falcon menus too!).
I had a blast watching the film the first time. It made Star Wars fun again, which was a big deal. But it wasn’t perfect. The thing that stood out the most while watching it was the cgi characters (yellow yoda, Snoke, whatever digital trickery they did to Carrie Fisher’s face) all stood out prominently as looking fake on such a large format with such striking clarity. But some other things felt off too - Death Star 3 in particular left a sour taste to me. But I walked out of the theater happy and with a gut reaction that it was as least as good as ROTJ… Maybe better.
Then as days went by and I thought about it more and read others’ thoughts the problems in the film started to irk me more. Did they REALLY have to ape the plot of the original film SO MUCH? Did they really have to make Starkiller Base yet another Death Star? That and many of the other complaints/issues that have been brought up ad nauseam began to take their toll on my opinion of the movie, but I knew I needed to see it again before I could make up my mind.
When I saw it the second time, I had the same reaction I’ve seen others on here mention. All those problems melted away and I just had a really fun time. The cgi was much more palatable (i even though maz kanata actually looked good and I couldn’t see anything weird about Leia’s face - though I have a feeling the much smaller screen and lower resolution helped that tremendously). The plot structure was fine and even Starkiller Base didn’t bother me despite how lazy it was. The characters are so good, fun, and likable that the films problems fade into the background. Han and Chewie really steal the show for me, but the new characters are all great too. I especially like Kylo Ren. He’s so different from the villains we’ve seen in the previous movies. I really like the idea of him wanting to be dark but struggling with the pull of the light. Can’t wait to see how that pans out in future films.
So overall, my initial gut reaction has held fast. I like it just as much as Return of the Jedi which is a huge step in the right direction for the franchise as a whole. It will take some time and several more viewings before I can really sort out exactly where TFA stands in relation to ROTJ (SW and ESB are on such a high pedestal that I seriously doubt anything else will ever come close), but for now I’m just happy to steal a line from someone else around here: there is finally a fourth Star Wars film!
I met Peter Mayhew at San Diego Comic Con a number of years ago. Met Dave Prowse at Dallas Fan Days 2 or 3 years ago. Bought 8x10 photos from each to get their autographs. They are both very large individuals with enormous hands. Also both very pleasant to talk to.
Yeah, if they’d just release an update that allowed you to play all the multiplayer stuff offline against bots I’d be happy as a clam.
At any rate, played some more single player today and OMG is this game an absolute blast!
Yeah I saw the free 2 day trial. It’s almost entirely worthless to me as I’m able to play maybe an hour a day tops (married, kids, basically no free time). Which also makes the subscription service seem rather a waste of money. I knew it was primarily a multiplayer game but I just assumed it was like the previous Battlefront games where you could play all the multiplayer stuff offline against bots if you wanted. Rather disappointed that’s not the case. Even more so considering what single player options there are are TREMENDOUSLY fun to me and I want so badly to play the rest of the content! I know a lot of people find this kind of game shallow, especially if you play alone. But for me it’s perfect because I can jump right in for 30 minutes while the kids are napping and have an absolute blast living out an awesome adrenaline filled Star Wars experience and then put it away as soon as they wake up without worrying about when I’ll be able to get back to it and finish that complex story-driven sequence. (I love great story driven games too, they’re just much harder to get into and play when you have such severely limited time available).
Oh well, I guess I’ll just enjoy the parts I can and hope the maybe dice will make the rest of the stuff available to single players in the future. Maybe I’ll look into trying the subscription just for kicks and see how it is. I saw something about a one or two week free trial for new members… Maybe it’s time to create an all new PSN login for my wife…
I got this game for Christmas and it is fantastic, but I haven’t played the online modes yet. Do you HAVE to have a PS+ subscription to play online? Is there any way to play the online game modes (essentially the heart of the game) without paying a subscription fee?
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but was the lightsaber ignition sound for anakin/lukes saber accurate to the OT? it sounded different to me
This annoyed me too. The first time Finn ignites it, it sounds like Vader’s saber to me. I was on alert for this after having replaced two saber sound effects for my Ep3 edit that were wrong. Then again, the DVD remaster has the ROTJ saber ignition used in ESB, so I’m not sure what they’re smoking.
Haha hal, something to fix in your future edit…
Can’t speak on the sound so much (though a number of effects such as blasters and the Falcon’s quad cannons definately sounded… Different…). But they totally got the power button wrong. In one shot (I think as he’s about to engage the riot trooper shock stick guy), Finn CLEARLY mashes the big red button near the top to ignite the saber. Trouble is, it’s clearly established in the OT (specifically, the very first time Luke ignites this same saber in obi-wan’s house, but plenty of other times too) that the power button is the big rectangular block located down nearer the black grips. This is further emphasized by the fact that ALL of the OT sabers have a similar big rectangular block that you see the actors pressing when turning them on or off, but none of the other OT sabers have a big red button.
I’m not sure why this minor detail bugged me so much, but it really got under my skin when I saw it. Like, I almost wanted to shout out in the theater, “that’s the wrong button!” Thankfully I constrained myself to an eye roll and, probably, a huff of indignance.
Article on the Library of Congress now having a 2K scan of original 1977 35mm reels.
http://mashable.com/2015/12/17/star-wars-original-cut/#ex7yxtMg4iq5
Need to get Empire and Jedi saved fast!
That article gets some things wrong. I visited the LOC several years ago as part of a research project that, sadly, ultimately fell apart and never amounted to anything. But, what I was researching was what elements they actually had and what condition they were in. They do NOT have negatives for any of the films. What they do have is 35mm prints of each film submitted as copyright deposits (basically, to copyright something you have to give them a copy for their records that can then be used as a reference if any claims go to court). These prints exist for both the original theatrical cuts, as well as the 1997 Special Editions.
I went to the Packard Campus, in Culpeper, VA which is where the massive cold storage vaults are located where they actually store their film archives. I got to get very hands on with the original copyright deposit prints. We looked at several reels of Star Wars (77) on their telecine (this is the print, and the telecine machine that were used to eventually make the 2k scan that the author of the above article got to watch). The film was very pink-shifted but otherwise still in rather good shape. And the telecine operator was able to do color correction on the fly as we watched the reel on his monitor. So the 2k transfer in the article is NOT exactly what the print looks like, as it HAS been color corrected from the faded reels, though no other work would have been done (at least, that was the plan they had while I was there).
I also got to look at reels from Empire and Jedi on a light table. Empire was much like Star Wars: rather pink, but otherwise in good shape. Jedi looked brand new, as if the print had been struck yesterday. The librarian could read all the gobbledygook info on the edges of the film and told me that Jedi was printed on a different film stock that was more stable than what Star Wars and Empire were on.
We also took a quick peak at the SEs and they al looked brand new as well, no surprise there.
I was an amateur researcher and the staff there was incredibly kind, helpful, and enthusiastic about the whole project. It was not long after my visit, though, that the films (definately Star Wars, but I think the entire OT) was elevated to preservation status and effectively made off limits to pretty much anyone except the actual preservation staff of the library.
It was an awesome experience, even if the project I was working on never came to fruition. I’ll never forget the thrill of holding actual prints of Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi that were really struck in 1977, 1980, and 1983!
I saw the 2D first and must say that’s the only way I’ll be viewing it from now on, unless I happen across a 70mm theater during the holidays (I just found out that my theater does have the Tarantino film in 70mm, though).
The 70mm prints are 2D. Only the digital IMAX screenings are 3D.
I’m pumped, my first viewing is gonna be …the 4am showing …
Please tell me that’s a typo.
Unfortunately not. It was the only showing that still had really good seats available and fit within my schedule. I’m flying in the day before and spending the night. I’ll go to the movie first thing and then fly home. It’s not terrible (at least to me) because I often have to wake up at ungodly early hours for work. So waking up at 3am to make the movie by 4 isn’t too big of a deal. And it’s a small price to pay to get the best possible seat at the best possible viewing experience…
FWIW, imax.com showed them also having a 7am showing, which I would’ve much preferred. But I couldn’t find the link to buy tickets for that time and when I contacted the theater they said they hadn’t officially added a 7am showtime as they were still evaluating the need for it based on demand. As of this posting they still haven’t added a 7am show.
Yeah, if my choices were either see it on a dome or don’t see it in 70mm at all, I’d certainly choose the dome. But I’ve seen non-dome formatted IMAX films projected on a dome before, and it’s really not ideal. I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to a non-dome IMAX and guarantee that I’ll see it in what I consider the absolute best possible theatrical experience. I’m really excited about it! I was pretty much going to have fly somewhere to see it in 15/70, so I might as well pick the best one I can get to. It didn’t matter to me which city it was in.
I’m pumped, my first viewing is gonna be 70mm IMAX at the Indiana State Museum. It’s the 4am showing on Saturday the 19th, but I had to wait for my December work schedule to buy tickets and all the good seats were sold out of any more reasonable showing time.
Also, I’m traveling 1014 miles to see it there, so I tried my best to have the flights work with me only spending one night there. Would’ve liked to go there and back in one day, but that was pretty much impossible.
I also searched high and low to find a theater that I could guarantee would NOT be projecting it on a dome and this was the closest I could find that worked within my work schedule.
So I’m watching the despecialized trilogy as a prelude to TFA this month. I was watching Star Wars tonight and a thought occurred to me. I vaguely remember seeing something about the edits made to the SE that mentioned a lot of the actual pyrotechnic explosions on the actors in the various shootouts on the Death Star were cut out. I remember it being that they wouldn’t cut the whole shot, but just snip the few frames that actually showed the blast.
Watching the DE it appears that, if these frames really were cut, they’ve been added back (thank goodness!). I’m just curious what source was used for this b/c it blends seamlessly as far as I could see.
Sorry if this has been answered before, it’s been a long time since I’ve bothered with anything detailing the SE, and I’ve long lost track of all the various minute things done to the DE to bring it back to its original glory.