timdiggerm

First word: fuck

"No. I am your father."

I've seen people say on here that, when editing ROTS, they want to preserve the Vader-is-Anakin reveal. Why?

I ask, because I don't remember ever not knowing this fact (disclosure: born in 1987). I don't remember ever being surprised by Vader's statement. I understand that, for 1980 audiences, this was a huge revelation, and it may have been the most memorable thing about the film, but does a surprise here really make ESB a better film?

So I guess part of the trees in the SE version are fake replacements?

Do you mean the forest, or the sky? If you mean the forest...it's the same forest. If you mean the sky... In the original, the clouds in the sky of Yavin IV are somehow behind Yavin. It's one of the 2004 changes that really, really made a lot of sense.

Music replacement might help make the approach to Otoh Gunga better. Mario Underwater music or something?

For me, I haven't had problems with audio echo... but I have had distraction issues with the audio jumps, particularly where you've looped or repeated a few seconds. It really takes you out of the film, if that makes sense.

The soundtrack, I assume he means.

Jay said:

The point of the avatars is to make it easier to see who started the topic

True, that's their current official purpose.

Avatars also serve as a visual reminder as to which threads are which, which is (for me, at least) quicker than reading the title. I get different threads confused when people switch avatars.

I think this is a great idea.

Yeah, but for some reason it's never mentioned in the films. So weird!

Anyway, back on subject...

And furthermore, woudln't you be able to have anti-lightsabre shielding pretty easily, then? Let's just give up on the physics of Star Wars right now, okay?

(Although you have to admit that blasters can't be lasers, given their projectile nature. But I digress)

How many people here are familiar with the term "circlejerk"?

I would love to see you try that. Partly because I don't think you'll be convinced that it won't work until you see it for yourself and partly because I'd love for you to be right, for it to be easy & cheap.

I think there's a reason the folks at openmoco.org talk about servos and stepper motors. It's just not simple.

ibleedspeed said:

hmm sounds like a cheap shot at somebody.... who could that be? i wonder..

Sorry man, I hope you're not too offended.

As for Motion Control and model work, it's more complex than it sounds at first.

building camera tracks to film model ships you could do that with some construx dude

It's not just having tracks. As I understand it, in order to composite multiple model shots together, you film each model separately (or maybe a group of them....maybe) and then stick the shots together. The camera has to either move in exactly the same way for each different model if the ships (assuming these are ships) are moving together or in very precisely different ways in order to achieve the illusion of motion. Having tracks is a good start, but then the motion along those tracks has to be the exact same constant speed each time, or the speed has to very in exactly the same way for each pass. You need precise, repeatable control.

Furthermore, it's not just a matter of a track - Optimally you want several axes of control so you can roll, tilt, etc your camera in any direction. Otherwise your ships are going to be very limited in how they move. And of course each of those axes needs to be precisely controlled.

we are talking about 1970's style film making here

We're talking about groundbreaking 70s special effects with a budget. Their camera had 7 axes of control, which is a lot more than 1 track.

duct tape a tripod to a beagle and teach him to walk in circles. instant 360 degree pan shots. and for tai fighter scenes teach him to roll over...

I don't even....

I couldn't find a better photo than that, unfortunately, but the model is completely still, on a rod, and the camera does all the motion. There's a track, and on the track is a platform, and on the platform looks to be a second, shorter track, and on that is a turntable, and on that is the counterweighted-arm system, and at the end of that are more axes of movement.

If this project doesn't get more attention, it's cancelled!

I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

Found this today - http://openmoco.org/ - Looks like just the sort of thing I wanted.

greenpenguino said:

But I can't stand the audience at the beginning. WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY LAUGHING AT?? HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING.

In their defense, the moment the show starts on tv/youtube is not the first moment the audience sees/interacts with Craig. I think there's usually comedian before him, to warm the audience up, so they're already in a silly mood, and then Craig comes out. He's already been talking to them, being funny, for a little bit before they turn on the cameras. Does that help make it make sense?

Admittedly, the shiny new Y-Wings with the original outer coverings is done correctly in The Clone Wars : http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BTL-B_Y-wing_starfighter

TIL that we can address our thanks to Ady without even seeing his presence.

Ray, I definitely saw those criticisms coming, and I agree with them, to a certain extent. I think there's something to be said for the level of detail and complexity that CG allows, but perhaps sometimes it goes too far. It may just be a problem with what we're used to - We're so used to only certain kinds of shots being possible that anything too far beyond that seems terrible, in which case the children of the future (what a phrase!) will have no problem with it. I, however, suspect this is not the case.

I don't know if you're UK or USA or what, but here in Amurica, they introduced a camera rig to football (you know what kind I mean) that swings over the field on ropes, swooping, capturing some really great views of plays. At first, it was slightly disconcerting, because I had never seen such a thing before, but I quickly got used to it and now love when they use it, even though it does come close to mimicking the camera moves in video games. I suspect that there are two reasons

1. It's real footage of the real game - Okay, that was obvious.
2. Even though I hadn't ever seen a camera move quite like that before, it does move like a real physical object, albeit one suspended on ropes.

Perhaps the problem with the ROTS sequence isn't that the CG isn't realistic enough or that we're un-used to it, but that the camera isn't (which yes, is part of the CG process, but bear with me). I'm reminded of some part of a behind-the-scenes thing for Wall-E that I saw, where the good folks at Pixar talked about all the work they put into the camera system for that film, simulating different lenses, cameras, shutters, etc. If they didn't (I don't remember), I'd also lump in camera-movement into that. Even in films where the camera is apparently traveling through the vacuum of space, there should be some realism to its movements, some limits on what it can do.

On the other hand, I had no problem with rushing forward and plunging over the edge of the abyss with Gandalf and the Balrog and thought it was fantastic, which perhaps goes to show that even impossible shots have their place - in moderation. The ROTS battle just goes on and on and on.

Thus, I suggest that the ROTS battle needs less dynamic shots and maybe even some model-shot-replacements, while the ROTJ battle would benefit from more shots of gunners, a heck of a lot more capital-ship action, even some shots in the style of the ROTS battle... but not too many.

For the record: I would love a modern remake of X-Wing.

It's hard to deny that the battle between capital ships at the beginning of ROTS is superb, if superfluous to the plot. I'm not quite sure how one would go about making the ROTJ battle a bit more like this (ie time consuming & expensive to do it right), but that's really the direction I'd like to see the ROTJ battle go.

WhatsMyName said:

Bingowings said:

His verdict after seeing all three was he liked Jedi the most and Empire the least (because the Falcon kept breaking down).

 

i thought the same thing when i was a kid

On a serious note, I think this is probably something worth considering. Do faneditors remake the films in such a way that kids won't like them as much?

We could talk about that sometime, I guess.

kenkraly2007 said:

Harmy said:

But it wouldn't bother you if it didn't happen?

No it whould'nt.

Then how is it a must?

Darth Bizarro said:

I also find it interesting that the words "Star Wars" don't actually appear anywhere on the cover of the original edition of the books but does mention the "Adventures of Luke Skywalker."  I think you mentioned that in Secret History as I recall though.  

Well that makes sense. Until ESB came out, no one knew that the whole series was titled "Star Wars". "Star Wars" was a movie that came out in 1977, and "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" was its book-sequel.

Disclaimer: Haven't read Secret History

The X-Wing Series was put down for being too exceptional.

I wish there was a way to make Anakin crash into Quadrinaros, causing the destruction of the pod.

To be honest, that red R2 is pretty distracting. I understand that it fixes a continuity issue, but it really draws the eye and attention towards it, because it's such a familiar character and yet.... not. It's very distracting.

No, it's sporting lack-of-texture in order to show off only the model's form.