Star Wars Episode 7

[Brian Drysdale]

A trailer is on line:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30243648

 

[Satsuki Murashige]

In the immortal words of Mister Plinkett, "Ohhhh, noooo!"

 

I hate to say it, but it kinda looks like a fan film.

[Bill DiPietra]

In the immortal words of Mister Plinkett, "Ohhhh, noooo!"

 

I hate to say it, but it kinda looks like a fan film.

 

Was anyone really expecting any more than that? The entire franchise has always been exactly that.

[Satsuki Murashige]

Well, I thought I was completely over the prequels too but somewhere deep down inside, a tiny voice cried out in terror and was suddenly silenced. I'll get over it.

[Bill DiPietra]

By the way...this is coming from someone who was a HUGE Star Wars fan as a kid! I'm looking forward to them, especially since they were able to pull the original cast together. But it's one I'll be watching for pure entertainment.

[Chris Millar]

The X-wings over the water...

 

Sooooo good to see them back again!

 

Rest was so so.

[Guest]

There's a fake fan version that some guys obviously put a lot of work into, I actually prefer that version over this one. Maybe Disney should of hired those guys? I'm surprised Disney would release this, it looks so half finished and totally nonsensical as a sales and marketing piece. The opening shot adds nothing.

 

The CG approach is the same since it was invented.....we can do it, so we should do it. Hey let's put the camera behind the Millennium Falcon and follow it around in a crazy shot that goes all over the place, yeah that's cool.

 

R,

[Justin Hayward]

What??? Are you all crazy? It looks awesome!!

[Chris Millar]

Troopers too slick, like droid wars or something.

 

That light saber... silly design - Gillette Mach 3 anyone?

 

Watched the making of AVP the other day (it's on youtube) - interesting how going in to the film they were so sure that all the things that ended up sucking (big time) about it were going to be the best parts.

 

Bigger/more/faster doesn't always mean better.

[KH Martin]

The X-wings looked good, but that Falcon shot was just something out of videogame lunacy.

 

Design-wise, it might have paid for them to look at the 'wow' shots in the original trilogy (most of which feature the FALCON), which STILL work for me, even though I am not exactly a SW fan (still haven't enjoyed one that came out after 1980.) The 'following the Falcon blasting everyting in jedi' shot has lots of gymnastics, but has a lot more cred than this thing.

 

Maybe there is something to constraining the moves that makes them work better (like putting a virtual model mount on the thing that you have to keep framing out of shot?)

Edited November 30, 2014 by KH Martin

[Freya Black]

So glad it's not just me. This trailer looks dreadful. Too much nasty CGI. That robot is horrendous. M Falcon is not good either. Stormtroopers even look like cgi which is really odd. The voiceover and the silly lightsabre stuff in the forest was also off putting.

 

On the upside the small moment with the woman in the desert riding the strange metal block looked nice but that was the only decent moment in the whole thing. I was hoping for something more atmospheric in that vein.

 

I thought I was going to be the only one saying all this.

Glad to see some sanity here.

 

and yes it is odd how it comes across like some kind of odd fan trailer on youtube. Hadn't thought of it like that till I read it here but that is spot on too.

 

A bit shocking to say the least. Maybe they will come to their senses between now and release.

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

The bit with the guy in the woods is like a trailer for a computer game too. The way he pulls that silly pose!

 

The score seems like the main thing they got right...

 

Freya

[Bill DiPietra]

Anyone know what the budget was for this one?

[Guest]

The models used for Eps 4, 5, 6, will always look superior to the CG versions of the ships. Have a look at the final battle scene from Jedi, that's when the use of the models and technology reached its zenith. And it's such an incredible scene.

 

Now we have video game looking ships, and people working at their home computers creating CG shots that rival what the studio is doing. Of course this observation is nothing new, many people have made the same comment. And a rolling beach ball droid? Oh well at least it looks Jar Jar Binks got left out of this one. Good thing because there would of been a dramatic increase in suicides if Binks was in another SW movie.

 

R,

[Brian Drysdale]

This new Lightsabre seems to be based on the European form

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longsword

 

Where as the original Lightsabres seemed to be based on Japanese swords (without a cutting curve) or a Chinese sword http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_swords

 

I guess the new design allows them to have a new fight choreography.

 

Having limitations often makes VFX shots look more realistic, one used to be having plotting the move so that it looked like the camera operator was having problems following the action.

[Anthony Schilling]

I heard Episode VII will start with the original cast still at the same "happily ever after" Ewok party from episode VI, 30 years later. Then the needle slides off the record with a disturbance in the Force.

[Chris D Walker]

I have a host of conflicting thoughts about the trailer and the movie itself with regards to audiences' expectations, the filmmakers' intentions and its links with the original trilogy. My thoughts are only from what can be gleaned from the trailer, so who knows what the product may turn out to be.

 

I've been reading about how the new movies would be a return to the 'used universe' aesthetic of episodes IV-VI, reliant on practical sets and makeup/animatronic effects as evidenced by the brief on-the-set videos with JJ Abrams. The trailer shows us digital environments, ships and droids; the opposite of what was promised. The impossible shot of the Millenium Falcon isn't Star Wars' style, either.

 

If you look at the original trilogy the practical photography isn't fancy. 90% is shot on a tripod, sometimes with a tilt or a pan. The remainder is shot on a dolly and just one steadicam shot that I can recall. I question whether the photography in the new movies will show a similar restraint or fall by the way in favour of JJ Abrams established 'look' as seen in Star Trek and Mission Impossible III. If you intend to remain true to the spirit of A New Hope, Empire and Jedi does that mean all aspects of their production? Obviously that's not practical with modern visual effects so that gets a partial pass, but it remains to be seen whether the visual approach will be cohesive with its forebears.

 

Observations:

 

- The ball droid is a ploy to sell toys, so at least the movie has that in common with the original trilogy.

- The mini lightsaber blades are silly. Has it become a tradition that with a new movie comes a new lightsaber concept in an attempt to reinvent the wheel?

- The new X-Wing design was one saving grace. It harks back to Ralph McQuarrie's early designs but also feels like an evolution from what we've have seen 30 years previous.

- If I didn't know the new movies were being shot anamorphic 35 I doubt I could tell in a blind test whether the photography was film negative or digital. Not good in my book.

- Nothing about the plot or the characters. I do wish JJ Abrams would dispense with his coyness and secrecy. Excite people with a story not with nostalgia!

[Justin Hayward]

Wow, tough crowd. Looks like I'll have the theater to myself. :)

[Brian Drysdale]

I don't think any production should reveal it's plot or story a year in advance in what is a teaser, bad enough that they sometimes do that in the release trailer . It's just there to say this film is coming out next year, although everyone already knows this alreasdy. Perhaps a stylized teaser would be better.

[Guest]

I do wish JJ Abrams would dispense with his coyness and secrecy. Excite people with a story not with nostalgia!

 

I can understand JJ Abrams thinking on this, I am keeping the plot of Against The Wild 2 under wraps, it's all very hush hush, if you know what I mean? I can't talk about it all, it's top secret. In fact it's so secret I am not even releasing an 88 second trailer because even that would give too much away.

 

R,

[Phil Rhodes]

The thing is, I don't particularly have any nostalgia about the original films. They were fractionally before my time, so I missed the initial hysteria, but having seen them all I really don't understand why they're so highly regarded. They're OK - they're not bad - they're just nothing special. The visual effects were special for the time but that doesn't keep.

 

P

[Guest]

One of the main things separating the 1977 version from all the others is that the 1977 version was not intended as a massive toy commercial. The toys became an un-expected windfall, after the fact.

 

Now I swear Disney could give the tickets for the movie away for free, and still make a billion in toy sales and other merchandising.

 

R,

[Guest]

Wow, tough crowd. Looks like I'll have the theater to myself. :)

 

I've actually been to Skywalker Ranch and met George Lucas Justin, so there. :)

 

I even have pictures, did you know he has his own fire dept?

 

R,

[Freya Black]

but having seen them all I really don't understand why they're so highly regarded. They're OK - they're not bad - they're just nothing special. The visual effects were special for the time but that doesn't keep.

 

P

 

To be fair I think some of this is down to the "This is totally incredible! This movie doesn't suck!" factor.

The first movie was really atmospheric though with all the stuff on the sand planet with the beautiful cinematography.

The thing about this new movie is it appears that it is going to suck so that kind of underlines it all really.

At least it is going to provide endless amounts of humour however.

 

[Freya Black]

I think this version of the trailer is much better. Mostly because the acting from the guy in the woods is a lot better but also because everything looks a lot less fake and cgi: