ST The nuances / ingredients that make a Star Wars film

-Speaking of hyperspace--the original three films include the shot from the falcon cockpit of the blue star streaks. That would certainly be great to see again.

-After the opening crawl, there is a pan up or a pan down. I forget the significance, but people on these boards have talked about possible symbolism of whether the camera pans up or down.

-Each film opens with a ship: All three prequel films began with a Republic/Jedi ship, all three originals opened with a star destroyer. That's a staple.

-Don't know the technical term but each film ends with the zeroing in. Screen gets black at the edges until it forms a circle, then full darkness before the credits roll.

-Force Ghosts--I think they're in each film, even if it is just a voice.

-Alien subtitles

-Holograms

-Jedi Mind Tricks--maybe not in every movie but certainly referenced.

-Sound echoes: When Palpatine reminds Anakin of his slaughter of the sand people, you can faintly hear a tusken sound. When Anakin killed the Tuskens, you could hear QGJ yelling his name and then possibly Luke screaming "nooooo." These echoes are all over the place.

 

Hyperspace is a mottled blue swirl visually... the jump to hyperspace, the stars sreak out from their individual points until the jump finally happens... then you get the mottled blue swirl.

 

I was a little confused regarding the logos thing. At first I thought that the logo sequence will be something like this: First 20th Century Fox, then Disney, then Lucasfilms, then "A long time ago[...]", then Opening Crawl.
From what I understand now, there won't be any 20th Century Fox logo anymore.

Perhaps they will edit the Disney logo animation and music to look/sound a bit more Star Warsy. Hopefully...

I honestly don't see them getting rid of the opening sequence (A long time ago...and the Opening Crawl + music). It is an iconic Star Wars element, that everyone (or 99% of the audience) knows. They certainly aren't trying to market Star Wars to a completely new audience like they did with Star Trek 2009. So they should keep it. Otherwise the franchise will lose its identity it had for ~30 years.
Opening credits are a big no, no. I just can't and refuse to imagine how it would look like.

Also, I don't understand why some believe that if there is no John Williams, then we won't have the SW theme. The SW soundtrack has been used by many different composers for various products (mostly video games). Why can't a new composer (if that's the case) use the theme?

The reason they didn't use it in TCW is perhaps that since it is a short episode with a new one coming soon after, hearing the theme over and over and over again with the crawl and all that would diminish the effect and take time away from a 40min cartoon.

 

In ROTJ he cut the chains tying Leia to dead Jabba. He also cut the Ewok netting, freeing the heroes on Endor (temporarily).

 

Yeah, except he didn't save them either time. Leia had already saved herself by choking Jabba, and when he cut the net, they were already surrounded, so all he did was make it easier on the Ewoks, who no longer had to pull them down before tying them up.

So again in my book... he didn't really save anyone like he did in all the previous Episodes. It was his weakest film in terms of heroics.

 

Frankly we do not need any of the things listed. Not at all. These traits are reserved for the 6 Films Fox Century. We must unlearn what we have learned. Let the 6 movies live. Let there be a new style of Star Wars films with no crawl, No john williams theme & no special rules. If you want what the Fox movies presented, go watch one of the 6. I hope they stay totaally clear from any traits we are used to in the Fox Saga & come up with a new style of story telling.

 

Some side trivia here: the "inside hyperspace" effect was done by creating a tube of tinfoil, then filming it and using the negative!

And yes, I agree the hyperspace effect (inside and out) should be preserved in the future films.

 

DUDE it doesn't look like Star Wars without them. Get with it.

 

DUDE it doesn't look like Star Wars without Gungans either and they are UGLY.

 

I totally agree! But I doubt any new director/producer is going to take a fine from the directors guild by not putting it in. If Disney wants to earn points with this old fan, if they can throw their muscle around Hollywood and say "NO CREDITS BEFORE", that would earn them mad respect with me, and I'm sure plenty of other fans.

I agree, the opening and closing themes could be the same, but the music during the movie would be someone else. Now put yourself in the shoes of another composer: do you want to just "sound like" John Williams, or do you want to do something different so you will be respected in the composing community? We think like "fans", we want the new composer to HONOR what John Williams did and keep with that tradition. Hopefully the producers and directors want to keep that tradition and make that a requirement of all future SW composers.

As for TCW, you are correct, Lucas still wanted an old school radio drama sound to it, yet not have to worry about children being able to read the crawl. Also the point that the cartoons each week only have about 22 minutes of actual footage and a crawl would take up a couple of minutes of that.

 

I really can't believe what a big deal you're making about someone not liking the wipe transitions.

Yes it is used in Star Wars. However, just because it was used doesn't mean it doesn't look amateur.

And yes, they were used in ANH to harken back to the age of slap-dash serial sci-fi. However, just because there was a reason for using it doesn't mean that people won't think it looks amateur and ugly.

And yes we know you think they are great. But just because someone disagrees with you doesn't mean they are wrong.

 

Well, I do hope they keep the 70s and 80s haircuts.
Chronologically Ep7 should take place after the OT.
Something like they did in "the Thing" remake.

 

Okay, replace this list with everything the OP just said and then Sheldon's remark at 0:14 mirrors my own:

 

The number 1138 also pops up in all the movies: once in TPM, three times in AOTC, twice in ROTS, once in ANH, once (debatable) in ESB and once in ROTJ.

 

1138 is Lucas' pet.

 

I'd add:

1. Homage(s) to old serial adventures
2. Dialogue straight out of pulp novels
3. Structured storytelling that his firmly rooted in Joseph Campbell's study of mythologies

 

The basic elements that make it "Star Wars" for me:

1. Opening Crawl
2. Panning down and seeing a ship come into the scene after the crawl
3. Last scene in the movie without dialogue
4. Major Character dies in first film
5. Visuals and Music that tells the story as strong as the dialogue would
6. The Cross Swipes for scene changes
7. Fast chase scenes or scenes that involve high speed velocity (Trench Run, Pod racing as examples, but something new and interesting)
8. Jumping to hyperspace (stars expanding, warp tunnel effect, etc.)

 

That is the most pretentious BS I've ever heard.

 

C3P0
R2D2
Droids in general
Skywalker family tree
Sith Lords
Jedi knights
FTL interplanetary space travel
Really big government
Light sabers
The Force
Organized crime
Star Wars title sequence
John Williams title theme
Mixing of human and mostly humanoid intelligent species
Space warfare

What could you get rid of and still have an EP 7 that is recognizably Star Wars?

 

Well, the Sith should be out of the picture. That'll work, though.





"Rule out the Sith, we must"
/LM

 

I would add armoured troopers to that list, hyperspace, dogfights, speed and bounty hunters.

 

1. Audiovisual storytelling.
2. A sophisticated musical score.
3. Classical style melodrama.
4. Strong emotions in place of vapid sentimentalism.
5. Thematic subtext.
6. A fresh-faced cast of unknowns.
7. An affinity for speed and motion -- the virtuoso sequence.
8. A deeply ironic sense of humor/absurdity; not to be confused with camp or parody or pithy self-awareness.
9. Clear and coherent, storyboarded direction.
10. Expert use of the 2:35.1 anamorphic frame.
11. A vivid color palette.
12. Exotic sound design.
13. State-of-the-art visual effects.
14. Total disregard for whatever the current zeitgeist and *********** filmmaking trends.
15. Imagination.

...prime ingredients that all SIX previous Star Wars films had in spades.

 

This is an excellent point, and one that might be lost on a lot of filmmakers. I definitely don't want to see SW "updated" in anything but the technical sense. After all, it happened "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away," not last Tuesday in LA.