ST The nuances / ingredients that make a Star Wars film

There should be a Wilhelm Scream for every single character death.

 

The wilhelm scream

 

AIEEEAH!

 

Yes! I hope for a few Wilhelm screams in future movies! However I think in one of the commentaries Ben Burtt said that he wasn't going to use it anymore. Granted we don't know if he will be on EP7 (I hope so), either way, I hope it's in there!!

 

Read this link today and my first thought was that it belonged here.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/ff-star-wars-is-back/

Fair warning to my fellow whole-saga lovers - many of its contributors are some of JJ's cronies and/or can't resist pointing out that the PT was, at best, merely tolerable.

 

This is a GREAT find! I didn't read it word for word (yet) but I agree with a lot of the topic headers.

For quick reference, I listed out the 74 "things" in the article:


1. An Immersive Universe
2. Fitting Deaths
3. Amputations
4. Binary load lifters
5. Binary vaporators
6. Offensive, almost certainly unintentional ethnic stereotypes
7. Lightning shooting from freaking hands
8. Chiseling traders
9. Weird Food
10. Mystery
11. Music
12. Hideous Things That Love Even More Hideous Things
13. Heroic Journeys
14. Monsters hidden under surfaces
15. Superficial tusks
16. Names with diphthongs
17. Slapstick
18. Holograms
19. Choking
20. Moral Relativism
21. Hives of Scum and Villainy
22. Lightsabers
23. Scoundrels
24. Prosthetically impressive hairstyles
25. Guns on towers
26. Sand
27. Furry creatures who are good
28. Reptilian creatures who are evil
29. Shackles
30. Honorifics
31. E-11 blaster rifles
32. Operatic resonance
33. Entire planets with only one biome
34. Engine noises
35. Boots
36. People Suspended from Things
37. Witty Banter
38. Flaws
39. Modes of Transport
40. Ducts
41. Gloves
42. Masks
43. Hats
44. Hidden compartments
45. French horns
46. Repairs
47. Romance
48. Swinging From ropes
49. Spaceships with parts that rotate, fold, Or disassemble
50. Beeps
51. Vistas
52. Alien beasts of burden
53. Height
54. An Underworld
55. The Dark Side
56. Stormtrooper Fashion
57. Comlinks
58. Weird helmets
59. Trash disposal systems
60. Tractor beams
61. Animals that are terribly suited for the planets they live on
62. Faulty hyperdrive systems
63. Long odds
64. Sidearms
65. Hoodie robes
66. Star destroyers
67. Anger
68. Hatred
69. Suffering
70. Tough Princesses
71. Politics
72. Nostalgia
73. Funny Droids
74. Books About the Movie

 

A Star Wars film is released in May.
A Star Wars film is part of a trilogy of Star Wars films.
Each film in a trilogy is released in consecutive order, with a consecutive episode number.
There are three years between the releases of Star Wars films within a trilogy.

 

Mysterious background characters like 'Boba Fett'. A small nuance. Big impact.

My favourite little nuances are the Vignettes - where a minor character has a little scene and contributes to the overall ambience of the Star Wars universe like Dexter Jetster or Lobot or ... the Separatists with Count Dooku...I'm sure everyone has their own favourites!

 

Overexposed comic relief.

 

I'm also from Sweden, and I know that no Star Wars movie was released in May in Sweden until AOTC.
I also saw TPM in August of 1999, but I could have seen a low-quality pirate copy of it in May, but I declined. I believe that it was all that piracy that made Lucasfilm choose to release the next movie worldwide at about the same date.

 

I'm really over the Wilhelm after Peter Jackson shamelessly ripped it off. Don't care to see The Hobbit, but does it have THX-1138 references all over it?

Get your own inside jokes, PJ!

 

In almost each film, lightsabers were used in a new way. ANH introduced them, in TESB it was shown as a cutting tool, in ROTJ it was used to deflect. In TPM, it was shown as tool that could be used to cut and burn open a metal door, and the double-bladed lightsaber was introduced. In AOTC: Dooku's curved handle, Anakin fighting with two, Yoda using a lightsaber. In Revenge of the Sith: a droid used a lightsaber, and spun it like blades. The real thrill of the lightsaber isn't in seeing a number of duels, but seeing the weapon used in a new way.

 

Before there was that little boy and the Lord of the Rings, there was Luke and a lightsaber. Whenever I heard the Star Wars theme song, I knew Luke was about to save the day or something epic was going to happen. Later, this blond boy hops in a pod and then you start hearing the same theme song, and that is yet the cue to get excited again. The Phantom Menace had no Luke, so how could I get excited about anything in it? But then the theme soundtrack came in and I was suddenly rooting for the 9 year old in the pod racer. Oh, and then this guy with horns pop in, but then he had really cool music as well. So, music is the number one thing for me in all 6 films.

 

Another nuance is sound. Athough we all know sound is a BIG part of SW there are sooo many sounds, little nuances that are fabulous. My favoutite being the "no" sound of the sonic charges in AOTC (very nuanced)

I was watching the Clone Wars with headphones the other day and was delighted with how complicated the soundscapes were in certain chase and battle scenes. They really brought you into the thick of the action.

It is the nuances that bring us into the universe of SW and the sound effects we hardly notice are a big part of that.

So hopefully the ST will continue the nuanced soundscapes of SW.

 

People with crazy names. Also....is it true that almost every character has a name and backstory *even background characters with no lines and only seconds of screentime?*

 

LOVE that sound effect. Even above classics like the lightsabres.

(Although it's hard to appreciate the lightsabre sound - it's so famous now that you just hear it and think "yep, that's a lightsabre". You don;t realise how cool it is.)

 

Agree with the lightsaber point. Some of the SW sounds just pass us by. Like the blaster fire aswell.
Although some of these sounds are also nuanced. I watched the Carnage of Krell recently (CW) and I swear Krell's lightsaber sounded different (it has a "growling" sound to it). So perhaps we may get some nuances to all the familiar sounds we know and love.

 

Right, because Peter Jackson totally ripped off an 'inside joke' that has been in use by many directors in many films, shows, and games since 1951...

 

Oh, I can think of plenty - Jar Jar, Battle Droids, Nemoidians, C3PO, Ewoks, EP I & II Anakin, Stormtroopers that can't shoot....

What?

Sorry, I thought you said nuisances....

 

Before Star Wars, the Wilhelm was just a stock sound. It was Ben Burtt that used it as an inside joke first.

 

Yup, Ben Burtt popularized it. And when it became popular many filmmakers began to use it. Its a trend and it caught on. Not seeing a problem there

 

Excellent and well said. How could you possibly write something...I mean, this has already been done before. Why do it again? But I agree that that was/is thee major premise of those two trilogies. I don't want to see this redone. It is very black and white. In order to write a unique/different SW trilogy, the writers are going to need to be a bit more ambiguous, like gray area themes and not black vs. white. Agree?

 

Yes, I think GL has mentioned something about that, but not on this thread.