ST JJ Abrams to direct Episode VII

No, that wasn't the reason. Great video though.

 

Happy Birthday JJ.
and he has the same birthday date as one of my sisters.

 

Happy birthday JJ. Let this 49th year be your best ever by bringing us a great movie and taking us back to a galaxy far far away.

In JJ we trust.

 

All Hail Our New Overlord, JJ Abrams! May his birthday be mighty and involve lots of stormtroopers.

 

Finally! A semi-relevant time to post this gif:

 

49? He really doesn't look his age.

 

Happy Birthday J.J.

 

i think he should direct ep 9.

 

If I enjoy 7, I'd have no problems with J.J. directing 9. Gaaah, math why did it have to be math.

 

I agree.

Looking at all the behind the scenes footage and the general look of things, he seems to be doing everything right. I have every confidence that JJ will give us a movie that surpasses the PT and RotJ.

Disney should wait until after EPVII is released before deciding on a director for IX. If JJ smashes it, he should get to finish what he started, if not then give it to someone else.

 

While that would be grand, I have a feeling that they probably already asked JJ and that he probably declined. It took a lot of work for them to convince JJ to even come on board for TFA and a huge part of what won him over was that he felt that he'd regret it if he passed on the opportunity to make a new entry in one of his favorite film series ever.

 

The site This Is Infamous ran an article last week about how Abrams still has the right of first refusal to direct Episode 9.

 

Disagree.

While I liked the BTS footage from SDCC, some shots looked like they were straight out of his two Trek movies (the resistance soldiers running toward camera down the corridor).

 

It wouldn't surprise me if that's true. I think he'll decline on directing the film, but he might end up helping co-write the script or something. Personally, I'm thinking that they'll get someone like Duncan Jones to make the third film. I bet that they'll send him an offer of some sort if Warcraft ends up doing well in theaters next year.

 

Here's a really good video dissecting the pros and cons of JJ's visual sensibilities and how they might inform TFA.

 

ewoksimon Meh. That video is rather like most film criticism: Stupidly nitpicky, based on arbitrary opinions rather than fact and taking apart minutia of a scene which is ultimately useless in achieving anything.
Looking at individual scenes, or even worse, shots in detail is completely contrary to what you are supposed to do with a film which is look at it as the whole two hours and see what that makes you feel.
It was an entertaining video at least

 

Good for you, however have you ever seen a director with so much passion for a project as JJ has shown at celebration and every interview since taking on the job? Imo he is the perfect person to tackle this first movie of the new trilogy, most of his projects have received critical appraise and for me he makes a very entertaining movie.
He is doing everything right up to this point and i'm sure most OT fans would agree, Rian johnson i'm not so thrilled with tbh, however with jj to help as executive producer we shouldn't stray too far from what seems to be the right formula.
Of course as to whether the force awakens is actually any good remains to be seen but anyone would think people have actually seen the movie reading comments on here.

His passion and enthusiasm for the project often get overlooked but its quite clear to me the first installment of this trilogy is in great hands, if this movie is a critical hit you can bet jj will return for ep9.

 

I think the video makes some good points. He's not as artful as his hero, Spielberg, for example. But at least he isn't sterile, and I think a SW film with the energy Abrams will bring will just be amazing to see, IMHO.

 

Yes, very good analysis.

It does highlight one of my slight worries with JJ as the Trek movies show. He can get caught up in the action which he often makes too frenetic and hard to follow (he wants to create a rough thrill ride rather than a smooth one) it would be like comparing his potential cut of the opening of ROTS or the Death Star battles to George's. Lucas is about being smooth:

"When the movie cuts to a different shot, if your eye has to move a great distance to follow an object, it becomes a rough cut; if your eye stays in the same place, then it's a smooth cut. If your eye has to move too much, you're usually lost for two frames on a cut. You don't understand what you're seeing because you can't register it that fast."

Also his idea that lack of storyboarding and pre-vis of certain scenes can give an "energy" etc to the scenes is kind of bizarre. That might feel good on the set but not so much when putting that scene together.

Again with the freneticism as storytelling which makes for a lack of clear storytelling.

 

Lucas was all about storyboarding. Be drawings or actual animated storyboards. Every shot was storyboarded.

I fear that action sequences in TFA will suffer because JJ didn't necessarily storyboard them.

 

Although I like Abrams as a director, I do agree with this point, and I hope he models the action scenes in TFA after the action scenes from the OT and PT. I feel somewhat optimistic that he will, since he seems to be going out of his way to model everything else after the previous movies (and, hey, he does seem to be showing restraint with lens flare, so he's clearly willing to modify his style to fit within the look of the franchise, so anything's possible.)

Comparing Lucas and Abrams, I find that Abrams elicits better performances and chemistry among actors, while Lucas creates easier-to-follow action sequences. IF Abrams can maintain his own strengths with the actors, while looking to the previous SW films as a model for how to shoot action, then TFA could turn out really well. Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

Exactly. I honestly hope JJ took the time to storyboard or pre-vis his big action scenes, because nothing in Star Wars should be arbitrary.

 

seriously you are worried about JJ's action shots? the phantom menace has some terrible examples of this, often he seems too close up on the lightsaber fights and we cant see whats happening.

 

One shouldn't confuse Abrams sense of camera movement with his ability to direct action. As an action director I think he's quite weak. I'm struggling to think of anything that contains an action scene on par with a 'classic' action film or more contemporary 'classics'. Perhaps he just needs better core ideas to hang his direction on?