ST The Aesthetic of the Sequel Trilogy

I filmed this in August, before I knew this rock would be featured so prominently in the film

 

I appreciated the throwback nature of TFA's aesthetic approach; it was necessarily familiar, very well executed, but ultimately didn't enrich the saga much.

TLJ is a different beast all together. The most beautiful SW film in nearly 20 years, IMO. It's in the top 3, along side TPM and TESB, as the visually richest, most gorgeous of the SW films.

I mean these images speak for themselves:

 

I'm not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing either way, but the look of Snoke's throne room looked completely different from anything we've ever seen in a SW film. With the guards and all, it looked like something out of a Hellraiser movie to me. Very stark and scary.

 

Rogue one had the perfect aesthetic

 

It's a beautiful film. I could watch it with the sound off.

 

I like how at the beginning, this weapon...


And this one...


... were largely panned leasing up to The Force Awakens, but have now become iconic to the ST.

 

I love lightsabers of the ST, much better than in previous trilogies; also the phisicality of combat using them.

 

Wait, has Kylo's saber been panned before TFA was released?! I don't remember anyone hating on it, but then again I wasn't here at the boards back in 2015 (although closely followed TFA's production).

How could someone not like it? His saber is one of the coolest things ever shown in the SW universe.

 

I recall people saying how stupid it was for Disney to change the design of lightsabers to something impractical that would just cut the user's own hand off when they swing it, and that it would keep lightsaber duels from being what we saw up to that point. I'm guessing it was just one of many minor controversies that sprung up out of fear that Disney owning Star Wars would ruin it.

 

Other then the safety hazards?

 

Yep... I must admit I hated it when I first saw it - Then did a 180 and now love it!

 

any body got issues with the colour desaturation in tlj? i don’t mind that style for other things like blade runner, and the dc films but i don’t like it for star wars, makes it seem like too much a bleak sci-fi film. people loved the look of it, but it was another thing that didn’t fit with the gffa for me

 

Indeed Rogue One looked far more desaturated than R1, it had lots of powerful contrast colors...white/red imagery. Of course it's not Guardians of The Galaxy, and i wouldn't want it like that (too cartoony), i love the "lived-in, used future" of SW. But yes, R1 is the more desaturated SW movie. Which fitted to the story but felt a bit less campy than the others, and i like a bit of camp in my SW movie!

 

Despite her use coming off more like cameos than anything else, I'm a big fan of Captain Phasma's design.


I don't think the Imperial design could pull off the chrome look like the FO redesign.

 

I took my GF to see TLJ, who is not a Star Wars fan, whatsoever. I tried to gauge how she liked the film after we came out. The main thing she enjoyed most about the film was the aesthetics of it. She talked about how beautiful 'Luke's Island' was, how beautiful the fight was in Snoke's throne room, and how amazing the 'red sand' looked on Crait. I was so happy. I obviously knew that she wouldn't attach very deeply to things like lore and story, but Star Wars has so much to offer, and I was so glad that she was able to appreciate the visuals, the music, and the artistic crafting of the film as a whole.

FWIW, she had similar things to say about TFA. Her absolute favorite scene was the lightsaber duel in the snow strictly because of how absolutely gorgeous it looked. The colors, the snow falling, the trees getting cut in half around them. So, from the perspective of someone who has barely ever watched Star Wars movies, the ST is really knocking it out of the park visually, IMO.

 

I just love the locations, specially in The Last Jedi (Ahch-To, Crait).
The scenery was just superb, the use of the colors too.

 

i think it used grey tones/neutrals in the background to make the colour in the foreground pop mostly red or green. contrast as you said so it wasn’t desaturated really it’s that this film only used one hue at a time. it felt dour in a way R1 didn’t. canto bight was all white black and browns i hated it

 

You've kinda nailed it there with the earthy statement. SW really brought some spectacular worlds to the screen; the earth like ones of course being tatooine, endor, yavin 4 and hoth. The ot had some really cool alien worlds too like bespin and dagobah. The pt introduced even more both real and set based worlds that were unique. But the ST is really failing me. Every set is just so boring. I mean they actually had a guy taste the stuff on crait and declare it salt so we wouldn't think it was another battle on a snowy terrain. Mazs castle is just in another forest. Jakku is a suburb of mos eisley . Dqar is a field. Canto bight is down the street from Monaco. I mean, whoa...slow down! Those worlds are just beyond my wildest imagination!

I think lucasfilm is so afraid of the backlash that they are paralyzed almost in the creative process, at least in regards to the saga films. I really really liked RO and Solo looks great and I feel it is because they are working within established continuity and the aesthetic that goes with it. I think with the saga they are terrified of experiencing what Lucas had to deal with for insisting on bringing something new regardless of the critical views against it that they are going to play it so bland to the bitter end.

 

I absolutely adore the look of the ST. It feels very much congruous with the OT, but with a personality too. My only gripe in TLJ was I would like to have seen some more variety in the FO starfighters. The TIE Silencer is very cool, but we only sawe the one Kylo is in.

 

Really liked the old skool design of the bombers and skipper ships on Crait. Also, the almost aquatic look of the Resistance cruisers was good.