ST What nods to the PT do you want to see in TFA?

Just like ESB, I think Episode 8 will include appearances by Lando and Yoda (briefly).

 

I hope so. But I want the force ghost of Yoda made as a puppet, same in TESB and ROTJ.

 

lol.

 

Shiny plastic Yoda with the crazy eyes.

Also, more sitting scenes.

 

Where are you confused?

 

CoolyFett, what is your source for Anakins Burned skull being in the Helmet? I do not want to dismiss you out of hand but to me that would not fit with what we know about force ghosts. the only force ghosts we have seen all had there bodies vanish upon death, Qui-gon did not but we never see him as a blue ghost thing. It is possible Luke only burned the Suit and not the body from what we saw in the film

 

Star Wars most often has taken place at the edge of civilization. The exception being the scenes on Coruscant, of course. I wouldn't be opposed to a more Urban setting, but the film maker must be by careful to maintain a Star Wars look and feel. I liked a lot of the underworld feeling of Coruscant early in AOTC, and I liked the events of TCW that took place there. But we have to avoid the absolutely regrettable silliness the caliber of Dexter's diner. Yuck.

 

How can sarcasm be disingenuous? I'm meaning to be sarcastic because I thought your post warranted it. I know that you don't mind either technology, neither do I, but you courted the response when making such eronious comparisons. It's like posting a picture of that dodgy stormtrooper parade shot (from the new trailer) and comparing it to a shot of Naboo soldiers or something i.e. apples and oranges. Lucas didn't go "too far", that we can see this level of quality in photorealistic digital effects in TFA is precisely because Lucas, and ILM, were pushing the boundaries of what was possible in 1999... that's 16 years ago. 16 years of advancements.

 

Yeah, well, that stormtrooper parade shot is not my favorite, but it sure ain't dodgy!

I maintain that your comment was disingenous because you know very well that my opinion is not so narrow. The examples I used were deliberately extreme, because I wanted to show what kinds of CGI integration I like, and what kinds of CGI work I find unconvincing. I am sure I will find examples of CGI-heavy shots in the ST that I don't like as well, and I'll say so. When I see them. So far, I don't see them.

 

Lucas lazily thought the future was green screen after the endeavours of the hod carrying Phantom Menace shoot how wrong he was...

 

The wide shots and Kylo Ren shots are very prequelly.

 

I´ll take BOTH OF THOSE anytime.

 

Lucas (rightly) used plenty of real sets and real locations in I-III but never mind.

 

Yeah the bottom pic looks very good. Particularly the lighting

 

I'm sick of saying IMO for everything, so: The Felucia image is simply horrible. It looks like a bad screensaver from the late 90s.

Personally, I can't fathom the idea that it in any way competes with the Star Destroyer in the sand shot. In that sense, I agree with Darth PJ. It's an unfair comparison!

 

Spot on - the 'venus fly trap' planet shot is just messy. As for prequel planets like Geonosis it's painfully obvious that it's all green screen - there's simply no scale to the battles, just loads of visual noise (which Rick McCallum seemed to think was a good thing rather than a bad thing). I did like the watery planet (Kamino?), although the line: "Your clones are very impressive. You must be very proud." is simply hilarious/silly and immediately blew away any tension or atmosphere in that sequence. You can imagine Ewan McGregor and Temura Morrison having a great laugh trying to get that out without corpsing. I can't see McGregor in AOTC and ROTS without thinking of Bob Mortimer's (UK comic) impersonation of Noel Edmonds (UK presenter).

 

Yup. And scale was lost not just because of too much CGI, but also because of poor shot composition. There were precious few moments in AOTC and ROTS where the camera was placed in such a way so as to emphasize the sheer scale of it all.

For example, look at the scene near the end of the trailer with the Falcon being chased by TIES. The camera hangs very far back for a moment as the Falcon approaches the Destroyer. And in that moment, you see how tiny they are in comparison to the Destroyer. THEN the camera zooms into the action to follow the heroes. Compare that to the opening scene of ROTS, where the camera follows close behind Obi-Wan's and Anakin's ships the whole time. From that perspective, you can still see that the ships they are up against are massive, but the camera never pulls back enough to give you such a grand sense of it. It may be a matter of taste, but I think JJ, inspired as he is by John Ford (and perhaps David Lean) is paying a lot of attention to framing and scale, and selling the world that way. So far, it's working. Big time.

 

Geonosis arena battle as far I can recall, didn't really require total green screen to realise it. As Gladitor did with the Colliseum, build so much of it and then CGI in the rest. The natural lighting would've exponentially added far more to that scene. But Lucas was drunk on green screen and the ease of the whole thing by that point. And it showed...

 

A few things I wouldn't mind:

1. A gungan

Ok, ok, hear me out: It would be the perfect nod to the prequels, precisely because it would be so ballsy. You couldn't help but NOT like it, just because it's like the writer/directors saying, "This new Star Wars Trilogy is going to be so good, we're sticking an alien in that has been ridiculed for 15 years, who is the face of all the (perceived) wrongs of the prequels, and guess what- you will f'ing love him and buy the action figure."

Maybe like a small role, with a single spoken line or two. A gruff, more realistic gungan, not comical at all. Like one of the space pirates, or a bartender or something. Objectively, without all the Jar Jar baggae, Gungans aren't that bad a design: http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs4/i/2004/257/f/1/Gungan_Smuggler_by_StuCunningham.jpg

In a way, it might reconcile all the bad vibes accrued all these years between people who hate, love, or simply tolerate the prequels. Like a collective sigh of relief, seeing a new gungan, where everyone just comes to terms with the fact that, love him or hate him, Jar Jar, and the prequels as a whole, are Star Wars cannon, and maybe that's just fine.

2. Force Ghost Hayden and/or flashback new unseen memory of Hayden Vader

Most people will at least admit that, aside from the (perceived) cringeworthy dialogue and painfully awkward love scenes, Hayden Christensen was a pretty badass, or at least passable, Vader in part three. This new trilogy is being filmed during a time when the actor is still of an age where he could make a bonefide cameo. And he should. It's Darth Vader for pete's sake! Him being added at the end of the Special Edition RotJ was actually very cool. Search your feelings, you know that to be true. It would be just as cool here.

3. Padme flashback

If it is true that this new orange alien can provide memory flashbacks, how can they not show one of Leia's actual memory of Padme? The "images and feelings" Leia mentions on RotJ. It would do a lot to reconcile the contradiciton of those Leia memories with us seeing Padme die minutes after childbirth. Maybe a newly filmed memory of a pregnant Padme singing or humming to her very pregnant belly, looking very beautiful, but sad...

It wouldn't necessarily have to be Natalie Portman (who would probably be nigh impossible to sign for a little dinky cameo anyway) if it were filmed carefully.

4. Dooku's Lightsaber

If it is true that a major plot point is the recovery of Sith Artifacts, this would be a cool one to make an appearance. It could very well have survived the crash of the ship after Dooku died, and is instantly recognizable by most fans I think it would be lame to make it a pointed or specific storyline object... I mean just have it in the background whenever the Big Bad Guy shows off his artifact room or whatever.

 

I don´t care what you think for me it looks just fine.

 

And this is where you are being disingenuous. If you are comparing "CGI integration" why not compare shots from the same trailer rather than to a film with effects from 10 years ago? It's a rather fallacious claim. Clearly the new trailer has shots in it that are more CGI heavy than other shots. Why not compare that shot of the downed star destroyer to that of the rather not so great composited shot of the stormtroopers on parade? Or compare the stormtroopers on parade to the clones on parade (AOTC) etc. No one is saying that the effects in TFA are, or will be bad. Why would they? So why would you try and use it like this if not to rile?

 

Personally I thought the shot of the TFA parade took an enormous dump on the Clones parade. I loved it, and I expect it will be polished further before release.

 

I know - it's amazing what you can do with CGI these days...

 

It was a really poorly composited shot. I was amazed it made it into the trailer. Has anyone got a screen grab so we can compare?

 

I didn't look poor to me, but it looked in the same ballpark as the various clones shots despite that real fake armor was used. I'd dare call it a nod to the PT.