ST Sequel Trilogy Character Screen Time

I'm not surprised really:

-As others have already said, we get introduced to Finn earlier and his scenes tend to be longer early on.
-When he and Rey do meet, then have very similar amounts of screentime because it becomes a sort of "buddy" dynamic rather quickly.
-When Rey is captured on Takonada, we then spend quite a bit of time with Finn trying to rescue her. By contrast, her scenes (the interrogation by Kylo, mind-tricking James Bond, sneaking around SKB), while important, tend to be rather short.
-When they're reunited on SKB, the "buddy" dynamic shows up again with similar results.
-Kylo and Han get their fair share of screentime as well.
-Etc.

 

If you're referring the posted graphic that started this thread... I can tell you that it is very wrong (and so can this guy who times things including Game of Thrones characters which is pretty crazy in its own right) and came from reddit (the post in question which is now deleted there).

 

I could no longer fight the urge to fix the spelling in the thread title.

 

Captain Phasma was alright although she could have been in the movie a bit more.

 

Didn't think creating another thread was necessary so the thread title can be updated if need be.



ninewheels0 Screen Time Breakdown

Screen time shift from Episode VII (2h15m theatrical running time) to Episode VIII (2h32m theatrical running time)
Luke: +2100% (+21 minutes)
Snoke: +175% (+3.5 minutes)
Rose: new (+12 minutes)
Holdo: new (+5 minutes)
DJ: new (+4 minutes)
Poe: +48.57% (+4.25 minutes)
Leia: +48% (+3 minutes)
C-3PO: +28.57% (+0.5 minutes)
Hux: +13.33% (+0.5 minutes)
R2-D2: +0% (+0 minutes)
Phasma: -14.29% (-0.25 minutes)
Kylo Ren: -19.74% (-3.75 minutes)
Rey: -29.07% (-12.50 minutes)
Finn: -45.67% (-14.50 minutes)
BB-8: -53.49% (-5.75 minutes)
Chewbacca: -73.53% (-6.25 minutes)
Maz: -81.25% (-3.25 minutes)
Han: omitted (-20.5 minutes)

 

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls027631145/

1) The screen time for both Luke and Rey dropped in their second film which makes sense considering the additional time needed in first films to establish characters.

2) That said, the addition of Rose as a character seems to have come most directly at both Rey and Finn screen time overall.

3) Luke received a little bit more than Han which also makes sense since his arc involves more setbacks and mental hurdles.

4) More Poe and Snoke screen time likely just increased the running time a little more.

 

TLJ took significant time away from main characters set up by TFA (Rey, Finn, Phasma, Kylo, BB-8, Chewie) in order to insert RJ's creations (Rose, Holdo, DJ).

 

I’m finding these breakdowns in screentime from all of the films really fascinating. The Emperor had less than 8 minutes of total combined screentime in the entire the OT. Remarkably,
Snoke’s combined run time in this is almost exactly the same.

C3PO and R2 almost had the exact same screen time in both ST films. C3PO in ANH has double the screen time of Darth Vader. Luke’s screentime in TESB and ROTJ are within 30 seconds of each other. Both about 3 minutes longer than what Rey has in TLJ but none of the Luke films exceeded Rey’s 43 minutes of screen time in TFA. Luke has more screentime in TLJ than Leia, Vader or Han did in ROTJ. Luke in TLJ also has nearly identical screen time to Leia in TESB and only 90 seconds less than Han in TESB. Phasma in TLJ has almost identical screentime as Boba Fett in TESB. The difference in screen time between Phasma in TFA and Phasma in TLJ is only 15 seconds. The combined time of Phasma in TFA and TLJ exceeds Boba Fett in TESB and ROTJ. Finn’s screen time in TLJ is within 30 seconds of Han’s screen time in ROTJ.

When watching Star Wars films it’s amazing how easy it is to get pulled into the story and not realize how much or how little some characters are really on screen.

 

I thought it might be interesting to discuss the shifts in each major character's screen time in TLJ vs it's predecessor.


Star Wars: The Force Awakens

1. Rey: 43 minutes
2. Finn: 31.75 minutes
3. Han Solo: 20.5 minutes
4. Kylo Ren: 19 minutes
5. BB-8: 10.75 minutes
6. Poe Dameron: 8.75 minutes
7. Chewbacca: 8.5 minutes
8. Leia Organa: 6.25 minutes
9. Maz Kanata: 4 minutes
10. General Hux: 3.75 minutes
11. Supreme Leader Snoke: 2 minutes
12. Captain Phasma: 1:45 minutes
13. Lor San Tekka: 1:45 minutes
14. C-3PO: 1:45 minutes
15. R2-D2: 1:15 minutes
16. Luke Skywalker: 1 minutes
17. Unkar Plutt: 1 minutes
18. Admiral Ackbar :15 seconds
19. Nien Nunb: 15 seconds
20. Lt. Connix: 15 seconds

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

1. Rey: 30.5 minutes
2. Luke Skywalker: 22 minutes
3. Finn: 17.25 minutes
4. Kylo Ren: 15.25 minutes
5. Poe Dameron: 13 minutes
6. Rose Tico: 12 minutes
7. Leia: 9.25 minutes
8. Supreme Leader Snoke: 5.5 minutes
9. BB-8: 5 minutes
10. Amilyn Holdo: 5 minutes
11. General Hux 4:15
12. DJ: 4 minutes
13. Chewbacca: 2:15 minutes
14. C-3PO: 2:15 minutes
15. Lt. Connix: 2:15 minutes
16. Yoda : 2 minutes
17. Commander D'Acy: 1:45 minutes
18. Captain Phasma: 1:30 minutes
19. R2-D2: 1:15 minutes
20. Paige Tico: 1 minutes
21. Maz Kanata: 45 seconds
22. Nien Nunb: 15 seconds
23. Admiral Ackbar: 15 seconds

Screentime is complied by an IMDB user who has kept a running record of the screentime breakdowns for each SW episode.
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls027631145/

Credit to @MagnarTheGreat for posting the link elsewhere.

 

it works. is nien nunb on the falcon is guess? didn't see him anywhere else.

 

Yeah, he'd been hiding in the secret compartments since TFA.

 

The lack of screen time for R2D2 is criminal.

 

Still in the top 3. Most of his screentime when to Luke Skywalker, who usurped him as the primary scene partner for the lead protagonist.

Much has been made of Finn's slash in screentime, but one look shows that RJ just made a much more balanced film than JJ, with more characters getting their time in the sun. Even Rey lost a quarter of her screen time, while Luke, Leia and Poe got more.

Interestingly enough, despite being separate for most of the film, the ratio of screen time between Finn and Rey is almost identical across both films.

 

And I thought I had too much free time on my hands.

And in the words of my hero,

Impressive. Most impressive.

 

I would note that the total screentime per movie differs according to these lists. TLJ total = 93% of TFA total. It seems more reasonable to multiply the TFA times each by 0.93 for a more reasonable comparison.

Although one could alternatively calculate the percentage of the total the characters have in each film (according to the lists) and compare those.

Also I see Luke (TLJ) and Han (TFA) as nearly cancelling one another out.

I think Rey and Finn (and BB-8) have less time to accommodate Rose, Poe, Leia, Holdo and DJ.

 

Rey got a 29% cut of screen time from TFA while Finn got a 46% cut… so no, I don’t think their ratio is “almost identical”. Finn’s amount of time was drastically reduced to almost same the amount of time as Kylo Ren (unlike in TFA).

What I find interesting about screentime stats is that they show how well a character was utilized in the movie. For instance, I always found it rather amazing that Vader only had 9 min total of screen time in ANH yet it felt like he was the movie for much longer. Similarly, I think the same applies for Kylo Ren in TLJ, whereas despite having technically a reduction of screen time, it feels like he was much more of a main character than he was in TFA.

Finn, though, it’s rather surprising to see his screen time in third place, as it felt like he was treated too much like a disposable side character on some unimportant sidequest that amounted to nothing.

 

That Rey and Finn got far less screentime was bound to happen. Apart from the start of TFA with Poe and Kylo Ren, these two are what the audience gets to follow through the entire opening. Up until Han appears, the focus is almost entirely on those two, and that scene happens way into the movie.

That could only change once everyone and everything was established. Just look at ANH, 3PO basically matches Han Solo in screentime, and R2 is right behind. Only Luke has clearly more. Much of that comes from the beginning, which is carried almost entirely by 3PO and R2. The two moved from a combined total of 37m in ANH, to almost 26m in ESB and then further down to not quite 21m in ROTJ, even though the movies got longer with each episode. Thus, the characters who carry the opening of the trilogies get some very misleading screentimes. Which in ANH inflates the numbers for R2 and 3PO, and in TFA inflates the numbers for Rey and Finn.

TLJ is actually a pretty good match with ROTJ in terms of screentime. Time gets spread out over more characters:

- the lead (Rey with ~30m in TLJ, Luke with 34m in ROTJ)
- a secondary lead (Luke with 22m / Leia with 21m)
- the third lead (Finn with 17.15m / Han with 17.45m)
- the antagonist (Kylo Ren ~15m / Anakin/Vader ~15m)
- a bunch of good guys sidekicks (Poe 13m, Rose 12m, Leia 9m / 3PO 13m, Chewie 10m, R2 7m)
- mix of villains and good guys (Snoke, BB-8, Holdo with 5m, Hux and DJ 4m / Palpatine and Jabba 6m, Lando 5m, Yoda 4m, Wicket 3.5m)
- plus quite a few characters in the 2m range

 

Sequel Trilogy character screen time thread
[RESEARCH] Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Character Screen Time Comparison by me

TLJ is the longest SW movie ever so for example Rey appears for 20% of TLJ's entire theatrical runtime while she appears for 32% of TFA's entire theatrical runtime.

Screen time leading characters by percentage per movie entire runtime (includes logos and credits and crawls and all that; it would be a better comparison with all that stripped out as runtime)
ANH: Luke appears for 31% of the movie
TESB: Luke appears for 28% of the movie
ROTJ: Luke appears for 26% of the movie
TPM: Qui-Gon appears for 26% of the movie (Anakin appears for 17% of the movie)
AOTC: Anakin appears for 34% of the movie
ROTS: Anakin appears for 38% of the movie
TFA: Rey appears for 32% of the movie
RO: Jyn appears for 27% of the movie
TLJ: Rey appears for 20% of the movie

 

Yes, this really does speak to how badly Finn was utilized in TLJ. I still think it's actually the expansion of Poe that pushed Finn out of the main narrative. I honestly was expecting their screentime to be about the same. There's a narrative you see around the internet a lot that RJ's attention to Kylo is what corresponded to a downgrade in Finn's character, which is an argument I think doesn't hold up.

Also notable that Leia doesn't have a huge upgrade in screentime but feels so much more present and effective in TLJ.

 

I think Leia’s effectiveness and presence in the film has to do with Carrie’s passing. We want to grasp and watch as much as possible with her since it will literally be the last film where we see Carrie and most likely Leia.

 

He wasn't really push aside though. Again, he was extremely present in the opening of TFA, which inflated this screentime, something that tends to happen to those who open a new trilogy. His screentime is very much in line with past examples, especially when you consider that the movie does focus on a broader character base instead of focusing on just a few.

Whether one finds his screen-time effective is another matter, but the number in itself is perfectly fine and in line with similar characters from the past.