Screen Fade in and out

Remember in ANH, near the begining of the movie; Instead of having wipes, the screen would fade to back and then fade in again to the next scene? Well this is a camera method used in many movies to give it an epic scope and make it dramatic, for example, its used alot in the LOTR trilogy, like at the end of ROTK, where it fades in and out for the different endings. I think this makes the events feel epic and important.

I also think it should have been in ROTS. ROTS deserved to be more epic and dramatic and drawn out than it was. More like the novelization. These fade ins and outs would have helped this, IMHO. It'd also be another tie-in to ANH and make them feel connected in a subtle way. Do you agree? Why, why not?

If you do agree, where do you think these could be placed?

I feel one should have had atleast been placed:

Right after Mace Windu and his posse leave the Jedi temple hanger to confront Palpatine, leaving Anakin alone. Just as Anakin walks away...Have the screen fade into darkness, instead of going to a redundant and out of place, cheesey wipe.

Then fade in to Padme in her apartment when Padme ruminations starts to play.

For one thing it tells the audience that we are going into the final hour of the movie. The end. The final run. Everything is going to happen now (which it does.) It also would serve a better transition in terms of editing between the two scenes.


What do you think?

 

Actually I agree. A fade out/fade in would work a lot better there.

 

I like it. Too bad Lucas didn't think of that.





Fade idea - I like it
/Flames

 

I agree, I think that fades work have worked very well [as they did in LOTR].

 

He used too many wipes in ROTOS, in my opinion. The fade would be a little better than having 12 wipes or more after scenes.

 

Yay! Everyone agrees!

 

I agree with the people agreeing.

 

Hmm, actually I disagree..



Just kidding...I agree with everyone.

 

I genuinely disagree. During all those fade-outs at the endings of ROTK, people often mistakenly stood up and started leaving. It happened so many times that I found myself really annoyed both at the people and the film-- it's a fairly artificial way to lengthen the movie even more. I can still remember the people around me asking, each time one of those fade-outs occured: "Is it over, yet?" or "Is it over, now?" or "Is it over, this time?"

Anyway. ROTS is the first Star Wars movie since ANH to use fade-outs to black-- AOTC did use a fade-in transition from Anakin waking up from a nightmare to the next morning. Again, fades were used this time to accompany his dreams, taking us to black and then showing us his nightmares directly, first after the hairbrush scene and Obi-Wan's departure to Utapu. That's the most fades-to-black Lucas has used in about thirty years. That's enough for me.

 

The fade outs in ANH have always bugged me..I've always assumed that they were errors due to the rushed nature of the production. Think about it, Luke & 3PO enter the homestead..fade out..why?!? It only happens twice in the entire OT, during slow moving scenes on Tatooine..and for me it jarrs with the wipes used throughout the rest of the trilogy.

 

The editors who edited A New Hope, found the film in horrible shape. Every end of the frame the flash of the camera appeared. So I think they cut those end of the scenes down and added the fades.

Also shouldn't this be in the OT forum?

 

Wha?? Why should this be in the OT forum? Its about ROTS....

 

I agree with the LoTR comment. The constant fades in RoTK were irritating. I think Lucas used the wipes very effectively, my favorite being when Anakin butchers the Tuskens in AoTC.

Carnage

 

That was a fade? I was always pretty sure, that was a disguised wipe...?

EDIT: You do mean the transition from Anakin slicing a sand person to Yoda meditating, right?

 

He said he liked the wipe, not a fade.

 

The wipes did almost start making a nuissance of themselves in ROTS. Wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe, wipe! It led some people to joking that ROTS was edited using Microsoft Powerpoint. You have to laugh sometimes.

I actually like the idea of a fade to the "Ruminations" sequence a great deal. It's like this event is happening in its own time and space -- a universe within a universe -- and a little further embellishment, also cutting down on one wipe, might have helped. It really does mark a turning point in the film. But on the whole, I agree with Jedi_Ford_Prefect (those are stellar observations, by the way). It's interesting how fades are used for the dreams -- suggesting a transition from one reality to another; from physical reality to metaphysical possibility and back again. Quite intriguing. Any remaining fades in ANH diminish this effect, however, and should probably be removed. Before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I'm not advocating yet more changes to a classic for the sake of improving the prequels, but rather, because they seem superfluous and contradictory given ANH's own framework, and their removal would correct this and help the prequels; it's win-win.

 

Let's not forget, when discussing/bashing GL's penchant for wipes vs. fades, the annoying (IMHO, anyway) use of choppy slo-mo in PJ's flicks. They're all over LOTR and KONG. I'll take a wipe in every scene change over yet another slo-mo, "now, zoom in real fast--and shake the camera a bit" moment meant to cause tension in a scene. The wipes were a stylistic choice for SW--meant to evoke the FLASH GORDON serial vibe that is SW's main inspiration. Yeah--a fade in to the Ruminations scene would have been cool. Doesn't alter the film's-or that scene's-overall value.

Jackson's crappy slo-mo moments, on the other hand, get old very quickly. His next challenge--make a flick with no lame LOTR slo-mo!!!

 

I thought of another place for a fade in/out effect in ROTS.

When it cuts from Obi Wan leaving Mustafar to the mechnical hand creeping up the hill. Instead of blantly cutting to the next scene, why not fade in and out?

 

Actually, the theatrical release featured a wipe between Obi-Wan and Anakin's hand. In the DVD it's changed to a straight cut.

 

I know.

 

A fade before the opera scene would work well, IMO.