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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

ST The Cinematography/Film Techniques of The Last Jedi

Discussion in 'Sequel Trilogy' started by PymParticles , Apr 14, 2017.

  1. MarcJordan

    MarcJordan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 2014
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2018
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  2. thejeditraitor

    thejeditraitor Chosen One star 6

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    Aug 19, 2003
  3. thejeditraitor

    thejeditraitor Chosen One star 6

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    Aug 19, 2003
  4. MrElculver2424

    MrElculver2424 Jedi Master star 4

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    May 11, 2014
    ^^I always love watching those "behind the magic" type videos. Stunning visuals.
     
  5. PymParticles

    PymParticles Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Oct 1, 2014
    Yeah, I'm dying to see the feature-length "making of" doc that comes with The Last Jedi. It's also going make it a lot easier to fill up this thread.
     
  6. IlhamKamaruddin

    IlhamKamaruddin Jedi Master star 2

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    Nov 29, 2017
    Andy. Serkis.
     
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  7. Darth_Accipiter

    Darth_Accipiter Force Ghost star 5

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    Feb 2, 2015
    "it's like poetry. It rhymes"

     
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  8. PymParticles

    PymParticles Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Oct 1, 2014
    [​IMG]
     
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  9. ewoksimon

    ewoksimon Chosen One star 5

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    Oct 26, 2009
    By far my favorite shot from the film:

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    Last edited: Mar 18, 2018
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  10. Kalmanta

    Kalmanta Jedi Padawan

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    Jul 22, 2017


    Nice Twitter Thread
     
  11. Martoto77

    Martoto77 Jedi Master star 5

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    Aug 6, 2016
    The oversaturated submarine red lights, to the point of loss of focus, was pretty unusual for a Star Wars film. Loved it for that scene.
     
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  12. ewoksimon

    ewoksimon Chosen One star 5

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    Oct 26, 2009
    This remains one of the most resonant shots for me from The Last Jedi. Yes, the Raddus going lightspeed through the First Order fleet is visually astonishing, but the solemn acknowledgement on Leia and Poe's faces drives home the weight of Holdo's sacrifice.

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  13. EHT

    EHT Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Sep 13, 2007
    And even C-3PO, somehow. I don’t know how they do it, but in SW movies even fixed “faces” like C-3PO’s or Vader’s seem to convey different emotions depending on the scene. Something to do with camera angles and lighting, I think, but it feels like more than that.
     
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  14. godisawesome

    godisawesome Skywalker Saga Undersheriff star 6 Staff Member Manager

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    Dec 14, 2010
    I've noticed that a well formed static mask can have its angles and lines distorted, obfuscated, or exagerrated simply by moving it relative to the camera. C-3PO's eyes get emphasized to look "wide-eyed" whenever he has his head tilted up because you can see the entire ocular cavity, whereas his brow seems to go over them more when he tilts his head forward, making it look a bit like he's making an expression. You can observe a similar effect in Kylo Ren and Vader's masks; they look like they're "staring ahead" whenever they raise their heads.
     
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  15. ewoksimon

    ewoksimon Chosen One star 5

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    Oct 26, 2009
    Because masks and static faces are so prevalent in the saga, the films great case studies for the Kuleshov effect. Here's a succinct explanation by Hitchcock:



    This applies to the droids, whose faces are always static, and also characters like Vader and Kylo. Vader watching Luke suffer Force lightning at the hands of Palpatine in ROTJ is maybe my favorite use of it, but there are a couple great instances in TFA as well, with Finn's introduction on Jakku, as well as Kylo speaking to Vader's helmet.
     
  16. Ody_Mandrell

    Ody_Mandrell Jedi Grand Master star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 28, 2003
    Some interesting paralell.

    "I'll try spinning - that's a good trick!"

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  17. DarthWolvo23

    DarthWolvo23 Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 30, 2005
    I think TLJ did a good job of mirroring both the OT and the PT
     
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  18. Ody_Mandrell

    Ody_Mandrell Jedi Grand Master star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 28, 2003
    Bondage.
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    Luke's life...
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    ...and Luke's death.
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  19. BigAl6ft6

    BigAl6ft6 Chosen One star 8

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    Nov 12, 2012
    Last Jedi is one of the best looking Star Wars movies ever, either this one or Empire for me. I will say, minor gripe, I've seen the movie in multiple formats and the moment where Rose lets the Faither go I always thought was really dark, like visually, almost too much. Otherwise the movie is a beaut.
     
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  20. Bor Mullet

    Bor Mullet Force Ghost star 7

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    Apr 6, 2018
    I think TLJ is the worst-looking Star Wars film compared to the OT, ST and Anthologies (and TPM), but better-looking than AOTC and ROTS.
     
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  21. 3sm1r

    3sm1r Force Ghost star 6

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    Dec 27, 2017
    What is precisely that you didn't like of TLJ's cinematography?
     
  22. 11-4D

    11-4D Force Ghost star 5

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    Apr 6, 2015
    You think it looked better than TFA?
     
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  23. PymParticles

    PymParticles Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Oct 1, 2014
    That's interesting, I actually think it's the best shot out of the Disney-era; it's one of the many reasons I'm so high on the film. I'd put TFA and RO at about equal and Solo in last, which is disappointing for me because I was really looking forward to Bradford Young's cinematography in that film.
     
  24. Glitterstimm

    Glitterstimm Force Ghost star 6

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    Dec 30, 2017
    I agree %100. In AOTC and ROTS Lucas was overly-ambitious with cgi, and the lighting of many scenes just doesn’t mesh with the animation. AOTC is better than ROTS, but not by a lot. TLJ’s main problems (imho) are that A) there’s not much interesting to shoot to begin with in terms of sets and landscapes, and B) the actors are relentlessly charging/charged into the camera for dramatic close-ups which makes them seem oddly disembodied from their counterparts and surroundings.

    Also, it’s weirdly drained of color except for explosions of deep red. It consistently intrudes the pallet in order to build energy and becomes somewhat hilarious once you know to look for it. I think that RJ was trying to create a black/white/grey template to emphasize Rey and Kylo’s spiritual symmetry, and then used red to express their chemical instability. But the implementation is not elegant enough to work imho.

    I don’t think the action is well shot either. The horse chase is poorly lit, you can barely see what’s happening. The battles with Finn and Rose on the Supremacy and the throne room fight were RJ’s chance to do something interesting with fire and smoke, but it all feels pedestrian, like the smoke is clearly not coming from the flames. It’s a shame because I think he really wanted there to be some menace and it would have been cool to see something more Terminator-esque in a SW film but oh well. At least Phasma looked cool. The shots in the battle of Crait feel oddly static as well, mostly towering silhouettes and a few (red) fireworks. When he goes for broke with Finn and Rose’s kiss it smacks of Michael Bay. The concurrent problem through all of it is an absence of dimension and movement.

    In terms of rankings, I’m also not particularly impressed with the cinematography of Solo or R1 either, but they are better than TLJ. I like TFA’s a lot except for the Ratthars.
     
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  25. Joystick Chevron

    Joystick Chevron Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 31, 2017
    I'd have to agree with this. While it's got some really striking visuals, there's a lot of it that looks rather ugly to me. I was going to just talk about it, but I feel like actually using images would better illustrate the mix of bad compositing, awkward lighting and some choices that just don't appeal to me on a visual level. On one hand, you get this:
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    I feel like it doesn't help that the film's set design often has this odd plasticity to it. The best looking location is definitely Ach-To, as despite some issues I have, it has less of the compositing issues locations like the Supremacy or Crait have, or the plastic quality of Canto Bight. In addition, I'm not really fond of how they shot the conversations. There's often this disconnected quality to them, where it feels like the actors aren't in the same room. I feel like this is the result of often shooting actors in isolated closeups, with no presence of the other actor in frame. It's a choice that doesn't really work for me.

    I think Disney's Star Wars so far has given us a lot of striking imagery, and Last Jedi is no exception, but it suffers in ways I don't think the other films do. I think Solo's quite nicely shot, and the single light source approach is an interesting way to approach it and creates some unique visuals. Rogue One and Force Awakens are easily the two best from them though by a significant margin. I think both films are some of the most gorgeous blockbusters of the decade and bring something unique to the table. I think Force Awakens is Abrams often frantic style perfected and the colour grading is lush and beautiful. Rogue One has a great painting-like quality and it's action scenes make great use of shaky-cam to convey the frantic nature of the war.
     
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