ST The cinematography of The Force Awakens - Based on the teaser trailer

I'm fine with whatever JJ chooses. From the trailer it looks like he has the aesthetic of SW down pat. I'm overly pleased.

If anything, visually, from that 88 seconds this film looked like "The Best of The Prequels" (and I can dig that a lot), I just want things to look a little more rugged and war-torn.

The ONLY things I would like for him to avoid are:
1. Lens flares in places that lens flares shouldn't be there (the ones in the teaser are absolutely justifiable and make sense)
2. shaky cam for the sake of shaky cam
3. In JJ's Star Trek films, he constantly zoomed in the camera ridiculously close to his actors in scenes where dialogue is exchanged. I prefer for the cameras in Star Wars to be pulled further away from the actors in scenes like that, and to be static. We want to be able to grasp the universe we're in, not get a good glimpse of nose hair, stubble, and saliva.

 

I'm pretty happy so far. I most definitely can feel the OT in there. Obviously I'll miss the real gritty hands-on nature of those hand-made sets and full use of puppets/models, but that almost feels like a lost art these days. Here's some stuff that gives me great hope:​

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Lovely wide open landscapes - absolutely typical of the OT​

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More scenic shots we've come to expect from Star Wars. And those colours, wow!​

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Amazing imagery and a fantastic backdrop.​

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Controversial, but still fantastic. If they tighten this up, it'll be jaw dropping​

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Also (maybe I'm off mark) there was also a lot of cool contrasts going on and a lot more subtle that we're probably use to in Star Wars teasers. There is some really great imagery here, and go a long way to show two sides of the story.​

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Two different sets of scenes showing fantastic contrast - cold/warm, dark/light​

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Lastly, without trying too hard you can definitely find the homages to the OT. This gives me great hope for the film. While 2014 is definitely noticeable, there's no doubt in my mind we'll be taken back to the greatness that the OT gave us.​

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Scenes from the teaser compared to scenes from A New Hope.​

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Don't get me wrong... I actually prefer that it isn't mimickng the OT (although we are only going off 80 seconds of footage)... and I always expected JJ's SW to more resemble his Star Trek than Lucas' original Star Wars.... but I do find it interesting that we now have some evidence of the direction this is going in.

 

1. The only "shakeycam" I saw in the teaser was during the stormtrooper footage. I didn't mind it - there was shakeycam and random zooms in AOTC and ROTS...or have you forgotten about those already?

2. Lens flare? I barely even noticed any...whatever lens flare is in the teaser only looks natural as opposed to overdone.

3. This is beyond what any fan film can accomplish, man.

4. Georgey boy isn't in charge anymore. JJ Abrams is in charge of this ship (for now), and I do not blame him one bit for adding his own style to the direction and cinematography. His modern style is what sells these days...and if you refuse to believe that, then you are damn naive.

 

C'mon keep it in perspective ... I think there were far more interesting visuals in the teaser for TPM than there was in this. From the Gungans emerging from the mist, to Darth Maul in the doorway, to Qui-Gon's samurai stance, to the cockpit view of a podracer speeding over Tatooine etc. The only thing I'd say is that the teaser for TFW is from early in pre-production, so it's not nesersarily reflective of the visuals in the film itself. The visuals may indeed be brilliant in the film, but there's not that much in the teaser to suggest that. It's all pretty generic (and I don't state that as an overtly negative thing).

 

Nothing in TPM looked real. The CGI matte backgrounds looked dull and sterile. Yes, TPM showed more action but the quality of the visuals in TFA were light years better. This movie looks REAL. The desert looks like desert. Ships actually have exhausted. The shots of the x-wings over water (and actually making a water spray) was majestic. That's the difference from TPM's look which was much more cartoonish.

 

I would probably agree with this.

I feared we'd get almost an OT copy, but it actually looks like there is a good amount of JJ Abrams in it. I'm also not a big fan of JJ Abrams. He sometimes manages to get a certain energy across the screen that's refresthing, but there is always the danger of him turning the camera into a toy rather than keeping it as a subtle tool to frame a shot and let the scene flow and present itself.

The teaser makes it look a bit like there is the possibility he overdid it. I really don't like the Stormtrooper landing scene. Too shaky, too flashy, but especially because it's used for in inadequate effect, imo. It's too menacing. The Stormtroopers were deliberately portrayed as not-too-menacing in the OT and I feel this would break continuity quite a bit. I'm free to let him do his stlye, but he shouldn't use it as a means to "overrule" or "top" previous scenes and therefore continuity as well as established reality.

So, I'm happy to see thah JJ seems to have chosen a way of making this his own film (at least in terms of camera direction; not necessarily concept and production design) rather than a mere remake, so I don't mind a certain proportion of his "speciality" (I also liked that Lucas went a bit more agile or loose in AOTC while still keeping his overall calm and naturalistic style). I just hope he'll manage to keep a certain balance.

The teaser makes me unsure about that, tbh.

 

Yes, let's ignore the countless sets and real locations used because it helps your point.



The desert in TPM looks like desert too. Because it's a desert.

 

Nope, there isn't much of a difference. Take the Falcon and TIE Fighter shot, it looks cool, but it doesn't look "real" at all. I don't see how the desert looks any more real than any other shot of a real desert in the other movies either. It's still early in post-production, so the quality will improve a lot until the movie is done. With TFA coming ten years after ROTS, and 16 after TPM, it will have to look better, because technology is improving constantly. It would be shocking if it didn't.

Apart from that, there is a difference between the quality of animation and the quality of the shot itself. Visually the prequels were outstanding, with plenty of iconic shots, even with early digital cameras making things look a bit off now and then.


Somehow I always expect the camera to pan through the desert in the opening shot, it's confusing that it doesn't do that

 

I loved the cinematography,fresh,shaky,fast,modern,SW needs that.


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Have you noticed the "smoke" trails on Millenium Falcons tips?
Great,just great !


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I know all about TPM's production. I know they used real locations for Tatooine and Naboo. I was commenting on the overall feel of the movie. And it felt very fake and dull. This film in 88 seconds established much more realism. It's going to be roughly 58,000x better than TPM by modest expectation.

 

I sure did! JJ's killing it.

 

I respect your dissatisfaction with the trailer but it will not be difficult for TFA to exceeded TPM on every critical level. JJ's going to hit a home run and restore the franchise. Enjoy the ride!

 

I thought the cinematography was consistent with the rest of the series based on an 88 second trailer, I mean, obviously each star wars movie that is directed by a different director is going to look a little different, even The Empire Strikes Back is different looking then A New Hope.

 

I really enjoyed the content of the teaser but I have to agree that based on the footage we have seen so far, this film does not match the visual style of the first six films and does not feel like part of the saga. The worst aspect for me was the orange and teal colour grading that plagues so many films nowadays. The shot of the stormtroopers was particularly bad in this respect.

This breakdown of the trailer really shows the dominant colour palette: http://www.jedinews.co.uk/images/galleries/TFA_Teaser_Nov2014/default.asp

Obviously, I'm going to reserve judgement until I've seen the completed movie but this teaser has me very worried.

 

Everyone is entitled to his or her oppinion about how bad the trailer was, but i loved it. Even the soccer droid grew on me. If it didn't look like a Star Wars film to you, you ahve very weird expectations. Or at least very different from my own.

 

That's because the teaser is cut in a certain way. It avoids spoiling the majority of the cast, and the voiceover doesn't reveal too much of what's going on. This leads to us largely not knowing what the story will be, which I assume was their goal. This is totally the opposite to something like TPM teaser, which revealed nearly every single character (multiple times), and practically handed you the entire plot of the movie on a plate.

What we're left with is a bunch of action scenes that appeals to the greatest population. Hopefully when a full trailer is released and we get to learn the story, we'll see the more iconic camera work that people were expecting.

As for the orange/blue grading, it's been present throughout every Star Wars film. You only need to watch the original trailer for A New Hope to see it!

 

That's your opinion and you're welcome to it... but I think you're confusing things when referring to 'visuals'. You are aware that the 'money shot' in the TFA trailer was mostly CGI and that Ray Park, Liam Neeson are 'real' life actors and that all those shots of Tatooine in the TPM trailer was Tunisa right?

 

Very well put...

 

Hmm, I'm going to have to rewatch the first six films again because that doesn't ring true to me. I'm not saying you're wrong but the use of the orange/teal colour scheme is a relatively modern thing I thought.

For anyone that doesn't know what I'm talking about, just do a google image search for orange and teal and you'll see plenty of examples from recent films in all genres. I find it really irritating.

 

To be honest it didn't look very 'Star Warsie' to me. That's not nesersarily a bad thing though because I think a change is as good as a rest... and it needs to go in different directions to appeal to new audiences. So to state that it doesn't look like a Star Wars film isn't nesersarily a critism, because it is irrefutabley going to be a Star Wars film regardless of what it looks like. I think it is true to say that stylistically it looks a lot closer to Star Trek or Avengers, for example, than either the OT or PT (which I think were stylistically a lot closer to each other than some people acknowledge).

TESB (specifically Hoth and Dagobah) is colour graded. But obviously colour grading is ubiquitous in movies these days...

 

I don't mind colour grading, just the over use of two particular colours.

 

Something about the opening of the teaser struck me as familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Until now:



Not that this has any bearing on the final film mind you, I just thought I'd share it.

 

I won't deny that it took a few views to get into the new look. That is not a bad thing, since it did not feel wrong or out of place just... different. It is Star Wars, very obviously so, combining all elements that have been used in the six previous movies, while still giving us something new. I have no complaints about the "shakey cam" so many people seem to hate. It is in context for the scene where it appears. The troopers are apparently landing in some sort of transport ship and having the camera stay still for such a shot would be silly. It works and there is no problem with that. In the few seconds we get to see, the camera is obviously calmer when the shuttle doors open.

So far I like what I am seeing. A mix of old and new, yet both very familiar and fitting.

Of course, this is still a teaser where we got a just a few seconds of each shot. Who knows if some of these even make the final cut. Not to mention we know nothing of the scenes or context that surrounds these snippets. That can drastically change the way we see it in the final product.