Star Wars Episode III: Behind the Scenes Webcam

securitas writes "Soon Star Wars behind-the-scenes webcam goes live when shooting for Episode III begins in Australia. 'The webcam will be moved every day, shooting live for 12 hours and then replaying in a loop while the cast is sleeping.' Of course it's only free until next week when you will have to join StarWars.com's newly relaunched site to view the cam as part of a package of services that includes online chats, outtakes and deleted scenes." I'm not sure if it's worth $20, but it's worth something....

Comments

Its worth

[Anonymous Coward]

George Lucas is a greedy, fat old man who is hell-bent on ripping off his fans (the new and the old ones alike).

Hmmmm...

[Vengeance]

Pay to watch them shooting a movie I probably won't bother bringing myself to pay to see?

Not bloody likely.

Star Wars was hot in the '70s, cool in the '80s, retro in the '90s, and turned into a joke by the Phantom Menace. When I first saw that they were setting up a webcam, I thought it was mildly interesting. The pay thing is the final proof I needed though, that the SW franchise has had enough of my attention.

Re:Hmmmm...

[Timesprout]

I think this is a very very clever way of generating even more revenue from a movie, not to mention getting the cash up front to offset production costs.

I would imagine we can expect to see a lot more of this shortly on different movie sets. The sad fact is that a lot of people are prepared to pay for it to get a look at their 'heroes' and what happens on the set.

It will ony be a question of time before the 'acting' extends to the web cam and we can have staged scenes to generate interest in the movie so that the actual production becomes a soap opera in itself.

Hmmm..

[Verteiron]

You know, after viewing both The Phantom Plot and Attack of the Special Effects, I haven't the faintest desire to spend a dime on anything involved with Star Wars anymore? Lucas has killed it... it's gone.

I seriously doubt I'll be seeing episode 3, much less spending time/money watching a "behind the scenes" webcam that you know is going to be scripted and rigged just like all "Behind the Scenes" specials are.

Re:Hmmm..

[the gnat]

I'm sorry the Mario^H^H^H^H^H Foundry scene was just the most childish insult to the audience I'd ever seen.

One reviewer compared it (unfavorably) to the pie-machine scene in Chicken Run. A good example of how effects can't make up for plot - Aardman does more with clay than ILM can with thousands of computers.

Re:Who is planning on paying for this?

[s20451]

Only fanboys would actualy pay for it, but there seems to be no shortage of those. Good business case.

Re:Spend Your Money You Will, Yes.

[benwb]

Shouldn't that be "Path to the dark side, greed is"

I know, I know

[Monkeylaser]

It's somewhat flameish to just decry this as another whore for money from Lucas, but it seems that the star wars license has gone from something nearly sacred to the developement of geeks to just another schlocky blockbuster, only with more questionably wooden acting than most, and a more disturbingly loyal fanbase.

But paying for a webcam, and deleted scenes? C'mon now guys. When you've merchandised everything else in the movies already, watching the blue screen work that presumably these actors are going to be doing really doesn't sound like much fun to me.

A question posed to the other slashdot readers here. How many folks are just a little bit more disillusioned with one of our childhood geek heroes (Lucas) every time we see a news post about the prequel trilogy?

It's become something of a car-crash phenomenon for me. I just can't look away. But I will balk at paying 20 bucks. It leads one to wonder if this is a result of the nature of Hollywood, for creating larger, more expensive, less true to the original concept material, or if it's the nature of man as the director, when they start believing their own hype.

The Matrix, our new Sci-Fi trilogy?

[Mish]

It only fully hit home when discussing "The Matrix Reloaded" with a few friends a few weeks back, but "The Matrix" has a good chance at being "The New Star Wars".

If the Wachowski Brothers can pull off 'something special(TM)' with the third Matrix movie then it'll live on for quite a long time as a classic cult sci-fi/fantasy trilogy, something the latest set of Star Wars films show no sign of doing.

I (as did most of us) loved the original Star Wars films; I still watch them from time to time. I've watched the first Star Wars film (TPM) about three times and may never watch it again, it lacks something... the same unfortunately goes for the second, which has left me with no desire to be there on opening night for the third Star Wars film.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this will happen, maybe the third Matrix movie will fall flat on its face and fail to deliver, but its set up for a way better chance than what looks to amount to another shallow CG laden Star Wars movie, hell rewatching the older Star Wars movies recently I was surprised by how good the old spaceship models look when compared to the new CG versions.

I think the best quote I've ever seen about the whole "Star Wars vs. Matrix" situation was by a Matrix crew member who summed it up perfectly with:

On a basic level, though, "The Matrix" was simply good storytelling. "I've heard the 'Star Wars' people boast about shooting frames that are 97 percent digital, and lo and behold, the movies are soulless," says John Gaeta, visual-effects supervisor for all three "Matrix" movies. "They traded the whole idea of depth in filmmaking for this supertechnological hype. It helped us focus our own philosophy: the story drives everything."

I agree wholeheartedly.

Re:The Matrix, our new Sci-Fi trilogy?

[Lumpy]

I (as did most of us) loved the original Star Wars films; I still watch them from time to time. I've watched the first Star Wars film (TPM) about three times and may never watch it again, it lacks something... the same unfortunately goes for the second, which has left me with no desire to be there on opening night for the third Star Wars film.

I'll let you in on a secret.... Star Wars was the FIRST movie to do a Space based SCI-FI with lots of semi believeable special effects. The sci-fi movies before it sucked because the effects were lame.. and felt like a kid playing with the super-8 in the back yard with holloween costumes and fireworks.

Star wars was a hit because nobody ever saw anything like it before.. it was the first, fresh, and brought them in because of that.

Matrix... DITTO! the same thing. people are getting tired of the same crap over and over and over and over.. now comes the Matrix.. it's "fresh" and has a plot that is innovative.

in 20 years when they make 3 prequels to the matrix you will feel as poorly about it as you do about starwars now.

Re:The Matrix, our new Sci-Fi trilogy?

[dswensen]

I think you're right about The Matrix being the new Star Wars. After all, when the Slashdot story reviewing the sequel was posted, people came out in droves to say how much it sucked and wasn't worth their time, and how it was a brainless, empty exercise in excessive (and let's not forget crappy) digital effects. The original Matrix, on the other hand, retroactively became a revolutionary epic which produced an effect that could never be repeated by any further expansion of the story.

Yup, sounds like the heir to Star Wars if ever I saw one.

Re:What it's worth...

[curtisk]

Ignoring ?

Perfect response!

Lucas , you have to give him credit for more -or-less starting(or refining) the whole mass-merchandising thing, but its so spun out of control and just tired

This scam may have nothing to do with him, but its unlikely. How many more "new editions" of Episode 1-5 releases are we gonna see after 6 comes out on DVD....with new,new,new deleted never before seen footage or something.

But, if you're willing to pay, thats your loss... besides, Star Wars was cool when I was a kid, yeah the effects are slick, but the movies themselves are truly pretty weak, even the old ones, but again I was a KID then.

money doesn't stink

[dorfsmay]

Holywood is a business. The primary goal of business is to make money, not to entertain.

I am not sure why the guy should be criticized for being old. Everybody grows old, some better than others. I hope you loose your anger as you grow older... Yes, sorry to break the news to you, the "olds" is not a group of other foreign people, you too will grow old.

I have to admit that being fat is a health risk, but that is his problem that has no consequence on what he does (producing movies), and apparently he has the money to deal with the consequences of his life style choices.

I am not sure why slashdoters tend to be very quick to criticize the successfull rich people out there... jealousy ?? Now if you are truly interrested in entertainment and talent, forget about big holywood production, start looking at what's produced locally in your area. Everywhere I've been, you can easily find incredibly talented musicians, singers, actors, etc... They typically are not rich, and paying to see them at your local theatre will make a big difference to them.

Enjoy your day.

Re:money doesn't stink

[maxpublic]

I hope you loose your anger as you grow older

My anger is directed at the folks who can't spell "lose" properly. It's "lose" as in "you lose, dude", and "loose" as in "he's loose, so make him wear a condom".

Max

Re:money doesn't stink

[RatBastard]

No, money doiesn't. But George does. The people here aren't jealous of his money. Those of us who hate him and his insatiable greed don't hate him for the money he's gotten. We hate him for how he got it. We hate him for re-releasing the original trilogy ofer and over in ever so slightly different guises (but never on DVD). We hate him for selling out to TV and making that dreadful "Star Wars Holiday Special". We hate him for selling out his creative integrety (sp?, who cares?) and perverting Endor from a planet of wookies into a planet of Christmas plush dolls. We hate him for making a list of tens of thousands of Jar-Jar Binks licensing ideas rather than try and make Episode One a good movie.

In short, we hate him fior every time he decided to milk us out of yet another dime, again and again with the restraint of the Maquis de Sade at a girl's bording school.

Some of us are tired of being his moneybags and his bitch.

Re:money doesn't stink

[mrleemrlee]

Give me a break.

How exactly was replacing big, hairy creatures with small, hairy creatures a surrender of artistic integrity? Get a grip, man! The fact is that Episode IV was a fairly well-made movie that was revolutionary in form, Episode V was a masterpiece (and directed by someone who actually knew how to direct)and the rest of the films have been gilding (or sullying) the lily.

You are taking some pretty good space opera and conflating it into an excuse to be angry at the whole world. I am a huge "Star Wars" fan, but even I can see that even among sci-fi/comicdom, there are dozens of worlds both richer and more interesting than Lucas' creation. The sum total of it is one good movie, one great movie, one mediocre movie and two unholy messes. No offense, but it can't possibly come as news that this is pretty small potatoes as far as cultural legacies go.

And after 26 years of being his "bitch," I imagine you are tired of it. But you kept coming back for more ...

20 Bucks to See the making of shite?!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I cannot believe the audacity and sheer chutzpah of Lucas at this point. Just when you thought he couldnt ruin the franchise anymore after he churned out Attack of The Clones, (one of the few movies in my life that I've actually walked out on) he actually expects fans to pay to see the making of this? Remember the Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back behind the scenes FX special that aired on TV to hype the film coming out years ago? That was promotion and it was free to us.
Here's an idea for everyone in the nerd/techy/sci-fi spaz arena: don't go to see either this new Star Wars movie or The Matrix Revolutions. Why continue to support these franchises which simply rely on their built in audiences for revenue instead of actually attempting to create a quality product? The Wachowski's and Lucas are exploiting America's need and desire for a good quality sci-fi film that has great effects AND a meaningful plot to sustain characters we actually CARE about.

Watched "Empire" recently...

[Anonymous Coward]

...and I wanted to cry half-way through. We'll never see a Star Wars picture that good again (George didn't write or direct it and it shows).

I'll pay $20 extra just to have the "original" edit on DVD.

Real world vs. Lucas world

[Sabu mark]

Real world: Behind-the-scenes shorts are a form of preview, designed to whet the audience's appetite.
Lucas world: Behind-the-scenes shorts are a saleable product, offered at twice the price of the actual movie being made.

Real world: Buying the VHS or DVD is like owning the actual print of the film, in a cheaper format.
Lucas world: There is no such thing as the print of the film. Films are like operating systems; a new version is released avery year or so, and the customer base must pay to replace their DVDs with the latest version.

Real world: The special effects exist to serve the story.
Lucas world: The special effects exist to improve sales of the upcoming Xbox title.

Real world: A franchise goes downhill when the original creators are replaced.
Lucas world: The franchise went downhill when the original creator came back.

Re:Sin(g)s of the time ?

[Blondie-Wan]

I think it's certainly true the majority of hardcore Star Wars fans today were kids when the original(s) came out, but it certainly wasn't just kids who embraced them back then. Go back and look at reviews for them in their original releases, particularly the original - remember, this was the movie Time called the "best movie of the year" before the year was even half over, a movie that won or was nominated for eleven Oscars including Best Picture, and a movie that was seen multiple times even by plenty of adults. Clearly the appeal of the originals isn't limited to either kids or people who were kids when they first saw them. The prequels may be a different case, though...

Re:I Love The Haters

[Mike Mentalist]

Its truly pathetic. You are truly pathetic. George Lucas, in my estimation, is a genious. He has managed to pull bits and pieces of mythology and form it into a cohesive and compelling universe that has enchanted millions for nearly 30 years! Lets see any of you do that, you little twerps.

How on EARTH is he a genius?
He only made the very first Star Wars film, and the latest ones are just selling on the back of the Star Wars name.
Whilst the originals had some good characters (Harrison Ford is a great actor, and 'makes' many films what they are), the new ones are just dreadful. The acting for the most part is appalling and if it didnt have the Star Wars name behind it, it wouldnt be anywhere near as succesful.

I loved EP I, can't get enough of EP II (I probably watch the DVD once or twice a month, including the bonus footage, I can't get enough of Ben Burt's documentary) and I am eagerly waiting for EP III, and I will, with a big huge smile on my face, happily pay for the new SW site.

Right. You claim that you arent a fanboy, yet you say all that.
What, exactly, consitutes a fanboy then...?

If you *hate* George Lucas so much, why do you spend so much time expressing that hatred?

We dont so much hate him, more the fact that most Star Wars fans are blind to the faults in the new SW films.
I worked with some SW nuts, and they just wouldnt accept that the new films have been bad. Their only reply is "but its Star Wars" to all criticism. If it wasnt Star Wars, they wouldnt look twice at it.

Re:Lucus gets points

[greenhide]

Do I plan to see Episode III... yea, but not at prime time rates, or perhaps on bittorrent. I enjoyed a new hope, empire strikes back, and return of the jedi. I don't plan to be first in line, I don't plan to trade a laptop for tickets as seen with episode 1. I won't drive up to canada to see it first.

Actually, I plan to go to the midnight showing. Way I figure it, I probably will go to see it while it's in the theaters, and if I do I may as well see it when it's fresh and new and see it surrounded by the most hardcore geeks possible, who will laugh at all the inside stuff, if there is any, and who will cheer really loudly at the end, so I can at least fool myself into believing that I enjoyed the film.

My profound hope? It's unlikely, but maybe Lucas will think, "Hey, this is the *last one* I can do! I'd better marshall any talent that I, the actors, my dialogue writers, and my special effects crew have to make this the best one ever! All of my fan base really have bitched about episodes 1 and 2. Maybe I should take a look at Empire and see just what it was that made it so successful (Answer: tight editing, interesting philosophies, exciting interstellar chase scenes, genuine humor -- "It's not my fault" still the greatest line of all time, and realistic emotional connections between the characters)"

But not very likely, really.

If only there was someone to put Harrison Ford back into the movie. Man, he was the glue that held it all together.

Episode III - YAWN

[jhylkema]

Okay, so Queen Amidala bangs Anakin and has twins. Anakin goes to the dark side and Princess Leia goes into hiding. BFD. Riight. I'm going to pay $8 for this.

Now, if I get to see Natalie Portman naked . . .

Re:I Love The Haters

[Mwongozi]

> I am NOT a "fanboy"
...
> I probably watch the DVD once or twice a month, including the bonus footage

Right...

Re:Could you figure out the plot?

[mykepredko]

This is why when people complain about the plots of the prequels, I take them with a grain of salt. We know what's going to happen - I doubt that there are going to be any great surprises.

It's Saturday afternoon kids' fare - so don't worry about the story, just sit back and be amazed by the effects.

myke

Re:I Love The Haters

[TrekkieGod]

Here's how their collective childhood was "raped" pal (I'd include myself in the list, but I wasn't around for ANH--although I also feel the pain):

1. Star Wars is a part of their childhood memories...it was a phenomenon, and they were a part of it when it happened
2. When Star Wars gets re-released, and they try to recapture what they felt when they first watched it, they find out it has been changed. Now, enhanced special effects can be good in the minds of some, but almost everyone will agree that Han Solo's very character was changed with the Greedo event. From a smart outlaw, to a brave, foolish man (notice how fake the whole scene looks...with Han not even ducking as Greedo fires the shot--what the heck is up with Greedo's aim anyway? He's not a stormtrooper.)
3. When the movies are available for purchase once again, lo and behold...the original ones aren't. So those of us who were not happy with the special edition, couldn't get the old stuff. That may make you happy, because you like the new stuff...but it doesn't make everyone happy.
4. Lucas creates prequels, gets every Star Wars fan hyped up. Somehow, however, he changes the demographics that he's aiming at. He starts aiming at children for the movies. Now, even if you were to argue that the original trilogy was also aimed at kids (and the only possible argument you could have is ewoks, while everything else points elsewhere), he still changed the audience...because the mainstream star wars fans, those who were kids when the first trilogy came out, grew up by now...these are the people he needs to cater for.
5. Lucas creates the previously unknown "boring action scene" by making the pod race so long that I'll bet many people thought the sound of the pod engines were different when they got the dvd--because they thought the collective sound of half the theater snoring was engine sound, when they saw it in the big screen. Reason:
6. 1. Make previously unknown "boring fight scene"
   2. Use the Star Wars hype to convince people it's not actually bad
   3. Sell video games and action figures based on the previous step
   4. ???
   5. Profit!
7. Lucas, the technological "all digital man", decides to release TPM in VHS only, initially stating the DVD will only be out after all three prequels are released, together with the original trilogy. Then, when everyone buys the VHS, he "succumbs to pressure" and releases the DVD, causing a lot of the people to buy the movie twice. The force may not be with Lucas, but Greed certainly is.
8. From current rumors, it appears that he intends to change the original trilogy once again (Natalie Portman seems to have filmed some scenes, there's some speculation as to it being a flashback scene of some sort). And from the same rumors, he intends to release only the "extra special edition" or whatever on dvd. A format that would EASILY allow for releasing all different versions of the film in the same disk, T2 Ultimate Edition-like. Now, this is just a rumor as far as I know, so I won't blame this on Lucas...yet.
9. In order to convince people who did not yet see Lucas as a greedy man who would ruin everybody's childhood memories to make a buck, he decides to charge for things that would ordinarily be called promotional material--things given for free to attract attention to the real product. He fails in this step...you still call him a genius.

Now...the above statements are FACT. He's not just changing the stuff, he's refusing to give us the original trilogy back as well. Oh, I know...he'll probably "succumb to pressure" again...after he convinces people he's not going to release the original, and forces everyone to buy the "extra special edition" first.