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Star Wars Revelations - May the Force Be With You!
n0alpha writes "For all you Star Wars fans out there, if you've been less than satisfied with the last two episodes of Star Wars, fear not. There is a new episode coming out soon -- but I'm not talking about Revenge of the Sith. On April 16th, 2005 the world will be blessed with a brand new episode, Star Wars Revelations. This is an independent film, completely put together by volunteers and organized by Panic Struck Productions, but don't let that fool you into thinking it is sub-par. Visit their website to view a trailer."
The movie seems to be set after/during Episode 3. How do they know what they are filming will not conflict with the official movie?
The movie looks pretty decent. The CGI effects are better than the original movies though the acting could use a little improvement. For an independant film I'm really impressed with it. If they showed it at my local theater I'd be willing to cough up the $9 to see it just for the original content.
Any word on how they are going to release this film? Online? Select theater?
I'm a virgo and on Slashdot. Coincidence? Yes.
I was raised on the the Original Star wars trilogy and have watched them over and over! But the new star wars prequels are pure junk, when compared to the original three. The original 3 are easy to digest and seem to whisk you away to this fantasy world and the story just flows freely throughout the movies.
The new and improved CG crapfest movies are force fed (go on eat up, it's star wars of course you'll love it) and trudge along with jagged edges.
The new movies also lack patience in its story develop, almost as if Lucas is trying to cram in to much crap. Mark my words, the new star wars trilogy will never become classics. However, the original trilogy is classic cinema. at least will always have those to enjoy.
This isn't about issues of copyright - but a minor rant about the attention paid to every nerd's attempt to craft their own little aside in an established universe.
The production tools the average person can get their hands on today are staggering. And yet we continually praise people for making films that show an absolute dearth of original imagination and inspiration. Yet audiences complain continually about how Hollywood shows no originality itself.
All the time spent on Revelations could've been put into crafting a story that would be infinitely more intelligent and challenging than any large scale expensive production. I want to see handmade films that offer the expansive ideas in real science fiction and fantasy that the expense of large scale moviemaking prohibits.
Shane Carruth spent probably as much money on the film Primer, a completely original and not at all amateurish looking film that fits perfectly into the comprehension and intelligence of the slashdot audience. But instead any time a bunch of uninspired morons use their time to knock off and emulate and continue the tyranny of imagination that a thousand executives push on audiences like Robert McKee or endless abortions engineered from a cursory reading of Joseph Cambpell, nerds freak out.
Own yourselves. Use those tools to make original, inspired, unique works of art. Stop making and continuing dreck based up on dreck, especially when you don't even have the option to afford hairstylists who'd make your film look as good as the original.
** http://www.nkhumanrights.or.kr/ ** Human rights in North Korea. 1 million estimated dead from starvation.
Got a new box, lets see how my Dual Xeon handles.. (be nice)
web_trailer_II_larger.mov
-Mitti
First off, the CGI, while not to the level as the 'AAA' modern day films, is still quite amazing. Ships, exploding stuff, robotic limbs... Very nicely done. There were a few scenes in the trailer where the CGI looked blurry compared to the rest of the shot, but that could be fixed up before release.
I don't really follow the Star Wars universe as a whole, so all I can say about the plot is that it is interesting.
However, as many people have already pointed out, the acting is sub-par. The lead evil actress tries to have some sort of menacing voice, but just sounds like her mouth is packed with something. (acorns?) The acting of other parts (such as the confrontation on the 'good guy' ship) seems forced, with delayed reaction time. The lightsaber scene between the two lead females just didn't feel right.
There were also some parts of the trailer that just didn't fit in with the pace of it. The one main example that I saw was the girl dancing in a futuristic version of those hanging cages (I have no idea what they are called.) The pace of her body threw off the suspense that was (supposedly) building, and conflicted with the (then) slow music. It also had no real purpose that I could tell.
Hopefully the acting throughout the entire movie averages better than the trailer, but I wouldn't be surprised if the opposite were true.
It's probably good for them that they can't charge money for it.
I am not a film critic, obsessive Star Wars fan, or acting buff, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.
The site's Slashdotted at the moment, so I can't comment on the quality of the acting in the fanflick.
But come on - George Lucas has managed to coax utterly craptacular performances out of good actors and actresses like Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor.
Every time I even think of the scene where Queen Amidala is speaking to the leader of the Naboo amphibians, I just cringe. "Please I ask you no I beg you . . . " Ack.
That of course was a cheap wow to suck you in, justas this film will be. Traiers always look good. That's their job. Mediocre acting and bad fight choreography won't make this even hold up.
Fact is, all the Star Wars films have been, in their own way, deliciously bad. Harrison Ford is a block of wood, Hamill just plain is no actor...
It's all about the story- Star`Wars succeeded because there was never anything like it before- when it hit, no one knew. That Episode Four was a better picture was no surprise. By the time Six cam around, it was time to tie it up in a neat little basket.
The true test will come when we look at this films in story order and see how the whole thing holds up- were te first three exposition adn therefore tedious as hell? Likely so. Revenge of the Sith just might be the tie that binds the exposition to the action. Too damn bad we'll never see the actual climax and resolution of the story.
befuddled (noun) 1. Unable to create a pithy sig
Mark Hamil: Shouldn't my hair be, like, all messed up after being in that trash compactor?
Harrison Ford: I don't think it's that kind of movie, kid.
*** MASSIVE SPOILER AHEAD: AVERT GAZE NOW IF YOU LIKE SEEING FILMS WITHOUT HAVING THE STORY PREVIEWED ***
We've lucked out... Jar-Jar doesn't get killed, and instead gets to attend Padme's funeral, who is killed by Anakin.
There's just no justice, is there!
I do a fair bit of work in live theatre and I have often considered making a movie of the shows we do. However I am held back by the exact opposite problem - I have access to some very good actors, lighting designers, makeup people and costume makers but only a very limit access to the things that modern film needs, decent editing software for a beginner, special effects skills and raw talent when it comes to holding a camera.
It's a hard problem because you rarely find a group of people who naturally have a nice complete balance of skills. In the end you just have to play to your strengths, and try and minimise your deficits. If you're serious about making films of the shows then investing some cash in a Mac and Final Cut Pro wouldn't go astray. As for the rest - I'm not a film director, I just know some. There are books on the subject though (and your library will probably have them), and they can give you some good basic rules for contructing shots and editing things together. No, you can't become an expert in that, but that just means you want to construct the whole film to be as minimalist as possible with shots and editing. If you keep that aspect simple and let the actors shine, the end result will probably be surprisngly good.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
I studied and trained performing arts, have a diploma in that and I also consider myself somewhat firm at general visual/fine arts.
:-) )
The thing hat occured to me about watching and noticing the bad acting , as a lot of people here allready have done, is I thought that I would have done it better. Yet the other part of that is that it also occured to me how extremly difficult it would be to get it just right. For novices aswell as for me.
I've long considered starting a little independent film project and I think I would be the type of guy to a) not consider a fan project like this 'below' me and b) actually be able to aply my skills in such a way that everybody would profit from it. Like for instance the mentioned bad acting. There are a few extremly simple rules of acting that just sink in with the years that these people could have followed to greatly enhance even that short trailer. Very much like the simple rules you just know when to apply as an experienced programmer.
Some must-have basics:
If you want to sound fierce, loud and evil, tone down on the vowels and emphasise the consonants. Do speech training. Do speech training with your lines.
The moment you know your lines is the moment you START practicing them, you don't stop it there. (That's what differs a school play from professional acting btw)
When you act, your head and facial expression leads your motion, when you dance your body leads your motion and facial expression. For dancing: On at least one part of your body at a time the musical beat should be visible. (Cue stupid dirty jokes below
And finally, my performing arts process I've refined over 10 years of professional work -
practice an act in this order (and in this order ONLY):
1) Learn to know the play and learn your lines by heart. Nothing else. Don't dare try to act at this stage. NEVER try to act at this stage. If you do, you WILL suck on stage/film. Trust me. I've studied with to many third class perfomers, the world has enough of them. In fact, you shouldn't even move very much when reciting your lines at this stage.
2) Give your lines flow and vividness by supporting each one with an inner picture and vision. EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE. Give the string of visions a storytelling consistency. It's at this stage perfomers notice wether they've understood the playwrite or wether they have to correct their povs at some place or other. This is the stage at which storyboarders, and directors of photography double check their plans for shooting. Again: don't act yet. Do more of a reciting or storytelling thing. Good RPG Gamemasters enter this stage frequently for instance.
3) Forget your lines for this stage. Think of that other person whos lines you happen to know by heart and what kind of a character he might be. Pratice stances, poses and gestures emphasising basic emotions with the impitus of that character. Don't do that with the lines. Don't act the play! Do that with differen't things. Lines you make up. Best is to make up a little play by itself. You're on the safe side if you take - for instance - the tragic Anakin Skywalker (well he was a tragic character and the acting wasn't bad at all for such a 5th grade script) and try to play him as if he were a part in a comedy. Don't speak to early. Practice the stances, poses and gestures. Learn the difference between movement leading to pose and pose leading to movement.
4) Now practive stances, poses, gestures and movement of the play. Use the visions of 2). Don't speak your lines to much. Whisper them or speak them toneless. You want to concentrate on the moving part. You practice that seperately from speaking at first.
5) Add you lines and and your adversaries in play. Get in sync. If your coplayers are good, you won't even need a director. Do the stuff. The thing. In one word: Act.
HERE is where the acting kicks in. And once again: Anybody who starts earlier in the process WILL suck in performance. When you
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
It's not about the story, it's about the films as a whole. I'm not a star wars fan, I don't give a damn about Anakin's path to evil or any of the backstory about republics and empires. You're a star wars fan, you're more interested in finding out the backstory than the actual films. Other people are actually interested in watching decent films, I think that's where the disagreements come from.
It's as if the new three films are there just to tell star wars fans what 'happened' before the originals, rather than to actually make something you're going to want to watch. Perhaps Lucas should have instead made a 'documentary' about the history of star wars, it would have saved a lot of disappointment.
There was a discussion about Star Wars the other day, and amidst all the +5 insightful "SW used to rock, but now it sucks" comments, I found this gem, where the poster explains how things fit together, and why it's done this way. It makes a lot of sense!
I'm afraid that post does nothing to explain why it was decided to have a lame script with awful dialogue, bad acting, a dull score and excessive low-quality CGI, not to mention no tension or excitement.