|
|
Post by smittysgelato on Dec 27, 2020 21:09:10 GMT
 An iconic moment. ![]()  I feel Padme's sadness deeply in this one. The vacuum in the frame that Anakin's absence creates is brutal.  An agent of evil. |
|
|
|
Post by smittysgelato on Dec 27, 2020 21:20:23 GMT
  I feel like these two shots rhyme with each other. The Bird's Eye View, the arrangement of Coruscant buildings in a similar configuration as the lights that surround Vader on the medical table. |
|
|
|
Post by Ingram on Dec 27, 2020 23:09:22 GMT
So much bloom and starburst and striking vector lines going on in Star Wars. I mean, I know these are just stills of blink-and-you'll-miss scenes in motions but... Hows about the wild clockwork imagery here.  Jedi Supernova.  "This is intense!" Green Lantern's light.  Luminous beings.  Or just a clean, simple Obi-Wan verticalization. A 90 degree angle of blues.  |
|
|
|
Post by thephantomcalamari on Dec 29, 2020 7:52:39 GMT
So much bloom and starburst and striking vector lines going on in Star Wars. I mean, I know these are just stills of blink-and-you'll-miss scenes in motions but... Yeah, Lucas doesn't like having a lot of sparks or particles flying around his shots for too long. He's the complete opposite of guys like J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson in that way. For as much as he has a reputation for favoring shots with a lot of visual density, Lucas really does like a clean frame in certain ways. My own contribution:  I can't quite put my finger on why, but I really like the way the lights shine in the background here. There's something about them that's kind of forlorn, but somehow also inviting. There's an ethereal quality to them that nicely complements the stars in the night sky which Anakin and Qui-Gon were just talking about.  It's just one of those things that gives me the strange feeling I've somehow been there before, in another life. That's the essence of Star Wars, I think. |
|
|
|
Post by Moonshield on Dec 29, 2020 8:24:26 GMT
In the first frame the background is clear, in the second frame, when it is need to highlight Qui-Gon's thinking, the background is a blur. Nice subtle detail.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ingram on Dec 29, 2020 10:19:28 GMT
So much bloom and starburst and striking vector lines going on in Star Wars. I mean, I know these are just stills of blink-and-you'll-miss scenes in motions but... Yeah, Lucas doesn't like having a lot of sparks or particles flying around his shots for too long. He's the complete opposite of guys like J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson in that way. For as much as he has a reputation for favoring shots with a lot of visual density, Lucas really does like a clean frame in certain ways. My own contribution: I can't quite put my finger on why, but I really like the way the lights shine in the background here. There's something about them that's kind of forlorn, but somehow also inviting. There's an ethereal quality to them that nicely complements the stars in the night sky which Anakin and Qui-Gon were just talking about. It's just one of those things that gives me the strange feeling I've somehow been there before, in another life. That's the essence of Star Wars, I think. Well, there is also of course the Biblical evocations writ space opera. Qui-Gon here is practically a Wise Man in a moment of transmitting microscopic prophecies, the glowing adobe background behind him a nativity ambiance of otherworldly Israelites. This is the homestead, King James, fertile crescent beginnings of Lucas' Skywalker story. Altogether in this very instance Williams score shifts from quieted divine either to serpentile demonism as Qui-Gon receives a disconcerting glance from "Mary" before the scene cuts to the arrival of Maul.
|
|
|
|
Post by Subtext Mining on Dec 29, 2020 12:56:16 GMT
Pernilla August did play the titular role in the 1999 film Mary, Mother Of Jesus. Starring Christian Bale as Jesus.  |
|
|
|
Post by Somny on Dec 29, 2020 23:37:50 GMT
Yeah, Lucas doesn't like having a lot of sparks or particles flying around his shots for too long. He's the complete opposite of guys like J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson in that way. For as much as he has a reputation for favoring shots with a lot of visual density, Lucas really does like a clean frame in certain ways. My own contribution: I can't quite put my finger on why, but I really like the way the lights shine in the background here. There's something about them that's kind of forlorn, but somehow also inviting. There's an ethereal quality to them that nicely complements the stars in the night sky which Anakin and Qui-Gon were just talking about. It's just one of those things that gives me the strange feeling I've somehow been there before, in another life. That's the essence of Star Wars, I think. Two of only a handful of shots from TPM captured on digital video. |
|
|
|
Post by ArchdukeOfNaboo on Jan 2, 2021 21:30:59 GMT
Damn guys...
This thread has become more powerful than any Jedi has dreamed of.
I love how visual it all is, and how concise your words have been. Dare I say, there's a Lucasian quality to it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Somny on Jan 3, 2021 1:27:00 GMT
Damn guys... This thread has become more powerful than any Jedi has dreamed of.
I love how visual it all is, and how concise your words have been. Dare I say, there's a Lucasian quality to it.
I wish we could all pore over the 'Star Wars: Frames' frame selections piece-by-piece on here but that would probably be a major piracy breach.
But if it's not and someone has the set of books available...   |
|
|
|
Post by smittysgelato on Jan 3, 2021 5:44:31 GMT
Damn guys...
This thread has become more powerful than any Jedi has dreamed of.
I love how visual it all is, and how concise your words have been. Dare I say, there's a Lucasian quality to it.
We are all George's children and the apple does not fall far from the tree, eh? |
|
|
|
Post by Subtext Mining on Jan 7, 2021 11:55:05 GMT
Speaking of which, this shot has always affected me. With it, Star Wars went to a whole new depth. Pregnant (pun intended) with motherly concern, something completely lacking in the OT, other than the brief scenes of Beru's auntly doting. Yet also pregnant with the awkwardness of being caught spying on such a deep conversation fraught with such far-reaching ramifications.  |
|
|
|
Post by Alexrd on Jan 8, 2021 11:44:45 GMT
I wish we could all pore over the 'Star Wars: Frames' frame selections piece-by-piece on here but that would probably be a major piracy breach. But if it's not and someone has the set of books available... There's no piracy breach at all. Anyone can take screencaps of the movies. I've been taking some of them to match those in Star Wars Frames for my blog for quite a while. And the official site has a gallery of some of them from A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Here's one taken from Star Wars Frames that Lucas specifically mentions in the audio commentary of ROTS:  This shot where Anakin walks through that little antechamber is one of my favorite shots, because the whole thing is a matte painting. |
|
|
|
Post by thephantomcalamari on Jan 8, 2021 19:28:15 GMT
Moonshield Ancient Greco-Roman meets Futuristic Blade Runner. On paper these two styles shouldn't mix, but it's the genius of Lucas and his production designer, that it does work - and what a triumph it is. Don't forget Art Deco and retrofuturism. Lucas is really mixing at least four styles here. Throw Dex's Diner into the mix and you also have a Googie influence melding with all the other styles. Yeah, Lucas doesn't like having a lot of sparks or particles flying around his shots for too long. He's the complete opposite of guys like J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson in that way. For as much as he has a reputation for favoring shots with a lot of visual density, Lucas really does like a clean frame in certain ways. My own contribution: I can't quite put my finger on why, but I really like the way the lights shine in the background here. There's something about them that's kind of forlorn, but somehow also inviting. There's an ethereal quality to them that nicely complements the stars in the night sky which Anakin and Qui-Gon were just talking about. It's just one of those things that gives me the strange feeling I've somehow been there before, in another life. That's the essence of Star Wars, I think. Two of only a handful of shots from TPM captured on digital video. Was it actually these particular shots? I thought it was two others from the scene. e: Just from eyeballing it, I thought the honor went to these two shots:   |
|
|
|
Post by ArchdukeOfNaboo on Jan 8, 2021 19:57:30 GMT
thephantomcalamari I suppose Blade Runner actually is retrofuturism - from a certain 21st century point of view
But yes, you're right on the Art Deco style of some of the Coruscanti towers. Massive props to the art department for those details.
Not to get too bogged down on addressing criticisms (we've another thread for that), but I never had had any issue with the style of Dex's Diner. It's exotic enough to us Europeans you see, haha. I would say the scene has grown enormously on me in the last 5 years actually. It does so much to light the imagination of what Obi-Wan's life might be like outside of all his Jedi duties.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ingram on Jan 8, 2021 20:00:56 GMT
I wish we could all pore over the 'Star Wars: Frames' frame selections piece-by-piece on here but that would probably be a major piracy breach. But if it's not and someone has the set of books available... There's no piracy breach at all. Anyone can take screencaps of the movies. I've been taking some of them to match those in Star Wars Frames for my blog for quite a while. And the official site has a gallery of some of them from A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Here's one taken from Star Wars Frames that Lucas specifically mentions in the audio commentary of ROTS: This shot where Anakin walks through that little antechamber is one of my favorite shots, because the whole thing is a matte painting. A rather telling quote from Lucas. Everything to him is editing—editing and compositing. Not unlike his Museum of Narrative Art currently underway that is intent on fusing from separate mediums (pictures, paintings, illustrations, digital works) into a singular great expression of pop-art history spanning the 20th century on into the the 21st, in all things does Lucas superimpose one "work" over another. He does it abstractly with his homage-driven concepts and he does it here, literally, with his endearingly quaint 'dinner theater/B-chapter teleplay' superimposed over art deco space pulp one could just as easily imagine as a mural lining the lobby of a renovated, retro-styled cinema house. All that's missing is a classic Coca-Cola bottle and a pack of Avalon cigarettes sitting on the in-table.
|
|
|
|
Post by Subtext Mining on Jan 8, 2021 20:42:35 GMT
And to top it all off, it's the Sith lord's antechamber! If you think about it, it's all so sardonically pregnant with humor. The things Palpatine went through to keep up appearances. In all those years before the prequels, we never imagined The Emperor would have an antechamber like this. And in all those years of imagining what it was like when Anakin learned Palpatine was a Sith, in a moment so fraught with evil and dread, not once did we envision him wearing a burgundy puffy-shoulder gown! All those years we imagined it in a dark cave or temple or something, with Palpatine surrounded by Sith artifacts and fire, with the sounds of tortured Jedi wails in the background. But no, rather a plush office in the senate district of Coruscant. And that's something I've come to love all the more about this movie and the prequels in general.    Although that mural sure adds the perfect touch.  By the way, I love this shot, too.   |
|
|
|
Post by thephantomcalamari on Jan 8, 2021 20:44:16 GMT
thephantomcalamari I suppose Blade Runner actually is retrofuturism - from a certain 21st century point of view From a certain point of view, I suppose. I'm not particularly architecturally conversant but the city in Blade Runner struck me as being essentially a collection of vertically exaggerated modernist structures, with some ancient Mayan and revivalist buildings sprinkled in, unified by a cyberpunk aesthetic. Attack of the Clones borrowed that exaggerated modernist cyberpunk aesthetic from Blade Runner. There's also the shared Mayan influence of course, but as far as I can tell that actually predates Blade Runner by way of McQuarrie's concept art:  Great minds think alike? |
|
|
|
Post by Somny on Jan 8, 2021 21:20:58 GMT
Two of only a handful of shots from TPM captured on digital video. Was it actually these particular shots? I thought it was two others from the scene. e: Just from eyeballing it, I thought the honor went to these two shots: You could be right. I always assumed it was the entire scene based on what I recall reading or hearing. I can't even remember the source (the TPM DVD commentary, perhaps?). So long ago... (when there was nothing but our love). |
|
|
|
Post by Somny on Jan 8, 2021 23:01:50 GMT
Although that mural sure adds the perfect touch. I believe the more exact term for it is a frieze. Pablo Hidalgo wrote at length about this particular aspect of that set in an online production journal available to Hyperspace members during ROTS's production. GL has a habit of referencing friezes or frescoes when talking about art during interviews. It seems like he's a major fan of that artform. |
|
