Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (USE SPOILER TAGS!)

[Strevlac]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

So a man and a puppet sitting in a swamp talking about a mystical force is the best cinematography out there?

I don't get your confusion. Do you think movie scenes featuring men, puppets, swamps, and dialogue can't have beautiful cinematography? If not, why not?

Those scenes (and the rest of the movie) are shot exquisitely. Peter Suschitzky's lighting and photography is world-class. Look at the delicacy of the soft light and shadows in those scenes. I'm not claiming the cinematography is the absolute best ever in the history of the movies, but it's up there.

Alan Hume is a good photographer but his work in Jedi isn't anything great and looks like pretty much any old journeyman could have shot that movie.

[Falaskan]

Originally Posted by Strevlac

I don't get your confusion. Do you think movie scenes featuring men, puppets, swamps, and dialogue can't have beautiful cinematography? If not, why not?



Those scenes (and the rest of the movie) are shot exquisitely. Peter Suschitzky's lighting and photography is world-class. Look at the delicacy of the soft light and shadows in those scenes. I'm not claiming the cinematography is the absolute best ever in the history of the movies, but it's up there.



Alan Hume is a good photographer but his work in Jedi isn't anything great and looks like pretty much any old journeyman could have shot that movie.

Dagobah always dissapapinted me as a kid. The puppet is amazing yes. But the setting being a swamp always bugged me. Wish yoda had hidden somewhere else.

[Jasonic]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

Dagobah always dissapapinted me as a kid. The puppet is amazing yes. But the setting being a swamp always bugged me. Wish yoda had hidden somewhere else.

As a kid, they bored me as well. But, what do kids know? Now I love the Dagobah scenes. They add some great variation to the Star Wars' settings, and love how it's clouded in fog with a shroud of mystery to Yoda's first reveal.

[Silo5]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

Dagobah always disappointed me as a kid. The puppet is amazing yes. But the setting being a swamp always bugged me. Wish Yoda had hidden somewhere else.

I was always intrigued with Dagobah, especially as a kid. It might have something to do with the fact that I really liked the Alan Dean Foster novel, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye". I always envisioned the swamp planet from Splinter to be like Dagobah.

[Kryptonic]

I would have loved to have seen more of Dagobah during Luke's training.

[Brightstar]

check this poster out for EP VII

http://www.mtv.com/news/1819518/star...ster-imagined/

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Jasonic

As a kid, they bored me as well. But, what do kids know? Now I love the Dagobah scenes. They add some great variation to the Star Wars' settings, and love how it's clouded in fog with a shroud of mystery to Yoda's first reveal.

Yeah I was 8 years old when Empire Stikes Back came out. At the time I thought it was boring and didn't like it as much as Star Wars. Then Return of the Jedi came out when I was 11 years old and I loved it! Now I can recognize that TESB is the superior film but back then I didn't see it that way.

[cinemaphile]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

Yeah I was 8 years old when Empire Stikes Back came out. At the time I thought it was boring and didn't like it as much as Star Wars. Then Return of the Jedi came out when I was 11 years old and I loved it! Now I can recognize that TESB is the superior film but back then I didn't see it that way.

I was 8 when Empire came out and absolutely nuts about it (just like the other SW films). Was never even the slightest bit bored. In the year or so it was out (off and on back then), I probably saw it at least 10 times in theaters.

[madlost1]

I really can't tell if people are being serious about that puppet. It's most likely going to have about10seconds of screen time as a background character and it looks perfect for that role.

[jedilips]

Originally Posted by madlost1

I really can't tell if people are being serious about that puppet. It's most likely going to have about10seconds of screen time as a background character and it looks perfect for that role.

Most of them were probably 5 when The Phantom Menace was in development and this photo was released; the amount of speculation this image caused on the early internet was mindblowing for 2 background characters.

[Astro Zombie]

Originally Posted by jedilips

Most of them were probably 5 when The Phantom Menace was in development and this photo was released; the amount of speculation this image caused on the early internet was mindblowing for 2 background characters.

Is that Warwick Davis?

[Tok]

No I heard he is doing Willow 2 with Val Kilmer

[nagysaudio]

The puppet looks fantastic! And funny! And I love that it reminds me of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

[camper]

I'm glad that they're doing puppets, I don't care what anyone says the vast majority of CGI looks like it's CGI when they use large quantities of it and it takes up a good portion of the frame and is distracting because it is rarely blended well. Especially on BD.

Just watched ep 3 and every scene with Yoda didn't look right--the color was off and it didn't look natural (and yes, my equipment is calibrated well). Same with the dragon Obi Wan was riding.

I do hope they tone down the CGI just a little, trying to make it look less obvious. My main concern about the puppet is that it looks very 'kiddish', and while I understand that they need to appeal to kids too I hope its not going to be quite so slapstick like the prequels and end of Jedi was.

[jedilips]

Originally Posted by Astro Zombie

Is that Warwick Davis?

That image is from Episode I, not VII... fyi. I don't want people thinking it's new. I believe this was the first (or one of the first) images released from Lucasfilm for Ep. I and it caused a huge amount of speculation and ultimately ended up insignificant. Much like our puppet friend in JJ's video.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by jedilips

That image is from Episode I, not VII... fyi. I don't want people thinking it's new. I believe this was the first (or one of the first) images released from Lucasfilm for Ep. I and it caused a huge amount of speculation and ultimately ended up insignificant. Much like our puppet friend in JJ's video.

Warwick Davis was in Episode 1 though, next to Watto during the Podrace.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

A puppet isn't real. It's a technique. CGI isn't real either. Again...technique. The difference is that you can get a legitimate performance out of CGI, same as you can with traditional hand drawn animation. With puppets, you're severely limited with the kind of shots and performance you can get and that ultimately hurts the film more than it helps it.

Wow. That's pretty offensive to all the wonderful puppeteers that have created such magical performances in theatre and film for so many years. Puppets bring out the natural performances that tennis balls on a stick can never hope to emulate.

A puppet isn't real? If you can see it and touch it it's pretty real. Sure there are some limitations but the physical connection between the actor and the puppet far outweighs these.

[camper]

Originally Posted by chip75

Wow. That's pretty offensive to all the wonderful puppeteers that have created such magical performances in theatre and film for so many years. Puppets bring out the natural performances that tennis balls on a stick can never hope to emulate.

A puppet isn't real? If you can see it and touch it it's pretty real. Sure there are some limitations but the physical connection between the actor and the puppet far outweighs these.

Agree completely. When I first saw Yoda in Empire, I knew he was a puppet but it was done so well I forgot. Even now when I watch Empire, I find myself forgetting he's a puppet. No doubt Frank Oz--a true master of the art--played a huge hand in that (no pun intended, but happily taken).

With CGI Yoda, I keep being pulled away because the CGI character is manipulated to match the lighting to the rest of the actors and scenes, and it looks off because it's not the same as a puppet being under the same lighting as the actors.

[Steelmaker]

I think what it all boils down to is that effects studios should exhaust traditional methods as far as it can take them and only use CGI to sort of fill in the cracks in the areas where traditional methods can't reach.

[camper]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

I think what it all boils down to is that effects studios should exhaust traditional methods as far as it can take them and only use CGI to sort of fill in the cracks in the areas where traditional methods can't reach.

Agreed completely. One should enhance the other. Pan's Labyrinth is the perfect example of a film where the CGI enhanced the makeup and animatronics and vice versa, creating a stunning result.