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Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Review

Totenkindly

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Example? There is no "one" example, I think it's literally every scene -- it's his idiom. Star Wars did it too, but the writing was better and he got the tone right, so it wasn't as big a deal.

There's a reason very few directors use "powerpoint-esque" screen shifts. They're clumsy and force the audience out of the picture, reminding them that none of it is real.
 

MacGuffin

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Yeah. They are very blatant and break any emotional flow currently in place, and don't contribute anything to the emotional arcs of the scenes.

Hold on, there's two issues here. Do you know why Lucas uses them specifically for the Star Wars movies?

If so, is your objection then in how he uses the wipe cuts? Or is it you don't know why he's using them in the first place?
 

Totenkindly

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Hold on, there's two issues here. Do you know why Lucas uses them specifically for the Star Wars movies?

If so, is your objection then in how he uses the wipe cuts? Or is it you don't know why he's using them in the first place?

I think he was emulating Saturday matinee movies with Star Wars.

Unfortunately, in the more recent trilogy, he wanted to play with more emotional depth (especially with Anakin) but ends up derailing it by using directing techniques that aren't suited for emotional depth and connection with the audience. You can't do both.

Also, as I said, it's just sloppy editing. It's typical for scenes just to stop "dead" and use the wipe-screen to move to the next scene, or for Lucas just to direct his cast to turn and walk off the side of the screen and wipe as they go. This is the kind of movie direction a middle-school kid would use to film with his parents' camcorder. There's no finesse or craft involved. This is the "writing" angle that sucks.

I think you see some of the same choppiness in Matrix 3, which is one reason why that movie got panned more than the other two. They didn't do "wipes" per se, but it was very as blocked out by page endings in comic books, so the scenes are predictable, evenly timed, and just stacked next to each other like building blocks would be. The organic feel was lost.
 

MacGuffin

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I don't think the screen wipe per se inhibits emotional connections to the film, other directors like Kurosawa used it and didn't have that problem (nor did Kershner, Empire's director, and the editor of Empire who's name I don't remember). I personally find it one of the more charming affectations of the Star Wars movies, it's what makes them Star Wars.

Of course, one can say Lucas is clumsy in using them, but I don't think it's the editing technique itself.
 

Mal12345

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Example? There is no "one" example, I think it's literally every scene -- it's his idiom. Star Wars did it too, but the writing was better and he got the tone right, so it wasn't as big a deal.

There's a reason very few directors use "powerpoint-esque" screen shifts. They're clumsy and force the audience out of the picture, reminding them that none of it is real.

I've seen you make this same point about Lucas in the past and I still don't know what it means. In Star Wars the screen wipes were done elegantly. But in Revenge, when Amidala fell off the flyer into the sand, the whole scene looked very clumsy. That's the kind of thing that's noticeable to us non-experts, not screen wipes. As far as I know, they are just things to clean off a monitor and not very relevant to movie-making. That's why I need an example, or maybe an explanation, because you've lost me here.
 

Mal12345

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I don't think the screen wipe per se inhibits emotional connections to the film, other directors like Kurosawa used it and didn't have that problem (nor did Kershner, Empire's director, and the editor of Empire who's name I don't remember). I personally find it one of the more charming affectations of the Star Wars movies, it's what makes them Star Wars.

Of course, one can say Lucas is clumsy in using them, but I don't think it's the editing technique itself.

Yes, and after all the thousands of reviews I've read in my life, nobody else has complained about this.
 
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I don't think the screen wipe per se inhibits emotional connections to the film, other directors like Kurosawa used it and didn't have that problem (nor did Kershner, Empire's director, and the editor of Empire who's name I don't remember). I personally find it one of the more charming affectations of the Star Wars movies, it's what makes them Star Wars.

Of course, one can say Lucas is clumsy in using them, but I don't think it's the editing technique itself.

I agree. As Jennifer said, he was emulating Saturday matinee serials, which were the inspiration for Star Wars (and later Indiana Jones). These serials didn't really have emotional flow...they were simple good guy/bad guy capers. I think the technique works in the context of the original Episode IV, but not so much in the others because the tone of those movies wasn't "Saturday matinee". You can see that both this and his wooden direction of actors are a specific technique he is employing because his direction of American Graffiti is completely different.

Of course, just because I'm defending him here doesn't mean I don't think he's a total hack that got lucky once. :p
 

Lexicon

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I'm just posting here to say that I've never seen any of the Star Wars film franchise, and have taken an oath never to do so.
 

Totenkindly

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I'm just posting here to say that I've never seen any of the Star Wars film franchise, and have taken an oath never to do so.

"OH, Lexicon, you're breaking my HEART!!!" :cry:

10dc76bd3b4743672993984048eb9bcd.jpg
 

MacGuffin

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Upsetting NTs just makes me so happy.. it can't be helped.
My oath cannot be undone. Were I to break it, seas would boil, and the heavens would rain down upon the earth ash and misery.

Oh you don't need to break it. I'd prefer if you didn't.

*plots*
 

Totenkindly

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Upsetting NTs just makes me so happy.. it can't be helped.
My oath cannot be undone. Were I to break it, seas would boil, and the heavens would rain down upon the earth ash and misery.

Screw Stars Wars.

Want to go out for some Romulan Ale?
 
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