The House Next Door

In terms of shot composition, camera movement, and editing, this is fucking amazing, Ready for Prime Time stuff. I haven't seen Episode III, so did the choreography (and anything else) come from that, or is it original?

The fighting style is definitely modeled on moves from the prequels, particularly REVENGE OF THE SITH, but I didn't see any direct lifts, it seemed like more of a generalized homage. And they actually added some new stuff, stuff I'd imagine Lucas himself probably wishes he'd come up with -- like that final bit where the two kids use their levitation powers to fight over the same lightsaber, which hovers in midair between them. I also like how straightfaced it is. These two young actor/filmmakers really pour it on, as if something is actually at stake.

Totally -- it's fun, but it's not jokey. Anyway, this would be excellent if it was a shot for shot remake of something (cuz that's difficult in itself), but as an original piece... wow.

I think my favorite bit is when they're struggling on the ground and the camera moves left to right to up to down on the focal point of their crossed lightsabers. It's so quick, yet very tight.

I can't believe they did all that in After Effects! I wonder if there's a lightsaber plug-in...

There are a lot of Star Wars fan films out there that might shock you--and unnerve Geroge Lucas if his box office receipts weren't already in.

Something called Star Wars: Revelations, made by a whole gang of 20- and 30-something fan volunteers, has eye-popping art direction and effects sequences to go with its amateurish acting.

no, I'm not down with them, just noting...

http://www.panicstruckpro.com/revelations/

Actually, I've seen quite a few of these fan films -- I am, after all, a major STAR WARS geek -- but not that one. So thanks for the link.

When I started reading the entry, my eyes rolled.

But I went ahead and clicked the link, and within seconds of the action beginning, I had to admit: "Most impressive."

hello. This is off-topic and some of you may be sick of THE NEW WORLD but I just couldn't let this pass-

If you thought Matt was out of his mind, read what Wim Wenders has said about the film-here and here.

Holy shit. I haven't actually seen the quote until now, just paraphrases. This might deserve its own post.

yes and people thought YOU were being effusive.

this is pretty amazing to me-not that he liked it (that is not very surprising given that they're pretty similar directors temperamentally I think) but that he is willing to praise a work of a contemporary so highly. A praise like that would be rare even between buddies.

Well, let's move New World talk to here for now, and leave these jedi boys their dueling thread.

Back to Star Wars. This was really well done. The camera placement and editing is very clean and Lucas looking, although I hope when my light saber finally arrives that it will cut through concrete. Some of the thinking here is less obvious than it seems at first. They didn't film it in their backyard, but instead found a location that could approximate some landing bay of a star cruiser. Then, they just wear street clothes, which I rather like, instead of dressing up in costume.

Sometimes I want to tell Lucas to turn it over to the fans. Over time, they've consructed a pretty detailed apocryphal universe. I read one book called Stories of Jabba's Palace. It was pretty good, really. Are you curious about the origins of that sarlac pit? They've got you covered. Or the background story of just about any alien that was on screen for 3 seconds. Those stories always circled around back to the central events. The Lucas films are sort of the ubertext, and the hive of fans got to work and wove a rich tapestry in and around the crevices and cracks left open. It's kinda like what Tom Stoppard did with Hamlet, or Jesus's Passion in Ben Hur, or how Doctorow uses historical figures, or heck, all of Forest Gump. I better stop before I get to the legend of Robin Hood and my saftey line snaps.

Anyway, it speaks well of the movies that they inspire and withstand this reflection, and grow richer because of it. A person, if so inclined, could really geek out on some of this stuff. I have seen a blueprint of a Death Star urinal, and by gosh, I was excited to see it.

Was there a black triangular Darth Vader mouthpiece where the urinal cake should have been?

They didn't need urinal cakes. Needless to say, it was a urinal more efficient than you could possibly imagine.

"I don't know. I can imagine quite a bit."

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I have seen a blueprint of a Death Star urinal, and by gosh, I was excited to see it.

I used to work for "The Death Star," but back then it had a more well known name: AT&T. Their logo looked just like the Death Star, so maybe you were seeing the AT&T pee targets, wagstaff. (Now the AT&T logo is a mauled ball of yarn that screams "We almost went bankrupt!")

I recall getting into plenty of trouble because my laptop's opening wav file played The Empire March. They actually made me remove it. They didn't seem to have a problem with my "'Scuse me while I whip this out" wav file from Blazing Saddles that went off whenever I got E-mail.

But I digress. This is really really good. It's better than Revenge of the Sith (note that Sith is an anagram for, um, "hits") dare I say! There's no "hold me like you did on Naboo" style dialogue, and the battle is more exciting than anything I saw in the new trilogy. Kudos to those guys!

Now, Matt aka Revenge of the Shit junkie, before you send Boba Fett to my house (where my neighbors would turn him into a set of rims), remember I did like all three of the new Star Wars movies. But I lived for the first three.

Boba Fett rims. Is anyone out there taking notes?

odie wrote:

"hold me like you did on Naboo"

Classic.

Yeah, Ross. Tom Stoppard wrote that line of dialogue in his unscripted polish for Lucas!

(Full Disclosure: I don't know that for sure, but it sure sounds like him, n'est-ce pas?)

I want someone to say "Hold me, Odienator! Hold me like you did on the Noo Joisey Toinpike, exit 14C!" Where are you, my ghetto fabulous Princess Amidala? (She's making rims out of Boba Fett, prob'ly.)