This website talks about the general expectation of trilogy movies. According to this website middle episodes are usually disappointing, however, Star Wars episode II went beyond expectations. It seems like the main reason for this movie was to work it out as a bridge between the movies the Phantom Menace and Episode III, which made the movie more interesting since in a way the movie had no real beginning and no real end. Despite the fact that Episode II: Attack of the Clones had low expectations and was shown on theaters during the release of Spider –Man, the Attack of the Clones was still the blockbuster movie to beat that summer.
Berardinelli, James. Star Wars (Episode II): Attack of the Clones. Movie-reviews.colossus.net. 2002. Reel Views Berardinelli. 04/27/06 http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/s/sw2002.html>
Nora Martinez
Hum210
Sec 5438
George Lucas Writer and Director
George Lucas was born the 14th day of May 1944 in Modesto California. During his teenage years Lucas was very fascinated with drag car racing and was thinking about becoming a professional racecar driver, however, life had other plans for George Lucas. After his high school graduation he suffered a terrible car accident which completely changed his decision to become a racecar driver. He instead attended Modesto Junior College and then transferred to the University of California film school. One of his short films as a student allowed him to earn a scholarship by Warner Brothers. This also gained him access to watch the making of a movie that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. “As a film student he made several short films including THX-1138: 4EB (Electronic Labyinth) which later won first prize at the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival. In 1967 he was awarded a scholarship by Warner Brothers to observe the making of Finian’s Rainbow (1968) which was being directed by Francis Ford Coppola” (Maltin, Leonard.).
After becoming good friends George and Coppola started a new company that was called American Zoetrope. The first project of this company was Lucas full-length version of his THX 1138 short film. Coppola going in to the production to the film “The Godfather” which allowed George Lucas to start his own company know as, Lucasfilm Ltd. American Graffiti was filmed in 1973 were Lucas wrote and directed the film. This movie became a success earning George the Golden Globe as well as five other nominations for the Academy Awards. This movie gave him the credibility for his future projects. American Graffiti was a low budget movie that introduced actors such as Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams and Richard Dreyfuss. The movie goes around a group of teenagers that barely graduated from high school and the adventures they go through during the night before some of their friends will have to leave the next morning to Collage. The next movie to come would earn George Lucas International recognition not only for his movies but the level for story telling and detail of the associated special effects. This movie called Star Wars: A New Hope was the first movie of Lucas sequel. This movie was about an adventurous boy that when one of his two droids that carries a message of a beautiful princess that needs help. Living his land behind in search for the princess finds in his way into an intergalactic rebellion. More than twenty years later Lucas is finishing the last of his prequels Star Wars: The revenge of the Sith was the culmination of the Star Wars movies. It is the introduction of George Lucas’ Star Ward the new hope and it revels the mystery surrounding the dark ominous Figure from his first Star Wars film knows as Darth Vader.
Most of the films that Lucas directed show a common theme across the board. The films THX-1138, American Graffiti, Star Wars: A New Hope, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and finally Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith, all share several common themes. Many people would quickly assume that are all SciFi films, excepting American Graffiti of course. This is not completely accurate. While many elements could seem Science Fiction, there are to many other elements which exist out side of the realm of Sciences explanation. The introduction to the first Star wars movie for example states “In a galaxy far far away” (Star Wars IV). This is intended to create a nostalgic fairy tale feel to the show. It goes well with the theme of super natural forces of good and evil that will do battle. However now that his directing career can not be classified as Scifi it is important to also look at main themes that permeate his films. The theme of growing up and going it alone perhaps is one of the strongest film themes found in all of Lucas’s films. American Graffiti is at its core about experiences Lucas himself went through. His fascination with racing and what it mean for as a youth to first experience the freedom of mobility. (American Graffiti.) This also seems to be a theme present in many of his films including Star Wars: A New Hope, where it was represented by Luke Skywalker’s desire to leave the planet he grew up on and head out into his known universe. The scale and type of travel may be different but the desire to break free from childhood experienced by most adolescents is very strong.
Another theme present in these films is technology. Possibly more specific is the way man a being that follows only self imposed and social rules deals with the world as compared to machines which must follow norms and directions given to them. In American Graffiti the racecar served as the focus of man and machine interaction. In the movie Star Wars: A New Hope, Lucas explores both the integration of man and machine in Darth Vader as well as machines designed to carry out human functions. C3PO a android which introduces it self as Human Cyborg Relations in the first Star wars film as well as in those to come later or before however one chooses to look at it. It is interesting that when Darth Vader is introduced he is said by Obi-wan Lukes new found role model “to be more machine now than man, twisted and evil”. This could be related to the life changing car wreck he had growing up. Bring if you will “Dark Side” of technology into his life. Lucas also uses blue screen technology and took it to a new level. Many older films used it to display the countryside in car windows and create the effect of motion while the car sat on a set with actors in it. These techniques while useful at their time now do not look very real.. Lucas’s use of them however went light years beyond them creating entire battles and complex sequences filmed entirely separate from each other and then combined to make spectacularly believable scenes of space battles which audiences had only ever imagined up to that point. This technique was one of many Lucas developed grew into an entire special effects company know as Industrial Light and Magic ILM for short, which has worked on most of his films and many others. Another development in motion pictures has been the addition of computer generated graphics ILM has been there pushing the technology forward with leaps and bounds. (Lucas Film ltd ) This allowed his to digitally edit many scenes in his most recent three Star Wars films numbered I, II, and III. Doing so allowed for direction and creation of takes that never actually occurred.
When George Lucas Directs it is in the strict sense of the auteur in that he has been intricately involved with the creation of his story. The fact that he is directing it I feel only means that he is that much more concerned about the finished product he wants no other person to have the final say in any part of the film. He seems to care deeply about the art value of films and also about the additional creative aspect of allowing his actors the freedom to improvise. This kind of improvisation is supposedly the way most of Shakespeare’s original plays were written. In documentaries about his films a lot of time is given to showing how every detail of every scene receives all of his personal attention and care but still giving the actors space to improvise, and then encourages that they do so. The production crew is also His directing style is said to lack much complexity he is often quoted as having said to his actors “Terrific, go it again”, “Faster,” and “More intense.” (Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace)
Sources Cited
**American Grafiti. American Grafiti. Tiger Sweat.Com. No date of posting/revision given. Tiger Sweat 04/15/06 http://www.tigersweat.com/movies/graf/>
***Lucas Film ltd. Imdb.com. 2006. Lucas Film Lid.com 04/15/06. http://www.lucasfilm.com/>.
** Maltin, Leonard. Biography for George Lucas. Imdb.com. 1994. Internet Movie Data Base 04/15/06.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000184/bio>.
Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (Special Features on the DVD) Dir. George Lucas. DVD. LucasFilm Ltd. 2001,
***Star Wars IV. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Absolute Astronomy.org. No date of posting/revision given. Absolute Astronomy 04/15/06.
I replied to:
Kari’s
http://kvosika.uniblogs.org/2006/04/19/report-on-resource-from-reading-viewing/
Diane’s
http://dcantalupo.uniblogs.org/2006/04/20/module-7-reflection-on-reading-viewing/
Sarah,
http://spolingyumptewa.uniblogs.org/2006/04/21/report-on-a-resource-about-a-film-element-module-7/
Reflection on the module
This module seemed to be pretty light. I felt that the information on genre films put a lot of clarity on my recent experiences this last year with the theater and films. While the movies are the ultimate example of pop culture, genre film making and Hollywood hype are not always very enjoyable. I found the best lesson they teach is to find out more about the films your going to go see. It should help you get past the buildup movie marketers create and prevent a lot of disappointments.
Although it has nothing to do with the Module I have noticed while trying to read blogs and find things I would like to reply to it seems that the number of students actively posting their replies keeps falling. It seems like there are only four of us who completed the assignment the other day.
I found a site that I seem to share several opinions with. They also draw the same conclusion I reached about the films we watched being attempts to draw on two audiences of die hard fans in a mostly slapped together plot. I recall seeing the predator vs. Alien promos thinking it was going to be a large scale intergalactic war. The promo was taken out of context and presented in a totally different light from what the movie was really about. I understand this is a marketing technique but it is still very misleading just like the Freddy Vs. Jason promos were, and most movies hitting the theater lately.
I found this source on genres. The site has quite a lot of critical analysis of what a genre really is and how as a society we separate and identify different genres. It seems that we tend to often associate things with each other and categorize into general groups. I found some interesting research here that tries to analyze whether the separation of different genres is learned or something we are all born with.
I found this source on genres. The site has quite a lot of critical analysis of what a genre really is and how as a society we separate and identify different genres. It seems that we tend to often associate things with each other and categorize into general groups. I found some interesting research here that tries to analyze whether the separation of different genres is learned or something we are all born with.
Chandler, Daniel. Aber.ac/uk. An Introduction to Genre Theory. 04/10/2000. University of Whales. 04/20/06.
Romantic Comedy
This website has many very good insights about what a romantic comedy should be. It is interesting to know how difficult it can be for romantic comedies to achieve success as a comedy and still be sufficiently romantic for the audience. According to the site a romantic comedy is a mixture between a dramatic love stories with a little touch of humor. To make a successful romantic comedy the writer needs to set a dramatic issue that later on will evolve around a love story. Thus, drama is an important key that needs to work as support for the story. One example given in this website is the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” The main issue played in this movie was a longing for that special someone and the satire of what “real people” (all of us) go through for a chance at love. And how sometimes love finds you where you least expect it.
Johnson, Bill. storyispromise.com. The Art of the Romantic Comedy. 1996. Story promise. 04/20/06.
Science Fiction
This site has changed my understanding of what science fiction really is. It is and in-depth look at the broader category called speculative fiction. The broad category of speculative fiction encompasses the subject of science fiction as well as others like fantasy. Its true definition if I understood the author’s point of view is fiction in a world that follows the general rules of science. He said that true Sci-Fi is science that speculates beyond what we now consider understood science. I now see it as a much smaller category than I did before, I feel now much of what I thought was Sci-Fi could be better classified as fantasy.
Rothamel, Tom. Onegeek.org. What is Science Fiction?. No Date Given. Onegeek.org 04/10/06.
I agree with so many statements in the chapter. It is for my self very difficult to be interested in many of the movies that have come out recently. So many remakes with a twist seem to be the new Hollywood recipe for success. I can find more enjoyment at the movie rental store or my own collection than going down to the theaters. I am probably too cynical at this point but I remember hearing that King Kong was coming out and thinking that I wonder what they will do to fill time between the big hairy ape scenes. The viewings where interesting from an analytical point of view. I think the “vs.” in the title were designed to attract fans of the previous movie series. I can’t say that I have been a huge fan of any of the involved series but I have seen a few. This didn’t give me a lot to go on but I still feel that these movies were more hype than anything else. They have their fans and Ill bet their creators though they were making the ultimate gene fan trap. Why not combine two fan bases and draw them to a single film. They could have at least spent a little more time on better on less coincidental story lines.
Star Wars IV. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Absolute Astronomy.org. No date of posting/revision given. Absolute Astronomy 04/15/06. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/ref/star_wars_episode_iv_a_new_hope2>.
Absolute astronomy.com is mostly dedicated to astronomy, however it dew from the Wikipedia online dictionary for a detailed account of the Starwars IV A new hope in its original context before it had changes to it. This will serve as excerpt in time to show how Lucas has changed the way movies especially large scale movies are made. It also has details about where inspiration for scenes from the movie came from. Many historic battles are noted, also scenes from other space films are noted.
Amer. Graffiti Mistakes. American Graffiti (1973) - 21 mistakes. Movie Mistakes.com
04/15/06 http://www.moviemistakes.com/film49>
This resource provides a very critical perspective pointing out errors. The errors pointed out show problems with the making of the movie, these would be the ones either the edit could not take out or simply could not find before release.
Star Wars III. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Answers.com 04/15/06
I had some difficulty finding any thin on this film but reviews and merchandise. On Answers.com I finally found information on the sound track and some hard details about the movie.
Leonard Maltin. Biography for George Lucas. Imdb.com. 1994. Internet Movie Data Base 04/15/06.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000184/bio>.
IMDB has given me a lot of valuable information during this course. This particular page is dedicated to a biography of George Lucas. It gives details about his life growing up as well as critical information on his career path. I feel that IMDB is an accurate and reliable source of movie information and provides details written and published by other authors, providing a central location for movie trivia and facts.
Lucas Film ltd. Imdb.com. 2006. Lucas Film Lid.com 04/15/06. http://www.lucasfilm.com/>.
. Imdb.com. . Lucas Film Lid.com 04/15/06. http://www.lucasfilm.com/>. George Lucas’s site while perhaps partial to him self is an invaluable resource for information. It conations his view of the work he has done and has a lot of details about the movies I have selected. I believe it will help me to show how Lucas’s personal philosophy is inserted into his films.
Movie locations. Star Wars Movielocations.com 04/15/06. Movie locations. 04/15/06
http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/s/starwars.html>
This particular site shows a location used to represent the dwelling where his main protagonist Luke in the film Star wars grew up at. He choose a location in Tunisia for the arid climate, where a Hotel built into a rock wall was used to depict an underground dwelling. I believe this and other pages provide a good recourse for movie settings of the films.
American Grafiti. American Grafiti. Tiger Sweat.Com. No date of posting/revision given. Tiger Sweat 04/15/06 http://www.tigersweat.com/movies/graf/>
This is a movie review of American Grafitti. This is perhaps the most important career film that Lucas made. It was so important because it gave him the clout he needed in order to get the movie industry to trust him enough to start his very expensive Star Wars movies. The site also lists the cast as well as has links to movie memorabilia.
I replied to the following people:
Robb,
Diane,
Heidi,
I found the look at the independent film industry very interesting. It seems like they might not be the cutting edge of special effects, but they definitely lead the way with creative camera techniques and especially drama and controversial topics. The Film sex lies and video tape I though was definitely controversial and even though its topics were racy I found the underlying issue of communication and its effect on a relation ship the “lies” in the movie, really inhibited the ability for the characters to have any thing else be meaningful in their lives. What I take away from this module is a greater appreciation for independent films and the messages that their creators try to send out with them.
