J.J. Abrams To Direct Star Wars VII

[Darren Dirt]

couple things:

1. can't remember if in THIS thread we link to the OTHER "new Star Wars Trilogy" thread, but here is that link:
Woah... Disney Owns It All! - Eps VII in 2015

2. "Lucasfilm has made a statement regarding how the new trilogy will proceed..."
http://www.firstshowing.net/2014/lucasfilm-on-past-present-future-of-star-wars-expanded-universe/

[Mr. Analog]

I say give the franchise to the people that make Marvel movies (also owned by Disney)

After watching the animated series I'm ready to enjoy Star Wars again, but at the same time there is fear that they will mess up again.

[Darren Dirt]

Need good writing and directing, then will be an iconic classic success even with mediocre acting able to be overlooked (sorry Mr. Hamill, gotta say it )


...and whoever works on the final script (esp. the dialog) needs to make sure to not pull a Lucas on this; instead take heed of this probably-tongue-in-cheek tip from a guy who has directed more than 300* music videos (and non-music video productions too)
http://www.nigeldick.com/faqmanager/FAQsview.asp?id=95

Spoiler

I want to get a job as...Screenwriter. Any ideas?

Recommended Reading:
Adventures In The Screen Trade by William Goldman
Conversations With My Agent by Rob Long
Monster by John Gregory Dunne
The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler
Writing Dialogue by Tom Chiarella

Step One: Watch as many films as you can, especially Adaptation and Casablanca.

Step Two: Sit in front of your computer screen for a whole day and ensure that you achieve nothing apart from chewing some pencils and making some coffee. If you thought that was fun screenwriting is for you!

Step Three: Write a screenplay.

Step Four: Watch Casablanca and Adaptation again, ignore what Kaufman has to say in the movie, and book yourself into Robert McKee's Story Structure class which will take up a whole weekend, change your life, and explain why you needed to watch Casablanca twice.

Step Five: Start re-writing your screenplay.

Step Six: Watch Adaptation a third time and realise what a friggin genius Charlie Kaufman is.

[close]

*yikes, prolific much? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Music_videos_directed_by_Nigel_Dick
(and PS: According to Dick, the term "music video" was not what they were first called, instead they were more accurately the band's "promotional video", of which Bohemian Rhapsody was the first recognizeable blockbuster success -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Rhapsody#Promotional_video )

[Mr. Analog]

I don't even think it needs good writing, "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" both share something really powerful; they connect to the audience directly through "movie magic", which IS simple and straightforward, shows much and explains little. The dialogue needs to be catchy enough to be entertaining, even if it is total nonsense.

Peoples brains tend to fill in the gaps, that's what keeps something interesting going in your mind, hell that's even why some crappy franchises still stick in peoples' minds, the veneer of lore will grow if the movie is fun to watch. If you start to overload people with dialogue explaining things, add too many characters or have protracted dialogue scenes in your action/adventure movie just to move the basic plot along you'll actually lose people rather than engross them.

I think the cardinal sin with Episode I was the constant explaining of things that didn't need explaining. I mean if Qui-Gon Jinn just got close to Anakin and said "dude, this kids the most powerful Force-haver ever" that would have been better than giving him a dumb gizmo and explain-at length-how Force ability is actually micro-ojsadlk;j ugh I'm bored already, who the @%&# cares? Then there were the scenes in the Senate that were supposed to characterize Amidala and Palpatine and set the purpose for the Trade Federation blocka... I'm bored already again.

I've only seen one science fiction film out of hundreds where exposition actually made it better and that was "Creation of the Humanoids" which had a non-existent budget but a really powerful story if you listened to the dialogue (also "The Twonky" which on the surface is a sci-fi comedy but has some really chilling commentary about a possible future if you pay attention).

So yeah, I guess I'm more afraid of film makers losing the look, feel and flow of an action-adventure story to try to hammer in some pointless exposition so a b-list actor can chew the scenery for a while or add a bunch of named throwaway side characters just to push more merch after the movie.

They need to go back to old 40s/50s action serials and split up the action that way, then fill in the gaps with magical robots and mystical science wizards or whatever and try not to forget that they're trying to recreate the classic Saturday Matinee not remake the "The Godfather" but with lasers and spaceships.

/rant overflow

[Darren Dirt]

I don't even think it needs good writing, "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" both share something really powerful; they connect to the audience directly through "movie magic"

well-written movie magic! (sometimes good writing includes what you leave out -- instead of including unnecessary, or unwanted* details/explanations)






*coughmidichlorianscough

[Tom]

I agree with Mr. A. Writing isn't entirely important here. I have been known to enjoy poorly written movies. Same with poorly written books so long as there is a thread there that keeps me tied to it.

For instance, book one of harry potter is actually kinda crap writing wise. But I loved it. Compared to that I tried reading some books by Terry Brooks, and OMFG not only are they badly written, they also have nothing to keep me interested. They bore me to death. Thats hard to do. I will read history text books, and the linux kernel mailing list and find something interesting. I tried three separate novels.

[Darren Dirt]

I've only seen one science fiction film out of hundreds where exposition actually made it better

Let me guess -- the 2nd/3rd Matrix movies?

/ducksProjectile 

...explains little. The dialogue needs to be catchy enough to be entertaining, even if it is total nonsense.

Peoples brains tend to fill in the gaps, that's what keeps something interesting going in your mind, hell that's even why some crappy franchises still stick in peoples' minds, the veneer of lore will grow if the movie is fun to watch.

On a related note: I was bored on the weekend and decided to watch the pilot episode of "Supernatural" -- and was pleasantly surprised for a similar reason: They jumped into events immediately and the "timeline" of the universe was well past the beginning of related events. As a viewer I got to make guesses as I went along and then a few answers were provided but a whole lot of other questions still are waiting to be addressed. Nice change to see a scifi/fantasy series NOT start with an "origin story" episode that explains everything in detail from Step One.

[Mr. Analog]

Aww yeah, I hate origin story pilots so much, because half the time the pilot gets changed so all the time they spend setting up a history goes right out the window almost immediately.

I @%&# you not man, ironically enough Creation of the Humanoids tells a much deeper story than The Matrix

Thinking about it now, in many ways, it would have been a worthy sequel to The Matrix if it was jazzed up

Spoiler

The human fighting against the machines taking over as the dominant life form discovers that not only his HE a machine but he also learns that the machines are keeping the few humans that despise them alive out of pity and that they've been pushing for more integration to replace humans BECAUSE the humans are already doomed and they want to continue the human spirit somehow

whoa indeed!

[close]

Creation of the Humanoids is currently NOT protected by copyright so you can legally download it at places like Archive.org:

https://archive.org/details/ClassicSciFiCreationOfTheHumanoids1962drforbinRip

It's worth watching on a rainy day anyway, it is VERY b-movie, but interesting

[Mr. Analog]

Star Wars VII Cast

New Cast:
John Boyega
Daisy Ridley
Adam Driver
Oscar Isaac
Andy Serkis
Domhnall Gleeson
Max von Sydow

Returning Cast:
Harrison Ford (!)
Carrie Fisher
Mark Hamill
Anthony Daniels
Peter Mayhew
Kenny Baker

http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-7-cast-announced.html

Also throw out any "Extended Universe" stuff (post-Jedi) it is now officially non-canon and will be considered "legends of Star Wars"

[Darren Dirt]

Kenny Baker

idk y, but seeing that name immediately makes me think of a recent Rifftracks preview I watched -- http://www.rifftrax.com/vod/dr-who-and-daleks


But good to see a bunch of unknowns will be the primary cast. That worked for the prequels dinit?





PS: "The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015." You just announced the CAST and the release date is only 20 months hence? srsly WHY RUSH IT? (Sounds great, Disney. But don't get cocky!) #skeptical

[Mr. Analog]

Kenny Baker

idk y, but seeing that name immediately makes me think of a recent Rifftracks preview I watched -- http://www.rifftrax.com/vod/dr-who-and-daleks


But good to see a bunch of unknowns will be the primary cast. That worked for the prequels dinit?





PS: "The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015." srsly WHY RUSH IT? You just announced the CAST and the release date is 18 months hence? #skeptical

TBH I'm surprised that Kenny Baker is still kickin'

I dunno, I'm pretty sure most sci-fi fans were aware of Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson and of course Natalie Portman

For me the only name that sticks out in the new cast is Max von Sydow (one of my personal faves anyway)

[Darren Dirt]

But good to see a bunch of unknowns will be the primary cast. That worked for the prequels dinit?

I was being half-sarcastic. Some already-recognized-as-decent-actors were in noteable roles for sure. But the young kid who played Anakin? The actors who played Jar-Jar and Darth Maul? Ummm... nice careers post-SW, boys.



On the subject of how fast this puppy could get shot and edited:

production timeline of new film compared to previous films http://starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-vii-set-to-roll-cameras-may-2014.html
^ Also apparently the new one is "set about 30 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi".

[Darren Dirt]

I've only seen one science fiction film out of hundreds where exposition actually made it better and that was "Creation of the Humanoids" which had a non-existent budget but a really powerful story if you listened to the dialogue (also "The Twonky" which on the surface is a sci-fi comedy but has some really chilling commentary about a possible future if you pay attention).

What about this heavy-concept scifi film? Explanatory exposition is certainly necessary here (fine line between necessary and now-it's-too-talky). And also on the subject of visually fantastic films re. dreaming with plenty of make-you-think-about-things dialog, check out "Journey into the subconscious", an animated foreign short. Watch this just before falling asleep...

[Mr. Analog]

The concept of going through layers of psyche to get information was a good one, especially when it was explored two years prior to Inception with this film

Which is less talky and more showy, which is more gooder

[Darren Dirt]

The concept of going through layers of psyche to get information was a good one, especially when it was explored two years prior to Inception with this film

Which is less talky and more showy, which is more gooder

Yeah.
http://2nohito.tumblr.com/post/17481362489/yerawizardharry-inception-2010-paprika (via http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0851578/board )


But did you check out that foreign-language lucid-dreaming animated short (JITS) tho? Heady stuff. Style-wise for some reason (maybe how it starts subtle/slow and then builds to more frenetic and out there?) kinda hit me along the lines of Enter The Void opening credits (also, ETV is film from first-person POV so there's that too).