Star Wars Episode 7 and Disney buy Lucas Film

[Professor Bear]

Are people really still saying "are you still going on about that?" on the internet?  What is this, 2006?

[Ancient Otter]

Oh shit! That looks awesome! Nice to see we join stormtroopers into battle!

We get to see their blasts missing from their point of view now.....

[Goaty]

Oh shit! That looks awesome! Nice to see we join stormtroopers into battle!

We get to see their blasts missing from their point of view now.....

Well on teaser, we see TIE can't hit
the Falcon,

[JOE SOAP]

Pedestrian as some of Lucas' direction on the prequels was*, at least it was always visually uncluttered and not prone to shakycam

Lucas' battle sequences in the prequels were an orgy of clutter spliced with a scatter of CGI shots; maybe because it gave the impression of things going on in the generally flat staging. The habit of filling frames with 'stuff' Lucas seemed to develop after the special editions, whereas the shots in the new Abrams trailer look pleasantly sparse and measured by comparison but, yeah, the Falcon shot way over-does the spinny camera and feels like it belongs as part of a disorientating Disney ride with funky seats. Shaky-cam is not always the problem, when done well, but it's more the modern tendency to always cut to a new shot every 3-4 seconds out of some fear we'll get bored - Abrams has gone back and forth on this.

Even knowing it's a trailer, of a kind, coming a full year before the film's release, it doesn't fully connect. It's some out-of-context shots that act more as a show-reel of whatever FX they managed to get done in the time but includes enough fan-nods to keep people quiet without being too sterile. Would've been nice if they'd thrown a sliver of a dialogue scene between the characters presented - or a bit of humour - and not just a disembodied voice. Nothing to get too excited about, yet, but it does at least look directed and in real locations, and the lens-flare looks fine.

[DrRocka]

I love it. Gonna be a long year til I get to see it. I'll get to work in the morning finishing off the TARDIS I've been building and I'll take us all to see it.

Don't book any time off work yet, though. So far it's just a guitar slide spray painted blue with a can of cider gaffa taped to the side of it.

[TordelBack]

Hmmm, is one end of the gribbly pole attached to the side of Daisy Ridley's speeder in one shot (and not there in the next) made out of (something that resembles) Darth Maul's lightsabre?  Also, check out those salvaged goggles!

[Mabs]

I'm bloody excited by this trailer! A couple of "wow!" moments in there; the X wing attack formation over water, and that shot of the Sith 'blade', I wanna see a villain worthy of Vader and to a lesser extent, Darth Maul. Here's hoping we get one! Oh, and please, no lens flares, Mr Abrams! Early signs are good indeed. Can't wait to watch it! 

[radiator]

Pedestrian as some of Lucas' direction on the prequels was*, at least it was always visually uncluttered and not prone to shakycam

Lucas' battle sequences in the prequels were an orgy of clutter spliced with a scatter of CGI shots; maybe because it gave the impression of things going on in the generally flat staging. The habit of filling frames with 'stuff' Lucas seemed to develop after the special editions

One of my most jarring things about the prequels was the huge disparity between the utterly flat way most of the film was shot and the ridiculously OTT fx shots with the camera whizzing about in a totally unrealistic fashion - for example the opening shot of Episode III.

I'm actually with Joe on the Falcon shot in this trailer - it's overly elaborate, and when they do this kind of shit it just reinforces the artificiality of what I'm looking at.

[Professor Bear]

There's probably a lot of people seeing that .gif of the Falcon and really looking forward to whatever videogame it's from.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

All I know from the internet thus far is that: if you felt anything even slightly neutral or negative about that trailer U R NOT A TRU STAR WARS FAN.

Looked flashy - looked fun - hope the story works - and I agree that this far in advance what we're seeing is some stuck-together effects shots to whet the appetite rather than a full representation of the tone or actual content of the finished film. Wouldn't be surprised *MARK MY WORDS* if some of those shots ain't even in the movie.

Also - look at this little chap:



Lovely.

[JamesC]

I wonder if that R2 unit was designed just to give toy manufacturers headaches.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Hopefully folk can see this - courtesy of colourist and writer Jean-Paul Bove I think and sums up this lightsaber design well...

[Steve Green]

I think that's something libelous in Ogham.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

courtesy of colourist and writer Jean-Paul Bove I think and sums up this lightsaber design well...

After some digging it's not by Bove it's an already hugely-shared picture by Brian Altano of the Comedy Button

[Tombo]

Just noticed the Falcon has a new sensor dish to replace the one lost during the attack on the Death Star II.