...Comparison Paper: Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings The first about a heroic journey to rescue a princess in space, the other a story of four courageous hobbits on a quest to Mount Doom, both Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings have become monumental films due to both their storyline and musical score. Having never seen either of these epic films, I decided now was a good of time as ever to acquaint myself with Luke and Frodo. Even more, having heard both soundtracks before, I was curious how they each fit into the films. Star Wars: A New Hope opens with the oppressive Darth Vader boarding a rebel ship. The story then follows the life of Luke Skywalker and his allies as they try to rescue Princess Leia from Darth Vader’s grasp. The story culminates as Skywalker and the other rebels make an attack on Darth Vader’s ship, the Death Star. The musical score was an original composition by John Williams, who has composed some of the most famous scores in history. He is a five time winner of the Academy Award and has vastly left his mark on the film industry. Aside from films, he is a well established composer of concert works and is now the laureate composer for the Boston Pops Orchestra. The Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, opens as a narrator provides the audience with a history of an ancient ring, which was thought to be lost. However, the ring finds its way to a hobbit named Frodo, who must make a journey to the Cracks of Doom to destroy it. He makes this quest with an...
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...George Lucas managed to illuminate the world in 1977, with his mesmerising and delightful rousing adventure, Star Wars. A story of an epic struggle between the defiant good alliance and the malicious powerful evil empire, this sci-fi classic is charged with spectacle and adventure. Its evocative sound track and its avant-garde, eye-popping special effects, without a doubt, proclaimed it a revolutionist. Lucas paid homage and terrifically borrowed clichés and themes from other movie genres and synthesised them together. This, therefore, created a cultural phenomenon that is to this day universally revered by anyone and everyone. In this glorious fantasy, even Gangster Films contrived to lure themselves right at the beginning. In one of the first scenes, we see guards alarmed from the noise of a space craft that has no intention in making a silent entry. As they stand prepared, holding their guns, a medium shot of a door being forced open with fusing lasers, informs us intruders are moments away from invading the shuttle. Fuming explosives jumps into the screen, tearing the door down. Still at a medium shot, Storm Troopers barge in shooting relentlessly. At an eye-level, we can see the submissive sentinels being attained and falling to the ground, helpless. The Troopers then nonchalantly walks over the attained at a low angle, similar to how gangsters would treat their victims. Obviously insufficient and powerless, the remaining guards run away. In walks Darth Vader in a full...
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... The Cinematic Adventure That Changed The World Andrew Theroux University of Phoenix The Cinematic Adventure That Changed the World The year was 1977 and movie theatres around the world were bristling with excitement. Movie goers of all ages had gathered to see George Lucas’ new film. Little did the audience know that they were about to bear witness to a film that would change the entire world. A film that would change the way people act, think, and live. A cinematic adventure that would do more than just entertain the audience for an hour and thirty-one minutes. A film with a name would be known throughout the globe, Star Wars. The first Star Wars movie spawned forth a universe in which fans dreamed they could become a part of. Despite all of its box office success, the greatest accomplishment of the Star Wars universe, was the change it caused to cultures worldwide. Star Wars pioneered modern cinema, brought upon us a new age of thinking, and created fans whose passion knows no bounds. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was the first film to be released in what is now known as “The Original Trilogy.” Along with its successors Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, A New Hope showed film studios and filmmakers around the world that movie trilogies can be extremely successful. With such an elaborate and lengthy storyline that spans across the three movies, it kept audiences entertained for years to come. This paved the way for many of the trilogies we see coming...
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...There have been several theories surrounding the Star Wars: The Force Awakens villain Supreme Leader Snoke, including one where he is actually the infamous Darth Plagueis who was mentioned in the prequels. After much speculation, Andy Serkis, who plays the mysterious character in Episode VII, has just revealed the truth about Snoke's identity! Entertainment Weekly has just released two new images from The Force Awakens which features the film's performance capture characters, Lupita Nyong'o's diminutive Maz Kanata as well as Serkis' gigantic baddie. In addition to that, Serkis has finally confirmed the truth about Snoke being simply ... Snoke. That's right; Snoke might look ancient enough (and he certainly seems evil enough) to be the fabled...
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...Episode IV: A New Hope Far off in a distant galaxy, the starship belonging to Princess Leia, a young member of the Imperial Senate, is intercepted in the course of a secret mission by a massive Imperial Star Destroyer. An imperial boarding party blasts its way onto the captured vessel, and after a fierce firefight the crew of Leia’s ship is subdued. The dark, forbidding figure of Darth Vader appears, brutally interrogating the crew and ordering his stormtroopers to search the ship for the secret documents he believes it is carrying: the technical readouts for the Empire’s mightiest weapon—a planet-sized battle station called the Death Star. In the confusion, Princess Leia slips away and hides the secret documents, as well as a recorded plea for help, in the memory of R2-D2, a maintenance droid (robot). Leia is taken prisoner, but R2 gets away in an escape pod, along with his best friend, the protocol droid C-3PO. After crash-landing on the planet below, a barren, desert world called Tatooine, the droids set off in search of civilization but soon quarrel over the way to go. R2 insists that he has a mission to perform, but C-3PO wants no part of such an adventure. The two droids go their separate ways but are soon reunited when they are both captured by Jawas, child-sized scavengers who trade in droids and technological scraps. The Jawas sell the droids to Owen Lars, a moisture farmer on a remote homestead. Owen’s nephew, young Luke Skywalker, cleans the droids and, as he does...
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...developed many different movies with different subject matter. Many of these movies, namely Star Wars, have pushed the envelope in the realm of special effects and sound. His demand for better special effects and sound increased the overall technology in the film industry, and continues to do so today with his company Industrial Light and Magic. In all of Lucas' films, his main concern is getting his view across to the audience. He wants to portray his vision in the most vivid way possible so the audience can hopefully get a grasp of what message he is trying to get across, or what item he wants to address. Trying to get his idea across became an obsession for Lucas. The scene had to be almost entirely what he envisioned. In fact, Lucas would go to excessive lengths in creating a near perfect scene in comparison to other directors of his day. He further displayed his perfectionism when he wrote out screenplays. For example, "he only used No. 2 lead pencils, making his tiny print almost impossible to read" (Pollock 143). On the set, Lucas was a mastermind and a compulsive creator of visual imagery. Off the set, he was a creative coordinator. He spent countless hours developing the plot, story line, and dialogues of his movies. He then spent what time he had left pitching those scripts and ideas, and developing new ones. George wrote in a letter to his wife during the filming of Star Wars, "I forget how impossible making movies really is, I get so depressed, but I guess I'll get...
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...miracle happened. Among her collection, the girl came across a book that she had seen before but had usually skipped. But for reason, this book now had a soft glow surrounding it. Drawn to the book, the girl began to read its tales. As she slowly read the book, the girl slowly moved out of the darkness, with her misery being chipped away in small pieces as she began to learn from this book. When she finished, the girl was shocked to find that she was surrounded by the light that she had abandoned so long ago. Realizing that what had happened with her parents was none of her fault, the girl looked at the path that had been opened to her, and with a new hope and determination, took her first step towards continuing her life. As she began her journey, the girl continued to carry the book in her hands, its title shining in the bright sunlight: HOPE AND LOVE." So what is the moral of this story? Is it that love...
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...It is the grand reopening of the Disney store in the mall. I am overly excited as the new store is undoubtedly going to have the new Star Wars toys. I rush over to the half scale Darth Vader statue standing on top of a circular shelving unit filled with numerous amounts of Star Wars plushes. I want the 3 ½ inch action figures not the plush Chewbacca staring me down with its huge black eyes. These aren’t the toys I’m looking for, I move along. Then I spot them hanging from racks on a shelf behind the circular unit. I grab one of the new Star Wars Rebels figures and look in disappointment as I notice it only has 5 points of articulation (its head, arms, and legs), made of cheap plastic and the paint applications are way off especially on the face. The figure is giving me a cross eyed look as it hopes I put it out of its misery. Is this what happens when Disney buys out Star Wars? Is this what they do with the beloved toy line? They replace them with McDonald’s toys? As an avid Star Wars collector with over three hundred figures plus much more memorabilia I am very disappointed with how Disney is handling the toy franchises they have taken over. They do offer a higher quality toy line for both Marvel and Star Wars toys but they cost way more than they used to. I was able to buy a high quality Star Wars action figure for less than $10 before Disney bought Lucas Films out. Now $10 will get you a figure that mirrors a figure from the 70’s only without the charm the vintage ones...
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...George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He founded Lucasfilm Limited and led the company as chairman and chief executive before selling it to The Walt Disney Company on October 30, 2012. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful filmmakers . Contents Early life and education George Lucas was born in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore Lucas and George Walton Lucas, Sr. ,who owned a stationery store. Lucas grew up in the Central Valley town of Modesto, and his early passion for cars and motor racing would eventually serve as inspiration for his USC student film 1:42.08, as well as his Oscar-nominated low-budget phenomenon, American Graffiti. Long before Lucas became obsessed with film making, he wanted to be a race-car driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. On June 12, 1962, while driving his souped-up fiat, another driver broadsided him, flipping over his car, nearly killing him, causing him to lose interest in racing as a career. He attended Modesto Junior College, where he studied, amongst other subjects, anthropology, sociology and literature. Lucas transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts...
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...The Impact of Evolving Technologies Computer generated imagery has spanned the verge of acceptability. “CGI frequently plays an essential role in the creation of the believable alternate reality necessary for the enjoyment of a film” (Goodyer, 2012). The animation cartoon looks is replaced with subtle distinction of movement and expression. “Motion capture represents a wholly new form of filmmaking, one that cannot and should not be limited by our previously held definitions of synthetic versus recorded cinema” (Freedman, 2012). The once was a drawing, that was made into several to produce a cartoon seen in films, times have changed with technology, now it is becoming more realistic and believable to audiences. “But no matter how impressive the trappings used to surround the audience–all the tricks of lighting and make–up and acting and computer–generated imagery–the root of all movies is the story, and without it, nothing else matters. If a story works, if it engages the audiences for two hours, then there is no wrong way to tell it. If the story doesn’t work, then the opposite is true” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). Avatar (2009), was an American Science Fiction film set in the 22-century. “Avatar cost somewhere between $250 million and $500 million to make, yet weeks after its release, it had already grossed more than $1 billion worldwide for the Twentieth Century–Fox Film Corporation” (Gray, 2010). While to create such a costly movies was a big risk for...
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...Structures Can the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) live on as Legend? As Michelle Lawhorn tries to explain in her editorial “Star Wars: Is the EU Really Gone?” (Lawhorn, 2014) Michelle reminds readers that George Lucas didn’t put his official stamp on any novel, comic, or game saying that is truly what happens in the Star Wars universe. The EU is a collection of authors that had continued to further tell the stories of Star Wars after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (ROTJ) in the absence of any more movies by George Lucas. Fans fell in love with these stories and believed them to be cannon and official Star Wars storyline. Then George Lucas sells Star Wars to Walt Disney and Disney announces that the EU is considered non-cannon in future films and novels and fan were extremely upset. Michelle does a great job explaining that the Star Wars history has not been erased in any way and that all novels, comics, and games will be rebranded Legends. Many fans of the EU thought that many of their beloved characters would disappear and be forgotten. Michelle reassures the readers that this is not the case “See, here’s the thing: the EU was never canon to begin with. George Lucas never signed off on any novel, game, or comic to be official canon…Basically, the EU was unofficial “official” fan fiction.” (Lawhorn, 2014) George Lucas basically let different departments within Lucas Film continue creating products for Star Wars in order to further the brand. As the Star Wars brand continued...
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...Loving Husband has always wanted to go to a Star Wars Weekend, but between deployments and everything else in life, we never got to go. However, this year was different. This year we were living 5 minutes from Hollywood Studios, where the event is held, and this year, we had free passes! LH’s work schedule screwing everything up is a running theme throughout our lives, so it was no surprise that we ended up not being able to make it to the park until the very last day of the event. We had managed to make our way to the park on Star Wars Day, May the 4th. I was surprised that it wasn’t all that busy on the 4th. I expected traffic jam city, but we were able to walk freely through the area around Star Tours and even have front row view to the Jedi Training Academy show (videos below). I don’t know if people just weren’t feeling it this year or what, but more room for me to walk I guess!...
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...The “Force” continues to be an influence in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As spiritually thirsty as the “Force” may be, the idea does allow the Star Wars movies to include a very significant truth. There is “good and evil in the universe” that is “beyond” just us. It illustrates the biblical principle that while it is possible for us all to do evil things, we are not hopelessly evil. Legitimately, “Star Wars” is many things to many people, like dishonesty or untrustworthy spirituality. However, it can also be a springboard for witnessing and discussing “courage, friendship, faith and family.” It could possibly awaken spirituality in our culture, allowing the world to ponder the question is there a God and can He be known personally? While the movie is...
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...Star Wars: The Last Jedi – I really wanted to like it. SPOILER FREE VERSION: I really want to like this movie. There are some very good bit in it. I thought they did a nice job adding to the Star Wars lore, but the movie was really gimmicky and heavy handed. A lot of people liked it and I’m happy for them. I personally felt it was a bit much. The movie is growing on me a bit, but it did not live up to my expectations. There were also 3 moments in particular that I really couldn’t stand, but I’ll put those in the spoiler section. Before I get to that, I will start with showing you my rankings of the various Star Wars movies that have come out over the last several decades, so you can get a basis for comparison regarding my feelings on the series...
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..."May the Force be with you" and with those six iconic words came with it a sense of hope and a mythology of good triumphing over evil emerged in 1977. Once in nearly every decade, a film appears to rewrite everything by its artistic quality, imagination, and positive response by audiences the world over. A film that takes on a life of its own by reinventing a genre, creating likable characters against a backdrop of strange planets, robots, spaceships, and aliens. Star Wars came about at precisely the right moment when audiences were craving for something better, this new, action-packed space opera played like a western in outer space where the good guys win. The film’s popularity comes from its stunning special effects, makeup, costumes, actors,...
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