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Star Wars Episode VIII Production Thread (Principal Photography Complete)

Kasdan is on the new episode of the Scriptnotes podcast and he talks a little bit about Han Solo and a little bit about Ep 7 (Ardnt leaving, writing the death of a main character, an ending that doesn't include something blowing up etc.). Not sure if there's a general Star Wars discussion thread, didn't see one after briefly looking.
 

Hex

Banned
Episode 7 was really lame to me, this will probably be the same.

23D1dSD.gif



That's cool, you are a rebel.
In a Star Wars thread.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I actually do not think that it looks like what you are trying to infer at all.
It almost looks like he is lifting something very heavy with one arm and using its momentum thus finishing with two hands.
It still has a perceived weight and heft to it, which was missing in the PT.

Yeah, that's a movie very clearly meant to convey weight/heft and to repel. Even if weight/heft makes little sense for a lightsaber, it looks much better.

It also ties into the narrative of the fight.

The first time Kylo Ren and Finn clash sabers, Finn swings three times, which Kylo blocks easily. He then counters with three swings on Finn, and on the third spins his saber around and downward for a heavy smash that puts Finn flat on his back.

Finn gets up takes a downward swing at Kylo - what he just did to Finn - and Kylo dodges it, causing Finn to whiff completely.

Kylo advances on Finn and does another three swing combination, the third of which is a full body spin and even harder downward smash. (The one in the .gif.) The good news is Finn now knows to brace himself for it, and blocks it properly. The bad news is it pins his back against a tree, where Kylo tortures him with the hilt of his saber.

So in the three clashes, Finn 1) gets knocked down by a downward swing, 2) tries to do the same to Kylo and whiffs, then 3) successfully parries but is pinned by an even more forceful one by Kylo. It shows Finn learning while still being totally outclassed by Kylo, who is basically fucking with him. (Until he gets tagged a moment later, and drops Finn instantly. Finn was quick learner!)

It's one of the things that makes the fight choreography so good - there's a story running through it.
 

Nodnol

Member
It'll be interesting, given how elegant Ridley looks in the clip you've all been talking about, if they juxtapose Rey's "style" and Kylo's.

Use the duels and how they fight as representations of their characters. Always function over form, but there's room to develop distinct styles for Rey vs Kylo, Light vs Dark. It makes sense that both draw from the Force in very different ways, using different emotions to empower them.

I'd like that reflected in how they fight. The forest fight is brilliant IMO, and I love Kylo's saber play throughout the film. Rey has her own style during that fight, but it would be great to see that expanded on.
 

Mr Cola

Brothas With Attitude / The Wrong Brotha to Fuck Wit / Die Brotha Die / Brothas in Paris
wonder what that text on the x wing means?
 

-griffy-

Banned
What I can make out on the X-wing is:
DES_UE(then it gets cut off)
OTHER SIDE

EDIT: Actually first letter might be R, in which case it probably says RESCUE (SOMETHING) OTHER SIDE
 

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Don't really know if it's relevant, but Sonoya Mizuno (Ex Machina) has just published an Instagram photo from Pinewood Studios. It might, of course, be another movie, but it might as well be VIII, though I've never heard of her being involved in the movie in any way.

Here's the link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BEy2mECAZOu/
Eh lots of things happen in Pinewood

In fact, some video game cutscenes and audio are developed at Pinewood
 
To anyone who's read the recent article of Lucas stating the R2D2 is meant to be the main character in the series, does anyone feel that under Disney's direction they may be phasing all of the characters from the OT going forward?

Alot of the marketing for TFA seemed to indicate that BB8 was designed as a character to be R2D2's archetypical successor similar to how Rey is Luke Skywalker's successor. But the ending of TFA seems to indicate the notion of Chewbacca and R2D2 having prominent roles in episode VIII, which took me off guard, considering the setup, improvisation, and compromise seen in the prequel cast.
 

Apt101

Member
To anyone who's read the recent article of Lucas stating the R2D2 is meant to be the main character in the series, does anyone feel that under Disney's direction they may be phasing all of the characters from the OT going forward?

Alot of the marketing for TFA seemed to indicate that BB8 was designed as a character to be R2D2's archetypical successor similar to how Rey is Luke Skywalker's successor. But the ending of TFA seems to indicate the notion of Chewbacca and R2D2 having prominent roles in episode VIII, which took me off guard, considering the setup, improvisation, and compromise seen in the prequel cast.

I wouldn't say the plan is to phase them out, rather give their stories conclusions.
 
I wouldn't say the plan is to phase them out, rather give their stories conclusions.

I figure that that's the case for Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. That being said, the marketing for TFA strongly implied this to be the case for R2D2 as well, much like Jar Jar was probably positioned to be Chewbacca's replacement in the sequels before backlash by the fans put Lucas' plan on the back burner.

I read that the production team found BB8 to be more appealing to work with when staging action sequences than R2D2 had been in the OT -- another reason why I assumed that Lucasfilm was pivoting to phase out his character. That could still end up being the case, but right now it seems like he could end up becoming Rey's sidekick in episode VIII rather than BB8. Same thing with Chewbacca. Abrams, Kasdan, and Lucasfilm didn't manage to come up with an alien successor to Chewbacca for this trilogy yet, and they may not even try to either, but I'm going by the casting model used in episode I in making my assumption.
 

Surfinn

Member
So awesome that they're half way done. Aside from some general weather setbacks, seems like things are going smoothly. Let's hope they finish strong.

Still can't believe we're getting two more of these.
 
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