Cinematography in the ST - Influences, motifs, and techniques

These are so beautiful @special_cases!

Paige's death was shot in such a powerful way, it was genius for me.

The dark clouds and shadows remind me of Letter Never sent.
Funny I just understood that another thing both movies had in common was that Sergei was also oiled up while working in the mine similar to shirtless Kylo:D

what a quality
what details

and as always
my eye is fixed on those two and on her hand on his side

I was thinking about the throne room design, also Praetorian guard fight scene and figures of Rey and Kylo on the red background. This huge red glossy box aka boudoir. It also reminds me of The Shining with the red room obviously but the difference is also the reflective floor that sort of captures shadows and reflections of the lightsabers which visually makes it infinite. All these shadows and reflections really feel like visual metaphors for storytelling. A glass castle. It's almost like when Rey tried to find answers in the mirror scene, Kylo was trapped in a mirror box with Snoke. Probably not coincidence that after the fight the red box was gone.

a bit random, but if the throne room was a painting I would imagine something by Nicolas de Staël with characters standing out on the bold red background:

Wasn't sure where to post anything specific on The Director and the Jedi documentary, but won tickets via Star Wars UK, there were 45 sets of winners, to watch a preview a few hours ago. I think the best part in all of it was on either side of the competition winners, some of the crew of The Last Jedi were amongst us and sat in the same row as Neal Scanlan. Felt quite privileged to be surrounded by not only fans, but the crew of this fantastic movie.

Starliteprism wrote:Wasn't sure where to post anything specific on The Director and the Jedi documentary, but won tickets via Star Wars UK, there were 45 sets of winners, to watch a preview a few hours ago. I think the best part in all of it was on either side of the competition winners, some of the crew of The Last Jedi were amongst us and sat in the same row as Neal Scanlan. Felt quite privileged to be surrounded by not only fans, but the crew of this fantastic movie.

@Starliteprism, wow, how cool (and lucky! ) is that!

What was the audience's reaction, if it's possible to speak so generally?

12 Parsnips wrote:

Starliteprism wrote:Wasn't sure where to post anything specific on The Director and the Jedi documentary, but won tickets via Star Wars UK, there were 45 sets of winners, to watch a preview a few hours ago. I think the best part in all of it was on either side of the competition winners, some of the crew of The Last Jedi were amongst us and sat in the same row as Neal Scanlan. Felt quite privileged to be surrounded by not only fans, but the crew of this fantastic movie.

@Starliteprism, wow, how cool (and lucky! ) is that!

What was the audience's reaction, if it's possible to speak so generally?

@12 Parsnips

It was a happy atmosphere and made it a really good experience to be a part of. A lot of laughter and cackling from the crew from the sides as well.

Starliteprism wrote:

12 Parsnips wrote:

Starliteprism wrote:Wasn't sure where to post anything specific on The Director and the Jedi documentary, but won tickets via Star Wars UK, there were 45 sets of winners, to watch a preview a few hours ago. I think the best part in all of it was on either side of the competition winners, some of the crew of The Last Jedi were amongst us and sat in the same row as Neal Scanlan. Felt quite privileged to be surrounded by not only fans, but the crew of this fantastic movie.

@Starliteprism, wow, how cool (and lucky! ) is that!

What was the audience's reaction, if it's possible to speak so generally?

@12 Parsnips

It was a happy atmosphere and made it a really good experience to be a part of. A lot of laughter and cackling from the crew from the sides as well.

@Starliteprism

Nice! I bet the crew had some inside jokes it would have been fun to hear about!

12 Parsnips wrote:

Starliteprism wrote:

12 Parsnips wrote:

Starliteprism wrote:Wasn't sure where to post anything specific on The Director and the Jedi documentary, but won tickets via Star Wars UK, there were 45 sets of winners, to watch a preview a few hours ago. I think the best part in all of it was on either side of the competition winners, some of the crew of The Last Jedi were amongst us and sat in the same row as Neal Scanlan. Felt quite privileged to be surrounded by not only fans, but the crew of this fantastic movie.

@Starliteprism, wow, how cool (and lucky!   ) is that!

What was the audience's reaction, if it's possible to speak so generally?

@12 Parsnips

It was a happy atmosphere and made it a really good experience to be a part of. A lot of laughter and cackling from the crew from the sides as well.

@Starliteprism

Nice! I bet the crew had some inside jokes it would have been fun to hear about!  

@12 Parsnips

One thing I picked up on is that there was a little bit of giggles when Michael Kaplan was on the screen and also when Rian did his giggle-fits on the screen.

As you can see, Will and Elizabeth hold eahc other for support while stabbing their opponents. Reylo does the same except that we have back-to-back version.

vaderito wrote:



As you can see, Will and Elizabeth hold eahc other for support while stabbing their opponents. Reylo does the same except that we have back-to-back version.

@vaderito

two young lovers who fight side by side against their common enemy is something we often see in the movies
however the comparison between Will and Elizabeth is very strong. in that scene he and she are getting married
instead Kylo makes the proposal after the fight

Teo oswald wrote:two young lovers who fight side by side against their common enemy is something we often see in the movies
however the comparison between Will and Elizabeth is very strong. in that scene he and she are getting married
instead Kylo makes the proposal after the fight

@Teo oswald

That's a great observation!

So West Side Story scene of when Tony and Maria first meet- does the panoramic shot and color scheme look familiar?

snufkin wrote:So West Side Story scene of when Tony and Maria first meet- does the panoramic shot and color scheme look familiar?

@snufkin




Good spot.
And how they seem to mirror one another...and when Maria is told off, she stated that she "Only saw him", which makes me think of the first Forcetime connection, with Kylo only seeing Rey, and not her surroundings.

@Starliteprism "I can't see your surrounding, only you."

snufkin wrote:@Starliteprism "I can't see your surrounding, only you."

@snufkin

I love it...

@Starliteprism @MyOnlyHope caught it in another post

snufkin wrote:Too good to not mention here in terms of influences even if its not actually photography/editing, Big Ups to @MyOnlyHope for catching this particular reference

MyOnlyHope wrote:@SheLitAFire Remember when Rian was tweeting all those West Side Story Tonight references in the lead up to the trailer?

Turns out the whole Tonight sequence is like the most Force Bond thing ever in terms of how Rian pictured the technicalities of the connection. Just lol.

From TLJ: "Can you see my surroundings? I can't see yours. Just you."

MARIA: Imagine being afraid of you.
TONY: You see.
MARIA: I see you.
TONY: Maria, see only me.

*Breaks into song*
MARIA
Only you, you're the only thing I'll see forever
In my eyes in my words and in everything I do
Nothing else but you
Ever

TONY
And there's nothing for me but Maria
Every sight that I see is Maria

MARIA
Tony, Tony

TONY
Always you, every thought I'll ever know
Everywhere I go you'll be

TONY & MARIA
All the world is only you and me

MARIA
Tonight, tonight
It all began tonight
I saw you and the world went away

Tonight, tonight
There's only you tonight
What you are, what you do, what you say

snufkin wrote:@Starliteprism @MyOnlyHope caught it in another post

snufkin wrote:Too good to not mention here in terms of influences even if its not actually photography/editing, Big Ups to @MyOnlyHope for catching this particular reference

MyOnlyHope wrote:@SheLitAFire Remember when Rian was tweeting all those West Side Story Tonight references in the lead up to the trailer?

Turns out the whole Tonight sequence is like the most Force Bond thing ever in terms of how Rian pictured the technicalities of the connection. Just lol.

From TLJ: "Can you see my surroundings? I can't see yours. Just you."

MARIA: Imagine being afraid of you.
TONY: You see.
MARIA: I see you.
TONY: Maria, see only me.

*Breaks into song*
MARIA
Only you, you're the only thing I'll see forever
In my eyes in my words and in everything I do
Nothing else but you
Ever

TONY
And there's nothing for me but Maria
Every sight that I see is Maria

MARIA
Tony, Tony

TONY
Always you, every thought I'll ever know
Everywhere I go you'll be

TONY & MARIA
All the world is only you and me

MARIA
Tonight, tonight
It all began tonight
I saw you and the world went away

Tonight, tonight
There's only you tonight
What you are, what you do, what you say

@snufkin

Welp...that only makes me want to watch West Side Story tomorrow. I probably haven't seen it in 20 years.
Thanks for highlighting this discussion!

@Starliteprism - Rian has outed himself as a big musical theater nerd and even joked about wanting to do a Star Wars musical, so all of this isn't just a happy coincidence. I mean, sure there are plenty of irate fans (and BNFs who supposedly know better) complaining about how this was supposedly such a shoddy and 'inconsistent' (lol inconsistent with the fantasies some fans came up with instead of paying attention to TFA's actual story and characters) movie. But pretty clear that it was deliberately constructed, including taking inspiration from classic films like this one.

Let's just hope that the ST has a happier ending than WSS!

snufkin wrote:@Starliteprism - Rian has outed himself as a big musical theater nerd and even joked about wanting to do a Star Wars musical, so all of this isn't just a happy coincidence. I mean, sure there are plenty of irate fans (and BNFs who supposedly know better) complaining about how this was supposedly such a shoddy and 'inconsistent' (lol inconsistent with the fantasies some fans came up with instead of paying attention to TFA's actual story and characters) movie. But pretty clear that it was deliberately constructed, including taking inspiration from classic films like this one.

Let's just hope that the ST has a happier ending than WSS!

@snufkin

It truly is a well woven tapestry in which Rian pays tribute to the many great works of art out there, but then fantastically makes The Last Jedi its own entity when you step back from it all. And yes, I really hope that the ST ends on a positive high note, unlike WSS.

Update: And funnily enough, just walked into the other room in which my daughter was watching the end of Disney's Beauty & the Beast, and Belle looks at the Beast/Prince, unsure of his transformation, looks into his eyes and then says, "It is YOU."

Apologies if this has already been brought up, but I don't recall seeing it discussed anywhere yet...

If you'll recall, one of the film "influences" that Rian brought up pre-TLJ was Raiders of the Lost Ark. A lot of us took that to mean that we'd be getting into archeology/Force lore, etc.

Husband and I had our first post-TLJ watching of RotLA in its entirety last night, and there actually is a scene/sequence that TLJ pays a very direct homage to, that I don't think our forum picked up on yet.

In the sequence where Indy and Marion get sealed into the Well of Souls with the snakes, Indy gets the idea that there's an exit by watching the snakes pouring in through the holes in the walls. (Poe obviously does something similar with the crystal foxes.)

Then, after Indy crashes open the hole in the temple wall by toppling the statue, he and Marion can see a pile of rocks/rubble on the other side where there are rays of light streaming through. Context is different, but that shot is very similar to the one where Poe sees the pile of rocks where the foxes are squeezing through to escape.

@snufkin @Starliteprism

Hot damn I haven’t seen it in ages either so I just ordered a copy ( along with a special edition Ponyo that has intro by KK)

@ISeeAnIsland
Well spotted - I need to re- watch ROTLA just to see those parallels too.

@MrsWindu Seeing that one image just reminded me of the day the trailer was released when he Tweeted several West Side Story references as the announcement and the thread here in response. That was not just "find a song about looking forward to something," that was a pretty damn specific hint/reference.



@ISeeanIsland - great catch! Though dammit, I still want my first Jedi Temple where they have to survive a trip to IKEA.

I just saw the Japanese anime movie "your name" and it reminded me of reylo.The characters, a boy and a girl that complement each other like yin and yang, the red ribbon of destiny. ... even there is a scene in which they try to touch the hand, it has been surprising.

@grimbergen You know that JJ bought the rights for adaption of this anime (the deal was closed in ~ September 2017)? Funny, yeah?