Apple & Star Wars...

[Fire&IceProductions]

For those of you who have seen Star Wars Episode 2 , and watched the credits to the very end, you will notice Apple computer thanked and the use of FCP. Lucas used Final Cut Pro to edit his entire movie! That's freakin awsome!!! He didn't trust his job to some PeeCee!

[jelloshotsrule]

that's defnitely cool if true. did it specifically say that they used it exclusively?

i mean, they very well could've used fcp for some limited things then used other systems for the real deal... but either way, very cool. shows fcp can compete with the much more expensive systems...

[Fire&IceProductions]

They exclusively used FCP to edit. Yeah, it surprised me when I saw it. The fact that they didn't use Avid or Media 100...

[AlphaTech]

Does anyone know if Episode two is even worth going to see??? If it is anything like episode one, it's not. Even saying that it is 'better' then e1, is not saying much. It would be akin to saying getting gut shot is better then getting ball shot... both are bad. Episodes 4, 5, and 6 are still many, many times better then episode one was. How many other people wanted to off jarjar after the first minute or two??? Damn, thats a lot of hands. :D

[peterjhill]

Believe me, ep two is way worth seeing. Excluding the original "A New Hope" it is the best out of the rest. The action is unbelievable. CGI Yoda is IMHO even better than the puppet version.

Yoda is a badass mother ducker ;)

I didn't believe Mr. Knowles when he said it, but it is true, this movie makes all the other movies even better. Since George has only one more movie left after this one, he is really starting to tie in some of the plot lines from the other movies very neatly.

If you have any interest in Star Wars, you must see it.

[Mr. Anderson]

I didn't stay for the credits, I'll do that next time. I'm totally impressed that it was all done on FCP. I wonder what the machine looked like though? Think he could have got a prototype, special, just for him, or did he just max out a DPG4 and have some nice handy RAID lying about?

Yes, the movie is a must see. The whole story is definitely coming together, and I imagine the 3rd movie might even be better. But first, I have to go see #2 a few more times.:D

[Macmaniac]

I'm glad to see Lucas using FCP. Looks like we have an ally in big places.
Very cool!

[Hemingray]

Originally posted by AlphaTech
How many other people wanted to off jarjar after the first minute or two???

Wow, you gave Jar Jar a whole minute?!

Meesa thinks you cwazy! [sound of strangling]

[AlphaTech]

Originally posted by Hemingray


Wow, you gave Jar Jar a whole minute?!

Meesa thinks you cwazy! [sound of strangling]

Now, if Anakin cuts Jar Jar in half in the beginning of Episode 2, I WILL go see it. That alone would be worth using one of my free movie passes. :D

We get free movie passes to the theater of our choice from work. They call it 'employee appreciation' :D

I was hoping for the first few seconds that Jar Jar was going to catch hot photons, but alas, he survived *grumble* *grumble*

[macfreek57]

YODA!!...................LIGHTSABERS!!!!!!!!.................DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[jelloshotsrule]

all this talk has got me wanting to see it...

tomorrow night would be good, but too crowded i think. maybe saturday matinee or something... but then there's golf. ahh, dilemma dilemma... ha

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
all this talk has got me wanting to see it...

tomorrow night would be good, but too crowded i think. maybe saturday matinee or something... but then there's golf. ahh, dilemma dilemma... ha

Its supposed to be crappy this weekend. Go early if you want to see it though. Yoda does kick serious ass in the movie. Its almost worth it for that. And he's much more convincing here as a CGI character than he was in the first one or as a puppet. They did a really good job with him.

[jelloshotsrule]

yeah, i'm figuring maybe sat afternoon. the thing is that here in hicksville it'd be a tad bit less crowded, but still crowded very much so i'm sure.

but i don't want to go alone so i'll have to see if i can get my brother to go sometime.

good to hear that the yoda cgi is good... the sheer scale of the 3D sets amazes me. even if it's not impressive to most, who might say "it just looks so fake"... knowing how much goes into it allows one to appreciate it moreso.

[menoinjun]

Am I the only one who thought that it sucked?

Yoda was a freakin' pinball jumping around, and then he needs a damn cane to walk?

The dialogue was a joke, and it seemed like Lucas rushed it out for some reason. The CG wasn't even good.

The only benefit was the costumes on what's-her-face...<drool>

Episode 3 should absolutely rock though.

-Pete

[ajhubble]

... no cr*ppy 'reviews' until we've all had a chance to see it! It's not good going into a movie hoping it's a good movie (as opposed to that Episode One) while sub-consciously thinking of all the bad things that have been said about it.

That said, I'll do my best to avert my eyes from Star Wars reviews until this Sunday :cool:

[peterjhill]

Watching Yoda and Dooku fight is reminicent of Chris Lee as Sauraman vs. Gandalf in LOTR. This isn't some jedi who only has been using a light sabre for 30 years or so, these are two pros. They are the Grand Champions of light sabers.

I agree with Dukestreet. I think yoda is a hell of alot better as CGI than as a puppet. No offense to Mr. Oz.

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by dukestreet
I didn't stay for the credits, I'll do that next time. I'm totally impressed that it was all done on FCP. I wonder what the machine looked like though? Think he could have got a prototype, special, just for him, or did he just max out a DPG4 and have some nice handy RAID lying about?


He wouldn't have needed anything "custom" made. Just grab one of uncompressed or SDI (serial digital interface) capture cards that work w/FCP and have some monster SCSI RAIDs over in the corner. ;) Everything else was probably bought from the Apple Store. :)


Lethal

EDIT: Lucas used FCP to cut the "pre-visualization." Think of pre-visualization as an animated storyboard (instead of a series of hand drawn stills that loox kind like a comic book, you get rough/crude animation).

[Mr. Anderson]

So I was just talking to a friend of mine that said that because this Star Wars was done all digital, it didn't look as good on a huge screen as it would on a smaller screen. I went and saw it on a smaller screen, but the next time I go, I'll make sure its on a huge one, to see if there is anything that gives it away as a digital movie.

One thing, the movie is still being delivered as film, even if it wasn't made with it, so the resolution issue would have to be from the transfer process. Anyone know the resolution that would have been use for the digital StarWars vs. the perceived resolution of the standard movie film?

[LethalWolfe]

W/the toys Lucas is using you cannot tell the difference between film and video in regads of resolution. That said, film and video look different and that's probably what people notice the most and they think that it (HD video) just isn't "hi-res" enough for the big screen (which is totally wrong). Film and video just have different looks. Watch a soap opera, then flip over to a movie on HBO or something. You'll notice that the soap opera and the movie look different. That's because the soap is shot on video, and the movie was shot on film.

Any digital stuff you notice is because the whole freakin' movie was done in CG (almost) so you are seeing limits of CG. Not limits of HD video.

Lethal

[Mr. Anderson]

Oh, I think the CG parts of the movie were fantasic and much more realistic than anything seen to date, that's for sure. But I agree with the look and feel difference with video, the way light is interpreted, but also the grain on film is not in an x-y matrix, it is much more random, so that does have something to do with it.

[lilscoy]

Yeah, Episode II is really amazing. Yoda was the best!! :)
Hey peterjhill, I really like your signature! So many times I look at the Special Features of a DVD, and all it says is "Interactive Menus"! I hate that!!!

[zed]

Episode 2 is definitely worth seeing, 1000 times better than Episode 1.


MAN i cant wait to see it again............... yoda has always been my favorite... the little guy i always knew he had it in him :)

[Mr. Anderson]

I would have loved to been a fly on the wall when the first meeting was held for the animators in charge of Yoda. They must have been going crazy after getting the specs on what he was going to do. Talk about great inspirational subject matter.

[Fire&IceProductions]

Yeah, If Lucas did use FCP (as he said), nothing special would really be needed. He probably used a G4 (maybe even a G3) with realtime hardware to handle everything. You have to remember that FCP was used just to cut the clips and add transitions. All of the special effects were done in other probrams. I know that After Effects is one of them (the type-scroll intro...) and my guess woould be Combustion maybe...

[wsteineker]

First, about the Yoda complaints. Remember folks, just because you don't do something doesn't mean you can't do something. Why didn't we see that side of Yoda in IV-VI? Because we didn't need to. Yoda proved his point much earlier. He ain't slow, that's just his pimp limp. You dig? Second, it's yet to be mentioned that Lucasfilms and Pixar have always enjoyed a very close relationship, so it's not surprising that Lucas has been turned on to FCP. Episode II trailer debuted before Monsters, Inc., etc. Just putting pieces together, that's all.

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by Fire&IceProductions
Yeah, If Lucas did use FCP (as he said), nothing special would really be needed. He probably used a G4 (maybe even a G3) with realtime hardware to handle everything. You have to remember that FCP was used just to cut the clips and add transitions. All of the special effects were done in other probrams. I know that After Effects is one of them (the type-scroll intro...) and my guess woould be Combustion maybe...


Errr where did Lucas say he used FCP (besides it being listed in the credits).

I doubt he woulda used a G3 since you need at least a single 500mhz G4 to use FCPs RT.

FCP wasn't used to cut anything on Episode II. It was used to cut the pre-visualization (think computer animated storyboard). Maya and After Effects were used to make the clips, and then the clips were cut in FCP. $20 says AVID's Film Composer was used to edit Episode II. FCP lacks the media management to effectively handle that much footage w/o driving the editor (and his assistants) completely batty.

And I bet Fire and Inferno (Discreet's HD line of finishing and compositing tools) were used to bring it all together after it was cut together.

Lethal

[blackpeter]

Originally posted by ptrauber
Am I the only one who thought that it sucked?

Yoda was a freakin' pinball jumping around, and then he needs a damn cane to walk?

The dialogue was a joke, and it seemed like Lucas rushed it out for some reason. The CG wasn't even good.

The only benefit was the costumes on what's-her-face...<drool>

Episode 3 should absolutely rock though.

-Pete

1. It's called The Force. When one is weilding it, one is capable many things. When Yoda lets go of The Force, he is tired and frail once again. Remember how weary he was after raising Luke's X-Wing on Degobah. He died that night. Some think Yoda sacrificed the last of his energies to prove to Luke the existance and power of The Force.

2. You can't attack the Dialogue now... Lucas has always had a stiff, "geeky" writing style. Are you telling me that the first three Star Wars films were Shakespeare? I don't think so. Take a look at some of Solo's one liners to remind yourself of how cheesy Lucas can get.

3. Natalie Portman is a hottie, no question. But I disagree with the CG comment. Yeah, we know that most of the film was computer generated, but can you tell me what the cities of Coruscant really look like or how an assasian droid realistically flies? We've all seen ILM in action, and know how good they are (Perfect Storm, Armageddon, etc...). I'm just going to have to trust their judgement of how to portray things that don't really exist.

With all that said, I'd like to conclude with this: Ep. 2 is the best Star Wars installment to date. It's most shining part, the plot. I'd never expect Lucas (king of blocky writing) to give us such a meaty story line. Hear-hear and bravo, George!