Review for Film Class

Rating: 9/10 (26 September 2018)

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope follows the story of Luke, a young farm boy who strives for a bigger purpose in life. After his home is destroyed, he teams up with Ben, and old hermit who secretly watched over Luke. Together, they head to Mos Eisley to hire a pilot to transport them to Alderaan. They meet Han, a arrogant smuggler, and Chewbacca, his partner, who agree to take them to their destination. However, they get captured by the Empire, an oppressive regime who terrorize the galaxy. They learn of a new weapon, the Death Star, capable of destroying entire planets and attempt to rescue Princess Leia. After being freed, she returns to the secret base of the Rebellion to prepare for the attack on the Death Star. Luke, and a small group of Rebel pilots manage to destroy the weapon and restore freedom to the galaxy.
Star Wars revolutionized the film industry in many ways, one of which was special effects. George Lucas had to build the Star Wars universe from scratch, due to the infancy of computer generated imagery, and in order to do this, Lucas created Industrial Light and Magic. Many shots of spaceships and battles were actually miniature models built by hand and used new techniques to fit their models. John Dykstra revolutionized the visual effects field with his invention of the "Dykstraflex" camera system. The computer-controlled robotic allowed for seven axes of motion and the creation of flawlessly synchronized composite images. This allows for scenes of spaceships and worlds that seem impossibly real and life sized, despite being small models. The techniques used also adds a more dramatic effect to the movie as a whole. During the scene where Grand Moff Tarkin is interrogating Princess Leia to reveal the location of the Rebel Base, he threatens to destroy her home world of Alderaan. Some time after, we see the planet being destroyed in a massive explosion. Being able to actually destroy a planet realistically using special effects helps us to relate to the pain and terror of the Princess. If it was destroyed offscreen, like it might have been in other sci-fi movies, it wouldn't have been so important. Being able to have these breakthrough special effects helps us to feel apart of the movie and helps us experience what the characters experience.
So clearly, Star Wars was ahead of its time in regards to visual effects, but it was also a beautifully shot film. Lucas wanted the movie to feel like a documentary, and it almost does. In the opening scene we are met with a tranquil planet, until a ship flies past overhead. It seems massive at first, that is until a Star Destroyer appears and we get a sense of scale, its so large that it doest even fit inside the boarders. This scene is clearly meant to subvert our expectations and impress us with the visuals. Arguably one of the most iconic scenes in the film is when Luke discovers his dead aunt and uncle. He then proceeds to stare off into the desert and ponder his role in life. This scene is incredible for two reasons. First, the shot of the twin sunset looks beautiful, especially with John William's score over it. Second, the scene shows Luke against the backdrop of the vast Tatooine desert, this scene makes us feel exactly how Luke feels at that moment; small. The entrance of one of the most iconic villains in movie history is also a great example of the cinematography of this film. After the Rebels are killed by the Stormtroopers, Darth Vader enters. Vader stands out like a sore thumb dressed in all black, surrounded by the glistening and pure white of the ship's walls and the Stormtrooper's armor. Immediately we can identify Vader as someone full of darkness and anger, as he towers over the bodies of the dead. Not to mention the scene where he chokes Captain Antilles to death, and the camera is placed over Vader's shoulder, forcing us to look into the face of a dying man.