Tuesday, June 26, 2007

The Opening Crawl

Star Wars is non-linear. It may be a function of the way it was presented, chronologically, but it influences how the story is told.

Think about Yoda. If you watched Episode I first, then by the time you got to Episode V, you wouldn’t be at all surprised that Luke has been talking to Yoda all along. If anything, you are tempted to talk to the screen. Yoda is not a panto villain and Star Wars makes the most sense if it’s all told out of sequence.*

I’m not even going to mention the revelation at the end of Episode V. But most of the storyline hinges on this information, which is why it has to be the cliffhanger ending at the end of the very first story arc. And once you start thinking that way, it is a short step to downloading all of the films and remixing them to suit a different vision. Or so I've heard.

These days, I think of Star Wars as a set of nested flashbacks that inform the ongoing story. And that ongoing story is three story arcs long: The Training of Luke Skywalker, Adventure in the Galaxy at Large to Advance the Plot and The Rise and Fall of the Emperor Palpatine.

I took the events of all six film as source material that could be used or discarded as necessary for the tightest story. Some events were rescued from the deleted scenes. Other – unnecessary – events were consigned to the same place. Pieces of the storyline were highlighted and others muted, to suit a different flow. A different way of looking at the whole.

Originally, they were three four-hour movies. Then I realized that only a die-hard Star Wars fanatic would actually watch them in that format. I realized that if I chopped the story down into ten minute segments, I could present them in a format that people would be willing to watch.

The idea was that each segment was an episode in something like a Saturday-morning serial. The segment might show you the ongoing plot or it might show you flashbacks or montages. You never knew. It was called “A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away…”

There were three seasons, each with a solid, definable story arc.

Season One is called “To Become a Jedi”

Season Two is called “From a Certain Point of View”

Season Three is called “As I Have Forseen”

However, the thing is that twelve hours of footage is twelve hours of footage, no matter how you present it. Since I’ve posted it on YouTube, though, it has shown me something very interesting about the way people consume media.

I discovered that one or two chunks of footage were being viewed more than others. A lot more. As of this evening, the count stands at twelve thousand for the one and ten thousand for the other.** And yet, the least viewed segment has a paltry thirty-nine views. Which means that no more than thirty-nine people have actually watched the whole thing.

(If you are curious, the single segment that I like the best is called "I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing," the beginning of Season Three.)

The comments are interesting as well. There are several comments that indicate that the person didn't bother to check this website to see why the footage was posted on YouTube. Maybe people are so used to the fact that pop-culture is now keyword-searchable that nobody thinks twice about why it is that way.

During the course of this activity, I learned a lot about file formats, Sony Vegas 6, BitTorrent, format translation software, video editing, visual storytelling and how a single second can remove the gravitas and drama from an entire sequence. Or restore it.

Still, this is the Star Wars that I see in my head. I hope you enjoy it.




*Mind you, this is an argument that you have to be above a certain age to understand. I used it on my cousin’s nine-year-old son and he pointed out that he’s always known who Yoda was. That’s merchandising for you.

**One features Jango Fett and the other features his son. In many ways, they are the secret heroes of the second season, a thread that runs through both stories.

Finale

Monday, June 25, 2007

"Tell Your Sister That You Were Right"

Sunday, June 24, 2007

"So Be It, Jedi"

Saturday, June 23, 2007

"He Will Join Us or Die, Master"

Friday, June 22, 2007

"I Sense Lord Vader is in Danger"

Thursday, June 21, 2007

"I Do Not Fear the Dark Side"

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

"Who Could Have Done This?"

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

"My Young Apprentice"

Monday, June 18, 2007

"According to My Design"

Sunday, June 17, 2007

"It is Too Late for Me, Son"

Saturday, June 16, 2007

"You Are Fufilling Your Destiny"

Friday, June 15, 2007

"It's Treason, Then"

Thursday, June 14, 2007

"I'm Not the Jedi I Should Be"

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

"The Emperor Has Made a Critical Error"

"What Situation?"

Monday, June 11, 2007

"The Fear of Loss is a Path to the Dark Side"

Sunday, June 10, 2007

"As I Have Forseen"

Saturday, June 09, 2007

"War Has Begun"

Friday, June 08, 2007

"I Love Democracy"

Thursday, June 07, 2007

"I Know I'm Better Than This"

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

"To Find My Mother"

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

"Our Relationship is Strictly Professional"

Monday, June 04, 2007

"We Must Let Go of Our Pride"

Sunday, June 03, 2007

"A Presence I've Not Felt Since…"

Saturday, June 02, 2007

"I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing"