Everything’s changed, but nothing’s changed.
.
.
I am in awe. All plans for RetroZap publishing were instantly reshuffled as soon as this hit YouTube. When the first two teaser trailers came out, I was excited, but there’s something different about seeing this sort of film reel.
It hearkens back to distant memories of Making of specials from my youth–an opportunity in a pre-Internet world to see behind-the-scenes of a film and see more into the finished production all at once. You see excitement in back of the camera and in front. You can see the artisans pouring blood, sweat, and tears into their craft. You see the smiles, the friendship and the camaraderie. And then you see the finished product.
Coupled with evocative, introspective music, this film was no mere throwaway piece. It was expertly crafted to draw the viewer in, then hit with jaw dropping reveals. Oh yeah, we also have Mark Hamill (the king of the universe when I was a kid, for all intents and purposes) narrating! Here, we have Hamill espousing ideas he has been discussing for decades–fusing practical and digital methods of filmmaking for optimal effect–all the while seeing this vision come to life before our very eyes. It’s a tremendous, poignant result.
Overall, I have two major thoughts about this video, one of which I shared on Geek Out Loud and The Star Wars Report immediately after the presentation on Friday night.
The first is that this film reel shows the heart of Star Wars from the creators. It’s one thing to hear it from the fan community, which has kept Star Wars vibrant and robust for decades, but it’s another to see the heart and love come out from the sculptors, production experts, camerapeople, actors, writers, directors, producers, and even Simon Pegg.
The prequels had just as much heart poured into them–they did–but it just felt different. They were different movies, made in a different time, about a different time, and they inspired just as much awe, albeit in a different way. Episodes I-III were very much a direct vision from the mind of George Lucas, and because he labors so intensely over his work, the dynamic is different behind the scenes.
What I see here is a feeling very similar to the sets of Star Wars. Forging ahead, trying new things, multiple visions coming together to produce something reverent of masterworks, yet unlike anything seen before. It didn’t need to be said, but I feel it. And I think the actors feel it too. Hamill appeared to speak from his heart:
“We’ve been here, but we don’t know this story. Nothing’s changed really. I mean, everything’s changed but nothing has changed.”
Look at the smiles. Look at the fire in their eyes. When I see the veteran actors in this reel–Hamill, Fisher, Ford, Mayhew, Daniels, Davis–I see a wonder in their eyes, and if I may dare, contentment. The majority of these legends started their careers with Star Wars, and with the team beginning to enter the golden years of their lives, it just feels natural to return, after all the films and accolades that have come in-between.
To come full circle.
There is just something so Star Wars about that. It feels right.
It appears to me that, for the Big Three, the idea that Star Wars is their life’s great work–their legacy–is beginning to coalesce, and they are content. That idea makes me happier than anything else in this footage, because it hits home with me as well. I started my life in 1980, and Star Wars was right there. When I became a father, the prequels were there. Now that I am in my mid-thirties, Star Wars is there again. It’s seriously no overstatement to say that these stories have been a defining part of my life. So to see the principals feel good about things coming full circle–well, that feels alright with me.
Ok, enough looking back. Let’s look forward. Here are some stills I pulled, with commentary.
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Star Wars The Force Awakens Comic-Con 2015 Reel
Joseph Tavano is the owner and editor in chief of RetroZap. Born just months before Luke found out who his father was, he has been fortunate to have had Star Wars in his life as long as he can remember. Growing up just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, he can remember substituting sticks for lightsabers and BMX bikes for speeders. He loves comics, retro games, vintage sci-fi paperbacks, and maps. Though an accomplished drummer, he doesn’t crave adventure (as much) any more, and prefers his old haunts north of Boston, Massachusetts, where he resides with his family. Buy him a glass of whiskey and he’ll return it in kind.