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This examination also includes a bit of the structuralism approach for its coverage Of hidden symbolism, how the cinematic techniques that were used enhanced the storyline, and framing. There is also one instance of an auteur approach in which a similar elemental preference is discussed that is found within movies the director, George Lucas, creates. Every successful film needs to have an intriguing storyline that peaks the curiosity of the audience and holds their attention captive. “If story’ is what happens in a movie, the plot is how it happens. (Goodnight & Jacobs, 201 1). The storyline of Star Wars is of an orphaned boy who searches for his identity and accepts his fate in joining the Rebellion to fight the evil empire. The plot of Star Wars starts with a distress call from Princess Leila that Luke Jaywalker stumbles upon. This message puts Luke on a journey to become a Jed using The Force. Luke and his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenton, employ the help of a smuggler, Han Solo, and his shipmate, Chewable, to transport them onboard the Death Star.
Luke and Obi-Wan attempt to board the Death Star undetected in order to rescue Princess Leila- The plot of the film is set in hierological order, meaning the events in the plot of the movie follow the same order (although not necessarily the same duration) of real time. ” (Goodnight & Jacobs, 2011 The setting of Star Wars takes place mostly on a desert planet, Lake’s home planet of Taxation, and in outer space. The main character is Luke Jaywalker, who is the protagonist of the film. In the beginning of the film, the audience easily understands the naivety of Luke.
By demonstrating his naivety, the audience will be able to understand the struggle he will make to overcome his fears and doubts. The antagonist of he film is the evil Dart Evader, who is in control over his empire. After many years of fighting the rebellion, Dart Evader discovers Luke and senses his Strong use Of The Force. After his discovery Of Luke, Dart Evader concentrates on capturing him. The main conflict is between the evil empire and the Rebel forces. The film also uses symbolism.
For example, the colors black and white are symbolically used along with religious symbolism. Dark (black) clothing is commonly used to symbolize bad characters such as Dart Evader, who wears black. White clothing is commonly used to symbolize good characters such as hat Luke is wearing at the end of the film as he is rescuing Princess Leila. Religious symbolism is displayed whenever The Force is used throughout the movie. The idea that is conveyed to the audience is that anyone who uses The Force is putting their trust in it rather than what they see.
An example of this is when Luke turned off his guidance system in his ship and instead used The Force to guide himself through the nooks and crannies of a planet. (Goodnight & Jacobs, 2011 The actors that were used included a mixture of two different types. The personality actor, an actor with a strong personality, was Harrison Ford that laded the character of Han Solo. Han Solo is the classic tough guy that believes in fighting the old-fashioned way, charging in with guns blazing. Films with strong personality actors can make it difficult for audiences to differentiate between the actor and the character. ” (Goodnight & Jacobs, 201 1). The other type of actors used are character actors that are Mark Hamlin that played Luke Jaywalker, Carrie Fisher that played Princess Leila, and Ales Guinness that played Obi-Wan Kenton. Even though Luke Jaywalker is the main character of the movie, he does not have the experiences of Han Solo that loud make him confident and bold. What makes Luke Sneaker special is that he makes bold and courageous choices despite his inexperience.
Carrie Fisher was a relatively unknown actor that had been in a small handful of roles before Star Wars. Ales Guinness had roles in many movies before Star Wars, mostly as supporting characters much like Obi-Wan Kenton. Similar to Ales Guinness, Mark Hamlin played in many supporting roles that were mostly on television shows. Character actors are able to fit into a wide variety Of characters and have adopted to the needs of the script. (Goodnight & Jacobs, 2011). Cinematography and editing make its own contribution into bringing the storyline to life for the audience.
In many of the scenes throughout the film, there are establishment shots that give the audience a picture of where the scene takes place, which characters are in the scene, and what is happening. The first scene starts with an establishment shot that brings the focus of the audience to Dart Evader’s spaceship, the much larger spacecraft that is in pursuit of a smaller spacecraft. This also gives the audience a perspective of how powerful Dart Evader is by seeing the enormous size of his spaceship. After this initial scene, the story is then moved down to the planet of Taxation to follow the droid’s.
The editor makes the transition Of screens with a wipe that starts from one corner of the screen that makes its way to the opposite corner. Other places throughout the movie, the editor changes scenes by using a common cut. The cut allows the audience to see a screen instantly replaced by another one. (Goodnight & Jacobs, 201 1). Within the entire film, different direction of wipes are used in conjunction with typical cuts. Aside from the establishment shots, there is a mixture of all three medium hoots which are the medium long, medium, and medium close-up.
Many of the conversations during the film were shot at medium length and seemed to have been filmed with the camera angled up at the character. This might have been done in such a way that allows more of the characters’ surroundings into the frame. “A high??key lighting design has very bright light over everything, with few shadows and relatively low contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the scene. ” (Goodnight & Jacobs, 2011). Many of the scenes, if not all, are shot with a high-key lighting as I did not notice any shadows from the characters.
This is demonstrated in the beginning scene when Dart Evader captures and boards Princess Lei’s spacecraft. “The objective camera is the term used for simply recording the action as it happens with the audience becoming a neutral observer. ” (Goodnight & Jacobs, 2011). This technique is used in the filming process, but in order to perfect the technique, George Lucas, the director, with the help of John ADSTAR created the Desperately. The Desperately is a camera system that is controlled by custom-designed, hard-wired electronics that could replicate camera movements as many times needed. Motion controlled cameras) The Desperately was most likely invaluable for shooting the spaceship scenes. The sound that is used within the movie is a score that was composed by Juror Williams, dialogue, and sound effects. John Williams has a remarkable ability to help tell a story through his music. The sound effects that were used were created by Industrial Light and Magic (IL M), an effects company that was specially created by George Lucas for this particular film. ELM created the sound effects for the lighteners, gun blasts, sounds of the space ships, Dart Evader’s breathing apparatus, and the droid’s.
Ben Burnt, the film’s sound signer was the creative mind behind many of the sounds that were used in the film. The techniques Burnt used to make the sound effects is that of the Foley artists, experts at finding unique objects or sounds that can be used or altered for a specific sound that is needed. One such example can be heard in the Twin Ion Engines (TIE) fighter that was created from the sound of an elephants bellow. (Carlson, n. D. ). Another such example is the sound of Chewable talking, which IS really layers of walruses and dogs combined. (Carlson, n. . ). The dialogue in the film was used for two basic reasons. The first intention was to further the development of the plot and the second was to for character development. Every time the audience listened in on a conversation, a piece of the storyline was revealed and a little more about each character was learned. In a particular conversation between Luke Sky”alike and Ben, it is revealed that Ben once went by the name Obi-Wan Kenton. It is also discovered that Obi-Wan Kenton was a general that served in the Clone Wars under Princess Lei’s father.
Another idea of the sound development was that George Lucas paired TAX with the Dolly Digital Surround Sound. This was done in order to create the best possible sound coupled with the best possible image for the audience. Most of the movie theaters at the time of the release of Star Wars were “monaural sound, or sound that comes from a single (mono) source. ” (Goodnight & Jacobs, 201 1). TAX sets the frequency range of the speakers in the movie theater for an even distribution, sets guidelines for room acoustics, reverberation time and background noise, and noise isolation, viewing angles, projectors and onscreen lighting levels.
The Dolly optical stereo that came out in the late sass gave theaters the surround sound which was the “placement of beakers all around the theater so that audiences get the impression that some sounds are coming from all around them. ” (Goodnight , 201 1). Star Wars was a reflection Of society but the movie also had an effect on society. Star Wars was released in 1977, at a time when unemployment was up, many lives were lost in the Vietnam War, and President Richard Nixon had just resigned. (Monopolies, 2007).
At such a dismal time in society, people tend to crave an outlet that allows them to forget about the stress of everyday life. People also yearn for heroes that courageously fight against evil. The movie Star Wars provided such a fantasy escape filled with motivating inspiration in its good versus evil storyline. Star Wars is considered a fantasy film but it would better fit in a science fiction fantasy submerge. Society does not live in outer space, does not travel from planet to planet, does not have spaceship capability, nor does it have the ability to use the Force.
The ripple effect that Star Wars has had on society since its release has been tremendous. Fans Of the movie have echoed a thousand times their favorite lines from the movie, children have decorated their rooms in Star Wars accessories, fan clubs were rated, and national conventions are still celebrated. The revenue that was earned from the blockbuster hits, Star Wars and Jaws, allowed movie theaters to build multiplexes. For the first time, film merchandising became popular and tie-in campaigns with fast food restaurants started.