For a little more background on the edit. Marcia Lucas was told by George that she was an okay editor and she says after working with him for so long that was his only compliment he ever gave her. They got divorced after Jedi and she ended her career there. She was an amazing editor and Lucasfilms tries their best to remove her from the history of star wars despite her monumental work as seen in this video. I believe her absence is obvious in the prequels.
Editing is such a misunderstood art but you can see from her portfolio that she was exceptionally talented, much moreso than George. In a way, the fan revolt against the prequels was perhaps her best revenge.
odstlover George Lucas was, and probably still is, an ass with a narcissistic view of himself. I'll never forget an interview I saw of him around the time of the original trilogy where he is lamenting all these people talking back to him, doubting his "vision" of the story, wanting to try different approaches...and the whole time I realize he's begrudgingly talking about the people who saved his films, what an ass.
Its such a shame, because George had fantastic ideas but simply was terrible at implementing it. Imagine how good the sequels would have been with editing like the original trilogy...
Yeah, editing is very important in all aspect of film making, especially before pre-production and on the script. Seriously, bad stuff happens when you give the directors too much leeway in the story side. An example of this is the crap that is Alien Covenant.
When I first found out about how terrible the initial versions of the movie were, it made a lot more sense how George Lucas could be the same person who made the prequels and this movie. The editors should get a ton of credit for making this series as big as it is.
George Lucas's strength is world building and the amazing creativity and imagination that takes. When it comes to directing he isn't the best. His best work is when he is overseeing the project as a producer like in Episode 5 or Star Wars the Clone Wars.
Rekasha couldn't agree more. Dave filoni really took George's outlandish vision and was able to make fantastic stories. In the new movies, I feel like part of that is missing. Disney seems to miss the point that Star Wars isn't great because of storm troopers and tie fighters and at-ats and x-wings, it's great because of the fantastical nature of the setting and the interestingly realistic world that is a resultant of the story. Again, the one thing the prequels got right is the imaginative part of Star Wars, something I hope Disney learns with The Last Jedi.
I think you are underestimating the need to reintroduce Star Trek to the market. Yes for someone where all the films are in their memory, Force Awakens may see to not push things. But for for everyone else it reintroduces and pushes forward. Also those elements are things that attract people. Don't think imagination solves everything.
Neoblackdragon True, I do think that bringing in a new generation is a good idea, and bringing new life to old characters is wonderful but if it has no creative spark it just feels like a heartless cash grab.
He's also an innovator. Every movie he made introduced technology that had never been used before (or hadn't been used that way). Lets also never forget LucasArts.
I kind of feel sorry for Luke's buddies who were cut. Sitting in a bar years later.."I was in the very original Star Wars, but then something happened...."
I feel sorry for Wedge - he's Scottish; and a trained Shakespearian actor as well. But the Rebel Alliance only lets in Americans apparently (against the evil British Empire!) So Wedge's dialogue was dubbed over by an American voice actor.
Cutting the Luke/Obi-Wan hut scene right next to the Vader/Tarkin scene where he chokes the guy out was brilliant. Because you have back to back explanations about what the Force is, once from the good guy and then from the bad guy. I always thought that was a masterstroke because you have this same powerful force juxtaposed and explained from two wildly different perspectives one after another.
Trevor Estrada if you watch the "making of" for Lord of the Rings you find that Peter Jackson's wife Fran Walsh had a similar critical role in ensuring that Jackson didn't make huge blunders, like having Aragorn fight Sauron at the end. Lesson: always listen to your wife.
I'm glad she's getting more kudos for Star Wars. Did you know she also helped with the script? Along with Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz (although they all went uncredited, presumably since Lucas wanted to seem like he knew how to write). She also edited The Empire Strikes and Return Of The Jedi. I have nothing but love for the woman.
P Ferreira Why are you shitting on a woman you don't know about her divorce arrangements? What does that have to do with anything? What does it have to do with you? Oh I get it, someone is giving credit to someone other than George Lucas for Star Wars huh? That upsets you doesn't it? Read a little deeper and don't believe every piece of bullshit you have been brought up to believe about who was responsible for Star Wars. I was brought up with that belief too but, after the prequel trilogy (when I couldn't understand how the man who made Star Wars could make three such ineffective films), I researched a little deeper. The more I researched, the more it became obvious that one of my childhood heroes was not responsible for a lot of the stuff he took credit for. If it hadn't been for Marcia Lucas then the first film would have been shit and Star Wars as a concept would not have grown into the behemoth it is today. She nurtured that film, like she no doubt nurtured her husband through the film, so effectively you're criticising someone who is largely responsible for one of the most loved films on planet Earth because you don't agree with their divorce arrangements? You make me laugh. Come to think of it your statement is sexist even. Where is it written that a woman should end up with the children in a divorce proceedings? You're also assuming that was her decision and not the result of Lucas hiring expensive lawyers. I will answer my own question though. Nowhere, nowhere is it written that women should keep the kids. Like I say, that is a sexist assumption on your part.
In the original script Obi Wan, during his fight against Vaders would originally say this: "If you strike me down, my ground will become higher than ever"
I wonder why they didn't talk about their last battle on Mustafar? Vader tells Obi-Wan, "When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the Master". That's not how it was at all.
I saw it as a teen in 77, in my opinion the sound sold the movie. Loaded with cool unique sounds for the special effects, The voices, and the Music was so well loved it sold as a double album.
I asked for _The Empire Strikes Back_ soundtrack, but didn't get it. It must have been a double album too, and doubly expensive. Instead I got a record that had one track from SECO's disco groove.
When you compare it to some of the stuff in theatres and on TV at the time, with it's halfhearted computer noise and literal "pew pew" noises, Star Wars significantly raised the bar for science fiction. 2001: A Space Odyssey used a pioneering classical music score in '68, and Star Trek used original classical music scores in its run from 66 - 68, but Star Wars solidified these elements in a way that resonates to this day. Now that I think of it I wonder if Star Trek's serious take on science fiction on TV didn't influence Kubrick in some way.
"But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters with my friends." "Your friends are such a drag on this story, we're just cutting them out."
You know what the irony is? By removing the scenes with Biggs, a major emotional beat was lost on audiences, so Lucas had to go back to the edit and re-insert the scene where Luke reunites with Biggs.
@@qty1315 Star Wars did not start off slow in the beginning, if you've seen the movie there is an action sequence right at the start. George Lucas wanted a "James Bond" feel to the movie, where the audience sees the end of a character's last adventure, at the beginning. Interrupting the flow of that sequence with scenes of Luke and his pals added nothing more to the story. They were interesting to read in the novelization, but, they had to be cut! Lucas even decided to kill Ben off while shooting. But it was the correct decision. This video should mention that ALL MOVIES are changed by editing. Lucas still had his vision, and thanks to the late Gary Kurtz it was greatly improved!
@@agfagaevart The movie starts off with a slow text crawl, then a shot of a space battle which looks like two spaceships lazily drifting through space, then the action sequence begins. So yeah, slow start. Also, again, it did add to the story because we got to know Luke's pals who would die later in the movie. Without that sequence, it doesn't make sense for Luke to react the way he does later in the movie when his friends are killed, because the audience doesn't know that they were his friends.
At 13:35, C3P0 talks about the tractor beam. In his autobiography, "I Am C3PO," Anthony Daniels recalls that in 1977, after he finished recording his lines, he thought he was done with the role. But they called him back to the studio three weeks before the film was released, to record one more line: "He says he's found the main computer to power the tractor beam that's holding the ship here." The reason the filmmakers gave him for recording the new line: "We forgot to tell the audience what a tractor beam is for."
@@sandal_thong8631 The only factual mistake in this entire video -- which sadly gives more fuel than intended (or warranted) to people claiming it's "all lies" -- is its claim at 13:28 that C3-PO's line about "7 locations" was added during editing. In actually, this line was never in the original theatrical cut. It was added later, in the "silver screen edition" (the first "altered cut" Lucas ever released, in 1981). In general, C3-PO having new lines via ADR is one of those special edition changes so subtle and so pointless, that most people don't even realize it's there. Many people falsely believe C3-PO's new lines are in the original theatrical version, then baffled when they aren't there (I know I was). So this isn't an intentional error, because that was one of the _first_ changes Lucas ever made to SW, but the fact they got it wrong is now used as "proof" the entire video is fake (it's not, there are literally hundreds of sources confirming what it says).
@@Lady-Ythis video is nothing but a collection of falsehoods, half truths, blatant omissions and misinformation. ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.htmlsi=IQWFeUFoauJ3EopW
@@Lady-Y What about the fact that Marcia wanted to keep the early Luke scenes? And there are dozens more inaccuracies. What are these "hundreds of sources"? The author of this video cites one, and gets stuff wrong from that source.
@@Lady-Y Actually, this line does date back to 1977. The original Star Wars film had three different audio mixes for theaters with different sound capabilities: a Dolby Surround mix, a stereo mix, and a mono mix. The mono mix was created last, so the editors were able to make a few changes that they weren't able to make to the other two mixes, one of which was adding Threepio's line about the tractor beam. There are a few other changes, too; for example, the "close the blast doors" line, which most people think is a Special Edition change, also originated in this 1977 mono mix. While certain elements exclusive to it were eventually incorporated into later releases, the complete original mono mix was never released on home video, at least as far as I'm aware. Most people these days who watch the theatrical cut are only familiar with the stereo and surround sound mixes, which is why there's so much misinformation going around regarding what changes were made when.
Hey everyone. In this current form our pro-collaboration message has been interpreted by many as anti-Lucas. That was never the goal, nor the intent of this video. It should go without saying that George Lucas supervised, approved, and even contributed to all of these editorial changes. However, having seen the response, this is a point of fact that clearly should’ve been stated and it was an oversight on my part that that simple acknowledgment wasn’t included. George Lucas made Star Wars with the help of incredible team of people and that is an achievement worth celebrating. -Joey
You gave Lucas credit - it's just that us fans have a love / hate relationship with the man. Clearly, he was at his best when he had a smaller ego and had the sense to listen to others.
well put to the commentor. As the 2004 DVD set explains, the first edit was terrible, because the first editors, just did as they wanted, and didn't listen to George Lucas. George Lucas had to fire them and hire the two men and his wife, who created the final film. This video doesn't explain this.
Perhaps you should have used Annie Hall as an example. That movie went through some genuinely extensive changes and revisions through the editing process (much more extensively than any Star Wars movie that Lucas made) and went on to win Best Picture.
RocketJump Good, I am glad. Because in your anti-Lucas rant you forgot to mention how when Star Wars was a big success he shared his earnings with the cast. Lucas has thanked and acknowledged the talented people that made Star Wars possible. You didn't mention that did you. Oh, by the way...JOHN WILLIAMS SCORE WAS NOT ALTERED IN THE 1997 VERSIONS. Star Wars hard core fans are a joke. They complain about 3 frames missing from a scene 18. Since you are so much into nitpicking - Let's look at what happens when Mr. Lucas is removed from Star Wars. Oh, that's right the crappy Episode 7. Merry Christmas....
this video is full of false information literally please just google the title of the video and you will see the second video in the search proves this.
As a kid I used to look down on editing, I just thought it cut things and I believed the more stuff the better. Later I realized it is essential. You convinced me it is an art form of its own.
as a kid you thought every scene in every movie should begin with the director yelling “action!” and contain every take of every shot? like how could you not think editing was important
Two things really jump out at me: 1. The way the scenes are placed in the rough cut are the exact sort of things the prequels suffer from 2. This also seems to be why Lucas likes changing things in post so much.
listen to Lucas's audio commentary on Ep4. . Lucas contradicts every thing you are saying. Can you provide links to real interviews to back up what you are saying?
Brandon Smith Though I do find The Phantom Menace boring, I personally find that Attack of the Clones is the “peak” of George’s directing. I feel that at least Phantom Menace could’ve been saved with some editing which is why I think it’s somewhat better than Attack of the Clones
To be fair, most great movies go through a lot of re-writes, scene deletions and recuts. Even reshoots. As a professional film editor I can tell you it is standard practice to call the editing process the 3rd writing process. For all movies. That said, seeing this process you put together is fascinating! Thanks for doing it.
George Lucas was the chief editor on the original Star Wars. He oversaw the entire process and edited the acclaimed gunport sequence himself. His wife Marcia only edited a third of the film and left to work on another film before the final edit was even completed. There were two other editors on the film, who edited the other 2/3 of it. And besides, nearly every film, as you said, is saved in the edit. ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
@@mrkitty777 A little? Well, I guess Avatar is just Pocahontas modified a little because they have a similar structure. JFC people like you are so insufferable
I thought other people and myself like the opening 20th Century Fox theme because of nostalgia. But I read John Williams made the opening score align with that fanfare. Definitely better to have John Williams than to use classical music; it was OK for _2001: A Space Odyssey_ which is so slow, and we hadn't seen it before. The score for _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ was also good (they re-used the title for _The Next Generation),_ but there's too much staring at the models.
@@murciadoxial8056 If you think about that.. they divorced during ROTJ production.. wich is where the problems began :we got a frakin boring and redundant Jabba's palace that takes over 1/3 of what was suposed to be the saga grand finale.. 40m where one character gets captured, then another, then another then another.. and all that "just" for getting Han.. they could had done it in 10m ..15 tops. then there is the whole Ewoks thing.. and the final simultaneous ground-space-throne battle. Wich ok its awesome.. but why every time i watch it i find myself fast forwarding all Ewok scenes? there is barelly NO rebels fighting footage.. mere seconds.. Han and Leia just hide in the door and shot at troopes here and there until Chewie (and Ewoks) capture an AT-ST.. the whole ground battle becames Ewoks vs Stormtroopers and thats it..
wow, I consider myself a pretty diehard Star Wars fan and I didn't know about 90% of this. Excellent video. I have even more respect for the editors now
Maybe you've read the JW Rinzler books, but if you haven't I'd recommend them highly. You can get these on a kindle/tablet with sound bites and small videos embedded in them.
Also this explains a lot. Lucas is simply mediocre. He has a vision, but that is it. Apparently (with that quote in mind) he does terrible job as a director (of actors and scenes), hates it and if able, make his films just about editing few algorithms. And based on the films that followed (prequels) he is also terrible editor. So kudos for his creativity that introduced us to the Force, little green monsters and so on. Nothing else is earned, just parasited. All his 4bln empire would be nothing. A F-rated (not even B-rated) space crap that would fall into oblivion.
Malisman77 Since you are so easily persuaded by UA-cam videos to a certain opinion, I have a gift for you: Look up "What the sequels can learn from the prequels" on the Schmoesknow channel.
@@Malisman77 mediocre but made THX-1138, american graffiti and star wars. and he was awarded heavily and acclaimed heavily for graffiti which is why star wars was greenlit in the first place. AND was tabbed to do APOCALYPSE NOW because studios and his colleagues thought he was that good. Do some actual research....maybe you have in the 2 years.
@@cryogenixoldskool5803 its only right in the sense that every movie ever made goes thru extensive editing, but ofc hese acting like this is a special case which either means hes extremely bias or just dumb. both maybe?
While I believe this video wasn't meant to bash George Lucas, it omits a lot of key elements about the making of the film, and makes Lucas pass for a clumsy guy who really didn't had much idea of where his film was going... which is far from being the truth
He omitted and changed so much from the original source (JW Rizzlers book).If he didn't do this intentionally, then he simply has worst research skills. Either way, RJ isn't worth listening to.
It WAS intentional. He doesn't just omit key info, he presents actual lies, warping the timeline of all of this. How did Marcia Lucas save Star Wars after Lucas's rough cut screening when she LITERALLY QUIT BEFORE IT!? Why is John Jympsan NEVER EVEN referenced? Why is Marcia credited as cutting the Tatooine scenes when the book explicitly states she FOUGHT to keep them in? Not to mention the way they precisely choose to clip quotes... Yeah they knew what they were doing
Yeah, it's always said that they were people all around Lucas who helped to cut down some of his ideas, but somehow we never talk about the ideas his surrounding had which he didn't retain for the better... But yeah, for a subject with this much documentation, they really should have gone further, unless they really wanted to discredit Lucas...
@@ludwik7326 They did want to. It's almost irrefutable at this point. The information they leave out, and the WAY they choose to leave it out. As well as the random lies that they start pulling
17:30 - ...and then promptly got rid of most of them by Return of the Jedi, and ALL of them when working on the prequels. The success of the original Star Wars trilogy, by all accounts, was due to his then wife (Marcia Lucas - a very smart and talented woman, whom Star Wars fans have mostly ignored; if you love the original trilogy, THANK Marcia Lucas) saving George from himself (he remains his own worst enemy), and in collaborating with very talented people, with far better ideas than Lucas had. Unfortunately, George received all the credit, and the clout / power he received from it allowed him to do whatever he wanted going forward.
People don't know about her because he pretty much deleted her from star wars history, he took her credits off the film I believe and then of course down played her input
TuomioK - True. But how many of those Oscar winners became multi-billionaires, had the power to do whatever they wanted, and were a household name worldwide? Recognition from your peers is nice, but that quickly fades when you see the decades of outrageous rewards George Lucas reaped off of other people's talents and creativity.
My jaw dropped when you said "The Death Star wasn't about to blow up the rebel base." It's mind blowing how they were able to edit that entire sequence practically out of thin air.
... and mind blowing that GL would overlook such an obvious way to make the movie not suck. Guy understands world building but that's it. Not story telling, not dialog, not characters...
When I watched that scene as a kid, I didn't notice to plot line about the Death Star about to blow up the rebel base, and I found myself getting bored watching that sequence. Now when I watch it I'm more on the edge of my seat.
@@stevecarter8810 That's my big problem too. I'm good at world building, but that's it. Unlike GL, I have the humility to admit it and (should I ever become a filmmaker) defer to the expertise and wisdom of others to make up for my shortcomings.
John Jympson was the original editor, and it would be impossible to overstate his contribution to the art of film editing on A Hard Day's Night (which, when you think about it, was essentially the very first music video, almost 20 years before anyone had ever heard of such a thing). But it was clear that Star Wars was too new and unique for Jympson, and he didn't quite grasp what it was going for.
The notion that the Beatles created the first "music video" with "A Hard Day's Night" is complete nonsense. It was a musical and musicals existed before the Beatles came along, even in rock 'n roll music. Did you ever see "Jailhouse Rock" or "The Girl Can't Help It?" Just about every Elvis movie was a "music video," and as far as I know, John Jympson didn't work on any of Elvis'' films.
@@metv2363 Take a class in film montage or read a book about it and you'll find out that AHDN has WAY more in common with music videos than with Elvis movies. Good Lord.
@@metv2363 You're looking for a flame war. I'm not biting. Let me just say as a final response: ua-cam.com/video/y8AavEpS6CI/v-deo.html "...reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video..."
He was, he would never shut the fuck up, and the only thing useful he EVER said was that they hyperdrive was damaged in empire.. which, wasn't really needed. The clunking sounds told us that
Meesa C3PO meesa can speaksa 6 millionsa forms of dialogsa. I think 3PO can safely go down in Star Wars history as actually being loved by most people who actually understand the value of having characters of different tone to give the other characters balance. EI Mary & Pippin in LOTR. Jar Jar and his ridiculous race is only enjoyed by light sabre loving fan boys who need to cling to something
Yes but C3PO nailed it. I loved him playing the victim in his British accent. He was an awesome character. He should have been used in TPM and the rest of the prequels instead of JJ Ab.... oh I mean Jar Jar... LOL
@@Artielectric okay, see, I loved him too, he was like salt, he enhanced and added contrast to what was there. If you pay attention, in the prequels, esp TPM jar jar is in every. Fucking. Scene. Fan edits have an awful time removing him because he's always there, so integral. Like salt.. too much kills the food.
Something tells me the *prequels* could have been saved in the edit. Unfortunately by the time George Lucas got to make them he was already surrounded by yes-men and his vision and storytelling wasn't openly questioned or challenged. The Phantom Menace is just a nightmare. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in a serious fight with Darth Maul is interlaced with Jar Jar Binks clumsiness in battle against battledroids. WHO in their right mind thinks that works?? Tons of scenes in The Phantom Menace should have been cut altogether.
Jar Jar should have been cut out altogether. The fact that Palpatine was behind the Trade Federation guys should have been revealed in the final act of the story not 5 minutes into the movie because it reduced the Trade Federation into some lackeys taking orders from some (to them) unknown guy. The script is so lousy no amount of editing can save The Phantom Menace.
Research "The Phantom Edit". The folks behind that project couldn't do as much for these movies as the editors did for the first Star Wars, but they still made them so much better.
Jar jar shouldn’t have been cut, fans shouldn’t have been so toxic- if they hadn’t been a bunch of bullies they would have found out in AOTC why he was like this because he was actually meant to be a Sith Lord. There’s a reason why dooku comes from absolutely knowere just search it and you’ll find a 45 min video explaining it in detail.
@@wezmarauder2754 Correct. I doubt even better editing could have saved The Phantom Menace. People blame Jar Jar Binks too much but he is just one in a line of badly written characters. Jake Lloyd was wholly unconvincing as young Anakin. Qui-Gon seems to decide things arbitrarily and at no point does one think:"Wow, Gui-Gon really is a wise jedi who sees the big picture of things." Queen Amidala says very little and when she does (as queen) you just cringe at her lines. And last but not least. The Trade Federation are cowardly wimps and their battle droids are useless. Some threat. You'd think Palpatine would pick a more competent and scary lot to be his partners in crime/unknowing pawns.
People only talk about Star Wars, but in a remaster of THX-1138, George Lucas added CGI wings on a lizard in some random scene. Imagine, 30 YEARS after making a movie, feeling the need to put wings on some lizard ? The guy is mentally ill.
I think this youtube video about editing has been brilliantly edited. The rough cut of this video about editing did not convey well enough how important editing is.
I think both worked very well together. People blame that GL was not instrumental, which is wrong. George clearly had a unique talent no one ever thought of at the time. He had a vision, an original idea, and a mettle to do things no one tried before. However, he needed a team of good crews to make that dream come into true. Original ideas in prequels were genuine and good. The execution was horrible. I wonder what prequels will be like if Marcia Lucas and other editors that helped GL were there. Unfortunately, GL failed to see how important his support crews were.
If Lucas didn't have Marcia, Geoff Unsworth's photography (Lucas intended a gritty, hand-held style, not old school Hollywood), Ralph McQuarrie's incredible artwork that basically defined the visuals of Star Wars, the ILM guys that made the Universe real, the woman that designed Stormtroopers (I forget her name), the writers that were brought in to inject some humour and warmth to the rather cold script and, of course, John Williams' legendary score...Star Wars could well have been a cult 70's sci-fi B movie. Lucas owes an awful lot to a lot of people. I hope he paid them all their relevant dues.
@@FancyFramePictures You're right, but when seeing the sheer amount of Star Wars iconography that was actually conceived by other people, while Lucas continues to be regarded as 'the creator', it seems worthy of mention.
@@Tokiofritz He is still the creator since it was his idea and he made the production happen. As well as we humans are lazy and it would be too time consuming to look up all that was contributing and mantion them in dialouge.
To be fair, he choose most of these people, even the ones that polished and re-cut some of the shit he had produced up until that point. It’s not as if anyone was forced on him.
This is fascinating! It brings to mind the numerous fan edits that exist of the Star Wars prequels. Last night, I watched Red Maple's 45 minute edit of Rogue One featuring John Williams' score and a few alterations, and found it immensely better than the actual film.
@@peterjoyfilms It seemed like it was just an experiment, since Rogue One is meant to take place shortly before A New Hope. Interestingly, even though the music was pretty good, the score was composed by Giacchino just a month or so before the film was released. They fired the original composer who was attached to the film, who I imagine had an entire soundtrack ready to go that Disney wasn't happy with.
This video actually isn’t very well researched, and fails to back up even its simplest claims. It’s a nice short and flashy video that makes you go “Oh, that’s neat”. I honestly advise you to do your own research into the production of Star Wars and it’s editing, because most of what this video says either isn’t true or is framed as bad when the edit made actually doesn’t change much. There’s also a much more researched video on the subject by Nerdonymous, that I would highly recommend. I’d also just recommend reading the book “The Making Of Star Wars” by J. W. Rinzler. RJ pulls a few things from that book, but either skews them, leaves out half of a quote, or just straight makes something up. This comment is not here to discredit the editors of Star Wars, they did a fantastic job and deserve a lot of praise. But to say “Star Wars was saved in the edit” is ridiculous when in reality it when through the same drafting and editing that all films go through.
Nerdon's video is far worse than RocketJump's. Unnecessarily long and for a video that's meant to only be analysing RocketJump's video, which is entirely about Episode IV, there is a worryingly high amount of sequel bashing with edited clips. Is it really necessary to have that every two minutes, is their video really that boring to them? Also the video doesn't really back up its points with more than assumptions. Its research is fragmented at best. I think Nerdon was just so hellbent on not giving RocketJump any amount of credit for anything that he ended up going way too far. RocketJump's video is not perfect, but it's definitely more interesting and better made than the nearly 90 minute rant of some guy trying to channel their inner MauLer.
@@destinedwarlord2128 “A poorly researched, falsehood filled dumbass hit piece on George Lucas is better than the video that debunked it presenting actual facts, backing up every single claim and doing extensive research because the latter is lOnGgG” -you
She is the reason Lucas made the special editions, if he had not vastly changed them, he would have to pay Marcia a % of the earnings. And now that Lucas appointed Cunthleen Kennedy to run Lucasfilm, who gave us TLJ, I just want to say: Fuck you George!!!
Lucas had people like Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston design EVERYTHING you see on screen. I've seen Lucas behind the scenes and he just asks people to design a spaceship and they design it for him. His input is THAT basic!
@@Jucelegario blame steven spielberg for kennedy. he collaborated with her husband on close encounters in 1977. and then rather than firing her for being a terrible PA to spielberg on raiders, he appointed her to a producer role, which is what she was for almost all of spielberg's movies including the indy films, ET and jurassic park and movies like the bourne films. Had he fired her, she might not have grown to such heights and been trusted by lucas. although the signs were there she sucked like the jurassic park /// trainwreck production and other stuff. this time it wasn't george's fault.
Everyone's saying Lucas was a crap director/writer, but he was actually opposed to the Luke scenes at the beginning. A colleague (Barwood, I think) told Lucas he needed those scenes to make the movie "more human." Also, the Twin Suns scene? It originally had WAY different music. It was switched AT LUCAS'S REQUEST. Lucas hated the first cut himself ("It's not the movie I wanted to make"). The main reason the first cut was bad? It wasn't Lucas. It was just REALLY POORLY EDITED. That's the whole point of this essay.
Lachlan Macfarlane I think the idea was that the script (by Lucas) has bad pacing. And the first edit mainly followed it. It was just at the first screening it was realized that the script flow/dialogue did not work on the screen. So it needed a major not just re edit but more so reconstruction.
that's all great alexandre but in the end he didn't do the first edit, he highered some one from the studio to edit the film he showed to his friends. Who later helpped him edit the film so your point falls.
Simply the Best Well not really though right? Cause, if parts of the script were studio mandated and he hired someone to do the first cut per the script, then it really weren't his choices that were the problem there no? The script problems don't really fall squarely on his shoulders there is the point I was making. When the first screening helped break studio mandate, Lucas was able to work with his team to make a much better final cut. In the end, all movies are team efforts and that's the real takeaway here. It's never 100% a single person's film. That's why you often see the greats working with the same people often; they work well together.
Lachlan Macfarlane great points and thanks for the info! People are so bent on criticizing Lucas because they’re mad about the prequels that they are blind to the fact that he is actually a great director.
Yeah, definitely a difference. No more, "No, George, we need to do this..." only "Yes, sir!" But to be honest, everything 'wrong' with the prequels was there in Return of the Jedi.
@@GinjaNingerMan Not everything. No long expositional walks through Marriott hotel lobbies, for instance. No complete lack of a compelling conflict. (There's nothing in the first two prequels anything like the tension between the Emperor and Luke--nor nothing as subtle and complex--as the tension between Vader and the Emperor--"Strange, that I have not felt it (Luke's presence)...are you sure your feelings on this are clear, Lord Vader?" "They are clear...my master." Ewok nonsense aside, the main plot was completely compelling in Return and the final throne room battle...Luke's unmasking of his father...and the funeral pyre scene all well realized, powerful moments.
Have you ever seen the credits at the end of a movie. How many thousands of people it takes to get a movie done and most of them are not that good. This was a great movie. Lucas didn't fall off the turnip truck one day and accidentally make a great movie. Watch the documentaries on the making of Star Wars. Every editor saves the movie. That's the editors job. But if he or she doesn't have anything to save, it won't be a great movie no matter how good the editor is.
@@davidc.2878 Yeah but the 'Ewok nonsense aside' covers a large chunk of the story. The problem with Jedi is that you have basically two extremely successful parts within the story, which are the Jabba introduction and the Throne Room sequence (which is extraordinary, true). But they are act I and III of the story. The whole act II (which in screentime is almost half of it) should have been the epicenter of conflict, but it is mostly Luke brooding and... Ewoks. And Han & Leia become glorified extras in Jedi. They have nothing to do. Clearly Lucas did not want to make something out of Luke's newfound identity except use to it to fuel his internal conflict. We could have had a film where the rebellion found out about it and started to question Luke, or something of the kind, something that would have exteriorized his internal conflict and turned it into proper plot material (not filler) and given muscle to his character development. Leia has literally no interesting lines past the introduction and Han and Lando are basically the same character in Jedi. Only Luke and Vador get interesting stuff (and of course the Emperor) throughout.
Which is not true. The editing in Star Wars did change key tactical points of the narrative and made the film the classic that it is. Other films adhere pretty much to the screenplay. The only other film that I could readily think of where the narrative structure was built through editing was Apocalypse Now! which was also edited by Marcia Lucas.
@@toddsputnik8265 That's just a lie. The narrative structure was not changed by the editors (apart from the fact that George supervised all the editing!), and certainly not by Marcia 🤣 For example, it was Marcia who fought to keep the earlier introduction of Luke in the film (according to Rinzler's "Making of Star Wars" book).
I did not mean to imply that Marcia made the changes and that George was not an integral part of the editing process, after all, he wrote the screenplay. George and Marcia did work hand in hand during THX 1138 and American Graffitti so the narrative changes in the editing process were done under his auspice. But SW is amazing as to how it improved from the original raw cut to the version released in 1977. And the editing out of the Biggs scenes was brilliant because those scenes are really bad.@@fundhund62
@@toddsputnik8265 You know nothing of how the editing process works. I'm a skilled hobbyist editor myself and can straight up TELL you that every film relies upon the editing process to fundamentally shape the final film. Editing isn't just placing scenes in order. There's a rhythm to editing; every single shot has to be framed and cut to a beat. Your argument is akin to saying that individual musicians don't make any real impact upon a song. They just play the notes in order. You're ignorant. Literally every great film ever made owes a part of its success to the editing process, just as it owes a part of its success to the script and to the direction and to any number of other filmmaking techniques and skillsets. As a skilled editor myself, I am sick to death of ignorant plebs thinking that the editing process is akin to putting a child's jigsaw puzzle together and essentially monkey work. It's an art form, so show it some damn respect.
Actually, it was George's idea to take out the unnecessary scenes of Luke in the beginning, and Marcia fought to keep them in. It says so in JW Rinzler's book. ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
This video makes lots of false statements like that to fit his narrative that Lucas is a dunce whose mediocre work was saved in the edit by brilliant editors. The rough cut that DePalma & co saw was edited by her, for instance, and a lot of the other things this doco likes to credit to her is in the original script, written by Lucas. And none of them said the rough cut was a disaster, etc. DePalma made fun of the missing special effects scenes, and “this force shit”. They were great friends and liked to tease Lucas.
Holy crap I never knew! This makes all those hours planning and editing my short films worth it!!! I always felt like the whole story was changed no matter what during editing but this proves it1
This is such a great example of how such a great step in cinematic history was not taken by just one man. It would have failed without his colleagues and friends. If it was just up to Mr. Lucas, he would have dropped the ball and never changed the future of Sci-fi.
This is probably why the prequels are so bad compared to the originals, he surrounded himself with yes-men/women and made some stupid decisions (like not making jar-jar a sith, which only made him that much more of a useless and annoying character, also that's probably why the 2nd movie is generally considered the worst, because they had to rework the entire thing)
EVERY MOVIE IS SAVED IN EDITING. We just don't know enough about most movies to understand the extend to which their rough cuts did NOT work. The first cut of almost every movie is a mess.
As a professional editor, this isn't entirely true. Yes, there have been MANY films that were saved in editing. However, most GOOD films had a very deliberate and planned concept of how they would be edited before they were even shot, because not having any kind of clear idea of the film's overall structure would be utterly incompetent. Hence, _STAR WARS_ is a unique case of an editor (Marcia Lucas) actually being more responsible for authoring a film than its Director. This is certainly not a common process for most films. For a better indication, the rough cut of _RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK_ was virtually identical to the finished film. There were a few scenes that got trimmed, but the ones that stayed were generally left untouched from their rough version and their sequence order in the film was also the same. The only major change from rough to fine ("fine cut" is the most commonly used term in the industry for a final cut) was the addition of the closing romance scene, outside the steps of Washington... ...The original included no such scene... ...but then Marcia Lucas commented how odd it was that such an integral character just disappeared from the film, never to be heard from again. So George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan wrote it as a new scene, which Spielberg filmed as a reshoot; it was added between the final two scenes. Otherwise, it's the same film. This is probably a more common example of what happens during movies editorial processes; trimming and minor addition. The "fine tuning" segment of the video is usually all that happens on most films, but some exceptionally troubled productions have had to do more work in certain historical instances. _STAR WARS_ is one of them. Interestingly, since that film was made, it inspired a radical new way of working; in which directors will now DELIBERATELY shoot their films with next to zero vision, and drastically rework them in editing. Terrence Malick is an example of a great filmmaker who works this way on purpose. Every film he shot since 1998 stopped using storyboards, and every film he shot since 2010 (with the exception of _A HIDDEN LIFE_ ) was shot without a script. So this style is usually done INTENTIONALLY when it happens now, as opposed to this film where it was a happy accident of being able to save a film with no vision upfront.
@@MrMarsFargo No, Marcia Lucas herself debunked this idiotic theory, look it up. George Lucas is one of the greatest filmakers of all time, and he alone came up with everything Star Wars fans have grown to love today. To pretend that literally everyone else "fixed" the movie is moronic at best.
@@MrMarsFargo Also, George Lucas was one of the chief editors on the project as well, because he is also a great editor. So if the movie was "saved" in the edit, guess who saved it?
@@calebadams690 Kay, go ahead and argue with an ACTUAL PROFESSIONAL EDITOR who had to study and research how this film was made as part of his training. That’s not arrogant at all 🤩
I love this video! I've heard many times that Star Wars was saved in editing by Marcia Lucas but now I know how exactly she did it. This must have taken an insane amount of research and it's really well written and edited. Thank you!
Except the fact the GEORGE worked hand in hand with Marcia in the edit room - uncredited. G Lucas has edited *all* his films and others (like THE GODFATHER and APOCALYPSE NOW). Something the history revisionists either hide or forget.
He was on STAR WARS. The type of revisionist history in these videos need to end, people still so butthurt about the prequels they want to rob Lucas of any accomplishment.
Without Marcia Lucas, we may not have known that Chewbacca was someone to be feared. She not only edited the movie -- she provided a lot of input during the entire production. For instance, it was her idea that Chewie would scare a Mouse Droid.
LMAOOOOOO yeah this video sucks. It's poorly researched and spread so much misinfo just so Lucas haters can have another delusion of him being an incompetent dweeb who stumbled on success rather than writing and directing it.
The video also indirectly highlights how George basically wrote his wife and editting team out of the history of Star Wars. Without them, Star Wars would have been some forgettable schlock sci fi movie with some good effects. It's only after the prequels exposed George that people have realized how much he leaned on others. Which is perfectly fine, no one can do stuff alone. But taking nearly sole credit for a collaborative work was shitty of him.
Lucas actually used to patronise his wife about her editing skills, because he thought and still thinks that he's a master film editor! He even says that it's his strong point in the PT Making of docs. He said that's where he feels most at home, in the editing room. Trouble is, he's a disaster in the editing room! Take the Falcon's escape from Bespin in ESB, for example. Originally we had a perfectly paced action sequence, but then Lucas dumped a load of mini clips of Vader making his way back to Executor in there for absolutely NO reason! I mean, WHY?! Not only are they not needed in any way whatsoever, but the stupid little clips break up the action and drama!
She was a genius and saved the OT, imagine if Obi Wan hadn't died (meaning probably no Yoda ever existing) and the Death Star battle wasn't all that good. I think people should give her credit without talking about Lucas, she won an Oscar and he never did.
George Lucas was the chief editor on the original Star Wars. He oversaw the entire process and edited the acclaimed gunport sequence himself. His wife Marcia only edited a third of the movie and left to work on another movie before the final edit was even completed. There were two other editors who edited the other 2/3 of the movie. The notion that Lucas had nothing to do with the editing of the original movie, that he's a terrible editor, or that his wife singlehandedly saved from the movie from him--it's all a myth.
Excellent video essay! George was the visionary behind the entire concept, but film is a collaborative effort. When George himself got TOO MUCH credit and too much control, we got...well, you know what we got. Thank heavens for good editors and a director with the good sense (or wife) to listen.
He tried to do the same with the prequels but no one would help him. Too much risk I guess. We ended up with a good story but bad acting and dialogue and CGI. Some good lightsaber duels here and there. Not the best movies but hey, it could have been worse. Could have been The Last Jedi.
I like the story that Marcia said "What happened to Marion" in _Raiders_ so they went back and filmed a scene on the steps. Too bad she wasn't around to fix Willie Scott's character. There was a point when Indy might have left the kids to their fate and just run off with the treasure. She could have been the person to turn him around, then no more screaming from her. But of course, part of the reason _Temple of Doom_ was dark was due to the divorce. I even saw a scene recently where Indy punches the cigarette girl in the face (accidentally, but still!).
You know what I find ironic? Many of the deleted scenes from the original trilogy would have made the originals worse, but a lot of the deleted scenes in the prequels would have made the prequels better. You can really make or break a movie depending on how you edit it.
3:00 Shows that Lucas is a genuis with a huge imagination, but needs other experts to help him simplify. It's like channeling the rage of a beast to something great
That's how it is with all of them. The advice and assistance Lucas received from the other filmmakers at that screening is similar to the advice and assistance Lucas provided to those same filmmakers on their projects. And a lot of those filmmakers were present and offered feedback on the prequels. The hatred comes not because they are bad movies, but because they didn't line up with fan expectation.
"If my blade should find its mark, you will cease to exist. But if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." That sounds pretty damn badass, actually.
@@Digital111 I bet Sir Alec Guinness told Lucas to say that line rather than the original dialogue. Guinness did openly complain to Lucas the lines were incredibly clunky and poorly written. Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill said the same.
It's needlessly wordy and inferior to what we saw in the original 1977 theatrical edition. It's the equivalent of turning the Terminator's "I'll be back" into "Give me a moment. I will return shortly after I've completed other tasks." Of course, "needlessly wordy" and "inferior" are exactly the words to describe 90% of the dialog, story, and imagery in the prequels too. You know, those movies where George had full creative authority and nobody around him to tell him how much it sucked. In this respect he's much like Gene Roddenberry: a guy who came up with a great idea and then made it suck (a.k.a "ST:TMP") when he got his way. At least Roddenberry was stopped after ruining one film. George got to ruin three prequels and retroactively ruin the original trilogy. George is a great idea man. He took Kurosawa's stories and transformed them into a sci-fi universe. But that's where it ends. George is not a good movie maker. The success of 1977's Star Wars is despite him, not because of him. Empire, arguably the best of the originals, had George involved the least. One is compelled to wonder how much better RotJ might've been had that trend continued.
I know this is hard to believe, but I sincerely think Lucas was aiming more for a "Godfather 2" kind of epic movie, a visual feast with some lengthy exposition, but he couldn't do it, so instead we got a tightly-edited James Cameron-style blockbuster. In fact, look at Terminator 2, and check out how much stuff was edited out. Lengthy and very expensive scenes had to be cut, once Cameron realized they didn't work too well. We get a better movie, but with a slightly odd feel and quirky pacing. In the end, the amazing effects sequences in both films save the day, and make them classics.
Aliens is another good example movie of a husband director/wife production team. Gale Anne Hurd made huge and very effective changes to cut down and tighten up the theatrically released version. IMHO Cameron's full 'director's cut' version isn't nearly as good as the theatrical release.
As a filmmaker, editing is rewriting and a good editor can make it even better. This was such a beautiful essay. So true, wonderful and something many people should watch and learn from on how a film should be made. Awesome, awesome job.
The video is full of many lies meant to discredit George Lucas. They did a great job clipping their quotes in just the right place to adhere to their false narrative
Right because she had such a long and distinguished career in the business. On no wait.... She literally never worked again post 1977.. Ran off with all of George's money it seems..
@@dbreiden83080 you hate women so much, you've been commenting all over the place against a woman that made SW what it is today. She took what she deserved, what she made create. That money was earned asshole.
@@m1sh474 EVERYONE who worked on SW helped to make it what it is today. The whole idea of filmaking' is that it's a collaborative process where everyone tries to bring forth a directors vision to the best of their ability :0
@@onemoreminute0543 no one said otherwise. In the original SW case, it was thanks to this amazing collaboration that saved those movies. This collaboration didn't happen in the prequels and it shows.
@@m1sh474 In what way was there no collaboration? Say what you subjectively want about those films, but I fail to see any adequate evidence to support the notion that Lucas was surrounded by 'yes men' with the prequels. It's a notion that is opposed from film historians Rinzler and Paul Duncan :)
It's a shame how a really interesting documentary about how editing "saves" a movie it brought down by deliberate misinformation about when the changes were made and who made them. By February 1977 the rough cut you describe didn't exist, many of the changes you describe were already made, and two of the three editors had left the picture already. The rough cut you describe is the October/November 1976 cut, in which Chew, Hirsch and Marcia Lucas worked. Instead of describing the editing as an organic process that slowly improved the movie, you present it as "Lucas' first edit was bad, then three editors came in and they saved the film". A shame really.
Current narrative is that "women are amazing", to score social media points, and it's always easy to use Lucas as blame for everything. That's all they did with this vid. Promote a narrative based on current meta, that has nothing to do with facts but feelings.
@@Janzer_ I mean it's pretty well documented the Prequels were ass because Lucas didn't have anyone to tell him no, and was kind of megalomaniac while running them. So it's not just a phony narrative to look back and notice the differences between who he collaborated with on his earlier projects compared to his later films.
@@llJiggyFlyll I mean, it's not really documented at all. It was claimed in some retarded internet video by RLM and then repeated ad nauseum by even shittier internet commenters.
I actually understand what they were trying to do with those opening scenes. They were trying to show that Luke was this small town boy, who was always looking up at the stars and dreaming of leaving. They also go to show how he was always trying to keep up with the war against the empire. Also, if I remember correctly, there was a scene originally with his friend Biggs on Tatooine when the film was released, but it was cut latter. A lot of people actually thought this was a mistake, as it doesn't really make as much sense or hit as hard when Biggs is shot down later and dies during the attack on the death star. Also, his extreme reaction to C3PO talking about the war makes less sense with that intro. The solution should not have been to cut it out, but to reshoot it, and have it occur after we saw the un-interrupted battle on the ship. Lot's of movies do this, where they show another perspective of what had just happened a few moments before.
When they went to make _Star Wars: The Radio Drama_ for NPR they expanded the movie into 13 nearly 1/2 hour episodes. The first episode is Luke on Tatooine with his peers, racing down Beggars' Canyon and the deleted scenes including him seeing a space battle and Biggs's return where he says he's going to join the Rebel Alliance. I didn't know they filmed them or were in the original script; I thought they made them up. But it works as an introduction. I think they did make up the second episode where we see Leia on a mercy mission meeting Darth Vader, and later with her father on Alderaan before stealing the plans.
@@onemoreminute0543 I don't have that book. But I did listen to the audiobook of _The Secret History of Star Wars._ On the author's webpage for Marcia Lucas, he says: "2007's _The Making of Star Wars_ treats Chew as the primary cutter and only credits the space battle and the (deleted!) Anchorhead scenes to Marcia as a solo editor, but given the book's tendancy [sic] to downplay her (not even including her photo on the editors page) and the fact that she was not spoken to for the book, this is suspect (other publications, like Baxter and Pollock, treat her as the main cutter)." I strongly suspect that despite whatever exciting behind-the-scenes stories that book has based on documents from the 1970s, it was made by a fellow working at Lucasfilm and therefore subject to the revisionist-history that George Lucas is known for saying years after the fact.
@@stephenh5944I think you're right. I read that the reason why the information regarding the death star approaching the rebel base was delivered through off-screen dialogue was due to budget restrictions. Supposedly they ran out of time and money to shoot certain scenes in the film's climax, so they had to use offscreen dialogue to fill in the missing information.
My uncle has worked directly with George Lucas on a number of projects and knows Lucas personally. He told me a lot about how the editing of Star Wars was so important, noting, "You can understand the dramatic flow of Star Wars by not watching the movie itself, but turn around in your seat and just watch the audience reactions." Getting a nice, detailed analysis on the editing was great to see, thank you!
Lot of those cut bits were used in the radio drama. Being made up of short episodes makes the flow work better with less hard cutting so they add a lot of good interactions between bits.
Also the Alan Dean Foster novelization which came before the radio drama - I had read the book before I first saw the film in 1978 in some very early re-release.
The original turned into the classic we know it today because there were people around to tell Lucas "Nah, let's go back and take another look at this." If only they'd been around when he made the prequels...
Honestly this is why I hate the Prequels with the passion of a thousand suns. I rage at what could have been, what we would have in their place if talented people had still ridden herd on Lucas. And that lack of second thought was an albatross around the necks of the people charged with giving us the last trilogy.
@randomguy8196 you do know that Lucas offered both the director of empire strikes back and spielberg the direction of the prequels but they rejected it? He also asked chew and Hirsch to come back and they declined.
@@onemoreminute0543 I can't understand how people can be so naive and believe in any nonsense they are told. I don't know really much about film industry. But I'm 100% sure that director of any movie has full control over filmmaking process, this is why he is called Director. Editor can't just say "Fuck you" to director, make his own scenes out of nothing and put it in the movie without permission. He is not involved in shooting process, he is working with the material he is provided. If this material is shit, not a single editor can save it. It is same with music. If it has shitty chords and melody it can't be saved in the mixing process.
So this basically goes to show George Lucas shouldn't have had free-range on the prequels because on his own he can't make a good film. Episode 4 wasn't saved by him, it was saved by Steven Spielberg/Others. Edit: It's been 6 years since I made this comment at the time of writing this edit and there's clearly a new-found appreciation for George Lucas' work in this saga, and this video has been disputed by other creators. Either way, these films were clearly a collaborative effort, and I think Lucas stretched himself too thin on attempting to direct all 3 prequels compared to only 1 of the originals.
one thing to remeber in all of history there has never been a great movie which was made by 1 person film-making is a collaborative art one person can never make it good
So, that may be true, but if we look at the new sequels, we kind of see what happens when collaboration takes place...I mean, sure the Force Awakens was good, but only because they brought nothing new to the table. It was a complete rehash of Episode IV. If felt like a corporate product. I think there needs to be a balance: a director has a vision and the editors try to work with that vision, but also at the same time make clear that there are some things that the director gets wrong on many things.
Gary Kurtz should get most the credit. He was the producer up until RotJ and was instrumental in fleshing out the stories. He came up with the idea of the force. Lucas wanted it to be a crystal with magical powers. Kurtz said that was shit and made it more of an "eastern" type philosophy.
Well, sure, I think that the Force Awakens is better than Rogue One, and I loved the Force Awakens. However, the similarities don't just end at the Death Star. Tell me if you heard this: A evil military organization is searching for important documents that is entrusted to a small droid. A young adult who has been stuck on a desert planet with two suns comes across the droid and is caught up in the operation to bring the droid to the rebels. The young adult also comes across an old mentor who took part in the previous war and has a deep relationship with the Sith Lord. He's obviously hiding a secret about her relationship with said villain. Later the Sith Lord kills the mentor, and the young protagonist sees this. Overtime, said young adult gains powers in the Force and is driven to the Rebel's cause. Also, a Death Star comes into play primarily because said Rebels have gained the droid's information, and said Death Star blows up. The Force Awakens and a New Hope both fit these descriptions. It didn't necessarily anything new to the table in terms of plot. It does bring in new characters who I am interested in their arc, but that's it. Same battle between Rebels and Imperials. Now the question comes: can The Last Jedi build on said characters? If so, then The Force Awakens gets better. If, however, the Last Jedi becomes a repeat of the Empire Strikes Back (and a training scene with an old mentor already screams as such), then we are in big trouble, and I can safely say that the Force Awakens was a corporate product (because Star Wars didn't really need a sequel) designed to work off our nostalgia that I enjoyed, but kind of felt empty.
This video is complete and utter fiction. You can literally read the shooting scripts to see what George originally intended. Also he fired the first editor and started editing himself. He then hired the three final editors and they all worked together towards George's vision. Nothing ever gets put into a Lucas film unless he wants it there. Just look what he's done with these movies over the years. As technology improves he adds things back. Special editions anyone?
Yeah, wtf you on about? This isn't 2012; people actually put effort into their videos, specially documentaries like these. Sure crap is still more popular, because crap will always sell, but this isn't that uncommon anymore.
It's not that quality. It portrays Marcia as some kind of savior of Star Wars. She edited one sequence in the entire film. Battle of Yevin. The other two editors did the vast bulk of the work that turned it into what it is today. Ppl like to over sell her role.
According to the channel Nerdonymous, most of this video is either misleading or outright false. Star Wars was “saved” in the edit just like every other movie is “saved” when it goes through editing - but this video is poorly researched and does not accurately display what happened in the editing of Star Wars. Curious to know what response this channel might have to that criticism.
You are so right. I kind of was convinced seeing this video here the first time, but I was too non-critical and not skeptic at all. Nerdonymous just destroys this video, and he is right.
Again people trying to make up the narrative that Star wars is good in spite of Lucas and not because of him. “How star wars was saved in the edit was saved in the edit” clears up all these points.
If you look at the original opening crawl, you can tell that George from the very beginning knows exactly how this vast world should bet set up. Pretty much every piece of information that was left out from the original opening crawl were all later fulfilled during the making of the prequel trilogy. George may not be a person who is good at making good tempo for his stories, but he knows exactly how to structure his world in a way that is more fascinating than anything we've ever seen.
The problem with the prequels lay more with Lucas' shortcomings in the areas of screenwriting and directing actors, as far as I'm concerned. Even so, I'll take them over any of the movies Di$ney has put out so far. They clearly don't "get" Lucas' universe.
@Captain Brandon Horror Lover Yes, and if George cared enough about his marriage during the original trilogy, he could have saved it and kept the one collaborator, his wife, and co-editor, during the Prequel trilogy whose artistic opinions he couldn't ignore.
Carl Siemens The Disney versions will be way better. Why? The fan in question did not have access to the negative (3.2 - 3.6k) but a run of the Movie print. That's 800 lines at best. People don't realise that the 35mm print people used to see in the cinemas wasn't even as good as a HD Blu-Ray. And it's been proven. I'll wait for Disney "Original Editions" scanned from the original negatives themselves.
John Morris We do realize. However, it is the best option so far. You can wait for the official versions: They might release in a few months, years or never.
This video kinda further validates this notion that I've felt for a long time. George Lucas was extremely fortunate to attain the levels of success he did because clearly if it weren't for the team he had, Star Wars would not have reached the the legendary status it did. Lucas did great with coming up with the original idea of Star Wars but it was the people after him that took it to fame. Unfortunately, the average Star Wars fan would have never known who these editors were (I know I didn't). And to further highlight my point: the prequels. Lucas reached that level of fame to where no one wanted to openly criticize his work with the prequels. However, with the original Star Wars, people was upfront with him and ripped his movie apart.
Most successful people had help. I don't think it's unusual that Lucas was one of them, or that that makes his success less impressive. Probably every creative victory is full of unsung heroes. Like they say, 'no man is an island'.
The moral is that if you're making a movie, you should get as much coverage as possible. That way, if your movie needs to be saved in the editing, you'll have plenty of material to use.
Yes and no; As a professional editor, there are films that had hours of coverage and still turned out terrible, despite having some of the best editors in the world working on them. Such a film, like _DAU_ , had no vision upfront. The director just decided he would figure it out in editing. After close to 20 years of editing it, using over 200 hours of footage for a final runtime of 1.5 hours, it was universally panned. Coverage is meaningless, if it's not GOOD coverage. Coverage can't save a lack of vision. You'd be surprised how often it actually works better to LIMIT how much coverage you have; that way, it forces you to be more focussed and specific in designing the few shots you do have. You can't cut to much else, so you better know exactly what purpose that moment serves... or else you can't design a shot to convey that. Even _STAR WARS_ didn't have an excessive amount of coverage for any given scene; just one or two options for any moment, with only one possible option for a "master shot" (depending on context, a "master shot" can mean a shot that covers the entire scene beginning to end). What they DID was create new coverage where they didn't originally have any; great editors can do this. If they deleted a scene, or an entire section? Like the Alderaan scene, which was originally really long? They would treat that deleted footage like new coverage, that they could insert into other scenes (out of its original context). It's not about HOW MUCH coverage you have, as much as HOW SPECIFIC your coverage is.
Ceceli He does mention that he is going "to town", so to speak, to buy some parts and hang out with his friends. He likes to mod his crappy lansdpeeder.
Ceceli Lucas wanted to portray his love of souped-up cars, and hanging out with friends at some cool hangout, talking about mods and parts, but in a science fiction setting. But he couldn't achieve it.
@@stephenkeen5737 Or you could, you know, just watch them on a Blu ray or DVD collection. I mean, what kind of Star Wars fan doesn't at least have a DVD if not a Blu ray of AT LEAST the original trilogy, if not the first 6 films? I personally just completed my collection a few days ago when I bought Solo on Blu ray.
Talky, boring exposition-heavy and bad pacing. Now the prequels make sense. I wish more people realized how many unsung heroes there were in the first trilogy who saved Lucas' original ideas and made them into something better. Now we just need more recognition for Ralph McQuarrie.
hell, I would argue that the thing that cemented star wars as a cultural phenomenon was empire, and that movie was almost completely out of lucas's control, so lucas was just the guy that wrote a first draft that, in better hands, would have lead to something better from the get go.
Also ESB's success had a lot to do with Irvin Kershner rejecting a lot of Lucas's ideas and doing his own thing. Also Lawerence Kasdan and Leigh Bracket's script.
the fact that a video with bullshit charged language and blatant misinformation has 3 million views and more appraisal than pushback is an affront to the art of creation and fills me with despair for the human race.
So, this makes sense why later movies weren't as good. You need the whole team. A good script A good shooting and a good editing. All to bring Lucas's vision to the silver screen. But the moment he starts trying to take complete control, shit hits the fan.
degree7 you haven't bothered to watch much or any of the behind the scenes ACTUAL non-biased commenting between Lucas and his "team"....have you? He literally surrounded himself with YES people. Most were his team from "young indy." Hell, there's even a scene where he's showing Spielberg the damn droid troops,...and Steven is like..."yeah,...cool guy...looks....great." Might want to take off the practice blinders and listen to some conversations.
+degree7 Nah, if you look at the behind the scenes footage, none of them dare to even question him, let alone tell him his idea is shitty. They are all yes-men. Unlike in the original film where his buddy told him the film was a bunch of bullshit and had to be heavily edited, and got him to let people refine his work. By the time of the prequels no one dared question him.
Actually the script wasn't THAT good, LOL. Alec Guinness had said the dialogue was "rubbish" and Hamill had asked Lucas to drop some lines too. By all intent, if the finished movie had followed the script verbatim it would have been a disaster...so Marcia Lucas basically help re-wrote the story via her editing.
@degree7 Money-making and merchandising motivated both the original and prequel trilogies, the original more so, although whether they were motivated by greed is debatable: A New Hope was meant to bail out American Zoetrope which Lucas co-owned with his friend Francis Ford Coppola, and the prequels were made to advertise the abilities of Lucas' CG animators so they'd have greater job security.
14:54 This narrative doesn't quite fit because both the Empire and the Rebels knew that the Death Star would destroy Base One if they got there in time. It was still a matter of self-defense for the Rebels. What made the movie better was making the destruction of Yavin IV an even closer race against time.
It wasn't just the editing. There were VERY talented people involved in the entire production of Star Wars. Star Wars didn't spring forth from George Lucas's head fully formed, like it's been mythologized by Star Wars fans for decades. And let's not overlook the impact of John WIlliams' amazing scores.
Wow. That was amazing. I need to go on record and tell my 1st time watching Star Wars. I was visiting family in Charleston West Virginia in June of 1977. I was 9 years old. We all went "out to see a movie". When we arrived the line wrapped around the block! I guess word had gotten out! We decided to see what everyone else was going in to see: Star Wars! When the film started, all 3 of the later-deleted scenes with Luke on Tatooine were still there, and I think so was the scene with Vader walking in the Death Star hallway talking to that Imperial apparatchik. But I do not remember any of the other changed or rearranged scenes being present. So I guess we got to see a PARTIALLY re-edited cut. I never knew this, and was only slightly freaked out a few years later when Star Wars was premiered on network tv when I noticed those missing scenes with Luke. I have only watched those scenes again here on UA-cam a few months ago. It was powerful how those few minutes of film took me right back to 1977 again.
No... That's not true! That's Impossible!!!.... You couldn't saw this edit in June 77 because such edit never existed beyond the workprint editing period. That is just impossible. Your vivid memories are so called "Mandela effect" of false memory (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory). It might be caused by confusion of some sorts. May be you read a novelization and/or listned original radio drama with those scenes restored. You could see the pictures from deleted scenes in some magazine and combine those images with content in your head. The hallway scene you could catch in Holiday special.... Search your feelings... you know it to be true... ))
Many people insist they saw the deleted Tatooine scenes in 1977, but as stated, they were removed before the first public test screenings, so nobody outside the studios saw them. However, photos were published in various magazines, and they were included in the novelisation, which are the most likely causes for the false memories.
And 99% of the stuff in this video is lies and half-truths. Nerdonymous did a brilliant job not only debunking all the major and minor points made in this “video essay” and actually provided creditable and valid sources to reference from. He actually did the homework instead of an opinion piece. Yes Star Wars has it’s problems and George Lucas is not the god above men people thought he was before 1999, but that doesn’t mean we should discredit or mangle the great work he’s done for cinema and our culture as a whole. Yeah people helped him out but that’s every film making production. The dude created the world, setting, lore, and characters of Star Wars and it’s best if we all stop denying how important he was to making the franchise so special. Star Wars would not exist or be what it is today if it wasn’t for the mind of a mad genius that had a knack for filmmaking.
It would have been a mistake not to hire John Williams. I think the original idea was to use classical music like _2001: A Space Odyssey_ rather than an original score. Definitely how star wars was saved in the music department.
For a little more background on the edit. Marcia Lucas was told by George that she was an okay editor and she says after working with him for so long that was his only compliment he ever gave her. They got divorced after Jedi and she ended her career there. She was an amazing editor and Lucasfilms tries their best to remove her from the history of star wars despite her monumental work as seen in this video. I believe her absence is obvious in the prequels.
Editing is such a misunderstood art but you can see from her portfolio that she was exceptionally talented, much moreso than George. In a way, the fan revolt against the prequels was perhaps her best revenge.
odstlover George Lucas was, and probably still is, an ass with a narcissistic view of himself. I'll never forget an interview I saw of him around the time of the original trilogy where he is lamenting all these people talking back to him, doubting his "vision" of the story, wanting to try different approaches...and the whole time I realize he's begrudgingly talking about the people who saved his films, what an ass.
The Rosalind Franklin of science fiction.
Its such a shame, because George had fantastic ideas but simply was terrible at implementing it. Imagine how good the sequels would have been with editing like the original trilogy...
Yeah, editing is very important in all aspect of film making, especially before pre-production and on the script. Seriously, bad stuff happens when you give the directors too much leeway in the story side. An example of this is the crap that is Alien Covenant.
When I first found out about how terrible the initial versions of the movie were, it made a lot more sense how George Lucas could be the same person who made the prequels and this movie. The editors should get a ton of credit for making this series as big as it is.
George Lucas's strength is world building and the amazing creativity and imagination that takes. When it comes to directing he isn't the best. His best work is when he is overseeing the project as a producer like in Episode 5 or Star Wars the Clone Wars.
Rekasha couldn't agree more. Dave filoni really took George's outlandish vision and was able to make fantastic stories. In the new movies, I feel like part of that is missing. Disney seems to miss the point that Star Wars isn't great because of storm troopers and tie fighters and at-ats and x-wings, it's great because of the fantastical nature of the setting and the interestingly realistic world that is a resultant of the story. Again, the one thing the prequels got right is the imaginative part of Star Wars, something I hope Disney learns with The Last Jedi.
I think you are underestimating the need to reintroduce Star Trek to the market. Yes for someone where all the films are in their memory, Force Awakens may see to not push things.
But for for everyone else it reintroduces and pushes forward.
Also those elements are things that attract people. Don't think imagination solves everything.
Neoblackdragon True, I do think that bringing in a new generation is a good idea, and bringing new life to old characters is wonderful but if it has no creative spark it just feels like a heartless cash grab.
He's also an innovator. Every movie he made introduced technology that had never been used before (or hadn't been used that way). Lets also never forget LucasArts.
I kind of feel sorry for Luke's buddies who were cut. Sitting in a bar years later.."I was in the very original Star Wars, but then something happened...."
I feel sorry for Wedge - he's Scottish; and a trained Shakespearian actor as well.
But the Rebel Alliance only lets in Americans apparently (against the evil British Empire!)
So Wedge's dialogue was dubbed over by an American voice actor.
lol, i must say that is certainly the most epic 'fail' of all time! lol... oh my god... Each time someone say they watch star wars.... lol oh god....
@@jazzx251 Brits have made up for it in later and spin off films though ;)
I was thinking the same thing, wondering if they were watching it like 'here comes my scene! ... Oh...'
Although Anthony Forrest (who played Fixer) did manage to stay in the movie. He played the sandtrooper who Obi-Wan used Jedi mind tricks on.
Cutting the Luke/Obi-Wan hut scene right next to the Vader/Tarkin scene where he chokes the guy out was brilliant. Because you have back to back explanations about what the Force is, once from the good guy and then from the bad guy. I always thought that was a masterstroke because you have this same powerful force juxtaposed and explained from two wildly different perspectives one after another.
I didn’t even think about it that way, really is brilliant!
Thank you Marcia Lucas
Trevor Estrada if you watch the "making of" for Lord of the Rings you find that Peter Jackson's wife Fran Walsh had a similar critical role in ensuring that Jackson didn't make huge blunders, like having Aragorn fight Sauron at the end. Lesson: always listen to your wife.
Yeah let's thank Marcia for running out on George and leaving him to look after the kids.
I'm glad she's getting more kudos for Star Wars. Did you know she also helped with the script? Along with Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz (although they all went uncredited, presumably since Lucas wanted to seem like he knew how to write). She also edited The Empire Strikes and Return Of The Jedi. I have nothing but love for the woman.
P Ferreira Why are you shitting on a woman you don't know about her divorce arrangements? What does that have to do with anything? What does it have to do with you? Oh I get it, someone is giving credit to someone other than George Lucas for Star Wars huh? That upsets you doesn't it?
Read a little deeper and don't believe every piece of bullshit you have been brought up to believe about who was responsible for Star Wars. I was brought up with that belief too but, after the prequel trilogy (when I couldn't understand how the man who made Star Wars could make three such ineffective films), I researched a little deeper. The more I researched, the more it became obvious that one of my childhood heroes was not responsible for a lot of the stuff he took credit for.
If it hadn't been for Marcia Lucas then the first film would have been shit and Star Wars as a concept would not have grown into the behemoth it is today. She nurtured that film, like she no doubt nurtured her husband through the film, so effectively you're criticising someone who is largely responsible for one of the most loved films on planet Earth because you don't agree with their divorce arrangements?
You make me laugh.
Come to think of it your statement is sexist even. Where is it written that a woman should end up with the children in a divorce proceedings? You're also assuming that was her decision and not the result of Lucas hiring expensive lawyers. I will answer my own question though. Nowhere, nowhere is it written that women should keep the kids. Like I say, that is a sexist assumption on your part.
Marcia is/was a freaking genius. If GL had bothered to come home once in a while...
Like 5 seconds in I forgot I was watching rocket jump. This was actually refreshing lol .
Holy shit I didn't even know until i read your comment. After watching the whole video. Lol!
Same here.
Yup! Usually RocketJump posts stupid pointless FX videos, but this was actually entertaining and also eucational for once.
@@kurkuless7719 None of those FX videos are "Stupid" or "pointless" As they're all incredibly informative. The hell are you talking about?
In the original script Obi Wan, during his fight against Vaders would originally say this:
"If you strike me down, my ground will become higher than ever"
I wonder why they didn't talk about their last battle on Mustafar? Vader tells Obi-Wan, "When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the Master". That's not how it was at all.
@@gregr3720 "When i left you, my ground was lower, but now, my ground is higher than ever!"
@@DarkOmegaMK2 It's true, when he was just a torso he was very low to the ground.
Another 'higher ground idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about LMAO Surprise...
@@DJRitty Another lower ground idiot who can't even distinguish proper height, lmao, get back to your low ground where you belong, peasant!
I saw it as a teen in 77, in my opinion the sound sold the movie. Loaded with cool unique sounds for the special effects, The voices, and the Music was so well loved it sold as a double album.
Sound makes the difference! Ben Burtt is a genius.
It's over 100 year old classical music but i bet you didn't know
I asked for _The Empire Strikes Back_ soundtrack, but didn't get it. It must have been a double album too, and doubly expensive. Instead I got a record that had one track from SECO's disco groove.
When you compare it to some of the stuff in theatres and on TV at the time, with it's halfhearted computer noise and literal "pew pew" noises, Star Wars significantly raised the bar for science fiction. 2001: A Space Odyssey used a pioneering classical music score in '68, and Star Trek used original classical music scores in its run from 66 - 68, but Star Wars solidified these elements in a way that resonates to this day. Now that I think of it I wonder if Star Trek's serious take on science fiction on TV didn't influence Kubrick in some way.
"But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters with my friends."
"Your friends are such a drag on this story, we're just cutting them out."
You know what the irony is? By removing the scenes with Biggs, a major emotional beat was lost on audiences, so Lucas had to go back to the edit and re-insert the scene where Luke reunites with Biggs.
@@qty1315 no. it slowed the film down. we didn't need to see Biggs at the start.
@@agfagaevart It's 70s sci-fi, it's supposed to be a bit slow in the start.
@@qty1315
Star Wars did not start off slow in the beginning, if you've seen the movie there is an action sequence right at the start. George Lucas wanted a "James Bond" feel to the movie, where the audience sees the end of a character's last adventure, at the beginning. Interrupting the flow of that sequence with scenes of Luke and his pals added nothing more to the story. They were interesting to read in the novelization, but, they had to be cut! Lucas even decided to kill Ben off while shooting. But it was the correct decision. This video should mention that ALL MOVIES are changed by editing. Lucas still had his vision, and thanks to the late Gary Kurtz it was greatly improved!
@@agfagaevart The movie starts off with a slow text crawl, then a shot of a space battle which looks like two spaceships lazily drifting through space, then the action sequence begins.
So yeah, slow start.
Also, again, it did add to the story because we got to know Luke's pals who would die later in the movie. Without that sequence, it doesn't make sense for Luke to react the way he does later in the movie when his friends are killed, because the audience doesn't know that they were his friends.
At 13:35, C3P0 talks about the tractor beam. In his autobiography, "I Am C3PO," Anthony Daniels recalls that in 1977, after he finished recording his lines, he thought he was done with the role. But they called him back to the studio three weeks before the film was released, to record one more line: "He says he's found the main computer to power the tractor beam that's holding the ship here."
The reason the filmmakers gave him for recording the new line: "We forgot to tell the audience what a tractor beam is for."
When people say "this video is all lies" does that include C-3POs lines in this scene being done later?
@@sandal_thong8631 The only factual mistake in this entire video -- which sadly gives more fuel than intended (or warranted) to people claiming it's "all lies" -- is its claim at 13:28 that C3-PO's line about "7 locations" was added during editing. In actually, this line was never in the original theatrical cut.
It was added later, in the "silver screen edition" (the first "altered cut" Lucas ever released, in 1981). In general, C3-PO having new lines via ADR is one of those special edition changes so subtle and so pointless, that most people don't even realize it's there. Many people falsely believe C3-PO's new lines are in the original theatrical version, then baffled when they aren't there (I know I was). So this isn't an intentional error, because that was one of the _first_ changes Lucas ever made to SW, but the fact they got it wrong is now used as "proof" the entire video is fake (it's not, there are literally hundreds of sources confirming what it says).
@@Lady-Ythis video is nothing but a collection of falsehoods, half truths, blatant omissions and misinformation.
ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.htmlsi=IQWFeUFoauJ3EopW
@@Lady-Y What about the fact that Marcia wanted to keep the early Luke scenes? And there are dozens more inaccuracies. What are these "hundreds of sources"? The author of this video cites one, and gets stuff wrong from that source.
@@Lady-Y Actually, this line does date back to 1977. The original Star Wars film had three different audio mixes for theaters with different sound capabilities: a Dolby Surround mix, a stereo mix, and a mono mix. The mono mix was created last, so the editors were able to make a few changes that they weren't able to make to the other two mixes, one of which was adding Threepio's line about the tractor beam.
There are a few other changes, too; for example, the "close the blast doors" line, which most people think is a Special Edition change, also originated in this 1977 mono mix. While certain elements exclusive to it were eventually incorporated into later releases, the complete original mono mix was never released on home video, at least as far as I'm aware. Most people these days who watch the theatrical cut are only familiar with the stereo and surround sound mixes, which is why there's so much misinformation going around regarding what changes were made when.
Hey everyone. In this current form our pro-collaboration message has been interpreted by many as anti-Lucas. That was never the goal, nor the intent of this video. It should go without saying that George Lucas supervised, approved, and even contributed to all of these editorial changes. However, having seen the response, this is a point of fact that clearly should’ve been stated and it was an oversight on my part that that simple acknowledgment wasn’t included. George Lucas made Star Wars with the help of incredible team of people and that is an achievement worth celebrating. -Joey
You gave Lucas credit - it's just that us fans have a love / hate relationship with the man. Clearly, he was at his best when he had a smaller ego and had the sense to listen to others.
well put to the commentor. As the 2004 DVD set explains, the first edit was terrible, because the first editors, just did as they wanted, and didn't listen to George Lucas. George Lucas had to fire them and hire the two men and his wife, who created the final film. This video doesn't explain this.
Perhaps you should have used Annie Hall as an example. That movie went through some genuinely extensive changes and revisions through the editing process (much more extensively than any Star Wars movie that Lucas made) and went on to win Best Picture.
RocketJump Good, I am glad. Because in your anti-Lucas rant you forgot to mention how when Star Wars was a big success he shared his earnings with the cast. Lucas has thanked and acknowledged the talented people that made Star Wars possible. You didn't mention that did you.
Oh, by the way...JOHN WILLIAMS SCORE WAS NOT ALTERED IN THE 1997 VERSIONS.
Star Wars hard core fans are a joke. They complain about 3 frames missing from a scene 18.
Since you are so much into nitpicking - Let's look at what happens when Mr. Lucas is removed from Star Wars. Oh, that's right the crappy Episode 7.
Merry Christmas....
Francis Hooton Thank you sir. God bless you sir.
this video is full of false information literally please just google the title of the video and you will see the second video in the search proves this.
Just found this out as well. It is intentionally wrong too which is horrible. They purposefully omitted facts.
@@Brandon.S.Brooker They lied! They lied to us!
We're far too trusting.
As a kid I used to look down on editing, I just thought it cut things and I believed the more stuff the better. Later I realized it is essential. You convinced me it is an art form of its own.
as a kid you thought every scene in every movie should begin with the director yelling “action!” and contain every take of every shot? like how could you not think editing was important
@@MetalMarauder they were a kid dawg chill out
Wow it's almost like kids haven't lived long enough to gather all the nuance that goes into the filmmaking process.
We cannot live in this reality. If we want to save the future, then we have to repair the past. --Jean-Luc Picard.
They do give awards just for editing you know.
Two things really jump out at me:
1. The way the scenes are placed in the rough cut are the exact sort of things the prequels suffer from
2. This also seems to be why Lucas likes changing things in post so much.
listen to Lucas's audio commentary on Ep4. . Lucas contradicts every thing you are saying. Can you provide links to real interviews to back up what you are saying?
@@JohnMorris-ge6hq Don't believe Lucas for a second.
@@JohnMorris-ge6hq To whom are you responding ?
Marcia Lucas fought to keep the Biggs scenes in.
Brandon Smith Though I do find The Phantom Menace boring, I personally find that Attack of the Clones is the “peak” of George’s directing. I feel that at least Phantom Menace could’ve been saved with some editing which is why I think it’s somewhat better than Attack of the Clones
To be fair, most great movies go through a lot of re-writes, scene deletions and recuts. Even reshoots. As a professional film editor I can tell you it is standard practice to call the editing process the 3rd writing process. For all movies. That said, seeing this process you put together is fascinating! Thanks for doing it.
George Lucas was the chief editor on the original Star Wars. He oversaw the entire process and edited the acclaimed gunport sequence himself. His wife Marcia only edited a third of the film and left to work on another film before the final edit was even completed. There were two other editors on the film, who edited the other 2/3 of it. And besides, nearly every film, as you said, is saved in the edit. ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
Up next, how John Williams saved Star Wars by adding music.
It's based on a classical music composition called Jupiter. He modified it a little.
Try watching a scene without John Williams music.
@@mrkitty777
A little? Well, I guess Avatar is just Pocahontas modified a little because they have a similar structure. JFC people like you are so insufferable
I thought other people and myself like the opening 20th Century Fox theme because of nostalgia. But I read John Williams made the opening score align with that fanfare. Definitely better to have John Williams than to use classical music; it was OK for _2001: A Space Odyssey_ which is so slow, and we hadn't seen it before.
The score for _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ was also good (they re-used the title for _The Next Generation),_ but there's too much staring at the models.
That one is actually true
"Help us Marcia Lucas , you're our only hope!"
And hten they divorced, and lucas had full control in phantom menace... It all makes sense now
Lucasfilm should totally re-hire Marcia for episode IX
R. G. W 50,000 points!!
@Jkd Buck76 it costed enought that he had to sold what today is known as Pixar..
@@murciadoxial8056 If you think about that.. they divorced during ROTJ production.. wich is where the problems began :we got a frakin boring and redundant Jabba's palace that takes over 1/3 of what was suposed to be the saga grand finale.. 40m where one character gets captured, then another, then another then another.. and all that "just" for getting Han.. they could had done it in 10m ..15 tops. then there is the whole Ewoks thing.. and the final simultaneous ground-space-throne battle. Wich ok its awesome.. but why every time i watch it i find myself fast forwarding all Ewok scenes? there is barelly NO rebels fighting footage.. mere seconds.. Han and Leia just hide in the door and shot at troopes here and there until Chewie (and Ewoks) capture an AT-ST.. the whole ground battle becames Ewoks vs Stormtroopers and thats it..
wow, I consider myself a pretty diehard Star Wars fan and I didn't know about 90% of this. Excellent video. I have even more respect for the editors now
Maybe you've read the JW Rinzler books, but if you haven't I'd recommend them highly. You can get these on a kindle/tablet with sound bites and small videos embedded in them.
Also this explains a lot. Lucas is simply mediocre. He has a vision, but that is it. Apparently (with that quote in mind) he does terrible job as a director (of actors and scenes), hates it and if able, make his films just about editing few algorithms. And based on the films that followed (prequels) he is also terrible editor.
So kudos for his creativity that introduced us to the Force, little green monsters and so on. Nothing else is earned, just parasited. All his 4bln empire would be nothing. A F-rated (not even B-rated) space crap that would fall into oblivion.
Awesome man. I haven't read those and I will definitely check them.
Malisman77 Since you are so easily persuaded by UA-cam videos to a certain opinion, I have a gift for you:
Look up "What the sequels can learn from the prequels" on the Schmoesknow channel.
@@Malisman77 mediocre but made THX-1138, american graffiti and star wars. and he was awarded heavily and acclaimed heavily for graffiti which is why star wars was greenlit in the first place. AND was tabbed to do APOCALYPSE NOW because studios and his colleagues thought he was that good.
Do some actual research....maybe you have in the 2 years.
I never knew how much editing changed the film.
90% of the work is in the editing.
Scenes can be completely re-cut, re-arranged, & altered. It is how it is presented to the audience
That's how it is with most films
It didn't, this entire video is nonsense
@@cryogenixoldskool5803 its only right in the sense that every movie ever made goes thru extensive editing, but ofc hese acting like this is a special case which either means hes extremely bias or just dumb. both maybe?
While I believe this video wasn't meant to bash George Lucas, it omits a lot of key elements about the making of the film, and makes Lucas pass for a clumsy guy who really didn't had much idea of where his film was going... which is far from being the truth
He omitted and changed so much from the original source (JW Rizzlers book).If he didn't do this intentionally, then he simply has worst research skills. Either way, RJ isn't worth listening to.
It WAS intentional. He doesn't just omit key info, he presents actual lies, warping the timeline of all of this. How did Marcia Lucas save Star Wars after Lucas's rough cut screening when she LITERALLY QUIT BEFORE IT!? Why is John Jympsan NEVER EVEN referenced? Why is Marcia credited as cutting the Tatooine scenes when the book explicitly states she FOUGHT to keep them in?
Not to mention the way they precisely choose to clip quotes... Yeah they knew what they were doing
Yeah, it's always said that they were people all around Lucas who helped to cut down some of his ideas, but somehow we never talk about the ideas his surrounding had which he didn't retain for the better...
But yeah, for a subject with this much documentation, they really should have gone further, unless they really wanted to discredit Lucas...
@@ludwik7326 They did want to. It's almost irrefutable at this point. The information they leave out, and the WAY they choose to leave it out. As well as the random lies that they start pulling
Lol, treadwell was wall-e
Actually he was Number Five, and then WALL-E came after that.
17:30 - ...and then promptly got rid of most of them by Return of the Jedi, and ALL of them when working on the prequels. The success of the original Star Wars trilogy, by all accounts, was due to his then wife (Marcia Lucas - a very smart and talented woman, whom Star Wars fans have mostly ignored; if you love the original trilogy, THANK Marcia Lucas) saving George from himself (he remains his own worst enemy), and in collaborating with very talented people, with far better ideas than Lucas had.
Unfortunately, George received all the credit, and the clout / power he received from it allowed him to do whatever he wanted going forward.
Nero Wolfe gladly, and yet sadly, the prequels proved to everyone George Lucas wasn't the god he thought he was.
Yes, so much this!
Well George didn't get all the credit. He didn't receive any Oscars.
People don't know about her because he pretty much deleted her from star wars history, he took her credits off the film I believe and then of course down played her input
TuomioK - True. But how many of those Oscar winners became multi-billionaires, had the power to do whatever they wanted, and were a household name worldwide?
Recognition from your peers is nice, but that quickly fades when you see the decades of outrageous rewards George Lucas reaped off of other people's talents and creativity.
My jaw dropped when you said "The Death Star wasn't about to blow up the rebel base." It's mind blowing how they were able to edit that entire sequence practically out of thin air.
mightyvoovoo Credit where credit is due! She (Marcia Lucas) came up with that ALL on her own.
... and mind blowing that GL would overlook such an obvious way to make the movie not suck. Guy understands world building but that's it. Not story telling, not dialog, not characters...
When I watched that scene as a kid, I didn't notice to plot line about the Death Star about to blow up the rebel base, and I found myself getting bored watching that sequence. Now when I watch it I'm more on the edge of my seat.
@@stevecarter8810 That's my big problem too. I'm good at world building, but that's it. Unlike GL, I have the humility to admit it and (should I ever become a filmmaker) defer to the expertise and wisdom of others to make up for my shortcomings.
Because it isn't true.
The NOVEL, which came out in DECEMBER OF 1976, has the sequence in full, including Luke and Co. making TWO runs on the trench.
John Jympson was the original editor, and it would be impossible to overstate his contribution to the art of film editing on A Hard Day's Night (which, when you think about it, was essentially the very first music video, almost 20 years before anyone had ever heard of such a thing). But it was clear that Star Wars was too new and unique for Jympson, and he didn't quite grasp what it was going for.
The notion that the Beatles created the first "music video" with "A Hard Day's Night" is complete nonsense. It was a musical and musicals existed before the Beatles came along, even in rock 'n roll music. Did you ever see "Jailhouse Rock" or "The Girl Can't Help It?" Just about every Elvis movie was a "music video," and as far as I know, John Jympson didn't work on any of Elvis'' films.
@@metv2363 Take a class in film montage or read a book about it and you'll find out that AHDN has WAY more in common with music videos than with Elvis movies. Good Lord.
@@edfelstein3891 "Take a class in film?" Like you did at as community college? Come see me in Hollywood, if you ever make the trip.
@@metv2363 You're looking for a flame war. I'm not biting. Let me just say as a final response:
ua-cam.com/video/y8AavEpS6CI/v-deo.html
"...reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video..."
@@edfelstein3891 , go back to school and complete your education. You don't meet the height limit on this ride.
Nice shoutout to the Despecializied Editions!
C3PO could have been the Jar Jar Binks of the Original Trilogy
He was, he would never shut the fuck up, and the only thing useful he EVER said was that they hyperdrive was damaged in empire.. which, wasn't really needed. The clunking sounds told us that
Meesa C3PO meesa can speaksa 6 millionsa forms of dialogsa. I think 3PO can safely go down in Star Wars history as actually being loved by most people who actually understand the value of having characters of different tone to give the other characters balance. EI Mary & Pippin in LOTR. Jar Jar and his ridiculous race is only enjoyed by light sabre loving fan boys who need to cling to something
Yes but C3PO nailed it. I loved him playing the victim in his British accent. He was an awesome character. He should have been used in TPM and the rest of the prequels instead of JJ Ab.... oh I mean Jar Jar... LOL
@@Artielectric okay, see, I loved him too, he was like salt, he enhanced and added contrast to what was there. If you pay attention, in the prequels, esp TPM jar jar is in every. Fucking. Scene. Fan edits have an awful time removing him because he's always there, so integral. Like salt.. too much kills the food.
C3PO is the key to all of this.
Something tells me the *prequels* could have been saved in the edit. Unfortunately by the time George Lucas got to make them he was already surrounded by yes-men and his vision and storytelling wasn't openly questioned or challenged. The Phantom Menace is just a nightmare. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in a serious fight with Darth Maul is interlaced with Jar Jar Binks clumsiness in battle against battledroids. WHO in their right mind thinks that works?? Tons of scenes in The Phantom Menace should have been cut altogether.
Jar Jar should have been cut out altogether. The fact that Palpatine was behind the Trade Federation guys should have been revealed in the final act of the story not 5 minutes into the movie because it reduced the Trade Federation into some lackeys taking orders from some (to them) unknown guy. The script is so lousy no amount of editing can save The Phantom Menace.
Research "The Phantom Edit". The folks behind that project couldn't do as much for these movies as the editors did for the first Star Wars, but they still made them so much better.
Jar jar shouldn’t have been cut, fans shouldn’t have been so toxic- if they hadn’t been a bunch of bullies they would have found out in AOTC why he was like this because he was actually meant to be a Sith Lord. There’s a reason why dooku comes from absolutely knowere just search it and you’ll find a 45 min video explaining it in detail.
@@wezmarauder2754 Correct. I doubt even better editing could have saved The Phantom Menace. People blame Jar Jar Binks too much but he is just one in a line of badly written characters. Jake Lloyd was wholly unconvincing as young Anakin. Qui-Gon seems to decide things arbitrarily and at no point does one think:"Wow, Gui-Gon really is a wise jedi who sees the big picture of things." Queen Amidala says very little and when she does (as queen) you just cringe at her lines. And last but not least. The Trade Federation are cowardly wimps and their battle droids are useless. Some threat. You'd think Palpatine would pick a more competent and scary lot to be his partners in crime/unknowing pawns.
People only talk about Star Wars, but in a remaster of THX-1138, George Lucas added CGI wings on a lizard in some random scene. Imagine, 30 YEARS after making a movie, feeling the need to put wings on some lizard ? The guy is mentally ill.
I think this youtube video about editing has been brilliantly edited. The rough cut of this video about editing did not convey well enough how important editing is.
I recommend watching this video which is a response to this one: ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
Epic showdown. Who wins?
"It's stylistically designed to be that way." -George Lucas
vs.
"It was all editorially manufactured" -Marcia Lucas
"It's like poetry, everything rhymes."
@@dialecticalmonist3405 "I may have gone a bit too far in places..."
"Jar Jar's the key to all of this."
I think both worked very well together. People blame that GL was not instrumental, which is wrong. George clearly had a unique talent no one ever thought of at the time. He had a vision, an original idea, and a mettle to do things no one tried before. However, he needed a team of good crews to make that dream come into true. Original ideas in prequels were genuine and good. The execution was horrible. I wonder what prequels will be like if Marcia Lucas and other editors that helped GL were there. Unfortunately, GL failed to see how important his support crews were.
@@youngbear2258 Correct. George couldn't have made Star Wars great on his own...but his team also couldn't have made it great without him.
If Lucas didn't have Marcia, Geoff Unsworth's photography (Lucas intended a gritty, hand-held style, not old school Hollywood), Ralph McQuarrie's incredible artwork that basically defined the visuals of Star Wars, the ILM guys that made the Universe real, the woman that designed Stormtroopers (I forget her name), the writers that were brought in to inject some humour and warmth to the rather cold script and, of course, John Williams' legendary score...Star Wars could well have been a cult 70's sci-fi B movie. Lucas owes an awful lot to a lot of people. I hope he paid them all their relevant dues.
This is how all movies are made. Its not a one man show. I'm sure Lucas is aware of that.
@@FancyFramePictures You're right, but when seeing the sheer amount of Star Wars iconography that was actually conceived by other people, while Lucas continues to be regarded as 'the creator', it seems worthy of mention.
@@Tokiofritz He is still the creator since it was his idea and he made the production happen. As well as we humans are lazy and it would be too time consuming to look up all that was contributing and mantion them in dialouge.
To be fair, he choose most of these people, even the ones that polished and re-cut some of the shit he had produced up until that point. It’s not as if anyone was forced on him.
Not to mention the woman who designed the logo!
This is fascinating! It brings to mind the numerous fan edits that exist of the Star Wars prequels. Last night, I watched Red Maple's 45 minute edit of Rogue One featuring John Williams' score and a few alterations, and found it immensely better than the actual film.
Timothy Mably
Interesting! Is it on UA-cam? If not, would I just google Rogue One fan edit?
i would like to know as well
www.maple-films.com/rogue-one-downloads.html
Timothy Mably Rogue One had pretty good music, replacing it with John Williams seems a little unnecessary
@@peterjoyfilms It seemed like it was just an experiment, since Rogue One is meant to take place shortly before A New Hope. Interestingly, even though the music was pretty good, the score was composed by Giacchino just a month or so before the film was released. They fired the original composer who was attached to the film, who I imagine had an entire soundtrack ready to go that Disney wasn't happy with.
This video actually isn’t very well researched, and fails to back up even its simplest claims. It’s a nice short and flashy video that makes you go “Oh, that’s neat”. I honestly advise you to do your own research into the production of Star Wars and it’s editing, because most of what this video says either isn’t true or is framed as bad when the edit made actually doesn’t change much.
There’s also a much more researched video on the subject by Nerdonymous, that I would highly recommend. I’d also just recommend reading the book “The Making Of Star Wars” by J. W. Rinzler. RJ pulls a few things from that book, but either skews them, leaves out half of a quote, or just straight makes something up.
This comment is not here to discredit the editors of Star Wars, they did a fantastic job and deserve a lot of praise. But to say “Star Wars was saved in the edit” is ridiculous when in reality it when through the same drafting and editing that all films go through.
A typical youtube video made by and for laymen filled with holes and inaccuracies.
Nerdon's video is far worse than RocketJump's. Unnecessarily long and for a video that's meant to only be analysing RocketJump's video, which is entirely about Episode IV, there is a worryingly high amount of sequel bashing with edited clips. Is it really necessary to have that every two minutes, is their video really that boring to them? Also the video doesn't really back up its points with more than assumptions. Its research is fragmented at best.
I think Nerdon was just so hellbent on not giving RocketJump any amount of credit for anything that he ended up going way too far. RocketJump's video is not perfect, but it's definitely more interesting and better made than the nearly 90 minute rant of some guy trying to channel their inner MauLer.
@@destinedwarlord2128 Are you insane?
@@destinedwarlord2128
“A poorly researched, falsehood filled dumbass hit piece on George Lucas is better than the video that debunked it presenting actual facts, backing up every single claim and doing extensive research because the latter is lOnGgG”
-you
@@destinedwarlord2128 bang on lol. Too many seething idiots on the Internet
Marcia Lucas; The TRUE unsung hero of Star Wars
Roland Rockerfella well you know, except for coming up with the whole universe and all
She is the reason Lucas made the special editions, if he had not vastly changed them, he would have to pay Marcia a % of the earnings. And now that Lucas appointed Cunthleen Kennedy to run Lucasfilm, who gave us TLJ, I just want to say: Fuck you George!!!
Without george lucas no STAR WARS!
Lucas had people like Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston design EVERYTHING you see on screen. I've seen Lucas behind the scenes and he just asks people to design a spaceship and they design it for him. His input is THAT basic!
@@Jucelegario blame steven spielberg for kennedy. he collaborated with her husband on close encounters in 1977. and then rather than firing her for being a terrible PA to spielberg on raiders, he appointed her to a producer role, which is what she was for almost all of spielberg's movies including the indy films, ET and jurassic park and movies like the bourne films.
Had he fired her, she might not have grown to such heights and been trusted by lucas. although the signs were there she sucked like the jurassic park /// trainwreck production and other stuff.
this time it wasn't george's fault.
Everyone's saying Lucas was a crap director/writer, but he was actually opposed to the Luke scenes at the beginning. A colleague (Barwood, I think) told Lucas he needed those scenes to make the movie "more human." Also, the Twin Suns scene? It originally had WAY different music. It was switched AT LUCAS'S REQUEST. Lucas hated the first cut himself ("It's not the movie I wanted to make"). The main reason the first cut was bad? It wasn't Lucas. It was just REALLY POORLY EDITED. That's the whole point of this essay.
Lachlan Macfarlane I think the idea was that the script (by Lucas) has bad pacing. And the first edit mainly followed it. It was just at the first screening it was realized that the script flow/dialogue did not work on the screen.
So it needed a major not just re edit but more so reconstruction.
Stefan Holmqvist The script had that pacing at the behest of others, so the point still stands
that's all great alexandre but in the end he didn't do the first edit, he highered some one from the studio to edit the film he showed to his friends. Who later helpped him edit the film so your point falls.
Simply the Best Well not really though right?
Cause, if parts of the script were studio mandated and he hired someone to do the first cut per the script, then it really weren't his choices that were the problem there no? The script problems don't really fall squarely on his shoulders there is the point I was making.
When the first screening helped break studio mandate, Lucas was able to work with his team to make a much better final cut.
In the end, all movies are team efforts and that's the real takeaway here. It's never 100% a single person's film. That's why you often see the greats working with the same people often; they work well together.
Lachlan Macfarlane great points and thanks for the info! People are so bent on criticizing Lucas because they’re mad about the prequels that they are blind to the fact that he is actually a great director.
So Lucas had a great idea, but couldn't execute it without his team. Makes sense. Prequels, "I'm a big boy. I don't need your help." Makes sense too.
Yeah, definitely a difference. No more, "No, George, we need to do this..." only "Yes, sir!"
But to be honest, everything 'wrong' with the prequels was there in Return of the Jedi.
@@GinjaNingerMan Not everything. No long expositional walks through Marriott hotel lobbies, for instance. No complete lack of a compelling conflict. (There's nothing in the first two prequels anything like the tension between the Emperor and Luke--nor nothing as subtle and complex--as the tension between Vader and the Emperor--"Strange, that I have not felt it (Luke's presence)...are you sure your feelings on this are clear, Lord Vader?" "They are clear...my master." Ewok nonsense aside, the main plot was completely compelling in Return and the final throne room battle...Luke's unmasking of his father...and the funeral pyre scene all well realized, powerful moments.
Have you ever seen the credits at the end of a movie. How many thousands of people it takes to get a movie done and most of them are not that good. This was a great movie. Lucas didn't fall off the turnip truck one day and accidentally make a great movie. Watch the documentaries on the making of Star Wars. Every editor saves the movie. That's the editors job. But if he or she doesn't have anything to save, it won't be a great movie no matter how good the editor is.
@@davidc.2878 Yeah but the 'Ewok nonsense aside' covers a large chunk of the story. The problem with Jedi is that you have basically two extremely successful parts within the story, which are the Jabba introduction and the Throne Room sequence (which is extraordinary, true). But they are act I and III of the story. The whole act II (which in screentime is almost half of it) should have been the epicenter of conflict, but it is mostly Luke brooding and... Ewoks. And Han & Leia become glorified extras in Jedi. They have nothing to do. Clearly Lucas did not want to make something out of Luke's newfound identity except use to it to fuel his internal conflict. We could have had a film where the rebellion found out about it and started to question Luke, or something of the kind, something that would have exteriorized his internal conflict and turned it into proper plot material (not filler) and given muscle to his character development. Leia has literally no interesting lines past the introduction and Han and Lando are basically the same character in Jedi. Only Luke and Vador get interesting stuff (and of course the Emperor) throughout.
what about the sequels?
How Star Wars went through the normal editing process that all films go through.
Which is not true. The editing in Star Wars did change key tactical points of the narrative and made the film the classic that it is. Other films adhere pretty much to the screenplay. The only other film that I could readily think of where the narrative structure was built through editing was Apocalypse Now! which was also edited by Marcia Lucas.
@@toddsputnik8265 That's just a lie. The narrative structure was not changed by the editors (apart from the fact that George supervised all the editing!), and certainly not by Marcia 🤣
For example, it was Marcia who fought to keep the earlier introduction of Luke in the film (according to Rinzler's "Making of Star Wars" book).
I did not mean to imply that Marcia made the changes and that George was not an integral part of the editing process, after all, he wrote the screenplay. George and Marcia did work hand in hand during THX 1138 and American Graffitti so the narrative changes in the editing process were done under his auspice. But SW is amazing as to how it improved from the original raw cut to the version released in 1977. And the editing out of the Biggs scenes was brilliant because those scenes are really bad.@@fundhund62
@@toddsputnik8265 You know nothing of how the editing process works. I'm a skilled hobbyist editor myself and can straight up TELL you that every film relies upon the editing process to fundamentally shape the final film. Editing isn't just placing scenes in order. There's a rhythm to editing; every single shot has to be framed and cut to a beat. Your argument is akin to saying that individual musicians don't make any real impact upon a song. They just play the notes in order. You're ignorant.
Literally every great film ever made owes a part of its success to the editing process, just as it owes a part of its success to the script and to the direction and to any number of other filmmaking techniques and skillsets. As a skilled editor myself, I am sick to death of ignorant plebs thinking that the editing process is akin to putting a child's jigsaw puzzle together and essentially monkey work. It's an art form, so show it some damn respect.
Did you watch the video at all?
wow this video made me appreciate the original movie even more.
Could be the most important and Valuable Star Wars video on UA-cam. Bravo, good job guys.
too bad it is mostly made up or directly a lie
@@FlakeCZ true ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
they won an oscar for best edition, yet he went back and tampered with their work, jesus!
I understand why he did the space parts, but things like putting large animals in Mos Eisley was just unnecessary.
and the Jawa comedy. Yuck.
Exactly!
George purposely left Marcia out of the history credits. How unfair.
He didn't re-edit the movie. He just added a few touches and fixed the special effects.
Actually, it was George's idea to take out the unnecessary scenes of Luke in the beginning, and Marcia fought to keep them in. It says so in JW Rinzler's book. ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
Really now
@@taylanozdemir8616
Yeah this video claims to use JW Rinzler's book as a source but the book debunks all the claims rocketjump makes
Ssshhhh you're killing thier narrative..
This video makes lots of false statements like that to fit his narrative that Lucas is a dunce whose mediocre work was saved in the edit by brilliant editors. The rough cut that DePalma & co saw was edited by her, for instance, and a lot of the other things this doco likes to credit to her is in the original script, written by Lucas. And none of them said the rough cut was a disaster, etc. DePalma made fun of the missing special effects scenes, and “this force shit”. They were great friends and liked to tease Lucas.
@@msandersen Hey now! Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!
Holy crap I never knew! This makes all those hours planning and editing my short films worth it!!! I always felt like the whole story was changed no matter what during editing but this proves it1
TrifelinJ Few things are perfect from the first draft.
TrifelinJ How about you spend some of that time editing your comment. I’ve read it three times and it still makes no sense.
Editing gives the perfect timing for things to happen.
vjrei Yea I'm starting to realize that the final rythym of youre video is so important. Something to keep in mind while planning/shooting
Apparently Top Gun went through some serious editing, probably a good doc about that out there somewhere.
YOU ACTUALLY STATED YOUR SOURCES!!! IS THIS EVEN UA-cam !?!
Times change, huh
hahaha ikr
Well not quite. It seems he cheery picked and hand waved a lot of contradictory information . . . ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
Lol, it's irrelevant stating sources if most of what is said here is literally historical revisionism and straight up lies.
This is such a great example of how such a great step in cinematic history was not taken by just one man. It would have failed without his colleagues and friends. If it was just up to Mr. Lucas, he would have dropped the ball and never changed the future of Sci-fi.
"Sci-fi"
This is probably why the prequels are so bad compared to the originals, he surrounded himself with yes-men/women and made some stupid decisions (like not making jar-jar a sith, which only made him that much more of a useless and annoying character, also that's probably why the 2nd movie is generally considered the worst, because they had to rework the entire thing)
@Litshttam The prequels were Anakin's story. Why would Episode II and III hang on Jar Jar?
@@ludde12345678950 Where did you hear Jar Jar Binks was going to be a Sith? Jar Jar was the comic relief meant for the kids.
@Litshttam huh?
EVERY MOVIE IS SAVED IN EDITING.
We just don't know enough about most movies to understand the extend to which their rough cuts did NOT work. The first cut of almost every movie is a mess.
Ummm no, Phantom menace was not saved in editing, is bloated with useless scenes.
As a professional editor, this isn't entirely true.
Yes, there have been MANY films that were saved in editing. However, most GOOD films had a very deliberate and planned concept of how they would be edited before they were even shot, because not having any kind of clear idea of the film's overall structure would be utterly incompetent. Hence, _STAR WARS_ is a unique case of an editor (Marcia Lucas) actually being more responsible for authoring a film than its Director. This is certainly not a common process for most films.
For a better indication, the rough cut of _RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK_ was virtually identical to the finished film. There were a few scenes that got trimmed, but the ones that stayed were generally left untouched from their rough version and their sequence order in the film was also the same. The only major change from rough to fine ("fine cut" is the most commonly used term in the industry for a final cut) was the addition of the closing romance scene, outside the steps of Washington...
...The original included no such scene...
...but then Marcia Lucas commented how odd it was that such an integral character just disappeared from the film, never to be heard from again. So George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan wrote it as a new scene, which Spielberg filmed as a reshoot; it was added between the final two scenes. Otherwise, it's the same film.
This is probably a more common example of what happens during movies editorial processes; trimming and minor addition. The "fine tuning" segment of the video is usually all that happens on most films, but some exceptionally troubled productions have had to do more work in certain historical instances. _STAR WARS_ is one of them. Interestingly, since that film was made, it inspired a radical new way of working; in which directors will now DELIBERATELY shoot their films with next to zero vision, and drastically rework them in editing. Terrence Malick is an example of a great filmmaker who works this way on purpose. Every film he shot since 1998 stopped using storyboards, and every film he shot since 2010 (with the exception of _A HIDDEN LIFE_ ) was shot without a script. So this style is usually done INTENTIONALLY when it happens now, as opposed to this film where it was a happy accident of being able to save a film with no vision upfront.
@@MrMarsFargo No, Marcia Lucas herself debunked this idiotic theory, look it up. George Lucas is one of the greatest filmakers of all time, and he alone came up with everything Star Wars fans have grown to love today. To pretend that literally everyone else "fixed" the movie is moronic at best.
@@MrMarsFargo Also, George Lucas was one of the chief editors on the project as well, because he is also a great editor. So if the movie was "saved" in the edit, guess who saved it?
@@calebadams690
Kay, go ahead and argue with an ACTUAL PROFESSIONAL EDITOR who had to study and research how this film was made as part of his training.
That’s not arrogant at all 🤩
I love this video! I've heard many times that Star Wars was saved in editing by Marcia Lucas but now I know how exactly she did it. This must have taken an insane amount of research and it's really well written and edited. Thank you!
Harmy Despecialized he read a Wikipedia article lmao
Except the fact the GEORGE worked hand in hand with Marcia in the edit room - uncredited. G Lucas has edited *all* his films and others (like THE GODFATHER and APOCALYPSE NOW). Something the history revisionists either hide or forget.
peterthx oh, don't overplay what Lucas did on Coppola's films, he helped a bit. That doesn't mean he was a co-editor.
He was on STAR WARS. The type of revisionist history in these videos need to end, people still so butthurt about the prequels they want to rob Lucas of any accomplishment.
thats pretty much because the prequels were rubbish.
It seems that George Lucas is more of a world builder than a storyteller.
Absolutely nailed it - give this person a cigar!
He's an Idea Man. Put him 5 feet near a script and the universe implodes tho
True of many, many fantasy series writers as well.
Is that why Lucas was involved with loads of fantasy films y'know about storytelling...
He need to colaborate more with his crew
Without the edit Chewbacca would've unleashed his true power and one shot the death star just by staring at it
yea
Without Marcia Lucas, we may not have known that Chewbacca was someone to be feared. She not only edited the movie -- she provided a lot of input during the entire production. For instance, it was her idea that Chewie would scare a Mouse Droid.
And that wasn't even his final form!!!
Chewie is Jiren confirmed
NOT A SKETCHY LIKE AT ALL
It's funny how removing the history channel editing of this video make you realize that it's substance is on the level of a CinemaSins video.
LMAOOOOOO yeah this video sucks. It's poorly researched and spread so much misinfo just so Lucas haters can have another delusion of him being an incompetent dweeb who stumbled on success rather than writing and directing it.
This entire video is discredited. Watch "How Star wars saved in the edit....was saved in the edit"
@@bp6942 I did actually.
@@emilefoy-legault1031 Good good! (I was partially shamelessly piggy backing your comment to get this somewhere people might read)
@@bp6942 I'm fine with that.
The video also indirectly highlights how George basically wrote his wife and editting team out of the history of Star Wars. Without them, Star Wars would have been some forgettable schlock sci fi movie with some good effects.
It's only after the prequels exposed George that people have realized how much he leaned on others. Which is perfectly fine, no one can do stuff alone. But taking nearly sole credit for a collaborative work was shitty of him.
He did not write them out of anything. They won oscars for editing star wars!!!
Lucas was the only one in the team who didn't win an Oscar
Exactly, the prequels had so much potential, but they had the same problems as the rough cut here evidently
Lucas actually used to patronise his wife about her editing skills, because he thought and still thinks that he's a master film editor! He even says that it's his strong point in the PT Making of docs. He said that's where he feels most at home, in the editing room. Trouble is, he's a disaster in the editing room! Take the Falcon's escape from Bespin in ESB, for example. Originally we had a perfectly paced action sequence, but then Lucas dumped a load of mini clips of Vader making his way back to Executor in there for absolutely NO reason! I mean, WHY?! Not only are they not needed in any way whatsoever, but the stupid little clips break up the action and drama!
She was a genius and saved the OT, imagine if Obi Wan hadn't died (meaning probably no Yoda ever existing) and the Death Star battle wasn't all that good. I think people should give her credit without talking about Lucas, she won an Oscar and he never did.
Use the edits, Luke
Lucas*
*after releasing star wars special edition*
Remember, the edits will be with you, always
George Lucas was the chief editor on the original Star Wars. He oversaw the entire process and edited the acclaimed gunport sequence himself. His wife Marcia only edited a third of the movie and left to work on another movie before the final edit was even completed. There were two other editors who edited the other 2/3 of the movie. The notion that Lucas had nothing to do with the editing of the original movie, that he's a terrible editor, or that his wife singlehandedly saved from the movie from him--it's all a myth.
Excellent video essay! George was the visionary behind the entire concept, but film is a collaborative effort. When George himself got TOO MUCH credit and too much control, we got...well, you know what we got. Thank heavens for good editors and a director with the good sense (or wife) to listen.
He tried to do the same with the prequels but no one would help him. Too much risk I guess. We ended up with a good story but bad acting and dialogue and CGI. Some good lightsaber duels here and there. Not the best movies but hey, it could have been worse. Could have been The Last Jedi.
ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
@@ejn8982 Based ;)
I like the story that Marcia said "What happened to Marion" in _Raiders_ so they went back and filmed a scene on the steps. Too bad she wasn't around to fix Willie Scott's character. There was a point when Indy might have left the kids to their fate and just run off with the treasure. She could have been the person to turn him around, then no more screaming from her. But of course, part of the reason _Temple of Doom_ was dark was due to the divorce. I even saw a scene recently where Indy punches the cigarette girl in the face (accidentally, but still!).
You know what I find ironic? Many of the deleted scenes from the original trilogy would have made the originals worse, but a lot of the deleted scenes in the prequels would have made the prequels better. You can really make or break a movie depending on how you edit it.
ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
The prequels are good as they are
@@Replica_Films2000 don't click on that
@@firebal6129 why not?
@@observerdude9809 it’s just...not worth your time
It’s a hate video specifically against this vid
3:00 Shows that Lucas is a genuis with a huge imagination, but needs other experts to help him simplify. It's like channeling the rage of a beast to something great
If only he would use his powers for good instead of evil...
How did he use his powers for evil?
Benjamin Tyus prequels
That's how it is with all of them. The advice and assistance Lucas received from the other filmmakers at that screening is similar to the advice and assistance Lucas provided to those same filmmakers on their projects. And a lot of those filmmakers were present and offered feedback on the prequels. The hatred comes not because they are bad movies, but because they didn't line up with fan expectation.
@@urshitheads Exactly :(
"If my blade should find its mark, you will cease to exist. But if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
That sounds pretty damn badass, actually.
I know, I liked that.
@@Digital111 I bet Sir Alec Guinness told Lucas to say that line rather than the original dialogue. Guinness did openly complain to Lucas the lines were incredibly clunky and poorly written. Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill said the same.
Alexandre Bourgoin I agree. Basically saying Vader’s screwed either way.
It's needlessly wordy and inferior to what we saw in the original 1977 theatrical edition. It's the equivalent of turning the Terminator's "I'll be back" into "Give me a moment. I will return shortly after I've completed other tasks."
Of course, "needlessly wordy" and "inferior" are exactly the words to describe 90% of the dialog, story, and imagery in the prequels too. You know, those movies where George had full creative authority and nobody around him to tell him how much it sucked. In this respect he's much like Gene Roddenberry: a guy who came up with a great idea and then made it suck (a.k.a "ST:TMP") when he got his way. At least Roddenberry was stopped after ruining one film. George got to ruin three prequels and retroactively ruin the original trilogy.
George is a great idea man. He took Kurosawa's stories and transformed them into a sci-fi universe. But that's where it ends. George is not a good movie maker. The success of 1977's Star Wars is despite him, not because of him. Empire, arguably the best of the originals, had George involved the least. One is compelled to wonder how much better RotJ might've been had that trend continued.
Eric Smith The prequels are great; YOU'RE needlessly wordy.
I know this is hard to believe, but I sincerely think Lucas was aiming more for a "Godfather 2" kind of epic movie, a visual feast with some lengthy exposition, but he couldn't do it, so instead we got a tightly-edited James Cameron-style blockbuster. In fact, look at Terminator 2, and check out how much stuff was edited out. Lengthy and very expensive scenes had to be cut, once Cameron realized they didn't work too well. We get a better movie, but with a slightly odd feel and quirky pacing. In the end, the amazing effects sequences in both films save the day, and make them classics.
You mean that James Cameron's movies have a George Lucas-Style.
Aliens is another good example movie of a husband director/wife production team. Gale Anne Hurd made huge and very effective changes to cut down and tighten up the theatrically released version. IMHO Cameron's full 'director's cut' version isn't nearly as good as the theatrical release.
@@gfarrell80 Cameron is very passionate about his films, and tends to go overboard with excessive scenes. He knows when to listen about making cuts.
Everyone look up nerdnonymous, he thoroughly debunks this entire slogfest
Wait, you make video essay too? 😲
Please make more video essay
Vardamas thank you ✋😁
As a filmmaker, editing is rewriting and a good editor can make it even better. This was such a beautiful essay. So true, wonderful and something many people should watch and learn from on how a film should be made. Awesome, awesome job.
ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
The video is full of many lies meant to discredit George Lucas. They did a great job clipping their quotes in just the right place to adhere to their false narrative
Marcia was an editing genius.
Right because she had such a long and distinguished career in the business. On no wait.... She literally never worked again post 1977.. Ran off with all of George's money it seems..
@@dbreiden83080 you hate women so much, you've been commenting all over the place against a woman that made SW what it is today. She took what she deserved, what she made create. That money was earned asshole.
@@m1sh474 EVERYONE who worked on SW helped to make it what it is today. The whole idea of filmaking' is that it's a collaborative process where everyone tries to bring forth a directors vision to the best of their ability :0
@@onemoreminute0543 no one said otherwise. In the original SW case, it was thanks to this amazing collaboration that saved those movies. This collaboration didn't happen in the prequels and it shows.
@@m1sh474 In what way was there no collaboration? Say what you subjectively want about those films, but I fail to see any adequate evidence to support the notion that Lucas was surrounded by 'yes men' with the prequels.
It's a notion that is opposed from film historians Rinzler and Paul Duncan :)
It's a shame how a really interesting documentary about how editing "saves" a movie it brought down by deliberate misinformation about when the changes were made and who made them. By February 1977 the rough cut you describe didn't exist, many of the changes you describe were already made, and two of the three editors had left the picture already. The rough cut you describe is the October/November 1976 cut, in which Chew, Hirsch and Marcia Lucas worked. Instead of describing the editing as an organic process that slowly improved the movie, you present it as "Lucas' first edit was bad, then three editors came in and they saved the film". A shame really.
I know it drives me nuts. This is deliberate misinformation to bash on Lucas and people are too stupid to look any of this up.
Current narrative is that "women are amazing", to score social media points, and it's always easy to use Lucas as blame for everything. That's all they did with this vid. Promote a narrative based on current meta, that has nothing to do with facts but feelings.
@@Janzer_ I mean it's pretty well documented the Prequels were ass because Lucas didn't have anyone to tell him no, and was kind of megalomaniac while running them.
So it's not just a phony narrative to look back and notice the differences between who he collaborated with on his earlier projects compared to his later films.
@@llJiggyFlyll I mean, it's not really documented at all. It was claimed in some retarded internet video by RLM and then repeated ad nauseum by even shittier internet commenters.
@@llJiggyFlyll The idea that Lucas was surrounded by 'yes men' for the prequels has been rejected by film historians Paul Duncan and JW Rinzler
1:35 “Star Wars snatched victory from the jawas of defeat”
Wow, everyone involved in making Star Wars won an Oscar except Lucas. Now I understand the Salt.
lol
Woody Allen deserved best directing and best writing...but Gary Kurtz deserved best picture !
"its salt"
Specially when you ex-wife wins one.
And you secretly know that your ex is the only reason why your movies were a success to begin with! lol
It's the magic of editing !
🔮
I actually understand what they were trying to do with those opening scenes. They were trying to show that Luke was this small town boy, who was always looking up at the stars and dreaming of leaving. They also go to show how he was always trying to keep up with the war against the empire. Also, if I remember correctly, there was a scene originally with his friend Biggs on Tatooine when the film was released, but it was cut latter. A lot of people actually thought this was a mistake, as it doesn't really make as much sense or hit as hard when Biggs is shot down later and dies during the attack on the death star. Also, his extreme reaction to C3PO talking about the war makes less sense with that intro.
The solution should not have been to cut it out, but to reshoot it, and have it occur after we saw the un-interrupted battle on the ship. Lot's of movies do this, where they show another perspective of what had just happened a few moments before.
The funny thing is, Marcia Lucas wanted to keep those scenes in as she had worked on them- it was George Lucas's decision to take them out :)
When they went to make _Star Wars: The Radio Drama_ for NPR they expanded the movie into 13 nearly 1/2 hour episodes. The first episode is Luke on Tatooine with his peers, racing down Beggars' Canyon and the deleted scenes including him seeing a space battle and Biggs's return where he says he's going to join the Rebel Alliance. I didn't know they filmed them or were in the original script; I thought they made them up. But it works as an introduction.
I think they did make up the second episode where we see Leia on a mercy mission meeting Darth Vader, and later with her father on Alderaan before stealing the plans.
@@onemoreminute0543 I just watched _Icons Unearthed: Star Wars_ that had clips of the interview with Marcia and she wanted those scenes out.
@@sandal_thong8631 Rinzlers book seems to tell a different story.
@@onemoreminute0543 I don't have that book. But I did listen to the audiobook of _The Secret History of Star Wars._ On the author's webpage for Marcia Lucas, he says:
"2007's _The Making of Star Wars_ treats Chew as the primary cutter and only credits the space battle and the (deleted!) Anchorhead scenes to Marcia as a solo editor, but given the book's tendancy [sic] to downplay her (not even including her photo on the editors page) and the fact that she was not spoken to for the book, this is suspect (other publications, like Baxter and Pollock, treat her as the main cutter)."
I strongly suspect that despite whatever exciting behind-the-scenes stories that book has based on documents from the 1970s, it was made by a fellow working at Lucasfilm and therefore subject to the revisionist-history that George Lucas is known for saying years after the fact.
Im fairly sure the death star was about to blow up the rebel base in the script.
It was. You can find the shooting script online. RJ created that narrative out of thin air.
It was. RJ lied MANY TIMES in this video
It’s been in the script since then second draft
@@stephenh5944I think you're right.
I read that the reason why the information regarding the death star approaching the rebel base was delivered through off-screen dialogue was due to budget restrictions. Supposedly they ran out of time and money to shoot certain scenes in the film's climax, so they had to use offscreen dialogue to fill in the missing information.
My uncle has worked directly with George Lucas on a number of projects and knows Lucas personally. He told me a lot about how the editing of Star Wars was so important, noting, "You can understand the dramatic flow of Star Wars by not watching the movie itself, but turn around in your seat and just watch the audience reactions." Getting a nice, detailed analysis on the editing was great to see, thank you!
Moral of the story to production: fix it in post
Moral of the story to post: fuck production
Lot of those cut bits were used in the radio drama. Being made up of short episodes makes the flow work better with less hard cutting so they add a lot of good interactions between bits.
I loved that as a kid for several years, as it was how I knew the original _Star Wars._
Also the Alan Dean Foster novelization which came before the radio drama - I had read the book before I first saw the film in 1978 in some very early re-release.
The original turned into the classic we know it today because there were people around to tell Lucas "Nah, let's go back and take another look at this."
If only they'd been around when he made the prequels...
Honestly this is why I hate the Prequels with the passion of a thousand suns. I rage at what could have been, what we would have in their place if talented people had still ridden herd on Lucas. And that lack of second thought was an albatross around the necks of the people charged with giving us the last trilogy.
@randomguy8196 you do know that Lucas offered both the director of empire strikes back and spielberg the direction of the prequels but they rejected it? He also asked chew and Hirsch to come back and they declined.
@@thecollector4332 I see we have some logic in the comments section. Good job! :)
@@onemoreminute0543 I can't understand how people can be so naive and believe in any nonsense they are told. I don't know really much about film industry. But I'm 100% sure that director of any movie has full control over filmmaking process, this is why he is called Director. Editor can't just say "Fuck you" to director, make his own scenes out of nothing and put it in the movie without permission. He is not involved in shooting process, he is working with the material he is provided. If this material is shit, not a single editor can save it. It is same with music. If it has shitty chords and melody it can't be saved in the mixing process.
So this basically goes to show George Lucas shouldn't have had free-range on the prequels because on his own he can't make a good film. Episode 4 wasn't saved by him, it was saved by Steven Spielberg/Others.
Edit: It's been 6 years since I made this comment at the time of writing this edit and there's clearly a new-found appreciation for George Lucas' work in this saga, and this video has been disputed by other creators. Either way, these films were clearly a collaborative effort, and I think Lucas stretched himself too thin on attempting to direct all 3 prequels compared to only 1 of the originals.
one thing to remeber in all of history there has never been a great movie which was made by 1 person film-making is a collaborative art one person can never make it good
So, that may be true, but if we look at the new sequels, we kind of see what happens when collaboration takes place...I mean, sure the Force Awakens was good, but only because they brought nothing new to the table. It was a complete rehash of Episode IV. If felt like a corporate product. I think there needs to be a balance: a director has a vision and the editors try to work with that vision, but also at the same time make clear that there are some things that the director gets wrong on many things.
Gary Kurtz should get most the credit. He was the producer up until RotJ and was instrumental in fleshing out the stories. He came up with the idea of the force. Lucas wanted it to be a crystal with magical powers. Kurtz said that was shit and made it more of an "eastern" type philosophy.
Well, sure, I think that the Force Awakens is better than Rogue One, and I loved the Force Awakens. However, the similarities don't just end at the Death Star. Tell me if you heard this: A evil military organization is searching for important documents that is entrusted to a small droid. A young adult who has been stuck on a desert planet with two suns comes across the droid and is caught up in the operation to bring the droid to the rebels. The young adult also comes across an old mentor who took part in the previous war and has a deep relationship with the Sith Lord. He's obviously hiding a secret about her relationship with said villain. Later the Sith Lord kills the mentor, and the young protagonist sees this. Overtime, said young adult gains powers in the Force and is driven to the Rebel's cause. Also, a Death Star comes into play primarily because said Rebels have gained the droid's information, and said Death Star blows up.
The Force Awakens and a New Hope both fit these descriptions. It didn't necessarily anything new to the table in terms of plot. It does bring in new characters who I am interested in their arc, but that's it. Same battle between Rebels and Imperials. Now the question comes: can The Last Jedi build on said characters? If so, then The Force Awakens gets better. If, however, the Last Jedi becomes a repeat of the Empire Strikes Back (and a training scene with an old mentor already screams as such), then we are in big trouble, and I can safely say that the Force Awakens was a corporate product (because Star Wars didn't really need a sequel) designed to work off our nostalgia that I enjoyed, but kind of felt empty.
Script wise The force awakens was awful. So was rogue one. Both are written for children with autism
Ah yes... the line, "Evacuate? In our moment of triumph?" really highlights that the Death Star was "just sitting there waiting to be blown up."
this video is very "trust me bro" material.
Yeah, just watch another video debunking this kne with actual facts about what really happened.
This video is complete and utter fiction. You can literally read the shooting scripts to see what George originally intended. Also he fired the first editor and started editing himself. He then hired the three final editors and they all worked together towards George's vision. Nothing ever gets put into a Lucas film unless he wants it there. Just look what he's done with these movies over the years. As technology improves he adds things back. Special editions anyone?
Actual, REAL Documentary quality ? On UA-cam? WITH sources stated?!?! Is this real life??
Awesome ! THANK YOU! :-)
I always say that 90% of everything on UA-cam is crud but every now and then you find some good material or gold nuggets in this ocean of filth.
Is this the first youtube documentary you saw?
Yeah, wtf you on about? This isn't 2012; people actually put effort into their videos, specially documentaries like these. Sure crap is still more popular, because crap will always sell, but this isn't that uncommon anymore.
It's not that quality. It portrays Marcia as some kind of savior of Star Wars. She edited one sequence in the entire film. Battle of Yevin. The other two editors did the vast bulk of the work that turned it into what it is today. Ppl like to over sell her role.
@@alcovitch Yes true but she was also script doctor to the film
According to the channel Nerdonymous, most of this video is either misleading or outright false.
Star Wars was “saved” in the edit just like every other movie is “saved” when it goes through editing - but this video is poorly researched and does not accurately display what happened in the editing of Star Wars.
Curious to know what response this channel might have to that criticism.
You are so right. I kind of was convinced seeing this video here the first time, but I was too non-critical and not skeptic at all. Nerdonymous just destroys this video, and he is right.
this guy also didn't even NAME the editor that supposedly saved Lucas's ass.
Isnt every film saved in the edit?
Again people trying to make up the narrative that Star wars is good in spite of Lucas and not because of him. “How star wars was saved in the edit was saved in the edit” clears up all these points.
Nerdnonymous
5:35 - Is that, another women in the galaxy???
She came across well on camera ! I guess they thought they didn't need anymore characters for the audience to keep up with.
Camie
Driving Crawley who? Talking to Han?
Yeah I was also surprised by this.
Oddly enough she Rey kind of looks like her :D
I want to see rough cuts of every movie ever made.
If you look at the original opening crawl, you can tell that George from the very beginning knows exactly how this vast world should bet set up. Pretty much every piece of information that was left out from the original opening crawl were all later fulfilled during the making of the prequel trilogy. George may not be a person who is good at making good tempo for his stories, but he knows exactly how to structure his world in a way that is more fascinating than anything we've ever seen.
He has his flaws sure but I think his strengths balance out
Furthermore he IS the creator of the franchise
Looking at how bad it was pre-editing, Episodes I-III suddenly make sense.
I think that explains the unofficial edit of the Episode-1 which was applauded by many
those films get way too much hate
By "get," I think you mean "deserve."
YEP!!!
The problem with the prequels lay more with Lucas' shortcomings in the areas of screenwriting and directing actors, as far as I'm concerned. Even so, I'll take them over any of the movies Di$ney has put out so far. They clearly don't "get" Lucas' universe.
Thank you Marcia Lucas, you saved the franchise before it was even born
By editing ONE sequence, the battle of Yevin. She didn't edit the whole movie. Jesus.
@@alcovitch She did help edit the whole film. She was a regular editor for the whole trilogy. Jesus
There were also two other editors including Lucas himself who cut the gun port sequence.
keep in mind george was telling her what to edit. it was his vision and it would have turned out exactly the same if he was the one doing it
@Captain Brandon Horror Lover Yes, and if George cared enough about his marriage during the original trilogy, he could have saved it and kept the one collaborator, his wife, and co-editor, during the Prequel trilogy whose artistic opinions he couldn't ignore.
Woohoo! Harmy is in this...kinda. The Despecialized Editions are amazing!
Carl Siemens The Disney versions will be way better. Why? The fan in question did not have access to the negative (3.2 - 3.6k) but a run of the Movie print. That's 800 lines at best. People don't realise that the 35mm print people used to see in the cinemas wasn't even as good as a HD Blu-Ray. And it's been proven.
I'll wait for Disney "Original Editions" scanned from the original negatives themselves.
John Morris
We do realize. However, it is the best option so far. You can wait for the official versions: They might release in a few months, years or never.
Storytelling: what do we need to know and when do we need to know it. Also moviemaking. Nice work, well done.
This video kinda further validates this notion that I've felt for a long time. George Lucas was extremely fortunate to attain the levels of success he did because clearly if it weren't for the team he had, Star Wars would not have reached the the legendary status it did. Lucas did great with coming up with the original idea of Star Wars but it was the people after him that took it to fame. Unfortunately, the average Star Wars fan would have never known who these editors were (I know I didn't). And to further highlight my point: the prequels. Lucas reached that level of fame to where no one wanted to openly criticize his work with the prequels. However, with the original Star Wars, people was upfront with him and ripped his movie apart.
Who chose Lucas' team?
Most successful people had help. I don't think it's unusual that Lucas was one of them, or that that makes his success less impressive. Probably every creative victory is full of unsung heroes. Like they say, 'no man is an island'.
the producers..
The producers were Kurtz and Lucas (executive producer), and it was Lucas to choose the members of his team.
I'm not defending bad behavior, I'm defending the idea that Star Wars is primarily a creation of George Lucas.
The moral is that if you're making a movie, you should get as much coverage as possible. That way, if your movie needs to be saved in the editing, you'll have plenty of material to use.
Yes and no;
As a professional editor, there are films that had hours of coverage and still turned out terrible, despite having some of the best editors in the world working on them.
Such a film, like _DAU_ , had no vision upfront. The director just decided he would figure it out in editing. After close to 20 years of editing it, using over 200 hours of footage for a final runtime of 1.5 hours, it was universally panned.
Coverage is meaningless,
if it's not GOOD coverage.
Coverage can't save a lack of vision. You'd be surprised how often it actually works better to LIMIT how much coverage you have; that way, it forces you to be more focussed and specific in designing the few shots you do have. You can't cut to much else, so you better know exactly what purpose that moment serves... or else you can't design a shot to convey that.
Even _STAR WARS_ didn't have an excessive amount of coverage for any given scene; just one or two options for any moment, with only one possible option for a "master shot" (depending on context, a "master shot" can mean a shot that covers the entire scene beginning to end).
What they DID was create new coverage where they didn't originally have any; great editors can do this. If they deleted a scene, or an entire section? Like the Alderaan scene, which was originally really long? They would treat that deleted footage like new coverage, that they could insert into other scenes (out of its original context).
It's not about HOW MUCH coverage you have,
as much as HOW SPECIFIC your coverage is.
that's how most movies get made.
You take a ton of scenes with slight differences and then chop it together in edit cutting out most of the fat.
I like the story that they didn't have enough footage so had to rewind the Tusken Raider to make it look like he's shaking his staff.
Wow... I never knew Luke had friends.
Ceceli He does mention that he is going "to town", so to speak, to buy some parts and hang out with his friends. He likes to mod his crappy lansdpeeder.
I will sure try to remember that when a rewatch 456123.
Ceceli Lucas wanted to portray his love of souped-up cars, and hanging out with friends at some cool hangout, talking about mods and parts, but in a science fiction setting. But he couldn't achieve it.
You can look up the deleted scenes on UA-cam. Wedge is introduced, who is in Ep 4-6. Also that's part of the book.
@@stephenkeen5737 Or you could, you know, just watch them on a Blu ray or DVD collection. I mean, what kind of Star Wars fan doesn't at least have a DVD if not a Blu ray of AT LEAST the original trilogy, if not the first 6 films? I personally just completed my collection a few days ago when I bought Solo on Blu ray.
teamwork makes miracle for the eye and the heart, thank you
ua-cam.com/video/olqVGz6mOVE/v-deo.html
Talky, boring exposition-heavy and bad pacing. Now the prequels make sense. I wish more people realized how many unsung heroes there were in the first trilogy who saved Lucas' original ideas and made them into something better. Now we just need more recognition for Ralph McQuarrie.
Hear, hear!
more recognition for Ralph McQuarrie ? evrybody knows that ralph did the design for star wars ...
hell, I would argue that the thing that cemented star wars as a cultural phenomenon was empire, and that movie was almost completely out of lucas's control, so lucas was just the guy that wrote a first draft that, in better hands, would have lead to something better from the get go.
Also ESB's success had a lot to do with Irvin Kershner rejecting a lot of Lucas's ideas and doing his own thing. Also Lawerence Kasdan and Leigh Bracket's script.
@@Godzilla52 Sounds familiar...
the fact that a video with bullshit charged language and blatant misinformation has 3 million views and more appraisal than pushback is an affront to the art of creation and fills me with despair for the human race.
So, this makes sense why later movies weren't as good. You need the whole team.
A good script
A good shooting
and a good editing.
All to bring Lucas's vision to the silver screen.
But the moment he starts trying to take complete control, shit hits the fan.
AND a good wife
degree7 you haven't bothered to watch much or any of the behind the scenes ACTUAL non-biased commenting between Lucas and his "team"....have you? He literally surrounded himself with YES people. Most were his team from "young indy." Hell, there's even a scene where he's showing Spielberg the damn droid troops,...and Steven is like..."yeah,...cool guy...looks....great." Might want to take off the practice blinders and listen to some conversations.
+degree7
Nah, if you look at the behind the scenes footage, none of them dare to even question him, let alone tell him his idea is shitty. They are all yes-men. Unlike in the original film where his buddy told him the film was a bunch of bullshit and had to be heavily edited, and got him to let people refine his work. By the time of the prequels no one dared question him.
Actually the script wasn't THAT good, LOL. Alec Guinness had said the dialogue was "rubbish" and Hamill had asked Lucas to drop some lines too. By all intent, if the finished movie had followed the script verbatim it would have been a disaster...so Marcia Lucas basically help re-wrote the story via her editing.
@degree7 Money-making and merchandising motivated both the original and prequel trilogies, the original more so, although whether they were motivated by greed is debatable: A New Hope was meant to bail out American Zoetrope which Lucas co-owned with his friend Francis Ford Coppola, and the prequels were made to advertise the abilities of Lucas' CG animators so they'd have greater job security.
14:54 This narrative doesn't quite fit because both the Empire and the Rebels knew that the Death Star would destroy Base One if they got there in time. It was still a matter of self-defense for the Rebels. What made the movie better was making the destruction of Yavin IV an even closer race against time.
9:15 "You see, his blood... it drained into the boards and I had to change 'em..."
Every day I worry all day...
About what's waiting in the bushes of love.
I know you want someone to hold on to,
but we all got a chicken duck woman thing waiting for us...
Zuwel Scratch Everyday I worry all day....
Excellent break down, I had no idea how bad the movie would have been without the editing.
It wasn't just the editing. There were VERY talented people involved in the entire production of Star Wars. Star Wars didn't spring forth from George Lucas's head fully formed, like it's been mythologized by Star Wars fans for decades.
And let's not overlook the impact of John WIlliams' amazing scores.
5:37 whoa... who is that beautiful woman on Tatooine? (jaw dropped)…..
@Auntie Geigui She's only 62 now, so hush.
That's Koo Stark.
@@EtsiJuuret What's your point? I already knew her name, and I was telling it to Corek.
@Auntie Geigui lol
Rey's mother confirmed
The CC on this makes watching it so damned funny. Yosh the Foss, Lope.
Such a well done vid though. Thank you for making it!
Wow. That was amazing. I need to go on record and tell my 1st time watching Star Wars. I was visiting family in Charleston West Virginia in June of 1977. I was 9 years old. We all went "out to see a movie". When we arrived the line wrapped around the block! I guess word had gotten out! We decided to see what everyone else was going in to see: Star Wars! When the film started, all 3 of the later-deleted scenes with Luke on Tatooine were still there, and I think so was the scene with Vader walking in the Death Star hallway talking to that Imperial apparatchik. But I do not remember any of the other changed or rearranged scenes being present. So I guess we got to see a PARTIALLY re-edited cut. I never knew this, and was only slightly freaked out a few years later when Star Wars was premiered on network tv when I noticed those missing scenes with Luke. I have only watched those scenes again here on UA-cam a few months ago. It was powerful how those few minutes of film took me right back to 1977 again.
No... That's not true! That's Impossible!!!.... You couldn't saw this edit in June 77 because such edit never existed beyond the workprint editing period. That is just impossible. Your vivid memories are so called "Mandela effect" of false memory (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory). It might be caused by confusion of some sorts. May be you read a novelization and/or listned original radio drama with those scenes restored. You could see the pictures from deleted scenes in some magazine and combine those images with content in your head. The hallway scene you could catch in Holiday special.... Search your feelings... you know it to be true... ))
Many people insist they saw the deleted Tatooine scenes in 1977, but as stated, they were removed before the first public test screenings, so nobody outside the studios saw them.
However, photos were published in various magazines, and they were included in the novelisation, which are the most likely causes for the false memories.
@@dunebasher1971 The comic I still have from that time includes the scenes though. I always wondered why the movie was different.
Nerdonymous owned this video!!!!
And 99% of the stuff in this video is lies and half-truths. Nerdonymous did a brilliant job not only debunking all the major and minor points made in this “video essay” and actually provided creditable and valid sources to reference from. He actually did the homework instead of an opinion piece. Yes Star Wars has it’s problems and George Lucas is not the god above men people thought he was before 1999, but that doesn’t mean we should discredit or mangle the great work he’s done for cinema and our culture as a whole. Yeah people helped him out but that’s every film making production. The dude created the world, setting, lore, and characters of Star Wars and it’s best if we all stop denying how important he was to making the franchise so special. Star Wars would not exist or be what it is today if it wasn’t for the mind of a mad genius that had a knack for filmmaking.
What wasn’t touched.... the music! A masterpiece.
It would have been a mistake not to hire John Williams. I think the original idea was to use classical music like _2001: A Space Odyssey_ rather than an original score. Definitely how star wars was saved in the music department.