Star Wars, Film School

Last night I was forunate enough to attend a triple bill screening of the original Star Wars trilogy at the VanCity Theatre. This was the first time I was able to see all three films back to back, and on the big screen. The night started with an introduction by Dennis Murren, who worked on all six films as part of the Special Effects team. A New Hope started at about 7:30PM, and Return of the Jedi finished shortly after 2:30AM. Fox shipped restored 35mm prints (beautiful!) up here for the Spark FX Festival currently in town. I hadn't seen the film in quite a long time, so it I found it amazing the amount of information I took in this time around. I'm not sure if that is due to my eye for filmmaking now as compared to last time around, or the effect of the big screen, but I think it's probably a bit of both. I noticed a number of beautiful shots in Empire that I'll have to post later. I also whole-heartedly agree with most fans now, that Empire stands strong as the best of the six films, something I never gave much thought to before.

I truly believe that films are meant to be seen how the filmmakers themselves intended: In a dark room, on a large screen, with a fully attentive audience. The ambience of such an audience appreciates the movie going experience immensly, but that sort of thing is, saldy, almost non-exsistant today. But that's another post. Anyway, any time I get the chance to see classic films on the big screen that were before my time, I jump at the opportunity (Looking forward to The Godfather 2 next month!).

I've been reading a lot of books on filmmaking and animation lately, and subsequently watching a lot of films, both old and new. I plan to post about the books I've read and films I've watched, as well as my notes, but I'm just so focused right now that I've been neglecting to post. I guess I'm putting myself through a sort of self-educated film school. The best kind really, I'm having such a blast.