George Lucas's devotion to timeless storytelling and cutting-edge innovation has resulted in some of the most successful and beloved films of all time.
Lucas's films celebrate the boundless potential of the individual to overcome any limitations - something he firmly believes. This theme is strong in the early movies that marked the start of his professional career. In 1971, using San Francisco production studio American Zoetrope and long-time friend Francis Ford Coppola as executive producer, Lucas transformed an award-winning student film into his first feature, THX 1138.
Lucas's second feature film, the low-budget American Graffiti (1973), became the most successful film of its time, and garnered the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics' and National Society of Film Critics' awards. Pushing the boundaries of storytelling into new directions, American Graffiti was the first film of its kind to tell multiple stories through interweaving narratives backed by a soundtrack of contemporary music.
It was Lucas's third film, 1977's Star Wars that changed everything. A deceptively simple morality tale of good versus evil told across a fantastic landscape of exotic planets and bizarre creatures, Star Wars became an international phenomenon, despite the fact that few saw its potential during production. Refusing to accept the limitations of filmmaking at the time, Lucas created his own visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, to deliver the more than 300 shots required to make his vision a reality. Star Wars broke all box office records, set new standards for sophistication in film visuals and sound, garnered eight Academy Awards, and inspired a generation of young people to follow their imagination and dreams. The success of Star Wars allowed Lucas to remain independent and continue operating in Marin County, California.
Lucas has been storywriter and executive producer of a series of box-office hits beginning in the 1980s, starting with the continuation of the Star Wars saga, The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and Return of the Jedi in 1983. In 1981, he created the classic adventurer Indiana Jones, and co-wrote and executive-produced the successful series consisting of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a trilogy that won eight Academy Awards. Later, the television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles won 12 Emmy Awards.
In 1987, Lucas served as executive producer for Disneyland's launch of Star Tours, an innovative attraction based on the Star Wars films that now entertains crowds in all four Disney theme parks worldwide.
The famous Star Wars is a movie from the epic space film series directed by George Lucas premiered in 1977. Since there are multiple Star Wars movies in the series, this paper will be focusing on the first movie of the series called Star Wars: A New Hope.
In his article titled, “Star Wars and the Roman Empire,” Martin M. Winkler writes on Lucas’ trilogy and compares the storylines in the films to the Roman empire while placing focus on the similarities
Classical Hollywood movies are important to the film making. They have set a guide and standards to be followed by filmmakers to come. Making films is not only a business but an art. It reflects the directors and writers imagination of what the film should be. Classical Hollywood films encompass many formal elements. One such film that encompasses these elements is the film Casablanca. IT is a classical Hollywood film because it uses the formal elements in a way to convey its message and has been critically acclaimed for generations.
“I can make a big-looking movie for very little money by just being resourceful, being creative, using the rubber band versus a lot of technology, and not being ashamed about it.” ~ Robert Rodriguez
THX 1138, American Graffiti, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back…the list goes on and on. Although many have not heard of each of these films, everyone certainly has to know the man behind them. George Lucas has, in many cases, written, produced, and directed, not to mention edit, his own films. His vision was the driving force that imagined and created these movies. All have made back the cost of the film and most have received millions of dollars in profit.
JAWS was not the only film of his to make the "100 best films of the century" list by the American Film Institute. Many of Steven Spielberg's works have been placed on that list, and many are so timeless, they will live in the hearts of generations to come. Such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park have become legendary. In Spielberg's down time, he stringed together a personal little film about a suburban boy who befriends an earthbound alien, also known as E.T. for Extra-Terrestrial. It hit theaters in 1982 and became an instant classic and is still the defining film of his landmark-filled career. This magical and exceedingly sentimental film surpassed even George Lucas' Star Wars to become one of the biggest domestic moneymakers of all time. He has the unparalleled talent of capturing people's imagination and dreams, but at the same time tapping into humanities darkest nightmares.
Through the years Lucasarts has built up a considerable amount of critically acclaimed titles. This has placed LucasArts as one of the leading publishers and developers in the industry. Many of these have been based on the star wars series, examples include lego Star wars, jedi knights and X-wing. Other titles include thrillville, Indiana Jones and Fracture. Two of their most successful titles, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars Battlefront, received rave reviews by players and critics alike.
First National’s studio in Burbank, California, built in 1926, became the main studio. During the “Golden Era” of Hollywood, Warner Brothers had a slew of stars under contract: Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, and Humphrey Bogart, among many others. They released such classics as The Public Enemy, 42nd Street, and Casablanca during this time. Also in the 1930s, Warner Brothers established an animation unit that would go on to create the iconic Looney Tunes characters. Warner Brothers stood out from other studios because of its use of realism.
In this essay the following will be discussed; the change from the age of classical Hollywood film making to the new Hollywood era, the influence of European film making in American films from Martin Scorsese and how the film Taxi Driver shows the innovative and fresh techniques of this ‘New Hollywood Cinema’.
Star Wars: A New Hope. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher. DVD. Twentieth Century Fox, 2006.
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Screenplay & Dir. George Lucas. Lucasfilm & Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. Film
With many different genres and types of filmmaking, it can result in a large variety of stories and conflicts. Nevertheless, film has always brought people together as a society. If there is one thing everyone can notice about films is the achievement in style and directing. The three directors talked about in this paper are the most successful at delivering a breathtaking style and direction to their films. Baz Luhrmann, Wes Anderson, and Martin Scorsese have produced and directed films over decades and each film as impacted not only the United States but worldwide. With the unmistakable trademarks that each director has, it is very easy to feel sucked into the world in which they are shaping around you and the story. Because of these three directors, the film world and industry has been revolutionized for many centuries to come.
Quite possibly one of the most iconic openings in cinematic history is “A Long time ago in a galaxy far far away.” Of course, I am referring to Star Wars. It is such a fascinating and great movie going experience. There have been a total of seven Star Wars films, but in this essay I am going to be focusing on Star Wars: Episode 3- Revenge of the Sith. This film was written and directed by George Lucas and of the science fiction genre. Revenge of the Sith was released in theaters on May 19, 2005.
George Lucas wrote and directed Star Wars, he had tons of creative and production control just like Hitchcock. Furthermore, the film demonstrates his aesthetic vision through recurring themes of good verse evil, heroes fighting for good and saving the day. Lastly, the film demonstrates thematic and stylistic consistencies to create the meaningful narrative. One thing that stands out from Star Wars that illustrates George Lucas’ control over the production is the credits. He did not want the credits at the beginning of the film so the audience can focus on the narrative. In the late 1950’s the auteur theory was introduced to filmmaking which created a new way of making films. Auteur theory went against the classical narrative by focusing on realism. Auteur films had ambiguous endings, which deeper into the character’s physiological state. Even though, Star Wars demonstrates certain auteur elements, it does not go against the classical narrative. To conclude, Star Wars mixed classical Hollywood techniques with the auteur theory that lead to a different and unique way of making a
Every year new movies are released and I am always impressed the quality and effort put into making an effective