Rebellions are built on hope

The new Rogue One trailer looks amazing

The new Rogue One trailer dropped this morning and I'm really impressed. I've seen some folks expressing doubt that Rogue One will live up to the hype, but I'm hopeful. I think the story looks interesting. The art direction looks amazing. It's the Star Wars worlds, ships and mythology I grew up with, but on a grander scale. If I have one complaint, I feel like they may have dropped a few too many spoilers with this last trailer. I know where my wife and I will be on December 16.

---

Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he watches Star Wars movies with his kids – but not the original prequels. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.

Trailers x4

I love movie trailers, sometimes more than the movies themselves. Over the last month, four new trailers have caught my attention.

Rogue One. I love Star Wars and the Rogue One trailer is chocked full of Star Wars awesomeness. We'll see if the movie is as good as I hope it is, but it looks like the Star Wars I grew up with. Yavin 4. Death Star. Mon Mothma. AT-ATs. I'm excited to get more Star Wars for Christmas this year.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. As a fan of Harry Potter, I'm both excited and nervous about a new trilogy of films set in the Harry Potter universe. Much like Rogue One, the look of the trailer is perfect. It looks like a Harry Potter movie set in Prohibition-era New York. So much potential, but we'll see if it lives up to the original.

Suicide Squad. I love the DC television universe with Flash and Arrow, but I haven't been as impressed with the DC cinematic world. This trailer is obviously intended to highlight Harley Quinn, and they expect her to be the breakout character from the movie. The trailer is fun, but I'm not expecting much from the movie. I am expecting Harley Quinn Halloween costumes to be popular with the teenagers and college students this year.

Dr. Strange. I grew up a Marvel fan, but more on the X-Men side of the universe. I don't know much about Dr. Strange. The trailer does a nice job of setting up the magical corner of the MCU, with just a quick tease of the costume at the end of the trailer. Marvel has done a great job introducing lesser known properties, like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant Man. We'll see if Dr. Strange is Marvel's next success.

A cautionary tale: Understanding Lucas and his ridiculous tinkering with Star Wars

A friend posted a link on Facebook detailing all the changes that have been made to Star Wars since release. (Here's a playlist with all four change comparison videos for the original trilogy.) I was aware of many of these changes — the additions of Stormtroopers and creatures, additional scenes, and of course, the infamous “Greedo shot first” revision. But there are also countless small adjustments to color and effects that are subtle and I honestly never noticed.

Many, many, many fans have decried these updates and revisions. I agree almost all of these changes are unnecessary and more than a handful are shameful. But as a creative professional, I also completely understand why Lucas wanted to go back and make changes.

I can honestly say that I have never created something that I didn’t want to change the minute I was done with it. As creative people, we strive for perfection. And when we see a finished product that isn’t perfect, I think we instinctively want to improve it. But deadlines, budgets, clients and practicality get in the way of perfection.

George Lucas had the money, resources and control to revise the original trilogy. And so, he did exactly that. Fixing the things that bugged him about the original films. 

(This frustration is not unique to Lucas, either. Check out this article on Joss Whedon, who notes that he was unhappy with the original Avengers movie… Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about Whedon going back and messing with Buffy.)

Some of these changes to Star Wars aren’t bad — changing some coloring and polishing some effects. Others are awful — the whole Greedo/Han thing and pretty much all of the changes to Return of the Jedi.

I think George Lucas is a cautionary tale for designers. We often think we can continuously improve designs. If we just had more time, more budget or more control, we could make something better. But deadlines, budgets and client limitations help focus the design process.

Sometimes, more time, more budget and complete control just makes things more messy.