Star Wars opening crawl
Encyclopedia
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
series opens with a crawl
Scrolling
In computer graphics, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display. "Scrolling", as such, does not change the layout of the text or pictures, or but incrementally moves the user's view across what is...
(also known as a roll-up) of text which provides an explanation of the backstory and context of the film. The crawl has become associated with the films and has frequently been parodied.
Structure
The opening of each film begins with the text "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...." in blue, followed by the Star Wars logoLogo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
over a field of stars. The logo then moves away from the camera and subsequently, the crawl begins with film's episode number and subtitle
Subtitle (titling)
In books and other works, a subtitle is an explanatory or alternate title. For example, Mary Shelley used a subtitle to give her most famous novel, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, an alternate title to give a hint of the theme. In library cataloging the subtitle does not include an...
(with the exception of original release of Star Wars
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
– see below) followed by a three-paragraph summary of the events immediately prior to the incidents of the film. Scrolling from the bottom of the screen towards a vanishing point
Vanishing point
A vanishing point is a point in a perspective drawing to which parallel lines not parallel to the image plane appear to converge. The number and placement of the vanishing points determines which perspective technique is being used...
at the horizontal center and above the vertical center of the screen in a perspective
Perspective (graphical)
Perspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is seen by the eye...
projection. Each crawl ends with a four-dot ellipsis
Ellipsis
Ellipsis is a series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word, sentence or whole section from the original text being quoted. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence...
, except for Return of the Jedi which has a three-dot ellipsis. When the crawl has nearly reached the vanishing point, the crawl is faded out, and the camera tilts down through space to a ship or planet. Episode II: Attack of the Clones is the only film where the camera tilts up after the crawl.
Two typefaces are used in the crawls, both in yellow: News Gothic
News Gothic
News Gothic is a realist sans-serif typeface designed by Morris Fuller Benton, and released by the American Type Founders in 1908. The typeface was originally drawn in two lighter weights, a medium text weight using the title News Gothic, and a closely related light weight marketed under the name...
for the episode number and main body of the crawl, and Univers
Univers
Univers is the name of a realist sans-serif typeface designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954.Originally conceived and released by Deberny & Peignot in 1957, the type library was acquired in 1972 by Haas. Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei was later folded into the D...
for the title of the film. Several words are in all-capital letters to stress their importance: "DEATH STAR
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
" in A New Hope, "GALACTIC EMPIRE
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It is a galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in Star Wars...
" in Return of the Jedi, and "ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
Clone trooper
The clone troopers of the Army of the Republic are soldiers in the fictional Star Wars universe, cloned from Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter. They first appeared in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and returned in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith where they were played...
" in Attack of the Clones. Each line of the crawl spans the width of the screen when it enters from the bottom. In the fullscreen
Pan and scan
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
versions of the films, the full lines of text are cut off on the sides until they have scrolled further onto the screen.
The animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a 2008 CGI animated science fiction/action film that takes place within the Star Wars saga, leading into the TV series of the same name. The film is set in the same time period as the 2003 Clone Wars television series...
is the only theatrically released film not to feature an opening crawl, but instead feature a narration of the past events over several clips.
Origin
Lucas has stated that the opening crawl was inspired by the opening crawls used at the beginning of each episode of the original Flash GordonFlash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
film serial, which was the inspiration for Lucas to write much of the Star Wars saga.
In a 2005 interview, George Lucas described how the final phrasing of the text for A New Hope came about. "The crawl is such a hard thing because you have to be careful that you're not using too many words that people don't understand. It's like a poem. I showed the very first crawl to a bunch of friends of mine in the 1970s. It went on for six paragraphs with four sentences each. Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
was there...". De Palma helped to edit the text into the form used in the film.
Production
According to Dennis MurenDennis Muren
Dennis Muren, A.S.C. is an American film special effects artist, most notable for his work on the films of Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas. He has won eight Oscars for Best Visual Effects.-Early life:...
, who worked on all six films, crawls on the "original trilogy" films were accomplished by filming physical models laid out on the floor. The models were approximately two feet wide and six feet long. The crawl effect was accomplished by the camera moving longitudinally along the model. It was difficult and time-consuming to achieve a smooth scrolling effect. Furthermore, different versions in other languages (such as German, French and Spanish) were produced by ILM.
With the advent of computer-generated graphics
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
, the crawls for the "prequel trilogy" films were achieved much more quickly. The 2004 DVD special edition versions of the original trilogy were later updated with computer-generated crawls as part of their restoration and enhancement.
Episode IV opening crawl
When originally released in 1977, the first film was simply titled Star Wars, as 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
forbade Lucas to use a subtitle because it could be confusing, since there had been no other Star Wars movies prior to 1977. In addition, it was not certain if the film would be followed with a sequel. When The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, the subtitle "Episode V" appeared above the title card. To match its sequel's crawl, the subtitle "Episode IV: A NEW HOPE" was added for the 1981 re-release of the film where it continued to appear throughout the film's home video releases. The original version, without the subtitle, was not released again until the 2006 limited edition DVDs.
External links
- The official Star Wars website
- Episode I: At First Glance - article about the creation of the opening crawl for Episode IStar Wars Episode I: The Phantom MenaceStar Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...