Perri, who had been hired to oversee and execute the film’s title treatment, also submitted designs for the Star Wars logotype, but Lucas rejected them for use in the movie. Rice’s logo design, originally created for the film’s bid brochure and other print materials, was ultimately chosen for the movie’s main title sequence after being revised by Industrial Light & Magic’s Joe Johnston. Designed by artist Suzy Rice under the direction of Lucas, the logotype was then adapted for use in the opening by title designer Dan Perri. For the opening crawl Miklós Rózsa’s main title overture from Ivanhoe (1952) was chosen, a heroic-sounding piece of music that almost certainly informed Williams’ Oscar-winning efforts.īut what of that oh-so-recognizable Star Wars logo? The classic branding loomed large not just in the film’s opening titles, but on posters, t-shirts, lunchboxes, and every imaginable type of merchandise. Work from a wide variety of composers was selected to help set the mood, including Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Bernard Herrmann's Psycho score. Prior to John Williams’ involvement in the project, Lucas and editor Paul Hirsch added a temp soundtrack to an early cut of the movie. Lucas would again draw inspiration from the swashbuckling adventure films he’d enjoyed in his youth for the film’s main title theme.
Promotional posters for Star Wars including the original 1977 poster known as "Style A" by Tom Jung and featuring the vanishing point logotype initially designed by Dan Perri (top left), an alternate poster design painted by the Brothers Hildebrandt (top right), an updated version of the Hildebrandt poster featuring the final logotype (bottom left), and Drew Struzan's poster from the 1997 special edition release, also featuring the final logotype (bottom right). Fox initially opposed the idea of an opening crawl altogether, suggesting that a narrator could convey the same information more effectively, but the studio relented after Lucas’s friend, filmmaker Brian De Palma, helped the writer/director rewrite and streamline the clunky exposition. Like the rest of the script, this text went through countless iterations before it could be put to film (though at least one alternate version of the crawl was produced for a rough cut). Inspired by sci-fi serials like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, as well as a long forgotten Western, a chunk of expository text sets the scene, highlighting certain names and places in all caps to emphasize their importance to the narrative. War drums echo through the heavens as a rollup slowly crawls into infinity. George Lucas describes the opening titles in his screenplay:Ī vast sea of stars serves as the backdrop for the main title. The familiar subtitle, Episode IV - A New Hope, would not be added until the film’s April 1981 re-release. Composer John Williams’ triumphant overture blasts the title card into frame and off to infinity as the crawl rolls into view.
VIDEO COPILOT ELEMENT 3D STAR WARS MOVIE
In 1977 it was, quite simply, unlike anything our planet had ever seen.Īfter a thunderous Twentieth Century Fox fanfare and Lucasfilm logo, the movie begins with a phrase suitable for any tale of knights, princesses, and evil wizards: ”A long time ago…” The text is tinted light blue in order to make the subsequent main title reveal all the more dramatic. It is simultaneously one of the most iconic pieces of film branding ever created and one of the most indelible moments in all of cinema. But the Star Wars main title and crawl – or roll-up – is so much more than that. As a standalone piece painstakingly crafted by title designers, designed to set the tone of the film, as well as introduce audiences to the fantastic world envisioned by director George Lucas, it certainly operates as a title sequence. To classify the opening of 1977’s Star Wars as just a title sequence would be misleading. A long time ago in a warehouse somewhere in Van Nuys, California….
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