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Star Wars Appreciation Society

date posted: Nov 30, 2007 1:34 PM

The Case of the Upwards Pan

So, has anyone else wondered why, in AOTC, the camera pans UP after the opening crawl instead of down? Every other movie in the saga pans down. I know this may sound like a weird observation, but it's a trademark of all the movies. Dating back to when my now 16 year old son was about 3, he would sit on my lap and point toward the ground as a signal that he knew the camera was panning down once the crawl ended. We both sat in the theater before AOTC and pointed down, and yet the camera goes up. We were shocked! I just wonder why George chose this route for the movie instead of sticking with tradition...whether just a mistake or if he ever really meant to pan down in all of them, or it just happened that way....

http://blogs.starwars.com/darthbryan/10

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	The Stooge Star Wars Joke-A-Day
date Posted: Nov 30, 2007 2:06 PM I also wondered about this... I kinda assumed at the time that they were just trying to do something different. (BTW, when the camera moves up or down, I think it's called a tilt, and not a pan. But that's just details.)

	YodasPadawan4 Star Wars Appreciation Society
date Posted: Nov 30, 2007 2:10 PM Thanks for the response! I thought at the time that they were trying to do something different too, but then he reverted to the downard TILT in ROTS...so even though it's a very small thing, it bugs me!!!

	guiguioh A journey into the Star Wars universe
date Posted: Nov 30, 2007 2:26 PM I thinks it's to pay homage to the movie 2001 Space Oddysey where the camera goes up at the beginning of the movie. I'm not 100% sure, so don't quote me on that.

	Sarlacc-Pitt Slowly Digested Over A Thousand Blogs
date Posted: Nov 30, 2007 3:17 PM I know why they did it. To mess with our minds!!

	Jade Sabre777 A luminous being, I am...
date Posted: Nov 30, 2007 3:39 PM To mess with our minds!! They knew we'd ponder it for hours on end! They're laughing at us right now!

jkthunder
Seven Pieces

date Posted: Nov 30, 2007 4:24 PM

Yep, it's a tilt rather than a pan. This anomaly in AOTC hasn't gone unnoticed by fans, but I haven't seen an "official" response as to why. I certainly doubt that it's a mistake.

It's actually interesting - It tilts up, but the Naboo Royal Cruiser does a very slick flip, and the next shot has the planet on the bottom instead of the top. I always thought this looked really cool, and was an interesting twist to the traditional openers.

Captain Peabody

date Posted: Nov 30, 2007 5:56 PM

It's because AOTC is...the DEVIL! It was created by GL to torment us for our faithless criticism of TPM, tantalizing us with hints of spectacle, and then crushing our hopes and dreams with scene after scene after scene of horrible, wooden acting and bad romantic diaulogue. The "upward pan" at the beginning was a sign that our judgement had arrived, and was created to give us one, last chance to repent now, and start praising The Phantom Menace... before it was too late. But, unfortunately, we did not heed this last, precious warning....

Okay, I went a little overboard with that...but you get the picture.

	YodasPadawan4 Star Wars Appreciation Society
date Posted: Dec 01, 2007 4:01 PM LOL...thanks for all the comments, and I'm glad I'm not alone in noticing and not liking this tiny discrepancy. It just makes the movie not FIT in some obscure way. Either that or I'm a hopeless geek.

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