A friend sent me the video above about a week ago now and I really enjoyed the style behind it all. I’ve always been a big fan of both Star Wars and Kurosawa, and even though I knew most of what the video laid out before hand, it was a hell of an enjoyable experience.
So when I saw Slashfilm was sharing it along with another video, I thought it’d be a fun thing to share over here as well. It comes from CineFix and it uses a dry erase art style to tell the story of Kurosawa’s rise to become a filmmaker and the eventual influence it had on the Star Wars trilogy.
The video covers everything from the use of wipes and storyline from The Hidden Fortress, the influence of samurai culture and armor on the opposing forces in the films, and even how some characters from Star Wars were based on actors used in Kurosawa films.
Now what they did over at Slashfilm was throw in an additional video that expanded beyond the Japanese influence and catered to the larger cultural influences on the series. It comes from Michael Heilemann, a self described Star Wars nerd based in New York, and his project titled ‘Kitbashed:’
The original Star Wars was a watershed moment, not only in film history, but in technology and modern culture. But where did it come from? What had come before, shaping it?
This is Kitbashed, a work-in-progress mashup of Star Wars with many of its sources of inspiration, playing as a feature-length presentation. (via)
It’s an interesting, but long look at the film and it shows a lot of attention to detail. I’ll embed the entire video below, but you can also check it out in easier to digest chunks on his Vimeo page. It’s well worth a look if you’re a fan of Star Wars or film in general.
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(Via SlashFilm / CineFix / First Showing)