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Star Wars Opening Crawl Font

broken image


In this Photoshop tutorial, I'm going to show you how to create the title to Star Wars. We are going to make the perspective text and actually animate it, so that it moves just like at the beginning of all the Star Wars movies. We are going to do all of this in Photoshop CS6 or Photoshop CC. If you have an earlier version of Photoshop, you can still make the text effect, but you will need CS6 or CC to make the animation.

Star Wars Opening Crawl Font Generator

I have also included the PSD that you can download for free at the end of this tutorial. PhotoshopCAFE: doing what other tutorial sites don't 🙂 Enjoy!

Star


Step 1 – Creating the Text with the Star Wars font

Start with a new blank document. Set the background color to black.

Creating the Text with the Star Wars font. Start with a new blank document. Set the background.

Step 2

We are going to create some paragraph text.

Click the type tool

  1. The font used for Star Wars: The Force Awakens logo is ITC Serif Gothic Heavy, which is a display serif font designed by Antonio DiSpigna & Herb Lubalin and published by ITC.
  2. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a 2019 American epic space-opera film directed by J. It is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. ITC Serif Gothic is the typeface used in the logos of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. You can read more about the typeface in our previous posts about The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

Star Wars Opening Crawl Fonts

Choose bright yellow as the color. The font used on Star Wars is Franklin Gothic.

Step 3

Now, we will create a body of text. To create paragraph text, click and drag a box around the area where you want the text to go.

Either type, or paste in some text.

Here is the nonsense text used in this block, if you want to, just cut and paste it…

Episode whatever of PhotoshopCAFE tuts
How to make Star Wars Style animated crawling text in perspective. Oh yeah! And I'm going to show you how to make it move just like the beginning of Star Wars. This is a Photoshop tutorial you really don't want to miss, because no one else has done this before. Sure, a few have created a still version, but this is the first one to be animated and look like the real thing. Check it out on our youtube channel, PhotoshopCAFE and on our website: PhotoshopCAFE.com. We also have a ton of free Photoshop tutorials and new ones all the time. This one is by Colin Smith, founder of PhotoshopCAFE .com. Thanks for watching.

Step 4

We now want to add some perspective to the text. You will notice that you can't add perspective to a paragraph of text without rasterizing it. Or can you? I have figured out a sneaky way of doing it, that is the key to this technique working. (I thank my days as a Flash designer for figuring out this kind of stuff).

Right click on the text's Thumbnail in the Layers panel and choose 'Convert to Smart Object'

Step 5. making the Star Wars Perspective text

Now, we can transform this smart object.

With the text Smart Object active in the Layers panel, Press Cmd/Ctrl+T for free transform

Right Click and choose Perspective.

Step 6

Drag the top corner in to make a perspective shape.

Press enter to apply.

Step 7

We have now made an image of the Star wars perspective text effect. This is where other tutorials end (Hopefully, Youtubers won't rip off this tutorial, like they have a lot of my other tutorials, so sad). But this is where we kick it up a gear. We are going to make it move!

Animating the Star Wars Intro Perspective text in Photoshop CS6 or CC.

You can use any version of Photoshop to get to where we are right now, but you will need CS6 or CC to animate it.

Step 8

Open the timeline from the Window>Timeline menu if it's not visible.

Right in the middle of the Timeline, you will see a button that says 'Create Video Timeline.' Go ahead and click it

Step 9

You will now see a timeline appear in Photoshop.

I know you are tempted to try and animate things right now, but resist the urge. You won't get a decent result animating it on this timeline.

Step 10

This is where the magic of a nested animation comes in handy. (I wrote a book on this kind of stuff in Flash (How to Wow With Flash) and I can adapt these techniques to work in Photoshop.

Find our Smart Object with the text and double click the thumbnail

Step 11

You will notice that a new document opens with the contents of the smart object displayed. This is where we are going to do our animation.

Step 12

Go to the timeline and click the arrow on the left of the track name, to reveal the animation options.

Click the stopwatch icon to the left of the word Transform. This will create a yellow diamond which is an animation keyframe.

Star Wars Opening Crawl Font

Step 13

On the document window, drag the text down to the bottom of the screen.

(Tip: Hold down the shift key as you drag to constrain the movement to a vertical alignment). We are setting the beginning of the animation

Step 14

Now for the end

Move the playhead to the end of the timeline, by dragging it.

Step 15

Drag the text all the way up (while holding down the Shift key). We are moving it to the end position of the animation.

Step 16

You will notice that another animation keyframe is automatically created.

Step 17

If you press the play button in the timeline (Or press the spacebar) you will notice that the text now animates from the bottom to the top of the window.

Step 18

Now for the magic!

Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save the document (contents of smart object).

Close this window and go back to your starting document where you first created the text.

Press the spacebar / play button in the timeline

You will now see the star wars effect working!

I don't know about you, but I think this is pretty cool.

If you want to export this as a video do this:

Choose File>Render Video

Select Folder (name the video and select where you want it to be saved to)

Choose H.264 as the format

Preset: High Quality

Then press render

The video will now be created in the folder you chose. Be patient, it may take a while

I have more Photoshop animation tutorials here

https://photoshopcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Screen-Shot-2015-12-08-at-12.39.04-PM.jpg

I have done a lot of experimenting with video and animation in Photoshop and had the huge honor of presenting some of my techniques for Adobe at their world headquarters (several times), as well as at Adobe Max (the Adobe World Conference).

If you want to get deeper into what you can do in Photoshop with Video and animation check out the 2 premium videos that I have created. Video in Photoshop will get your feet wet and teach you the range of things you can do in Photoshop (perfect for a beginner). Then check out Making Movies in Photoshop, which picks up where Photoshop and Video leaves of. I have also written a book, Video in Photoshop with Peachpit Press that you can find at bookstores.

Thanks so much for checking out this tutorial!
Download the PSD here

Add a comment! See you at the CAFE

Colin Smith

CS6 Superguide

All the CS6 information and more is available as a PDF magazine called the CS6 Superguide. If you're on our list, you will receive it free by email as soon as it's available. If not, sign up now and get the CS6 Superguide for free. Or click the image below.

Three frames representative of opening sequences from films in the Skywalker Saga. The phrase 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....' which remains static on the screen and the Star Wars logo which shrinks to a central point is common to all of the films and are followed by a film-specific opening crawl. The example shown comes from a post-1981 re-release as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.

The Star Wars opening crawl is a signature device of the opening sequences of every numbered film of the Star Wars series, an American epicspace opera franchise created by George Lucas. Within a black sky background featuring a smattering of stars, the crawl is preceded both by the static blue text, 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....' and by the Star Wars logo which recedes toward a central point on the screen before disappearing. The crawl text, which describes the backstory and context of the film, then recedes toward a higher point in relation to the screen and with an apparent effect of disappearing in the distance. The visuals are accompanied by the 'Main Title Theme', composed by John Williams.

This sequence has featured at the beginning of each of the main Star Wars saga theatrical films produced by Lucasfilm. Although it has retained the same basic elements, the opening crawl has significantly evolved throughout the series.[further explanation needed] It is one of the most immediately recognizable elements of the franchise and has been frequently parodied.

The opening crawl was not used in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars or in the Star Wars 'Anthology' films, Rogue One and Solo, although all three films begin with the opening text, 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....'. Additionally, the opening sequence of Solo continues with a short backstory presented in the same style as the opening text, while The Clone Wars uses a narrator to provide exposition in a similar style to a newsreel.

Structure[edit]

Each film opens with the static blue text, 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....', followed by the Star Warslogo shrinking in front of a field of stars, as if moving away from the viewer. Initially, the logo's extremities are beyond the edge of the frame. While the logo is retreating, the 'crawl' text begins, starting with the film's episode number and subtitle (with the exception of the original release of Star Wars – see below), and followed by a three-paragraph prologue to the film. The text scrolls up and away from the bottom of the screen towards a vanishing point above the top of the frame in a perspective projection. Each version of the opening crawl ends with a four-dot ellipsis, except for Return of the Jedi which has a three-dot ellipsis. When the text has nearly reached the vanishing point, it fades out, the camera tilts down (or, in the case of Episode II: Attack of the Clones, up), and the film begins.[1]

Several words are in all-capital letters to stress their importance: 'DEATH STAR' in Star Wars, 'GALACTIC EMPIRE' in Return of the Jedi, 'ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC' in Attack of the Clones, 'FIRST ORDER', 'REPUBLIC' and 'RESISTANCE' in The Force Awakens, 'FIRST ORDER' and 'RESISTANCE' again in The Last Jedi, and 'REVENGE', 'EMPEROR PALPATINE', 'GENERAL LEIA ORGANA', 'REY', 'FIRST ORDER', and 'KYLO REN' in The Rise of Skywalker. Each line of the text spans the width of the screen when it enters from the bottom. In the 'fullscreen' (4:3 aspect ratio for standard-definition television) versions of the films, the full lines of text are cut off on the sides until they have scrolled further onto the screen. As a result, by the time the full lines are visible, the text is much smaller and harder to read. In addition, the viewer also has less time to read it.

Star Wars Crawl Text Generator

Origin[edit]

The opening crawl as seen at the beginning of an episode of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.
The opening crawl of Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific (1939)
Dan Perri's rejected Star Wars logotype

Lucas has stated that the opening crawl was inspired by the opening crawls used at the beginning of each episode of the original Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers film serials, which were the inspiration for Lucas to write much of the Star Wars saga.[2] The development of the opening crawl came about as part of a collaboration between Lucas and the seasoned film title designer Dan Perri. In 1976, Lucas invited Perri to Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm's post-production operation at Van Nuys, California. Perri, who had previously worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Exorcist, suggested that they take inspiration from the 1939 Cecil B. DeMille film, Union Pacific, whose opening credits are shown distorted by a sharp perspective and rolling along a railroad track towards a distant vanishing point.[3][4] Lucas was keen on the idea, so Perri developed sketches and prototype mechanical artwork. One of the earliest iterations of the opening crawl is evidenced in storyboards drawn by the production artist Alex Tavoularis, depicting the title 'THE STAR WARS' as a three-dimensional logo.[5]

Perri also designed a logotype, consisting of block-capital letters filled with stars and skewed towards a vanishing point to follow the same perspective as the opening crawl. Lucas eventually rejected Perri's logo due to readability problems, turning instead to the graphic designer Suzy Rice, an art director at the Los Angelesadvertising agencySeiniger Advertising. Lucas had commissioned Rice to design a promotional brochure that was to be distributed to cinema theatre owners. He instructed Rice to produce a logo that would intimidate the viewer, and he reportedly asked for the logo to appear 'very fascist' in style. Rice, inspired by historical German typography, produced a bold logotype using an outlined, modified Helvetica Black. After some feedback from Lucas, Rice decided to join the S and T of STAR and the R and S of WARS. Lucas's producer, Gary Kurtz, found that Rice's logo worked well in the opening title; the logo was modified further to flatten the pointed tips on the letter W before it was inserted into the final cut. While Perri's skewed logo did not appear on-screen, it was used widely on pre-release print advertising, and it featured prominently on film posters promoting the release of Star Wars on cinema billboards in 1977 (notably Tom Jung's Style ‘A' poster, the Style ‘B' poster by the Brothers Hildebrandt and Tom Chantrell's Style ‘C' poster).[6][7]

In a 2005 interview, George Lucas described how the final phrasing of the text for Star Wars 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 '70s. It went on for six paragraphs with four sentences each. Brian De Palma was there...'. De Palma helped to edit the text into the form used in the film.[8]

Production[edit]

According to Dennis Muren, who worked on the first six films, crawls on the original trilogy films were accomplished by filming physical models laid out on the floor. The models were approximately 60 cm (2') wide and 1.80 m (6') 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 Industrial Light & Magic.[1][9]

With the advent of computer-generated graphics, the crawls for the prequel trilogy were achieved much more quickly.[1] The 2004 DVD special edition versions of the original trilogy were later updated with computer-generated crawls as part of their restoration and enhancement.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy stated that the 2016 spin-off film Rogue One would 'more than likely' eschew certain traditional elements of the franchise, including the crawl, in an effort to distinguish it from the main film series.[10] In fact, Rogue One retains 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...', but then immediately cuts to the opening scene with no crawl. At the end of the opening scene, the title 'ROGUE ONE' recedes against a star field, like the 'STAR WARS' title of the main series, then there is a cut to the next scene.

Opening


Step 1 – Creating the Text with the Star Wars font

Start with a new blank document. Set the background color to black.

Creating the Text with the Star Wars font. Start with a new blank document. Set the background.

Step 2

We are going to create some paragraph text.

Click the type tool

  1. The font used for Star Wars: The Force Awakens logo is ITC Serif Gothic Heavy, which is a display serif font designed by Antonio DiSpigna & Herb Lubalin and published by ITC.
  2. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a 2019 American epic space-opera film directed by J. It is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. ITC Serif Gothic is the typeface used in the logos of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. You can read more about the typeface in our previous posts about The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

Star Wars Opening Crawl Fonts

Choose bright yellow as the color. The font used on Star Wars is Franklin Gothic.

Step 3

Now, we will create a body of text. To create paragraph text, click and drag a box around the area where you want the text to go.

Either type, or paste in some text.

Here is the nonsense text used in this block, if you want to, just cut and paste it…

Episode whatever of PhotoshopCAFE tuts
How to make Star Wars Style animated crawling text in perspective. Oh yeah! And I'm going to show you how to make it move just like the beginning of Star Wars. This is a Photoshop tutorial you really don't want to miss, because no one else has done this before. Sure, a few have created a still version, but this is the first one to be animated and look like the real thing. Check it out on our youtube channel, PhotoshopCAFE and on our website: PhotoshopCAFE.com. We also have a ton of free Photoshop tutorials and new ones all the time. This one is by Colin Smith, founder of PhotoshopCAFE .com. Thanks for watching.

Step 4

We now want to add some perspective to the text. You will notice that you can't add perspective to a paragraph of text without rasterizing it. Or can you? I have figured out a sneaky way of doing it, that is the key to this technique working. (I thank my days as a Flash designer for figuring out this kind of stuff).

Right click on the text's Thumbnail in the Layers panel and choose 'Convert to Smart Object'

Step 5. making the Star Wars Perspective text

Now, we can transform this smart object.

With the text Smart Object active in the Layers panel, Press Cmd/Ctrl+T for free transform

Right Click and choose Perspective.

Step 6

Drag the top corner in to make a perspective shape.

Press enter to apply.

Step 7

We have now made an image of the Star wars perspective text effect. This is where other tutorials end (Hopefully, Youtubers won't rip off this tutorial, like they have a lot of my other tutorials, so sad). But this is where we kick it up a gear. We are going to make it move!

Animating the Star Wars Intro Perspective text in Photoshop CS6 or CC.

You can use any version of Photoshop to get to where we are right now, but you will need CS6 or CC to animate it.

Step 8

Open the timeline from the Window>Timeline menu if it's not visible.

Right in the middle of the Timeline, you will see a button that says 'Create Video Timeline.' Go ahead and click it

Step 9

You will now see a timeline appear in Photoshop.

I know you are tempted to try and animate things right now, but resist the urge. You won't get a decent result animating it on this timeline.

Step 10

This is where the magic of a nested animation comes in handy. (I wrote a book on this kind of stuff in Flash (How to Wow With Flash) and I can adapt these techniques to work in Photoshop.

Find our Smart Object with the text and double click the thumbnail

Step 11

You will notice that a new document opens with the contents of the smart object displayed. This is where we are going to do our animation.

Step 12

Go to the timeline and click the arrow on the left of the track name, to reveal the animation options.

Click the stopwatch icon to the left of the word Transform. This will create a yellow diamond which is an animation keyframe.

Step 13

On the document window, drag the text down to the bottom of the screen.

(Tip: Hold down the shift key as you drag to constrain the movement to a vertical alignment). We are setting the beginning of the animation

Step 14

Now for the end

Move the playhead to the end of the timeline, by dragging it.

Step 15

Drag the text all the way up (while holding down the Shift key). We are moving it to the end position of the animation.

Step 16

You will notice that another animation keyframe is automatically created.

Step 17

If you press the play button in the timeline (Or press the spacebar) you will notice that the text now animates from the bottom to the top of the window.

Step 18

Now for the magic!

Press Cmd/Ctrl+S to save the document (contents of smart object).

Close this window and go back to your starting document where you first created the text.

Press the spacebar / play button in the timeline

You will now see the star wars effect working!

I don't know about you, but I think this is pretty cool.

If you want to export this as a video do this:

Choose File>Render Video

Select Folder (name the video and select where you want it to be saved to)

Choose H.264 as the format

Preset: High Quality

Then press render

The video will now be created in the folder you chose. Be patient, it may take a while

I have more Photoshop animation tutorials here

https://photoshopcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Screen-Shot-2015-12-08-at-12.39.04-PM.jpg

I have done a lot of experimenting with video and animation in Photoshop and had the huge honor of presenting some of my techniques for Adobe at their world headquarters (several times), as well as at Adobe Max (the Adobe World Conference).

If you want to get deeper into what you can do in Photoshop with Video and animation check out the 2 premium videos that I have created. Video in Photoshop will get your feet wet and teach you the range of things you can do in Photoshop (perfect for a beginner). Then check out Making Movies in Photoshop, which picks up where Photoshop and Video leaves of. I have also written a book, Video in Photoshop with Peachpit Press that you can find at bookstores.

Thanks so much for checking out this tutorial!
Download the PSD here

Add a comment! See you at the CAFE

Colin Smith

CS6 Superguide

All the CS6 information and more is available as a PDF magazine called the CS6 Superguide. If you're on our list, you will receive it free by email as soon as it's available. If not, sign up now and get the CS6 Superguide for free. Or click the image below.

Three frames representative of opening sequences from films in the Skywalker Saga. The phrase 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....' which remains static on the screen and the Star Wars logo which shrinks to a central point is common to all of the films and are followed by a film-specific opening crawl. The example shown comes from a post-1981 re-release as Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.

The Star Wars opening crawl is a signature device of the opening sequences of every numbered film of the Star Wars series, an American epicspace opera franchise created by George Lucas. Within a black sky background featuring a smattering of stars, the crawl is preceded both by the static blue text, 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....' and by the Star Wars logo which recedes toward a central point on the screen before disappearing. The crawl text, which describes the backstory and context of the film, then recedes toward a higher point in relation to the screen and with an apparent effect of disappearing in the distance. The visuals are accompanied by the 'Main Title Theme', composed by John Williams.

This sequence has featured at the beginning of each of the main Star Wars saga theatrical films produced by Lucasfilm. Although it has retained the same basic elements, the opening crawl has significantly evolved throughout the series.[further explanation needed] It is one of the most immediately recognizable elements of the franchise and has been frequently parodied.

The opening crawl was not used in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars or in the Star Wars 'Anthology' films, Rogue One and Solo, although all three films begin with the opening text, 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....'. Additionally, the opening sequence of Solo continues with a short backstory presented in the same style as the opening text, while The Clone Wars uses a narrator to provide exposition in a similar style to a newsreel.

Structure[edit]

Each film opens with the static blue text, 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....', followed by the Star Warslogo shrinking in front of a field of stars, as if moving away from the viewer. Initially, the logo's extremities are beyond the edge of the frame. While the logo is retreating, the 'crawl' text begins, starting with the film's episode number and subtitle (with the exception of the original release of Star Wars – see below), and followed by a three-paragraph prologue to the film. The text scrolls up and away from the bottom of the screen towards a vanishing point above the top of the frame in a perspective projection. Each version of the opening crawl ends with a four-dot ellipsis, except for Return of the Jedi which has a three-dot ellipsis. When the text has nearly reached the vanishing point, it fades out, the camera tilts down (or, in the case of Episode II: Attack of the Clones, up), and the film begins.[1]

Several words are in all-capital letters to stress their importance: 'DEATH STAR' in Star Wars, 'GALACTIC EMPIRE' in Return of the Jedi, 'ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC' in Attack of the Clones, 'FIRST ORDER', 'REPUBLIC' and 'RESISTANCE' in The Force Awakens, 'FIRST ORDER' and 'RESISTANCE' again in The Last Jedi, and 'REVENGE', 'EMPEROR PALPATINE', 'GENERAL LEIA ORGANA', 'REY', 'FIRST ORDER', and 'KYLO REN' in The Rise of Skywalker. Each line of the text spans the width of the screen when it enters from the bottom. In the 'fullscreen' (4:3 aspect ratio for standard-definition television) versions of the films, the full lines of text are cut off on the sides until they have scrolled further onto the screen. As a result, by the time the full lines are visible, the text is much smaller and harder to read. In addition, the viewer also has less time to read it.

Star Wars Crawl Text Generator

Origin[edit]

The opening crawl as seen at the beginning of an episode of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe.
The opening crawl of Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific (1939)
Dan Perri's rejected Star Wars logotype

Lucas has stated that the opening crawl was inspired by the opening crawls used at the beginning of each episode of the original Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers film serials, which were the inspiration for Lucas to write much of the Star Wars saga.[2] The development of the opening crawl came about as part of a collaboration between Lucas and the seasoned film title designer Dan Perri. In 1976, Lucas invited Perri to Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm's post-production operation at Van Nuys, California. Perri, who had previously worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Exorcist, suggested that they take inspiration from the 1939 Cecil B. DeMille film, Union Pacific, whose opening credits are shown distorted by a sharp perspective and rolling along a railroad track towards a distant vanishing point.[3][4] Lucas was keen on the idea, so Perri developed sketches and prototype mechanical artwork. One of the earliest iterations of the opening crawl is evidenced in storyboards drawn by the production artist Alex Tavoularis, depicting the title 'THE STAR WARS' as a three-dimensional logo.[5]

Perri also designed a logotype, consisting of block-capital letters filled with stars and skewed towards a vanishing point to follow the same perspective as the opening crawl. Lucas eventually rejected Perri's logo due to readability problems, turning instead to the graphic designer Suzy Rice, an art director at the Los Angelesadvertising agencySeiniger Advertising. Lucas had commissioned Rice to design a promotional brochure that was to be distributed to cinema theatre owners. He instructed Rice to produce a logo that would intimidate the viewer, and he reportedly asked for the logo to appear 'very fascist' in style. Rice, inspired by historical German typography, produced a bold logotype using an outlined, modified Helvetica Black. After some feedback from Lucas, Rice decided to join the S and T of STAR and the R and S of WARS. Lucas's producer, Gary Kurtz, found that Rice's logo worked well in the opening title; the logo was modified further to flatten the pointed tips on the letter W before it was inserted into the final cut. While Perri's skewed logo did not appear on-screen, it was used widely on pre-release print advertising, and it featured prominently on film posters promoting the release of Star Wars on cinema billboards in 1977 (notably Tom Jung's Style ‘A' poster, the Style ‘B' poster by the Brothers Hildebrandt and Tom Chantrell's Style ‘C' poster).[6][7]

In a 2005 interview, George Lucas described how the final phrasing of the text for Star Wars 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 '70s. It went on for six paragraphs with four sentences each. Brian De Palma was there...'. De Palma helped to edit the text into the form used in the film.[8]

Production[edit]

According to Dennis Muren, who worked on the first six films, crawls on the original trilogy films were accomplished by filming physical models laid out on the floor. The models were approximately 60 cm (2') wide and 1.80 m (6') 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 Industrial Light & Magic.[1][9]

With the advent of computer-generated graphics, the crawls for the prequel trilogy were achieved much more quickly.[1] The 2004 DVD special edition versions of the original trilogy were later updated with computer-generated crawls as part of their restoration and enhancement.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy stated that the 2016 spin-off film Rogue One would 'more than likely' eschew certain traditional elements of the franchise, including the crawl, in an effort to distinguish it from the main film series.[10] In fact, Rogue One retains 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...', but then immediately cuts to the opening scene with no crawl. At the end of the opening scene, the title 'ROGUE ONE' recedes against a star field, like the 'STAR WARS' title of the main series, then there is a cut to the next scene.

The second spin-off film Solo does not feature a crawl, but does feature an introductory text shown sentence by sentence in the same font and color as and immediately after 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....'.[11]

Episode IV opening crawl[edit]

The opening crawl in the first Star Wars film is very different from Lucas's original intention. The original text, used in the rough cut he showed to friends and studio executives in February 1977, appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the film. When originally released in May 1977, the first film was simply titled Star Wars, as 20th Century Fox forbade Lucas to use a subtitle on grounds that it could be confusing, since there had been no other Star Wars movies prior to 1977.[1][9] 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 episode number, 'Episode V', and subtitle 'THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK' appeared as the first two lines of the opening crawl. To match its sequel's crawl, the episode number 'Episode IV' and subtitle 'A NEW HOPE' were added for the film's theatrical re-release in April 1981.[12] The original version, without the subtitle, was not released again until the 2006 limited edition DVDs. Also, it should be noticed that the original version of Episode IV's crawl features a lowercase 'R' for 'Rebel spaceships' and 'Rebel spies', as, at the time, 'Rebel' (in its Star Wars meaning), just like 'Imperial', was not considered some sort of demonym-like adjective as it is now.

References[edit]

  1. ^ abcdStar Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace DVD commentary
  2. ^Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith DVD commentary
  3. ^Perkins, Will (16 December 2015). 'Star Wars'. Art of the Title. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  4. ^Perkins, Will. 'Dan Perri: A Career Retrospective'. Art of the Title. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  5. ^Perkins, Will (16 December 2015). 'Star Wars'. Art of the Title. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  6. ^Taylor, Chris (2014). '11. The First Reel'. How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise. Head of Zeus. ISBN9781784970451. Retrieved 1 June 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  7. ^'Evolution of the Star Wars Poster'. PhotoSecrets.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  8. ^Pearlman, Cindy (May 15, 2005). The Force. Chicago Sun-Times.
  9. ^ abStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope DVD commentary
  10. ^Alexander, Julia (November 22, 2016). 'Rogue One is bucking a Star Wars tradition'. Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  11. ^Does Solo: A Star Wars Story have an opening crawl?
  12. ^'Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope'. StarWars.com.

Star Wars Opening Crawl Font

External links[edit]

  • 'Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope - Opening Crawl'. official Star Wars website. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  • 'starwars.com search results for 'opening crawl''. official Star Wars website. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Star_Wars_opening_crawl&oldid=980477667'




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