Star Wars, Selected scenes, Super8 reel (17 mins.), Color/sound, Ken films, USA 1977
Cinemascope version
|
This cutdown of the Star Wars film runs about 20 minutes with sound and colour (what's left of it on these old prints), and is the same edit as both the US/UK and the German version on Super8. It begins with C-3PO's oil bath and Leia's message, segues into the Sandpeople scene and goes directly to Mos Eisley and the Cantina scene. Then you get the destruction of Alderaan, followed by a shortened version of the escape from the Death Star (no Ben-Vader duel) and the rebel briefing. The reel concludes with the Death Star space battle and medal ceremony. What sets this release apart is that it is in Anamorphic Widescreen, using the Cinemscope process. As you can see, the covers are the same as for the regular Ken Films release, only a Cinemascope sticker has been added. The Cinemascope process enabled a widescreen image to be squeezed onto regular 8mm film. It required the use of an anamorphic lens on the projector to unsqueeze it to regular proportions (To match the image of the DVD I used as a guide I had to unsqueeze by a ratio of 1.95 for this Cinemascope print.) There were two similar anamorphic widescreen processes used for Super8, Cinemascope and Cineavision, but there were some qualitative differences. One advantage the Cineavision process had over the similar Cinemascope prints, was that Cineavision preserved the full 2.35:1 aspect ratio, but had to reduce the image and include black masking on the sides to fit in the 8mm image area. Cinemascope 8mm prints, on the other hand, cropped information from the top and bottom, but used the entire width of the frame for their anamorphic process. (See comparison below. Screenshots are colour-adjusted and unsqueezed.) |
Cinemascope/Cineavision comparison:
CINEAVISION Anamorphic Widescreen.
Showing the complete picture, but in a smaller image area.
CINEMASCOPE Anamorphic Widescreen.
Cropping some of the image, but utilizing the entire 8mm picture area.
CINEAVISION Raw scan
CINEMASCOPE Raw scan
Unfortunately, the Cineavision process required several optical stages before printing to film, resulting in a grainier and less detailed image compared to the regular and Cinemascope versions. In practice the Cinemascope prints are sharper and utilize the entire image area of 8mm film. Furthermore the Cineavision prints were made on filmstock prone to fading and have not held up well over the years.
Fox fanfare
|
Lucasfilm logo
|
Title card
|
First scene
|
Luke Vs. The Sandpeople
|
Mos Eisley
|
Cantina scenes
|
Escaping the Star Destroyers
|
Death Star Vs. Alderaan
|
Hanger escape
|
Countdown
|
Battle of Yavin
|
Closing shot
|
Credits
|
Closing card
|
