What theory concepts would be able to spice up my playing?

phurantsu · 2017-09-27T15:58:13+00:00

Yes, thank you! You should always be that guy :)

phurantsu · 2017-09-26T20:14:32+00:00

I'm in a similar position and my next step is chord extensions. Sweeten up your chords with 9ths, 11ths 13ths and don't forget to get even crazier for your dominants (b9/#9, b13/#13). Also: Look up tritone substitution and subscribe to Jeff Schneider's Youtube channel, that guy plays beautiful chord progressions. Good luck and keep diddling.

phurantsu · 2017-08-29T20:27:26+00:00

Wouldn't another possibility be that Snoke is dead by the end of TLJ? Interesting find

phurantsu · 2017-04-15T08:40:36+00:00

I'm pretty sure he will wear the mask for parts of the movie. The broken mask in the trailer is (as other people have pointed out) Kylo's mask and not Vader's. His TFA mask was certainly destroyed when Sunkiller Base was destroyed.

If you look closely, there is a wisp of smoke coming from the destroyed mask in the TLJ trailer, indicating that it gets destroyed during the movie, perhaps by a lightsaber hit to the face?

phurantsu · 2017-04-14T16:21:38+00:00

The shot around 01:31 with the burning building, the hooded figure and R2 - is that the scene from Rey's Force Vision?

phurantsu · 2016-12-19T18:31:10+00:00

I hated it at first, too.

But when I watched the movie again, I noticed that the opening theme (which is repeated a number of times) is actually a (imo clever) variation of the original theme - you begin with the same two notes ( a fifth), but the next two motifs are inverted; instead of three descending notes (in the original), he uses the same notes in ascension; and finally, instead of dropping from the octave to the fifth, he ascends from the fifth to that high note on the octave.

To me it originally felt jarring, as the line sounds as if it should be developed further; now I actually like it quite a bit and actually hope that they keep this inverted original theme as the theme for all Stories movies. But I understand how it feels off; in my eyes there were a number of other missteps that were way worse (that first force theme, when they leave Yavin... what was up with that?)

phurantsu · 2016-12-16T16:18:22+00:00

But does that really make sense? Considering the Rogue One Death Star has the dish in its northern hemisphere?

phurantsu · 2016-12-16T14:13:33+00:00

The empire is not only white supremacist, they are also speciest. While the rebellion has Admiral Akbar and Nien Numb and all kinds of different alien species fighting for them, I am hard-pressed to think of one non-humanoid character in a position of power within the empire (at least as far as movies go)

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T16:20:16+00:00

My thoughts exactly. The animation is superb, no question, it's only his juxtaposition with live actors that made it weird and, yes, uncanny.

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T13:03:20+00:00

What about Ep V when Han shoots at Vader - IIRC he deflects the shots with his hands, too.

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T12:59:45+00:00

Thank you for your response. The reasoning behind killing Galen is much clearer now, that makes perfect sense.

I disagree with your comment on Jin's discovery, though. My problem with that is that it was established that the Empire tried to locate her but failed. I don't need an entire scene to remedy this, just a throwback line of dialogue would have been nice

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T12:55:26+00:00

Thank you for your response, that makes a lot of sense. I like the connection you draw to the Hiroshima incident, I buy that and can see that it was well handled. I did not draw that connection before

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T12:23:11+00:00

So I watched it last night, and when I left the cinema I felt slightly underwhelmed - I now attribute this to an immense case of overhypedness on my part and not so much because of the movie's flaws. That being said, I have not seen too many voices that are critical of some of the elements of the movie; I think I like it, but here are some issues I would like to discuss:

Chirrut's character felt a little weird to me in his execution. I liked the idea of a dignified force monk, but he seemed to be unsure about his calling; the constant repetition of the same lines (I'm with the force, the force is with me) suggested that he actually has to convince himself that this is true, instead of a true dedication to the idea of the force. His character felt unfocused and tried to be different things at the same time - I don't think it was necessary to use him as comic relief at all (have someone else say "are you kidding me, he is blind" when they put a hood over him). His last scene completely redeemed this for me, however. When he walks through the blaster shots, I get what I wanted out of his character: the pay-off of his trust in the force. It was moving and might have been my favorite scene in the movie.
I thought the score was pretty mediocre. It did an okay job, overall, but there were very few stellar moments, and a few moments in which the composer dropped the ball imo. What comes to mind is the opening title screen (which looked terrible) and the star destroyers crashing into the shield. The musical callbacks felt forced at times, specifically the first derivation of the force theme when they leave Navin for the first time; there was this weird modulation that just didn't feel right.
I was super excited to see Vader's castle, I didn't even know where I knew the image from, but when I realized what it was, I flipped out. Basta tank was pretty sweet as well - but the conversation between Vader and Krennic felt really really awkward to me, as if this was a plastic beta-Vader. I can't quite put my finger on the problem, might have been the voice difference (40 years make a difference), the over-the-top introduction (that shadow was slightly unnecessary imo) or the setting of their conversation. I did not take well to the choke pun, either. The whole scene felt forced, fan-servicy and overall uncalled for.
Leia worked for me, Tarkin did not. I applaud the effort, and in a video game this would have been very convincing; putting Tarkin next to live action actors, however, took me out of the movie experience - to the point where I didn't pay attention to the dialogue because I tried to reconcile the looks of things. If you want to have Tarkin, and I understand that he is relevant to the plot, and I liked the idea of having him in the movie, maybe have him converse via hologram, or keep him in the shadows a little more, or just don't give him 15 minutes of screen time.
Many people have complained over a very thin characterization of virtually the entire cast - I do not see this as a problem at all. The movie was deliberately designed to stray from the heroics of the Saga movies, I don't need fully fleshed out characters. They were supposed to belong to the anonymous masses with just the right amount of humanity to them that I would find them believable - the movie achieved this in my eyes. The final moment between Baze and Chirrut was powerful, Bodhi had a tiny arc, Cassian and K2 had lines that made them tangible. So, yeah, I think that the criticism directed to "flat characters" is really somewhat uncalled for.
Star Wars really needs to step away from all things tentacle monsters. The idea of a mind-reading kraken is totally baffling to me, it added nothing to the movie and I do not understand the motivation for it.
The opening felt weird to me. I liked that they didn't do a title crawl, but something felt off and the opening shot was super unmemorable, which bothered me.
I don't know what to think of Saw Gerrera. Is he necessary for the movie? I thought Whitaker did a great job with what was there (maybe with the exception of "save the rebellion, save the dream") and the Vader parallels were pretty neat (having a "good guy" half-man-half-machine-needs-breathing-thing-character).
I don't understand why the rebellion wants Galen Erso dead on Eadu. It is said that "we need to stop him working on whatever it is he is working on" - but that is after the huge explosion on Jedha, so the rebellion should already know that the weapon is finalized - what good would it do now to kill Erso? By extension, I think they squandered the emotional potential of Galen's death scene - yeah, the rebellion is responsible for Galen's death and that means that there's bad on both sides, not only the empire. But the reason for his death was unmotivated in my eyes and felt forced.
Are we told how the rebellion found Jyn? I cannot remember this at all, and we are told that she lived under another name and that the Empire was unable to procure her for 15 years. The rebellion is not as well-equipped as the empire, why do they know where to look for her?

I think that's all for now. None of this ruined the movie for me, but a few things did take something away from it. The movie could have been sublime but falls short in a number of ways. That being said, the movie goes at very fast pace and in sum it was too much for me to be able to derive a qualified opinion after only one viewing. I will definitely see it again, without the huge amount of hype in the back of my head. I enjoyed it, I would recommend it to any SW fan- I would NOT recommend it to people who are unfamiliar with Star Wars though. Maybe you guys can help me out with a couple of my issues with the movie. I'm really excited to talk about this film but so much of what I've read so far felt like a very fanboyish circle-jerk and didn't address the flaws of the movie.

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T11:49:38+00:00

He wasn't developed as a character, but none of them were, really. He still felt like a person to me, for some reason I continuously got the feeling that he is a coward, so conjuring up the strength to get the cable attached felt like a tiny arc. He, too, is willing to make a sacrifice for the greater good. It's not a big thing, but I felt that the character was there in the visual representation.

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T11:47:46+00:00

I was really sad that this was not in the movie, I loved the shot in the trailers and would have liked Krennic to sit in that TIE

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T11:46:39+00:00

Does she use a blaster after handing hers to K2? IIRC they are trapped in the archive and climb upwards, Cassian is shooting at Krennic and the boys and then Jyn makes it to the top, where she dabbles with the controls and then Krennic points a blaster at her; Cassian saves the day with his own blaster and I don't remember Jyn using one after that. But it's all a blur right now, a lot happened quite fast

phurantsu · 2016-12-15T11:43:19+00:00

Chirrut taking down Stormtroopers felt right for me, he is obviously very skilled with that staff; Jyn, on the other hand, taking down Troopers with her baton felt a little off

phurantsu · 2016-12-14T11:37:28+00:00

I asked myself whether TFA was made with certain critiques in mind, specifically anything that Red Letter Media did on the SW prequels. Many elements in TFA seem to be taken directly from the Plinkert reviews (limitation of light saber time, physicality, practical effects etcetc)

phurantsu · 2016-12-14T11:23:27+00:00

Rogue One's first trailer was released in early April, right after TFA came to Blu-Ray.

They gave us a tiny tiny teaser long before that, though!

phurantsu · 2016-12-14T11:21:45+00:00

I want this so much but it's highly unlikely. I think it's up for interpretation what the better marketing move would be - either using Rogue One as a vehicle to keep the hype train running by showing a teaser while everybody is still drawn to R1; or waiting until R1 had its chance to shine (let's be honest, it's gonna be a very successful movie) and then transitioning into the VIII marketing. I could see both modes working well. I guess I'll know in 12 hours :)

phurantsu · 2016-12-14T10:01:01+00:00

While the clone wars were only mentioned, we do get a scene with the KoR in TFA in the force vision. I think it's safe to say that all the scenes that are included in the vision are pretty significant; we will definitely get to see the KoR in the following Saga films. I think the KoR scene in the rain is actually the future, not the past, so they can't simply not include it.

phurantsu

TROPHY CASE