Scene review/analysis. Star Wars 1977

I begin my scene analysis on the movie Star Wars (1977) relatively near the end of the film. Hans Solo played by Harrison Ford had just stated to Luke Skywalker that this is not his fight and he will be collecting his bounty and leaving The rebels are about to launch their attack against the Empire’s Death Star. In this scene Luke Skywalker and his fellow fighters prepare to launch their attack against the Death Star. Luke goes into the battle saddened by the loss of O.B. 1 Kenobi and being abandoned By Hans Solo. The scene is introduced by a wide angle deep focus view. This informs the audience that the scene will be taking place in a hangar for the x-wing fighters. There is surprisingly a stark LACK of back ground music. Instead the viewer is exposed to sounds of ships refueling, engines revving and various mechanical sounds. This seemed very odd to me as at this point the viewer is already two hours into watching this movie. Music at this point would have been appropriate to keep the audience’s attention. Low key lighting is utilized but the lighting does not match the mood and pace of the scene. Low key lighting is usually used to depict a sad or negative mood. Since this scene is not negative one can only assume that the filmmaker did not have the capability to provide sufficient lighting for this set.


As the final battle scene is in the making there is no music to set a tone. The engine noise and the revving hits a crescendo then the maintenance workers start working at a frenzied pace to disengage hoses and move all of the equipment out of the way so the fighters can take off. The lighting in the hangar is very dark and as any seasoned pilot can attest to this goes against most protocols when dealing with planes. Lack of light can encourage mistakes. As a film making student the current uses of dark lighting is to signify a somber of sad mood but this is not signified by the actions in the scene.