A Thousand Stars: Episode II, Part 1

And here we go! Episode II starts as we would expect, with the titles and the opening crawl, then the vast field of space. This will be followed, we assume, by a pan down to a planet.



...or not. An upward pan instead! This isn't a huge, mind-blowing alteration from the norm -- it's the same basic idea, but flipped-upside down. That's the sort of thing that can give you a quiet but powerful clue about the nature of this installment of the saga: that which we expect will be turned on its head. It's just different enough to be slightly unsettling, like that nagging misgiving you can't quite put a finger on.


This eerie mood continues with the atmosphere of Coruscant -- both literally and metaphorically shrouded in fog.


Just look at that ship emerging from the mist. There's something so visceral and spine-tingling about fog, isn't there? I explored a few examples from Episode I that were used to great effect. It's even more evocative here, draping the entire planet in mystery and foreboding. Conspiracies, secret plots, not to mention the murky depths of the subconscious: all of these are foreshadowed by this imagery.

Next, a troubling mirror...