MOVIE REVIEWS 6 By Rory Cole Star Wars Wow. Who knew that George Lucas would have been able to create yet another amazing movie based off of the beautiful trilo- gy and it's ugly cousin, the prequel? (I did. And almost everyone else did as well.) Yet again the Star Wars movies have become a household name, with unique and beautiful characters, both new and old. As John Boyega, Oscar Is- sac, and Daisy Ridley take over the big screen, they create an even more beautiful add on to the originals, with even MORE screen time for my real dad, Harrison Ford, and the most im- portant person in my life, R2D2. Overall? Un- less you pay attention to the small details, you will absolutely LOVE this movie. 10/10 Deadpool The merc with a mouth finally got his screen time and it. Is. LEGENDARY. Not only does Ryan Reyn- olds perfectly show off Deadpool with his sardonic attitude, but the script itself creates an environment that I for one would be more happy to have my chil- dren grow up in. As the movie goes on, it showcases our hero Wade Wilson's backstory while also show- ing off the narcissistic and crude attitude of the main man in charge. My rating? 9/10.
Transcript
MOVIE REVIEWS
6
By Rory Cole
Star Wars
Wow. Who knew that George Lucas would have been able to create yet another amazing movie based off of the beautiful trilo-gy and it's ugly cousin, the prequel? (I did. And almost everyone else did as well.) Yet again the Star Wars movies have become a household name, with unique and beautiful characters, both new and old. As John Boyega, Oscar Is-sac, and Daisy Ridley take over the big screen, they create an even more beautiful add on to the originals, with even MORE screen time for my real dad, Harrison Ford, and the most im-portant person in my life, R2D2. Overall? Un-less you pay attention to the small details, you will absolutely LOVE this movie. 10/10
Deadpool
The merc with a mouth finally got his screen time and it. Is. LEGENDARY. Not only does Ryan Reyn-olds perfectly show off Deadpool with his sardonic attitude, but the script itself creates an environment that I for one would be more happy to have my chil-dren grow up in. As the movie goes on, it showcases our hero Wade Wilson's backstory while also show-ing off the narcissistic and crude attitude of the main man in charge. My rating? 9/10.
7
Albin Johansson’s first reaction when he came to America was that it was big but filled
with a lot of friendly people. He quickly became involved
as soon as he got to JHS and joined the football team.
“Jamestown reminds me of Sweden,” he says. His favor-
ite teachers are Mrs. Moltzen and Mr. Kraft, and his fa-
vorite American good is pepperoni pizza. “I would rec-
ommend the exchange program to others,” Johansson
stated. He is staying with the Beth and Chris Housh
family.
It’s not sur-
prising that Ameri-
can history is Zhou
Xuan he’s toughest
class at JHS, as she
hails from China, but Food Prep and Web Design have
become her favorite classes. Xuan he’s first thoughts
about America was that it was “tired and sleepy,” but
she later came to realize that it’s much more peaceful,
and there’s so much more open space as compared to
overcrowded China. “It’s been a hardship for me, but I
am happy to know another culture,” she said. Her fa-
vorite American foods are hot dogs, spaghetti, clam stew,
and donuts, and
her favorite teacher is Mrs. Green. In her spare time,
she enjoys playing the ukulele. She is staying with
the Joyce Schulz family.
Jonas Myhren’s trip from Norway to America
left him very tired, but his first reaction to reaching
America was “finally!” He says that Jamestown is a
nice little town, but there’s not a lot to do. Some of
his favorites while being here are his graphic design
class, Mr. Krieger, and zucchini bread. He says his
hardest class has been Sociology. Myhren has been
active in speech and swimming.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” he says, and he rec-
ommends others to do an exchange program. Myhren is staying with the Keith and Sally
Domke family.
Continued to page 8
Albin Johansson
Zhou Xuan he
Jonas Myhren
Foreign exchange students describe their American experience at JHS
Foreign exchange students, con’t
8
Continued from page 7
Julia Gerber is from Germany, and she says, “It’s been one of the best decisions of my life,” to
come to America. “I was very excited and happy to be here. I
like it!!” She views Jamestown as a nice town with a lot of op-
portunities. While her hardest class has been Algebra, her
favorite has been clothing and textiles. Her favorite teacher is
Ms. Schultz and favorite
foods are hamburgers and
caramel rolls. Her inter-
ests include hockey, sing-
ing, listening to music, and
hanging out with friends.
Her host family is the Osts.
Linnea Thorell’s
first reaction to America is
quite unconventional...and
funny. “You have enor-
mous cup sizes!” she said.
Despite the unusually large cup sizes in America, she says the experi-
ence has been a roller coaster of emotions, but definitely worth it in
the end. Jamestown is much flatter and smaller than Stockholm, Sweden, where she is from. Thoroell
is staying with the Gilge family and enjoys drawing, documentaries, and tennis. Her favorite American
meal is baked mac and cheese. Her hardest class is English, but she likes US History and her teacher
Ms. Schroeder
Chuenkamon Sanmanit “Shoe in” is originally from Thai-
land and staying with the Wayne and Karen Bangs family. “Wow,
I’m already in the US,” was her first reaction when landing on
American soil. To her, Jamestown is a small town, the people are
very nice, but it’s too cold. Taking Anatomy has had a great impact
on her. “It’s so cool that I know the names of each part in the
body,” she says. Her favorite American food is tator tot hotdish,
and her favorite teacher is Mr. McIntyre, although English is her
toughest subject because she says she doesn’t understand the lan-
guage in some of the stories they read. Sanmanit likes to cheer-
lead, play softball, sing, art, and take photos. “Being a foreign ex-
change student is one of the greatest memories. It’s not easy to be
far from family, but it makes me see the world more and has made me more
grown up and stronger.”
Linnea Thorell
Shoe in
Julia Gerber
Unlearn What You Have Learned By Julia Breidenbach
Though Star Wars now holds a permanent place in pop culture fame, it started out kicked to the dirt by both Universal Studios and United Artists. After much cutting and editing, 20th Century Fox finally took on a deal with George Lucas, writer, producer, and director of the Star Wars trilogy (Hutchinson). With a low budget and on a time crunch, Lucas and his crew had to be very courageous, creative, and maybe a little crazy in their creation of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.
Corners had to be cut everywhere. The screen crawl Star Wars fans all know and love was not actu-ally created by the then expensive special effects. Instead, a camera slowly moved over 2-foot-wide cut yel-low letters on 6-foot-long black paper. This took three hours (Hutchinson). The bike chase on Endor also took hours to shoot. It was filmed step-by-step by Steadicam operators “shot at three-fourths frame per sec-ond.” The film was sped up to make it look like they bikes were going 120 miles per hour. The asteroids in the background of the Millennium Falcon’s escape scene were actually just spray-painted potatoes shot in front of a bluescreen. The space worm that almost consumed it was simply a sped up hand puppet.
Ben Burtt, responsible for sound effects, used every resource available to make the voices just
right—on a budget. A combination of sick animals (Steven) and healthy recordings of bear, lion, walrus, and badger sounds (Hutchinson) made up Chewbacca’s language. Burtt used a synthesizer to match his own beeps and boops to create R2-D2’s unique voice. A recording of a microphone inside a regulator was put on a scuba tank to make Darth Vader’s breathing sounds. The ‘voom’ sounds of light sabers were made by “blending the hum of an idle 35 mm film projector and passing a slightly broken microphone cable by the tubes of an old television set” (Hutchinson).
Stunt doubles were yet another luxury Star Wars had to do without. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, wearing safety harnesses, had to swing across 30 feet above the studio floor. The drop appeared longer in
STAR WARS FEATURE
9
STAR WARS FEATURE Continued from Page 9
the movie, however, due to a clever use of matte painting.
Even though their duties were demanding, Hamill and Fisher seemed happiest with their roles in Star Wars trilogy. Harrison Ford and Alec Guinness, on the other hand, had some stipulations. Harrison Ford’s contract only lasted two movies, and though he agreed to act in a third movie, he told both Kasdan and Lucas he didn’t believe there was much progression for his character. In fact, he attempted to persuade the writers to kill off Han Solo. Kasdan agreed to have Han die frozen in carbonate. However, Lucas re-fused, wanting the ending to happy (Hutchinson).
Ford’s lack of enthusiasm for his character isn’t surprising; he didn’t even audition for the role of Hans Solo. At first, Harrison Ford was brought in to simply read lines to auditioning actors. However, Lu-cas liked his delivery and casted his helper instead (Hutchinson).
Alec Guinness in particular absolutely did not want to act in The Empire Strikes Back. Lucasfilm eventually persuaded him to work one day a week from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Due to the movie’s success, Guinness was paid millions for those 4.5 hours a week (Hutchinson).
Though The Empire Strikes Back earned a lot of money, the production did not come without trials. Both The Shining and The Empire Strikes Back were produced at Elstree Studios in London. In fact, their stages were right next to each other. When a fire ruined The Shining’s stage, Lucasfilm had to give up some of their space so The Shining could be filmed uninterrupted. The wait nearly jeopardized The Empire Strikes Back’s release date (Steven).
To add to the strain on the movie’s release date, Lucas had an issue with keeping artistic control over his Star Wars story. To keep other production companies from corrupting the story, he funded a big part of the movie’s production himself, an endeavor that ended up costing him $10 million more than was estimated. When Bank of America refused to fund him anymore, he had to turn to 20th Century Fox for more money (Hutchinson).
One character that underwent change during the production of The Empire Strikes Back was Yoda. In the original version, Yoda was actually named Buffy. It was changed to Minch Yoda when Leigh Brack-ett wrote his first draft. Later on, the name was shortened to simply ‘Yoda’. Yoda was also supposed to be played by a trained monkey in a costume carrying a walking stick. However a crewmember who worked on the beginning ape scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey, claimed it wasn’t worth the effort (Steven). It was decided that Yoda would be a puppet. Jim Henson, Muppets creator, helped Stuart Freeborn to make him. Freeborn designed Yoda’s face after his own, but Yoda’s eyes were modeled after Albert Einstein’s (Hutchinson).
When it comes to the production and special effects of both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, you must unlearn what you have learned. Much to learn you still have on the many mysteries of the trilogy, but for now, may the force be with you.
Works Cited
Hutchinson, Sean. “37 Things You Might Not Know About ‘Star Wars.” Mental_Floss. Mental Floss Inc.,
4 September 2015. Web. 28 February 2016.
Romano, Steven. “6 Bizarre Behind-the-Scenes Stares Wars Facts.” Star Wars. Lucasfilm Ltd, 17 July 2015. Web. 28 February 2015.
10
By Tiffany Olson
So the start of 2016 may have been three months ago, but we asked some of our fellow students if they had made any New Years Resolutions. Here are their responses.
“I’m already cool, but I want to be cooler.”- Sam Overby
“To be nicer to other people.”- Cody Lutman and Elise Opp
“To seek to be understood, as to understand.”- Kaitlyn Ripplinger
“To graduate.” - Annika Wiedenmeyer
“Sleep more.” - Sierra Gordon
“Be less threatening.”- Emily Lauinger
“To become a Christmas tree.” - Erica Morlock
“If I did, I forgot them.” Mr. Heinert
“To not fail Econ.”- Taylor Olson
“I thought I did!”- Mikayla Patel
JHS POLLS
11
JHS POLLS
12
By Tiffany Olson
We may have had a mild winter thanks to El Nino, but that doesn’t mean students
don’t fantasize about being somewhere warmer than Jamestown, ND.
If you could go on vacation right now, where would you go?
“London.”- Cassidy Olson
“Fiji.”- Mrs. Kosel
“Somewhere where I don’t have to start my car 20 minutes early just for it to get off the cold mark.”- Savannah Kramlich
“Cancun.”- Nichole Domke
“Cabo.”- Destiny Jacobson
“Some place very warm, and I wouldn’t come back!”- Brittney Carpenter
