The opening crawl was one of the many elements that mesmerized audiences on seeing Star Wars in 1977, but its creation was was anything but easy.
Ahead of Star Wars‘ debut, Lucas was inspired by opening crawls used in film series like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. More specifically, the production team took note of Cecil B. DeMille 1939 film, Union Pacific, and how the crawl moved along a railroad track toward a vanishing point. Once the font and logo were figured out for readability purposes, the text had to be written. When Lucas’ original version was deemed too long, filmmaker Brian De Palma came to the movie’s aid to revise the prologue. Next came the extremely lengthy process of filming the opening crawl, which actually required filming the text with a camera.
To create the opening crawls throughout the original Star Wars trilogy, physical models had to be developed. Spanning two feet wide and six feet long, the models were laid out on the floor so that a low camera could longitudinally move along the text to create the crawling effect. Special effects advisor Dennis Muren has stated that the opening crawl process was very time-consuming because of focus problems and blemishes. Various test runs had to be made before everything could be deemed perfect. To cater to viewers in other countries, the production team had to film multiple versions of the crawl that featured the text in different languages.
By the time Lucasfilm developed the prequel trilogy beginning with 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, the crew was able to use computer-generated crawls. There was a difficulty, however, in matching the exact look of the original trilogy because the design team had to piece together the elements. That said, the prequel trilogy crawls were done in a much more timely fashion. Since the first Star Wars opening crawl debuted in 1977, multiple changes have been made. When the movie was re-released, the “A New Hope” subtitle was added, as was “Episode IV.” The special 2004 DVD editions of the original trilogy also featured computer-generated versions of the crawls for restoration and enhancement purposes. Not only have the opening crawls added to the legacy of Star Wars, but the method has also been the target of hilarious parodies.
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