(to 8:07)
Blue text on black background: "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away." Then the main theme and title appear on the screen, a linked gold font that crawls off into space via the vanishing zone. Subsequent text is in a sans serif font that crawls across the screen for about a minute and a half. The main theme is dramatic and inspiring, a true testament to the space opera genre. The text gives a bit of context of the film, such as the events just prior to the beginning of the film. The text then disappears and the camera pans down to an extreme long shot of 3 planets, 2 in the background and a large curved horizon with a blue aura. The music at this point gets more and more tense before a deep timpani crash signals the arrival of a grey spaceship, flying towards the planet and firing lasers towards something behind them, which shows that they're on the run.
The music continues to build tension until a gigantic ship flies past the camera, with it's diamond shape taking up the majority of the top half of the screen. 3 engines emitting a blue light power the ship, the blue suggesting a futuristic setting, which amplifies the effect given already by the spaceships. The camera then cuts around to the smaller ship's POV, revealing the pursuit ship. The smaller ship flies offscreen left while they continue to trade shots. At this point, the audience has no idea who is the good guy or bad guy, as neither ship show any obvious signifiers and the lasers are green (the pursuit ship) and red (the escape ship). Red is usually associated with violence and bad guys, so at this point, the audience may believe that the larger ship is good.
Then the camera cuts to a shot of a laser hitting the smaller ship, resulting in a small explosion. It then cuts to the inside of the smaller ship, where 3 droids, a silver and gold humanoid droid and a smaller, inverted bin-like droid, are shaken by the explosion. The gold droid looks behind him, when the camera cuts to a group of soldiers holding guns running down a corridor. The scene cuts back to the droids and they are rocked by another explosion. The golden droid remarks that their main reactor has been shut down. He points out that they'll be destroyed. The little droid replies with whistles and beeps. Soldiers continue to run past them in the opposite direction. The camera then cuts to the soldiers, who set up along a corridor watching a white door.
Switching to the droids again, the golden droid remarks that the Princess will not be able to escape this time. There is a loud clang above them and the golden droid snaps his head up, wondering what the noise is. The camera snaps to the soldiers, who are looking up as the clangs continue. The noise is revealed to have been caused by the ship being tractored into the larger ship. The door is then blasted open and the soldiers are killed in quick succession as white armoured soldiers enter the corridor. The remaining soldiers (the original ones) quickly retreat as the two droids walk across the battlefield.
From the opened door, a giant black armoured man in a helmet enters the ship. At a great contrast to his white surroundings, everything about the man is opposite to the ship, which suggests that he's the bad guy of the film. In addition, his arrival is announced by a dark trumpet trill. His breathing is eerie and mechanical and he surveys the dead before walking off down the corridor with a troupe of white soldiers behind him.
The scene is now on the droids once again. The little droid is with a woman dressed in white (contrasting the black armoured man), which implies that she is the heroine. She is inserting some sort of chip into the little droid, as the golden droid enters the dark corridor they are in. The golden droid complains again, before following the little droid down a little hall. From these constant complaints, we see that the golden droid is annoying, however, he provides some comic relief as well. The woman in white takes her hood off and disappears behind a wall.
The remaining rebels have now been gathered up and are being brought to a central atrium. The black man from before is seen holding one of the rebels up by the neck. We now see his towering height and are certain that he is the bad guy, as he is employing a violent method of extracting information. After trying to get information as to the whereabouts of the Death Star plans (and failing), the black man murders the man by crushing his larynx and throws him against a bulkhead.
In the same room as the droids from before, a patrol of white soldiers is searching the room. The woman peers out from behind a corner with a pistol. She kills one and then is stunned by another. The camera then cuts to the droids again. The golden one is arguing with the little one about his actions, mentioning a secret mission and plans. An explosion behind the golden one stops any arguments and he enters the escape pod, which ejects down towards the planet. The operators of the large ship choose not to shoot it down, as they detect no lifesigns on board. The planet is then revealed to be red and yellow, a desert planet.
We then see that the woman is being escorted towards some place or other when the black man appears out of a side room. We then learn that his name is Darth Vader. We find out that there is a Rebellion against the Imperial Empire, and that the Princess is his only link to the rebel spies. A brief discussion with the commander has Vader learn about the jettisoned pod. He tells the commander to sent a detachment down to retrieve it. The huge spaceship then flies off.
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