The Morning Watch: Captain America And Iron Man’s Character Arcs, ILM Revisits ‘Empire Strikes Back’ & More
The Morning Watchis a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fanmade productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.
In this edition, a video compares and contrasts the character arcs of bothIron ManandCaptain Americain theMarvel Cinematic Universe. Plus,Industrial Light and Magictakes a look back atStar Wars: The Empire Strikes Backfor the 40th anniversary, andConan O’Briendoes the first ever virtual commencement address for Harvard University.
First up,Lessons from the Screenplayput together a video essay looking at the characters arcs of Iron Man and Captain America toexamine how they’re introduced as flawed characters, demonstrate how they’re forced into extreme and opposite positions at the midpoint of their journeys, and explore how the completion of their character arcs leads to balance and closure for both of the heroes.
Next, the special effects wizards atIndustrial Light at Magicwho worked onStar Wars: The Empire Strikes Backover 40 years ago gathered for a livestream conversation looking back at the making of the legendary sequel. Dennis Muren, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, and Lorne Peterson reflect on their work as ILM’s VFX Supervisor Bill George guides the nearly hour and a half retrospective
In case you didn’t know this, Conan O’Brien is a Harvard graduate and was a two-time editor of The Lampoon. So Harvard brought him in to deliver their 2020 commencement address, albeit virtually from his own backyard since graduation ceremonies aren’t being held in the usual way, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic still shutting down large public gatherings all over. It’s a hilarious commencement address as only Conan can deliver.
