Introduction

Fascination with George Lucas' Star Wars^® trilogies continues decade after decade, and will never really leave us. In this chapter, you will learn how to create your own vanishing logo and epic "scrolling story" just like you've come to know and love from the Star Wars movies. Now, we can't promise that your movies will produce the same goosebumps among your friends and family, but the look is very convincing.

No special equipment or additional software is needed to create this effect, but on the DVD supplied with this book you will find a starfield background (complete with a supernova!) provided courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Also on the DVD is a font you might want to use (although it's not completely necessary as any modern looking sans serif font will work), called jedifont.ttf. (There are instructions in this chapter for installing it in your Windows Fonts directory in case you're not sure how.) Finally, the DVD includes a .WAV sample file, starwarstheme.wav, from the John Williams score for the film series. Remember, this is intended as a sample only to give your work that air of authenticity and is not intended for distribution with any project from which you intend to make money.

Now, although we've supplied you with a convincing starfield, think outside the galaxy on this. You can superimpose your Star Warsian title across any background, including stills and video clips from the videos that you took; they don't need to be from "outer space" necessarily. In addition, while nothing beats the Star Wars theme, feel free to change that out and add your favorite music. As long as it has punch, it will work just fine, and will make the title sequence truly your own.