26 Years After The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul Is Still A Trendsetter: Incredible Star Wars Concept Video Goes Viral
26 years after his debut in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul continues to prove his staying power and influence by kicking off a viral editing trend on TikTok. Video editing within fandoms has been ongoing for many years, though with social media apps such as Vine in the 2010s and now TikTok, it has become even more customary to edit clips of movies, shows, and characters to music - with Star Wars being one of the most popular subjects. Darth Maul, however, has recently managed to begin an entire editing style trend.
The edit, created and posted by preeminentfxon TikTok, is set solely to the sounds of Maul's own voice and heavy synthesizers. It's stylized entirely in black and white, and as the video goes on, its aspect ratio slowly expands. The video edit is of such high quality that many users experience buffering issues as they watch, which is a rare occasion on an app like TikTok. This exact video editing style has since been named "Prem style", and it has been recreated with many different characters from various franchises.
Prem's Maul edit, however, remains the biggest influence, having amassed over 2 million likes by the time of writing. While Prem began this style with edits of Anakin Skywalker/Lord Vader and Kylo Ren prior to Maul's, it was the former Sith Lord's that hit the algorithm just right and inspired other users to follow in their footsteps. Now, Prem has recreated it themselves with plenty of other characters, both from Star Wars and from other franchises.
What "Prem Style" Video Edits Mean For Star Wars
Star Wars Is Key To The Editing World
The "Prem style" of video editing speaks for itself, favoring simplicity in a way that highlights just how incredible the source material truly is. This trend kicking off with Maul proves for Star Wars that he's still one of their most fan-favorite characters, and that his influence remains even 26 years after his debut. The same goes for many other Star Wars characters, as Prem's other edits from the franchise have also been receiving an impressive amount of attention. This trend being rooted in Star Wars proves the franchise's true worth in the editing world.
Star Wars' Cinematography & Storytelling Hold Up Over Time
They Continue To Be Treasured By Each Generation
From a more technical perspective, the popularity of "Prem style" edits stemming from this Maul edit proves just how incredible the cinematography of Star Wars really is, in both live-action and animation. The simplicity of this style allows for the footage itself to do most of the talking, and it has certainly spoken to its audience. The visuals are just breathtaking, and the fact that all it takes are some slight alterations to its coloring, aspect ratio, and audio prove their power in all eras of the franchise.
Zeroing in on Maul himself, though, this edit is a huge testament to just how powerful his Star Wars story really is. It's that added context of what the clips in this edit mean for Maul as a character that add to its charm, a charm that has captivated millions of people long after his debut. It's almost as if the further we get away from the premiere of The Phantom Menace, the more that Maul and other elements of the first Star Wars prequel movie receive their proper appreciation, with the "Prem style" trend serving as an example.
Source: preeminentfx
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
- Release Date
- May 19, 1999
- Runtime
- 136 minutes
- Director
- George Lucas
- Writers
- George Lucas
- Producers
- Rick McCallum
Cast
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Qui-Gon Jinn
- Sequel(s)
- Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
- Franchise(s)
- Star Wars
Your comment has not been saved