<P> Each film opens with the static blue text, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...", followed by the Star Wars logo shrinking in front of a field of stars . Initially the logo's extremities are beyond the edge of the frame . While the logo is retreating, the "crawl" text begins, starting with the film's episode number and subtitle (with the exception of the original release of Star Wars--see below), and followed by a three - paragraph prologue to the film . The text scrolls up and away from the bottom of the screen towards a vanishing point above the top of the frame in a perspective projection . Each version of the opening crawl ends with a four - dot ellipsis, except for Return of the Jedi which has a three - dot ellipsis . When the text has nearly reached the vanishing point, it fades out, the camera tilts down (or, in the case of Episode II: Attack of the Clones, up), and the film begins . </P> <P> Two typefaces are used in the text, both in yellow: News Gothic for the episode number and main body of the text, and Univers Ultra Condensed Light for the title of the film . Three subtle exceptions were made to A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and The Force Awakens, as the titles of the films were presented in News Gothic . Several words are in all - capital letters to stress their importance: "DEATH STAR" in A New Hope, "GALACTIC EMPIRE" in Return of the Jedi, "DROID ARMY", "ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC" in Attack of the Clones, and "FIRST ORDER", "REPUBLIC" and "RESISTANCE" in The Force Awakens . Each line of the text spans the width of the screen when it enters from the bottom . In the "fullscreen" (4: 3 aspect ratio for standard - definition television) versions of the films, the full lines of text are cut off on the sides until they have scrolled further onto the screen . As a result, by the time the full lines are visible, the text is much smaller and harder to read . In addition, the viewer also has less time to read it . </P> <P> Lucas has stated that the opening crawl was inspired by the opening crawls used at the beginning of each episode of the original Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers film serials, which were the inspiration for Lucas to write much of the Star Wars saga . The development of the opening crawl came about as part of a collaboration between Lucas and the seasoned film title designer Dan Perri . In 1976, Lucas invited Perri to Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm's post-production operation at Van Nuys, California . Perri, who had previously worked on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Exorcist, suggested that they take inspiration from the 1939 Cecil B. DeMille film, Union Pacific, whose opening credits are shown distorted by a sharp perspective and rolling along a railroad track towards a distant vanishing point . Lucas was keen on the idea and Perri developed sketches and prototype mechanical artwork . One of the earliest iterations of the opening crawl is evidenced in storyboards drawn by the production artist Alex Tavoularis, depicting the title "THE STAR WARS" as a three - dimensional logo . </P> <P> Perri also designed a logotype, consisting of block - capital letters filled with stars and skewed towards a vanishing point to follow the same perspective as the opening crawl . Lucas eventually rejected Perri's logo due to readability problems, turning instead to the graphic designer Suzy Rice, an art director at the Los Angeles advertising agency Seiniger Advertising . Lucas had commissioned Rice to design a promotional brochure that was to be distributed to cinema theatre owners . He instructed Rice to produce a logo that would intimidate the viewer, and he reportedly asked for the logo to appear "very fascist" in style . Rice, inspired by historical German typography, produced a bold logotype using an outlined, modified Helvetica Black . After some feedback from Lucas, Rice decided to join the S and T of STAR and the R and S of WARS . Lucas's producer, Gary Kurtz, found that Rice's logo worked well in the opening title; the logo was modified further to flatten the pointed tips on the letter W before it was inserted into the final cut . While Perri's skewed logo did not appear on - screen, it was used widely on pre-release print advertising, and it featured prominently on film posters promoting the release of Star Wars on cinema billboards in 1977 (notably Tom Jung's Style' A' poster, the Style' B' poster by the Brothers Hildebrandt and Tom Chantrell's Style' C' poster). </P>

Who wrote the opening crawl for star wars