With his permission, mind you!

mrbenja0618 said:

Not that it matters at the moment, but a lot of his ideas were finding there way into my Redemption edit. =/

 

 

That is cool and heartbreaking all in the same once. 

Hello everyone.  I just read your new posts today. 

To be honest I completely forgot about this project and the website until I found it on my old drive and watched the DVD-9 workprint all the way through for the first time in a long, long time. My first reaction was, my gosh- so much work went into this.  My second reaction was that emotionally (if not technically) it really seems to still have a strong impact.  It has a more adult feel than I remember, too.

Of course, I saw mostly the flaws (Anakin's dub and especially Boba Fett's dub have to go, also what was I thinking with that loud 70s lounge track on the flight to Naboo scene?  I also co-opted a lot of music and video clips from other places.  I think the music is mostly fine, but would need to replace the video clips from Independence Day and Blade Runner to really have it taken seriously).  It's a little discouraging because it seems that there'd be so much to do to make it a proper movie, including new special effects work to replace the Independence Day stuff. 

I was actually thinking of just putting a "ROUGH CUT" at the beginning, slapping a time-code on the video, and calling it done.  But I am really sad but also encouraged that you guys still think this is the strongest edit.

Maybe I'll fire up my hard drive and see what is what.

EDIT: To those who have requested the DVD-5 version I seem to have lost it, but I'm sure I can shrink the DVD-9 and make a new copy when I have time.

Whatever your ambitions, I would like to see the closest thing to a finished project you could provide.

you coud swap out the independance day clips for footage from clone wars, as there is some pretty intense geonosis stuff. its far from perfect, but might tie in better.

Trooperman said:

Hello everyone.  I just read your new posts today. 

To be honest I completely forgot about this project and the website until I found it on my old drive and watched the DVD-9 workprint all the way through for the first time in a long, long time. My first reaction was, my gosh- so much work went into this.  My second reaction was that emotionally (if not technically) it really seems to still have a strong impact.  It has a more adult feel than I remember, too.

Of course, I saw mostly the flaws (Anakin's dub and especially Boba Fett's dub have to go, also what was I thinking with that loud 70s lounge track on the flight to Naboo scene?  I also co-opted a lot of music and video clips from other places.  I think the music is mostly fine, but would need to replace the video clips from Independence Day and Blade Runner to really have it taken seriously).  It's a little discouraging because it seems that there'd be so much to do to make it a proper movie, including new special effects work to replace the Independence Day stuff. 

I was actually thinking of just putting a "ROUGH CUT" at the beginning, slapping a time-code on the video, and calling it done.  But I am really sad but also encouraged that you guys still think this is the strongest edit.

Maybe I'll fire up my hard drive and see what is what.

 

EDIT: To those who have requested the DVD-5 version I seem to have lost it, but I'm sure I can shrink the DVD-9 and make a new copy when I have time.

Funnily enough, I only just got back into my edit after nearly a year. It is really discouraging when even after loads of hard work, you look at it and think "this could be so much better". Unfortunately we're really limited by the source material and without re-filming major scenes with new actors, it's never enough to make it "what it could have been". This has made me view my edit as a 'workprint' as well, as I don't think I would ever be comfortable calling it finished. I stated all along with mine though that it's more a proof of concept for other editors. I'm hoping that my ideas will contribute to other more ambitious edits someday and that when some insane bastard comes along with actors and a film crew on board, then I will have contributed towards making it the best edit ever (even if I'm not credited directly).

And you, Trooperman, have certainly had that effect on my edit. I've shamelessly stolen so many of your ideas (and some from a few other edits), and complimented them with my own. This accumulative nature can only mean subsequent edits are better still.

I've thought about releasing it as a rough cut and calling it a day because I'm not happy with the limitations of the source material. Along with blank title cards like "replace all battle droids with evil clones" and "new actor, new dialogue" because filming/compositing the footage needed to make this film what I envision is beyond me. Also with the amount of new content that's needed to, in my opinion, make the film work, it ceases to be an edit and becomes an entire production.

What I'm leaning towards is finishing my imperfect edit (with Hayden Christensen's voice, as personally, if it can't be another actor entirely then I'd rather not bother as I still won't be happy with it having to look at his stupid face :-p)

Then I will release my aspirational edit. A complete reordering of the movie with blank title cards abound explaining new scenes/FX/actors/dialogue that I have no hope in hell of ever bringing to life. Then my edit will be perfect.....err sort of!

Also, you might be interested in knowing that I had to be told about the Blade Runner shots (they looked familiar but I couldn't figure out where they were from) and I've yet to figure out where these Independence Day bits are that you speak of......so it must be pretty seamless even if you might think they're too recognisable.

EDIT: I think I may remember the independence day stuff now.

Tman, if you never pick this up again, I will totally understand. I was excited to work with you (Was doing color correction for you).... But I do understand the level of work involved, and then there was the tragic fate of my edit. So many things can go right and so many things can go wrong. But I really think what you have in rough form is very special.

It's funny we're all having this conversation, because I popped your workprint in my DVD player just the other day, and wow... Even in rough form it far exceeds what was given in the first place. I agree with your desired changes, but all that aside, it's a wonderful piece of work.

If you decide to pick this back up, I'll give you a hand again. Just let me know!

Weird. I haven't been here in months, but here we all are.

Trooperman, I still enjoy this cut so much. There are lots of technical issues and trims to look at, but there's so much work in here that brings a sincerity to the piece. The earnestness of your edit helps add heart that isn't in the original.

But life is short, do what you will enjoy!

This was just one of those kind of projects that just made everyone giddy.  Like Star Wars Reborn. Wish one of them could see the light of day. At least I have my workprint copy of SOTDS.

I wanted to try to put SOTDS (rough cut of course) on youtube for a couple months so that people who didn't get the DVD could see it. I got 2 copyright warnings from Fox and SME already, so I will probably have to take it down. Unbelievable that this gets flagged considering how much actual piracy goes on unchallenged on youtube. Anyway, here's part 1. The quality is pretty terrible but at least it gives you a taste of what the rough cut is like.

-TM (Dan Brown is not my real name btw)

EDITED to remove link.

Trooperman said:

I wanted to try to put SOTDS (rough cut of course) on youtube for a couple months so that people who didn't get the DVD could see it. I got 2 copyright warnings from Fox and SME already, so I will probably have to take it down. Unbelievable that this gets flagged considering how much actual piracy goes on unchallenged on youtube. Anyway, here's part 1. The quality is pretty terrible but at least it gives you a taste of what the rough cut is like.

-TM (Dan Brown is not my real name btw)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aCZCchhgcQ

Yup... Going to watch the DVD tonight. All your fault, T-man.

Ok, I'm watching this, and I'm still blown away. You obviously swapped music in areas. HOW?

Well, I split up the 5.1 track off of the AOTC DVD and tried to isolate dialogue and the various other elements.  I had also downloaded a lot of old Star Wars effect sound files from the internet and used a lot of those instead of the prequel sounds.

While I'm on here I just want to thank everyone who helped me with this and you specifically for offering to help with color and etc.  I do appreciate it and this was a lot of fun to work on. 

-TM

Trooperman said:

Well, I split up the 5.1 track off of the AOTC DVD and tried to isolate dialogue and the various other elements.  I had also downloaded a lot of old Star Wars effect sound files from the internet and used a lot of those instead of the prequel sounds.

While I'm on here I just want to thank everyone who helped me with this and you specifically for offering to help with color and etc.  I do appreciate it and this was a lot of fun to work on. 

-TM

You're welcome. Is this your goodbye to fanediting?

I hope not.  I'll admit that Shroud of the Dark Side seems very daunting to get to the point where it is complete in any kind of professional way. And beyond the die-hard fan I don't even know who would want to see  this.

I will say that I had started working on a different Star Wars prequel edit, which involved a black and white noir-style edit- all 3 prequels in one movie (mostly Episodes II and III). 

It would have Anakin narrating and would start with Anakin burning in Geonosis, reflecting on what he had done, and then it would be a giant flashback.  Unlike the prequels, this movie would tell the story of how Anakin was SEDUCED and TEMPTED by the dark side, and not the story as we had it:

Episode 1: Innocent boy

Episode 2: Whiny kid

Episode 3: Child-murdering psychopath

The most exciting part was that in black and white full-screen, I could use all kinds of different sources and not have to worry about it too much.  I wanted to do a kind of Pinnochio story, where Anakin is good and upstanding, and etc. Then he basically goes to Las Vegas (call it Coruscant) where he falls in with the wrong crowd, goes to nightclubs and meets women, mafia-type guys, and etc.  No, wait- actually Coruscant was going to be "Had Abbadon" and it was going to be one half city, one half lava planet.  The entire movie was going to take place on Had Abbadon.

I was a little discouraged when I read that someone had already done the 3 prequels in one idea, though.    But if I edit again, this would probably be my next project.

School has also been an issue.  As Grace Kelly once said, "One cannot do everything."

Wow. Just wow Trooperman. That was excellent. I found myself completely invested, and was sad when the 14 minutes ran out. I followed this project with great interest back in the day (even imagining myself doing Anakin's deeper voice haha), but I never really got to see the results. That was impressive. Reading through the last few posts, where does this alleged workprint stand? Would you be willing to release it, just so we can see the closest to Episode II perfection as possible in the highest quality possible? Or was that the plan already? I know I can personally say that I would absolutely love to see this in the highest quality that I could. In fact I would be ecstatic to do so. Anyways, thanks for the update, and once again, congrats on a great job.

It was a bit distracting when the very familiar Raiders music kicked in and when the unaltered Ceti earwigs made an appearance, the ESB Asteroid theme also felt wrong in the same way that the recycled music in ROTJ and Aliens cheapened those films.

Some of Anakin voice work and Jar Jar showed what could be done even if it clearly was a work in progress.

However on the whole it was a much more rewarding experience and just shows what could be done.

The sense of urgency in the reworked Jedi/Palpatine/Padme meeting was sublime.

It's like watching a proper film that makes sense.

Bingowings said:

The sense of urgency in the reworked Jedi/Palpatine/Padme meeting was sublime.

 

Faster! WITH MORE INTENSITY!

Hopefully he uploads the rest. Tman, may I suggest not making the title obvious to youtube? It may kill your vids faster. Kinda surprised it's lasted this long, but I think that's due to your changes to the material.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

(EDITED to remove links)

If you have any problems with youtube, give vimeo a try.  I can't upload anything to youtube anymore, but never have had a single video blocked on vimeo.