Thanks! And don't worry, it's not vaporware. I'm just taking my time to get it right. I got back from vacation yesterday, and worked on it a little last night and a couple hours tonight. Hopefully I'll have an effects shot to show everyone later in the week.

-T

Yep I'm totally awaiting this and would help PIF it.

Although it's a couple weeks late, as promised here's an example of the type of effects to expect in SoJ:

Effects Shot Comparison

Few of my effects will look like FX shots. My hope is that a viewer who doesn't know the Superman movies very well won't notice that anything's been changed.

By the way, the shot above isn't finalized yet. More tweeking will be done. And this shot already took about 3x the time I though it would, which means despite constantly working on it, this project is behind schedule. I'm sorry to say that a February release is highly unlikely. I probably won't set any more deadlines. It will be released when I'm completely happy with the final product, no matter how long that takes.

For anyone anxious to see this edit, I'm throwing a test screening in San Diego on Saturday, February 24th. If you'd like to come send me a PM. It will be shown on a top of the line projection home theatre system with stadium couch seating, and afterwards I'll ask for your comments. Keep in mind this will be a draft version with few of the effects, and a temporary audio mix. This will probably be the only time I'll show SoJ before it's completed. And if you can't make it, I'm sorry but I won't be sending out copies of the test screened version.

By the way, this test screening is just the first part of my birthday film marathon, where I will be showing only films not commercially available in the US, including The Thief and the Cobbler, The Matrix Squared, and the uncensored Eyes Wide Shut, among others. If you come to the test screening you're welcome to stick around for the whole marathon.

Thanks for your support!
-T

p.s. If anyone has experience with After Effects, and wants to help out with this project, please PM me. I'm willing to farm out some work if it means I can release this earlier without compromising the quality.

Amazing work, but dude was it really THAT important?

Ironically as major a change as it was, I watched the clip twice before I saw what you changed... but I'm an idiot.
To be fair, there was little to no artifacting to give away what you did.

Thanks! Yeah, it's important for me that the humor that doesn't work is cut out of this edit, as much as possible. This Barney Fife impersonation that the deputy does is, to me, one of the lower points of Superman 2. All his scenes are gone and now I'm still able to show Zod and crew leave the diner.

Nice work. Reminds me of the scene that was done for ADM's Superman Redeemed where Richard Pryor was removed from a shot. I am still looking forward to checking this out when it's done and I have to commend you for staying the course with your edit over such a long period of time.

Thanks!

I checked out Supeman Redeemd last night. ADM did a very good job of turning both those movies into one coherant movie. Considering the source footage, the result is pretty amazing.

Now we need a S1 & 2 edit so we have a matching set. I wonder where we'll get that from.

No, actully my birthday is the 11th. I'm having the party on the 24th to give me some more time on SoJ.

I'm hoping when you're done you'll post a comprehensive list of changes... heck after seeing your CG work, I wouldn't mind an audio commentary track.

I'm not really thrilled about doing a comprehensive list. There are just so many cuts that it seems like a huge headache. Did you do one for your Matrix edits? And I've found that when I read those lists before watching an edit, I'm hyper aware of the edits, and not as able to just enjoy the movie the first time through. I want to avoid that. But I suppose I should at least do an overview of the changes.

A commentary track could be fun though. I heard MagnoliaFan did a couple explaining his prequel edit decisions. Have you seen those?

BTW, I watched SoJ from beginning to end last night, making notes of what's left to do. There are now about 200 items on my to do list. Most are minor issues (audio mix, clunky edits), with about 40 being FX shots. But the good news is no FX shot left should be nearly as complicated as the completed "De-Fife'd" shot that I posted earlier. So even though 8 pages of fixes are still needed, they should go by fairly quickly...

Now I'm just working on getting the important ones done in time for the test screening on the 24th!

-T

No I just posted conceptual changes of my edit for the most part. And I agree, when it gets that extensive it's about impossible to keep track. (I've made edits on the fly I didn't even remember doing.)
I'm just afraid I'm going to miss all the nuances of your edit.

After seeing the cool use of AfterEffects I'm wishing I cleaned up a few shots of my Matrix edit with it. I hamfisted cropped a few scenes. Some to remove characters, and once so you couldn't see Neo's head (though I would have preferred a CG bandage on his eyes in that scene).

I don't THINK I'd go back and redo those shots, but you made it look so nice.

You should if you get the time. I downloaded your edits after being intrigued by the way you changed the third one, but haven't watched them yet because you said it wasn't completed the way you wanted it.

No you misunderstand me. It was an idle thought. I really doubt I would go back and do any work on ANY of my finish projects at this point.

I SHOULD have gone for something like aftereffects but I really didn't know about it, and didn't think what I wanted would be possible.
All in all, I am happy enough not to go back to them though. There's too much else I'd like to take a swing at.
Btw, Matrix 2 is much less altered than 3 (if that's what you were referring to). As a result there are fewer surprises but it's much smoother to watch.

Truthfully I only intended to edit Matrix 3, but realized I had to make the 2nd film fall in line with my vision of the 3rd. So I edited the 2nd one first just to cut my teeth.

Anyway I'm taking you off topic. I was trying to say that I've been really impressed with a lot of what people are doing with AfterEffects. I'm going to have to give it a look just to keep up.

Edit: I am correct that you used Adobe After Effects, right?

Yeah, that and photoshop. If you want to dip your toes in Aftereffects, I can't recommend this book enough: Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects by Trish and Chris Meyer. They start at the beginner level and go over just about every aspect of the program in a way that is very easily understood. With that, and some ingenuity, there isn't much you can't do with the program. And once you get past the learning curve, it's a lot of fun.

FYI, I'll be keeping the first post updated with status and news...

Just a quick update. Yesterday I filmed some new footage that is integral in tying the ending together. It turned out great, and I don't see any reason why it won't fit seamlessly into the movie. I also completed a few more effects shots, also as part of the ending.

Working feverishly toward the test screening next Saturday. Let me know if you want to show up for it!

Excuse me? You did what?

It's not CGI villains is it?

No, the new footage is live action. But now that you mention it, except for the photo used for the background, the final shot of the film is computer generated. No CGI villians though.

I hereby bestow upon you the title of most insane fan editor... ever.

AWESOME!!!
I secretly like it when fan editors have the guts to try this. Here's hoping it works!

This is looking to be one of the gutsiest fan edits ever. I'm looking forward to it.