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TMNT: Return to New York

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 (Edited)



HELLO EVERYBODY!
SO... after a year of lurking on the forums and watching about a zillion edits,  I've finally decided to throw my hat in the ring and fix up a film that let me down in soooo many ways... TMNT.
I remember sitting in the theater with a bunch of friends the day it came out, we were excited to see another ninja turtles movie.. and then the pain began... it took 16 min to actually see a turtle on screen (not counting the trailer shots that were dubbed over by Morpheus... who wasn't even a character in the film.. just a voice from nowhere... ugh) it just seemed to me  that  the film got hijacked by some LOTR knock-offs and their 13 pokemons... not to mention the bad jokes that were thrown in. SO my goal with this edit is to bring the turtles back as the focus of the movie, primarily Leo and Raphs confrontation, trim as many of the needless ADR'd jokes as possible (that includes the Mikey burping scene.. and all of his "So whatdda we do now?" lines he throws out the last half of the the film), and keep the secondary characters from taking up too much of the turtles time or continually re-explaining the plot of the film over and over again.

WORK SO FAR:

I've been editing this project for the last 6 months now and I'd say Im about 1/3 thru my initial workprint (hey.. I gotta a job so y'know... this is for fun.. PLUS I spent years capturing video thru a capture station.. demuxing DVDS was a real pain to learn for me... lol) once that is ready I'd like to take reviews so I can make any additional edits before I take it into After Effects for POST-FX (I'll be adding gun fire, some cool Akira trail to Raphs motorcycle, and some blood to the Leo VS Raph fight.. not alot just at the end where Raph nearly kills his brother) as well as many little TMNT goodies I'll be easter eggin into the BG's and various shots :).

The film has a new beginning and will also have a new extended ending with a victory anthem.. not unlike Spiderman 1's ending. Oh and no Raph V.O. talkin about being "BRUDDAS" or whatever... lol damn that was painful to watch.

TMNT:RTN - WIP Opening of movie

To get a feel for what I'm going for here's an early pass at the opening of the film. I've removed the orig movies Narration and explanation of the Stone Warriors, opting for a darker mood and going right into Central America.  I've also cut out alot of the Spanish kid, it just ate up time, I'll be reusing the LOTR battle footage later in the movie tho so that will get put to good use.

http://www.vimeo.com/4262897

NOTE: This is only a WIP, you'll notice LO-RES New Line Cinema logos, as well as a MARVEL logo, that ill be replaced by a custom MIRAGE STUDIOS LOGO in the same style using TMNT comic art, these are just place holders. Also, I don't have the RETURN TO NEW YORK bits added yet to title screen, that will come in POST. Oh and I WILL be adding additional soundfx to the title seq, right now its just the new music)



Some more quick things about this clip, I've color graded the entire film, some shots have a night time effect added to them for continuity, there's a slight bleach bypass as well to give the film more contrast as well as shadows. One thing about the orig 2007 TMNT is that there weren't any shadows (yes.. even in the sewers), especially compared to the 1990 Ninja Turtles movie, so my goal here is to bring this film up to the standards of the original classic.

SCREENCAPS COMPARISON to ORIG 2007 MOVIE




Now a question for anybody out there... I plan on re-doing KARAI'S dialogue later in the movie (the Japanese Female warrior/leader of the foot clan)with her JAPANESE dub from the JAPAN release of the movie (yeah that wasn't cheap... lol).. as such it got me thinking about possibly using the Spanish tracks for the opening of the film being it takes place in central America... and It would allow me to tweak their dialogue via subtitles, make it a little more threatening... tho it might be weird to open to a Spanish only flick for the first few minutes..  I don't know does it sound like a good idea?

Here's some additional screencaps to show off color differences to later parts of the film.


UPDATE: 04.24.09

TMNT:Return to New York WIP Ending 001

http://www.vimeo.com/4301836

TMNT:Return to New York WIP Ending 002

http://www.vimeo.com/4301563

UPDATE: 04.25.09

TMNT:Return to New York WIP Ending 003

http://www.vimeo.com/4308972

I appreciate and look forward to any crits/advice you all might have. Thx!

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In the Works - TMNT:Return to New York -

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I was also excited about this film, and then bang... Lots of misfires.

 

I always thought a film like this would be great in the hands of Joss Whedon.

 

With that, if the script had been great, I like the idea of the Turtles being animated. You have so much freedom with that.

 

Good luck with edit. I'll most likely take a look at what you have to offer.

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mrbenja0618 said:

I was also excited about this film, and then bang... Lots of misfires.

 

I always thought a film like this would be great in the hands of Joss Whedon.

 

With that, if the script had been great, I like the idea of the Turtles being animated. You have so much freedom with that.

 

Good luck with edit. I'll most likely take a look at what you have to offer.

Thx! well... they got close, Buffy's in it lol For me I wish they would have done the mousers storyline or Turtles fighting Triceritons... so much to do in animation... sigh... however, there is a fun good follow-up film in here, I've spent the last 2 years mulling this over, tho I am a Star Wars nut, the Turtles and Batman films were always my biggest event during the summer so I plan to make this edit count. Please do check out the vid and feel free to let me know what you think. Thx!

 

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Now a question for anybody out there... I plan on re-doing KARAI'S dialogue later in the movie (the Japanese Female warrior/leader of the foot clan)with her JAPANESE dub from the JAPAN release of the movie (yeah that wasn't cheap... lol).. as such it got me thinking about possibly using the Spanish tracks for the opening of the film being it takes place in central America... and It would allow me to tweak their dialogue via subtitles, make it a little more threatening... tho it might be weird to open to a Spanish only flick for the first few minutes..  I don't know does it sound like a good idea?

I love both of those ideas and hope you go ahead with them.

I did actually enjoy the film but I do agree with you on just about all points. I'd be very interested to see what you come up with.

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 (Edited)
Johnny Ringo said:

Now a question for anybody out there... I plan on re-doing KARAI'S dialogue later in the movie (the Japanese Female warrior/leader of the foot clan)with her JAPANESE dub from the JAPAN release of the movie (yeah that wasn't cheap... lol).. as such it got me thinking about possibly using the Spanish tracks for the opening of the film being it takes place in central America... and It would allow me to tweak their dialogue via subtitles, make it a little more threatening... tho it might be weird to open to a Spanish only flick for the first few minutes..  I don't know does it sound like a good idea?

I love both of those ideas and hope you go ahead with them.

I did actually enjoy the film but I do agree with you on just about all points. I'd be very interested to see what you come up with.

Thx Jhonny! Yup everyone so far has told me that is the way to go so I'm going for it and I agree about the film as it orig stands. It's not a bad film, if it were I wouldn't bother with this edit *cough* Turtles 2 & 3 *cough*  for me it just needs a little more focus without having to worry about pleasing marketing depts or soccer moms lol (please dont be mad at me socccermoms lmao... but marketing depts can kiss my rear lol )

 

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 (Edited)

Okay so I've updated the first post two VERY early versions of the ending to this flick. The problem is I'm torn between which version to do. So you all know, there is no Color Grad added yet, the sound is rough, the editing will be smoothed out, and each clips ends with TMNT... but I'll probably have it say The End being that Mirage is finally rebooting the series in 2011 from scratch.

Here are the links as well...

UPDATE: 04.24.09

TMNT:Return to New York WIP Ending 001

http://www.vimeo.com/4301836

TMNT:Return to New York WIP Ending 002

http://www.vimeo.com/4301563


 Feel free to share your crits/comments.

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Hey based on some early input I put together a quick  edit of ver 002, this time I left a bit more of the previous scene in so you can see the transition, also there aren't any SFX towards the end, don't fret that's just temp, that mix has Raphs orig narration in it so I'll have to rebuild all those running  SFX as well as there quips and grunts after editing is thru. Also the reason I chose this song as a possibility is cause it mixes the rock with the symphonic score, a sort of musical representation of Raphs heavy metal themes and the turtles cinematic motifs.

TMNT:Return to New York WIP Ending 003

http://www.vimeo.com/4308972

Oh in the final mix I'll be removing Mikeys "Hanky line" and then turning doqn the volume on his line after that to blend in with the dissolve to the sewers. I really wish there were some shots in the film of the camera moving thru the sewage tunnels, it would really help with some shots.

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yeah, I much prefer Mikey the smartass to Mikey the moron.

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 (Edited)
Johnny Ringo said:

yeah, I much prefer Mikey the smartass to Mikey the moron.

Agreed :) SO... Uncanny Antman has been cool enough to help work out the musical issues I've been having with the  end sequence, here it is, its with out SFX and what not, but I think overall its a winner!!!

http://vimeo.com/4312135

Also I've kicked around the idea of something to do after the credits...with the music off,and just using drums/percussion, have the turtles finish thier descent into the alley (see the WIP End Ver 001 for ref), do their moves/kata, they hear the police and run back to the sewer's closing the manhole after them. I'll have to change the words on the manhole, maybe say "the end" not sure, but I think that way I get to use all the footage possible.

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Agreed :) SO... Uncanny Antman has been cool enough to help work out the musical issues I've been having with the  end sequence, here it is, its with out SFX and what not, but I think overall its a winner!!!

sounds nicely dramatic, balanced out [volume wise] and blended with sfx it could really work.

Also I've kicked around the idea of something to do after the credits...with the music off,and just using drums/percussion, have the turtles finish thier descent into the alley (see the WIP End Ver 001 for ref), do their moves/kata, they hear the police and run back to the sewer's closing the manhole after them. I'll have to change the words on the manhole, maybe say "the end" not sure, but I think that way I get to use all the footage possible.

Sounds like it could be good. I really wouldn't mind the film ending with a shot of the title ie: TMNT.

 

 

 

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Any updates?

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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bkev said:

Any updates?

Working on it right now n__n took a little time off to get a fresh took at the edit, right now I'm syncing the Spanish audio tracks, with the Japanese tracks being ripped as we speak (took long enough to get the DVD from Play Asia) and building new Credits intros for the film. Once that is done then I move on to the middle section of the movie... the only major headache left really is taking the battle from the beginning of the official release, and having it so April narrates over it. The headache is that I have to recreate all the SFX for the battle cause in the orig, Morpheus' voice is in every channel... ugh...

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That sounds really difficult, I wish you luck!

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Have you considered simply using music for the big battle and just dumping all the sound effects?

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Just looking at your re-cut ending, I'm really excited about this cut. I loved the official release of TMNT, but it really did feel a bit sloppy in a lot of ways, and there was WAY too much exposition. Return to New York looks very promising though!

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One thing I was a little confused by though, is why there's a Marvel Studios card in the intro now. That seemed pretty random since Marvel didn't really have anything to do with the movie.

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Placeholder for a nice Mirage one.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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 (Edited)

Ah, well then now it makes sense. :)

BTW, @Sketchrob: the new ending (which was originally the opening) looks great and I think you did a great job with the sound editing. One change I'd consider making though, is turning down the volume a tad bit on the jumping / whoosh sound effects a tad. At their current volume level they get the job done, but they come across as slightly "cartoony" because they're a little too noticeable. If you just brought the levels down a little bit it would make them a lot more subtle, and in the case of movement sounds subtle is good (especially since our primary focus in the scene is on the music track). Also, some kind of slice sound when Raph does his slash at the end, and a flame sound when the TMNT logo appears would really tighten things up.

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Did this ever go anywhere?

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Yeah I launched a National Magazine in 2010 that pretty much consumed my entire life. Basically I left it at having to re-create all the sounds for the battlefield sequence so I'm hoping to get to this again soon, just too consumed with surviving in this economy. Sigh... Kevin Monroe is friends with my boss heard he'd like to see what i've put together, got lots of backstory on this movie...

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Timstuff said:

Ah, well then now it makes sense. :)

BTW, @Sketchrob: the new ending (which was originally the opening) looks great and I think you did a great job with the sound editing. One change I'd consider making though, is turning down the volume a tad bit on the jumping / whoosh sound effects a tad. At their current volume level they get the job done, but they come across as slightly "cartoony" because they're a little too noticeable. If you just brought the levels down a little bit it would make them a lot more subtle, and in the case of movement sounds subtle is good (especially since our primary focus in the scene is on the music track). Also, some kind of slice sound when Raph does his slash at the end, and a flame sound when the TMNT logo appears would really tighten things up.

All of those sounds will have to be re-done thats just the temp stuff dumped form the orig, which is off cause of the trailer footage, agreed on all points.

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Johnny Ringo said:

Have you considered simply using music for the big battle and just dumping all the sound effects?

Yeah and it takes you out the movie, and looks/feels like an edit at that point.

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