I’m digging your project so far, I can give you my exploding Alderaan scene, it’s essentially the SE version but without the stupid rings around it.
SomethingStarWarsRelated said:
This de-aged Anakin showed up on my feed today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL-N2ywWhOw
It’s certainly going in the right direction.
I mean it looks janky and smooths out his face too much. If this was what Lucasfilm did, then there would be outrage for the overuse of CGI.
I’d rather have Hayden himself just do it, as it doesn’t really matter since he still looks youngish.
Overall, Episode 5 truly cemented my feelings that this show needed a bigger budget, or atleast a wiser set designer or crew that could work with small budgets to make lived-in worlds ala George Lucas Prequel-Trilogy style. I’m digging this show more and more despite the few hits and misses and I really like the story it’s trying to tell here, especially with the flashbacks on this episode serving as a framing device as mentioned here earlier.
Just a couple things linger on my mind now:
I don’t think Hayden does a good job portraying David Prowse’s body language as OT Vader, although that can be justified as hes like in his mid 30s in the timeline, so theres still that brash anger, hatred and angst in his movements.
It’s funny how Lucasfilm spends so much money for deepfaking Luke, but they decide to throw Hayden in his Prequel-era clothes and went “that will work haha” on it.
I also have a wild theory that since Episode 6 most likely has the actual duel on it, and thus the biggest percentage of the small budget this series had to work with, the earlier duel (from EP3 or EP4, I can’t remember) was sort of an after-thought and looked like a sleazy low-budget fan film, which also works unexpectedly since the original Star Wars also ran with a shoe-string budget for it’s sets. (However comparing to Kenobi, they do look alot more authentic and lived in rather than the spray-painted dirt on the buildings like in the show)
Just one more thing… (POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 6)
I read the rumors or leaks(?) that Reva will save Luke and thus ret-con the entire OT, which I think gets more and more unlikely as time goes on as long as Luke doesn’t even know about it and is happily playing in the homestead, which I think is what the show will likely do. Reva will probably do some self-sacrificing manuever like convincing Vader that nothing is on Tatooine, or killing herself off or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqJbJYViUog&t=574s
This video breaks down the entire Battle of Yavin sequence in the best way possible.
I totally now understand why the Prequel or Sequel, or even ESB and ROTJ didn’t have much of an effect on the space battles than it did on A New Hope. The scene was shot and edited so cleverly, from the juxtaposition of militaristic lingo and terminology from Red Leader to the freeflowing soundtrack, and the brilliant use of sound design (like how the soundtrack completely mutes itself when the TIE fighters arrive, adding tension without the need for a score and only using the sharp distressing sounds of it’s engines) and the thematic aspects (as the title suggests, that the targeting computer was never going to work, which is still in line with one of the many themes in the story: technology can not overpower the Force) all lining to create such a brilliant scene that makes such a lasting memory to the audience.
Now that I think about it, all the space battles thereafter it (like the Battle of Hoth, DS II spacefight, prequel and sequel fights) were more flashy and couldn’t capture the same the thematic importance as the first movie. Even the pilot’s lingo was more loose just to sound superficially cool to the audience.
On the defense of the duel looking atrocious, I feel as though the way they shot it with the blocking and cinematography reminds me of late 70’s B-movie horror flicks in it’s amateurish way of it being filmed. In a way, it circles back to how A New Hope’s lightsaber duel looked and how absolutely atrocious and terrible it was with Alec and David swinging the spinning rods as carefully as possible. I can forgive the fight for being off as it kinda reflected how the fighting style in ANH would look if you were to watch this chronologically.
So far I’m pretty okay with the series and I feel indifference towards all the characters except Kenobi and Vader, and I don’t really have much to complain or praise for Reva, the Grand Inquistor or anybody else. I just think that you can miss this show and nothing wouldn’t really change since we do know what happens after this show and all that.
Well, I think there are 3 pixels in Luke’s X-Wing in the Battle of Yavin that wasnt there when they show his ship after they destroyed the Death Star. I think that should be fixed!
ANH is waiting on Dat_SW_Guy’s project, but the slight audio update to the others could be put out soon but I’d like to wait a little bit to see if anything else presents itself for them first.
I can send some files for you if you want, as I think my project is still at a snail’s pace as it were last time.
First post here, I finished the final episode but it just felt lackluster in how it was done. The fight and blaster scenes look quite bland and not enough power or veracity, making them look like they were toy props with a blaster effect slapped over After Effects. The choreography also felt uninspired and not enough “action” to it. (I know I shouldn’t expect much but this is just… eh.)
I wish they could’ve done more with it, especially with Cad Bane and Grogu. Speaking of which, the one thing that really didn’t sit right with me is how they reunited Grogu and Mando and completely took away the somber ending of Mando S2.
All in all, I expected a little bit too much out of this show and it eventually bit me in the ass with it. There were some great parts (my favorite being Episode 6) but overall it didn’t stick the landing for me and ended up become a let-down. I hope they do something else next time and do it right, especially with the Kenobi show coming around the corner.
May I ask for a link?
On other news, there may be a way to do the Speeder shadow shot which invovles planar tracking and some Photoshop reconstruction, so watch out for that soon.
Ok, I forgot to update this post but the newly 50%-of-all-womprats-removed shot is finished, so shoot me a DM. I’ll be taking a little break on here for a bit and will resume operation later this December for the Yavin shots.
Thank you, I really wish I could help by rendering out some shots, but my computer simply can’t handle it until I get to upgrade my GPU.
Honestly, this is all great and amazing work that has been churned out from this community. However, I deeply and absolutely hate to be that “nitpick” but I just feel that something is off with both the first and second shots, the first shot mainly the TIEs, and the second one, being entirely all of it.
The TIEs themselves are very smooth, if not too smooth (however thats something I’ll touch on to in the next sentences) however, they have a slight jump in the animation but I’m not too sure. However the more noticable ones are mainly the motion blur on the TIEs and the focal length of the render versus the focal length in the R1-Biomes shot. It seems to me that the shutter speed on the render doesn’t match up with the footage, giving it a slightly out-of-place smoothness to it, which is probably the more logical reason than the one I presented earlier.
The focal length is slightly lesser of an issue, however I can notice that the perspective of the TIEs are slightly offset to the surrounding shot. All of these issues are also present in Poppasketti’s Falcon shot at the very end of the film (along with the indigo-blue engine glow, instead of the teal-blue glow it usually has)
The second shot is it’s own can of worms, but to summarize: It just feels out of place entirely. Even taking out the TIE issue, the shot of the forest (for me) doesnt look like the one in the next shot, however that’s just pure subjectiveness at this point and it’s ultimately Hal’s final call on the matter.
I’m just extremely tired right now since its 1AM and I’m seeing things wrong so please correct me so. Sorry if I sound like I’m insulting all of the work done here, because I know the love all of you guys pour into the film and your dedication and passion, I just want to give some constructive advice and to make the visual effects of this edit match the high-fidelity of ILM, in an effort for a more seamless and enjoyable experience.
here: https://mega.nz/file/CUhVESiI#lPKuRL1e-OWHJu9c0Zh6BzNDiDYzvp0LkOYimB61RCY
Looks nice with the integration by replacing the Hoth background with one from the hangar. Is it possible that you can also do a Millennium Falcon extension during the reveal scene?
A suprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
Sadly I don’t think those shots could be cobbled together with the limited amount of clean footage, so I doubte its within the scope of any Fan Edit. Still nice to dream though.
Has it been done before?
I remember a youtube video that cleaned up the Sandstorm sequence, but when I asked for the file, it was in 480p and not in very good quality. I presume using Blu-Ray and doing the automated + manual cleanup plus some AI upscaling should do the trick if you want to bring back the otherwise narratively redundant scene.
The grading is a bit better than the previous screenshots, which is always good!
Heres the “final” version of the entire Mos Eisley sequence with temp audio, as I simply didn’t have the skill to refine the drive-by scene. The main things in this are:
-The recut entrance scene which was a page taken straight out of Adywan’s Revisited edition
-Redone matte with the correct time-of-day outside of the cantina to maintain accuracy
(although the all of the outdoor scenes are inconsistent in the film, lol)
https://vimeo.com/628306487looks good,but at 1:54 you can see the dewbacks left leg is coming trou the small wall.
Thats not a leg, thats the original Dewback puppet showing through the CGI one and thats one of the many compositing mistakes on the Special Edition. If I remember correctly it was mentioned here somewhere but your post helped me remember it.
I can’t really fix it since there’s too many moving parts and you don’t notice it until it’s pointed out to you.
That’s one of the fixes i implemented for ANH:RHD , along with the “two headed dewback” earlier on in the shot.
I can send you the clip if you want it. You’d have to regrade it to match yours though , plus i’m using the 2011 Blu-Ray.
Yes, please do send it! Also can I also ask for some help in regards to the Womprat removal shot in terms of tracking and other factors?
Heres the “final” version of the entire Mos Eisley sequence with temp audio, as I simply didn’t have the skill to refine the drive-by scene. The main things in this are:
-The recut entrance scene which was a page taken straight out of Adywan’s Revisited edition
-Redone matte with the correct time-of-day outside of the cantina to maintain accuracy
(although the all of the outdoor scenes are inconsistent in the film, lol)
https://vimeo.com/628306487looks good,but at 1:54 you can see the dewbacks left leg is coming trou the small wall.
Thats not a leg, thats the original Dewback puppet showing through the CGI one and thats one of the many compositing mistakes on the Special Edition. If I remember correctly it was mentioned here somewhere but your post helped me remember it.
I can’t really fix it since there’s too many moving parts and you don’t notice it until it’s pointed out to you.
An experiment I wanted to try is removing some of the womprats of the SE scene of the Landspeeder entering Mos Eisley, similar to Adywan’s version.
It’s still needs a bit of tweaking, especially with the tracking of the patch I’m covering the womprats over. I probably wont(?) actually add this in the edit but I heard that Hal9000 wants it for his edit, so I’ll fix it up for him.
NEW FINISHED SCENE!
https://mega.nz/file/vMxiTCqK#ReKb7JJMjGLApouGx6OxtH7ZrFNoh0-fQI4btu9O8RwIs it just me or is the new laser bolts look slightly pixelated or blurry? Either way its pretty good.
doesn’t look pixelated to me…
Hmmm, its probably just me. Would’ve wanted it a bit sharper but I know how tiring that must be redoing each and every single one of those bolts so its best as it is now.
NEW FINISHED SCENE!
https://mega.nz/file/vMxiTCqK#ReKb7JJMjGLApouGx6OxtH7ZrFNoh0-fQI4btu9O8Rw
Is it just me or is the new laser bolts look slightly pixelated or blurry? Either way its pretty good.
Another change: “Despecializing” the scene of Vader walking through a dark corridor on the Death Star. In the Special Edition, they terribly attempted to fix it by tracking and hand-animating a 2D image of Vader’s face, chestplate, buttons, codpiece and leg armor in an attempt to make him more visible in the scene. This resulted in perspective errors in the mask and garbage mattes around certain areas of the armor.
I decided to just mask in the D+77 source through and fixed it to it’s original form. Although you cant see much of Vader, I feel it makes him more mysterious in the dark.
NOTE: I changed the edit title to “DSG Special Edition” to more elaborate that this is a SE/Adywan style edit, so sorry for the frequent name changes.
Very kind of you. How you mean “to match the 97SE,” though?
I really like both your and Dat’s current Alderaan explosions. Straight from using the 97SE to an embarrassment of riches.
I don’t loathe the Praxis ring, but what I don’t like is that every major explosion of a planetoid object in the OTSE has it. To me, one is fine but multiple gets weird. And personally, I feel the original Death Star explosion is the one to keep, since I’d feel a little weird going from the SE Battle of Yavin to the original explosion, though its probably just from conditioning.
I agree with the statement that the Death Star explosion should be the one that has the praxis ring as it has hones in the gravity of the situation, destroying the biggest evil thing in the galaxy. Having Alderaan have it first cheapens the effect and does add the monumental “oomph” the Death Star battle provides.
Why do people have a problem with Praxis rings? I think it gives the explosion more punch
Personally, the praxis ring effect from the SE is visually outdated and looks pretty bad when blown up to the size of a flatscreen TV. In fact the entire SE explosion as-is has alot of weird elements into it (I think they used a blood splatter overlay in place for planet debris) and lacks any sort of dynamic movement (although the movie itself is sort-of dynamically limited in cinematography)
