logo Sign In

RogueLeader

User Group
Members
Join date
11-Jun-2015
Last activity
25-Mar-2024
Posts
3,609

Post History

Post
#1568157
Topic
Unusual <strong>Sequel Trilogy</strong> Radical Redux Ideas Thread
Time

NeverarGreat said:

All potentially good ideas, y’all.

JEDIT: That’s a nice line from Leia! I may stick that in and see how it works 😃

I’ve just personally tried to distance myself from using visions as a way to solve problems in an edit since the vision-heavy early days of Starlight, since to me it now feels somewhat artificial, like the hand of the editor is reaching through the screen to tell the viewer what to think and feel rather than allowing the story to unfold naturally. Often, when it feels like we need a vision to explain something, that may mean that this thing should have been established earlier but it wasn’t. An ounce of prevention and all of that.

So it feels like Han’s voice comes out of nowhere in this fight, and it does. Can we foreshadow this earlier in the film?

Possibly. We have already established that Palpatine is ‘every voice’ inside Ben’s head. Later he communes with Vader’s helmet and Palpatine again speaks to him, urging him to kill Rey.

But since Kylo has already been told that Palpatine is every voice in his head, why would he bother trying to commune with the helmet again? It could be that he desperately wants to hear a voice from his family, only for Palpatine to say something like “Vader cannot help you. From the beginning, your only teacher was me.”

Or even, what if he put his hand on the mask and had no visions, but rather heard only Palpatine’s mocking laughter? That way he reforges the mask out of despair of hearing any other voice in his head, all the way until he is about to kill Rey, then realizes that there is another voice in there, one not bound by the Force or visions. It is merely his memory of his father that gets to him, something that Palpatine can never silence. For this, I think it would make sense for Kylo to have no visions of Han prior to this in the film, but for Palpatine to continue saying that there can be no other voices in Kylo’s head but his own.

Just some stream of consciousnesses thoughts about this post.

Could we reuse the scene of Palpatine threatening to turn his fleet on Kylo after failing to capture Rey, and instead have Kylo be hearing/recollecting the conversation he had with his father in TFA?
“Take off that mask”
“-using you for your power.”
“When he gets what he wants he’ll crush you.”
“You know it’s true.”

Or, perhaps we could intercut these lines with the existing lines from Palpatine. The idea being Han is the voice of Ben’s conscience, and it is trying to break through Palpatine’s influence. It could be subtle maybe.

Having a moment of Kylo feeling “The pull to the light” would be a nice juxtaposition to the scene immediately preceding this one, where Rey says, “I’m going to find Palpatine, and DESTROY him”, especially if you have a version of the hangar/duel convo where Kylo basically says something like, “You need Palpatine’s power to save your friends, so you will kill him and take his power.” Finn gets bad vibes from Rey saying she’s gonna destroy Palpatine, so maybe Rey’s starting to accept the temptation at this point, as Kylo is on the flip side of things.

Post
#1568149
Topic
Unusual <strong>Sequel Trilogy</strong> Radical Redux Ideas Thread
Time

Sorry in advance but I just buzzed through the comments to chime in on my initial thoughts after watching some of the preview.

My immediately thought was also to have Han from TFA yelling “Ben!”. A part of me always like the idea of Ben stopping himself from killing Rey, rather than Leia kind of interrupting him. Yeah, in this case Han is interrupting him, but it isn’t actually Han: It’s Ben. Ben’s conscience. And like JarJar mentioned, it’s his conscious being like, “Don’t make the same mistake.”

Also, I feel like there needs to be a shot between Ben stopping himself, and when he turns around. It just feels off continuity-wise putting those two shots back to back. I wonder if you could potentially add his saber to the shot where it should be, and continue him lowering it down as it is in the first shot. Or, show/hear it deactivate, since the next time we see his saber, it is deactivated.

My initial thought was to cut to just one shot from TFA, like a shot of Han on the catwalk, OR, the shot of Kylo walking on the catwalk and hear Han’s voice and suddenly stops (as if he is mentally in that moment again). OR, the shot of Han gently brushing his cheek after he stabs him. I know it isn’t typical filmmaking language for Star Wars to do that, just flashing back to a memory. But, TLJ does it, and the Han/Ben scene in TROS is also atypical for Star Wars visual language. So these aren’t hard or fast rules.

Alternatively, perhaps you could reuse that shot of Kylo emerging from that giant wave. But slow it down to match the speed of Kylo’s head turn shot, and adjust it so you don’t see Kylo or his saber emerging from the shot, just hint of a shadow perhaps. Just feels like there needs to be a shot between those two shots of Kylo.

My initial thought for the Maz line was in agreement with you, “To save her son-“, feels clear but also not too exposition-y.

It seems like you guys arrived at the same conclusion, but I was also going to say that we could cut to that silhouette shot of Leia to give her a new line to say to Rey.

I don’t know if you have looked on sherlockpotter’s page at all for his TROS: Untold edit, but he reached a similar conclusion with Leia channeling her life Force through Rey to save Ben. I thought his line choices for Leia sounded good, but I feel like you’ve come to a happy medium between Leia intervening, but not being the factor that interrupts him.

After initially watching your first test, I kind of imagined the line being something simple, like, “Help me, Rey.” (ala, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi”). For his version, Sherlock used the line, “We can still save him” which I thought was a natural way to imply what is happening. Feels right, not fan-edity. The only other line I could imagine you could use make it even clearer would be something like, “Let it flow through you”, or, “Let it flow. From me. To you.” Or even something like, “We can still save him. From me. To you.” Idk, some different ideas. There is definitely a risk of saying too much, but I think you can stroke a fine balance. I think you could still utilize all of the Leia shots (maybe not the medallion one? Feels like it implies she was behind the Han vision almost). Show her laying down, maybe as the “healing” is occurring. I also don’t think you need any glowing effect happening at the wound. Less might be more here.

Anyway, I really dig this. It just makes more sense that Kylo getting stabbed is the thing that Leia senses, even if you argue that she is sensing it is about to happen which is fine too or whatever I guess. Just think it hits better when it is: Stab. Leia stunned. Speaking of which, it would be a nice touch if we could hear Leia gasp, or hear her breath get heavy in the moment she senses it. A moment of breathtaking shock.

And I also love how this allows the factor stopping Kylo from killing Rey being his own conscience, rather than Leia stopping him.

I’ll get on those audio files when I can JarJar. Also if anyone hasn’t checked out SherlockPotter’s edit thread go check it out!

Post
#1568143
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

I do remember awhile back going on a few different forums on various sites to see what people were saying about Ascendent, and I do recall the Force ghosts being brought up a little. I think I even remember one specific comment saying it would’ve been perfect if the ghosts appeared, but didn’t raise their hands and actually “helped” Rey in the physical fight. Just that they were there for moral/spiritual support. To be fair, we don’t know if that is actually all they’re doing anyway, but the raised hands do imply they are passing some kind of energy to her I guess. Then again, some people complained that Rey managed to kill Palpatine WITHOUT any help, so it’s to each their own after a certain point.

I think it makes sense that Luke could’ve told Leia after he became a ghost since passing knowledge was established in the OT.

Nev, I’m commenting on that in the other thread.

Post
#1567497
Topic
The Force Awakens: Starlight (V1.1 Released!)
Time

I don’t think there needs to be a ton of new lines setting up characters/plot points in TLJ. This might be a better convo for the General edit ideas thread instead of here, but I personally think the Max union dispute business, for example, should be cut from TLJ, and make it so she is just fighting the First Order on a different front. She goes on and on about how they needed to fight the First Order in TFA, but then she just settling a union dispute in the next movie? I think it makes a lot more sense if she is just busy fighting the First Order somewhere else. It seems like a part of the reason no one is helping the Resistance is because their allies have either surrendered or are already busy repelling the First Order blitzkrieg on other fronts. So I think the less we set up certain things the more modular this edit can be with other edits. It just depends.

Post
#1567263
Topic
ANDOR: The Rogue One Arc (Rogue One Rescore) [AVAILABLE]
Time

Made some notes I took after watching your edits a few times. Hope you don’t mind me sharing here!

  • Overall, I don’t think I noticed any technical issues at all.
  • I did notice a little bit of the original music bleeding through at the beginning of episode 2, when Cassian has the headphones on and is heading the rebel chatter inside the U-Wing. May be unnoticeable to most, I’ve just watched this scene a lot and recognize the music.
  • When I rewatched episode 1 on my phone at max volume, I noticed the sound of bats chirping a lot during in the scenes at Saw’s base. Sort of noticeable/distracting but not terrible.
  • I feel like the added shots during the rebel briefing do stick out a little.
  • I am overall impressed by your music choices. I thought the music choice when Jyn and Cassian arrived to Jedha was pretty inspired, since the music has a slight “Arabia” vibe, which is appropriate considered Jedha was filmed in Wadi Rum. I also really loved the music choices for Galen’s death, and Cassian’s speech till the end of that episode. Really great.
  • I don’t know if Mon Mothma really has a “theme” in the Season 1 Soundtrack, but I think having a track like that play when Bail and Mon speak would be an appropriate place to have it play. The scene feels a little incomplete with no music at all.
  • I think you’ve done an impressive job emulating the original score with Brittell’s work at times, and overall giving it the Andor vibe. I will say that I initially felt some of the music choices didn’t have the same “emotional weight” as the original tracks, like Your Father Would be Proud. I have rewatched bits and pieces of the episodes on my phone during and those moments that initially had less impact than the theatrical have grown on me more.
  • I do believe it might be better if this edit was “final” until after Andor Season 2, in case more favorable music options become available, or other plot details arise that may need to be straightened in the off chance there are any discrepancies.
  • It did seem like the new SFX when Jyn turns her head back and forth while walking away from Chirrut the first time they meet seemed a little loud.
  • I may be wrong but I think I noticed you re-inserted Chirrut’s line, “Is your foot alright?” between V1 and V2. I don’t have strong feelings either way about it but I’m curious why you decided to add it back in.
  • Also, I wonder if Chirrut’s staff hitting the troopers could be given a little more umph here and there. Sometimes it sounds like he is tapping them pretty lightly instead of hitting them so hard he is knocking them out.
  • Not necessary, but since we see a crashed X-Wing in the city but no context for it, maybe you could add some subtle X-Wing and TIE Fighter sounds during the street skirmish to at least set it up subtly.
  • You may interested, but I know there is an unused shot of the little girl Jyn saved looking up in the sky when the Star Destroyer is leaving that you could re-add to this version of the film if you wanted. There are a few other unused shots that could be useful here and there as well.
  • An opportunity for this edit: In the Partisan prison cell, Cassian says, “This is the first for me” in regards to being “worst cages than this”. This feels a little contradictory knowing that he has been in some pretty bad cages. You could argue he is being deceptive about his past, or being sarcastic, but I feel like with the added context of Andor, it would be better to alter this line to, “This isn’t the first for me” if possible.
  • I think if this was a movie edit, I would suggest removing all Bodhi scenes before Cassian finds him (and you removed all but one already), but with this episode format I wonder how it would feel if the following Bodhi scene when he meets Saw was back-to-back with his first scene. You could still cut the Bor Gullet scene, but maybe you could subtitle Saw when he says Bor Gullet, and it could mean, “Torture him.” Or something like that, to explain why Bodhi is in a daze when Cassian finds him.

Anyway, excellent work. This is like a dream come true honestly. I’m so happy you put in all of this effort to make this.

If you’re interested, here is a brief bullet point synopsis of the story changes I was planning to make:

  • Jyn wasn’t abandoned by Saw. She abandoned him (and the Rebellion). This creates a stronger juxtaposition between Jyn and Cassian’s characters.
  • The Rebels don’t know Bodhi was sent by Galen. They know about Galen’s involvement with the Death Star project, but all they know about the pilot is that he is a whistleblower that might have evidence of the project. Jyn’s initial mission is just to rescue the pilot, not find her father.
  • The Rebels offer Jyn a brand new identity so she can restart her life with a clean slate if she agrees to the mission.
  • A new dream sequence during the trip to Jedha showing flashes of Jyn’s time with Saw’s rebels establishing their questionable methods.
  • Chirrut “senses” Jyn rescuing the local girl during the Jedha City skirmish, establishing a clearer reason why Chirrut chooses to save them a few scenes later.
  • Jyn reveals that the last time Saw saw her was when he gave her orders to kill an Imperial officer’s family.
  • Galen’s message is now a “reveal” because we didn’t know he had sent the pilot.
  • At the end of the message, the hologram starts to become distorted and we don’t hear the name of the planet the Death Star plans are on.
  • When they’re rushing to leave Saw’s base, Cassian tells Baze/Chirrut they can come with them if they get the pilot while he finds Jyn.
  • On the U-Wing, we get a brief off-screen line or two from Bodhi and Baze establishing their motivations for joining the cause.
  • The crew is initially heading back to Yavin IV, but it is Jyn’s idea to find her father so they can find out where the Death Star plans are.
  • General Draven allows the change of plans, but now that they know the weapon works, he doesn’t trust Galen and orders Cassian to kill him.
  • Before he dies, Galen tells Jyn the plans are on Scarif.
  • On their approach to Yavin IV, repurpose Jyn holding her mother’s necklace on the stolen shuttle into a new sequence where Jyn remembers her mother and father (taken from Jyn’s original dream sequence from earlier), with some new elements to help establish her motivation for delivering her heartfelt speech to the Rebel Council in the following scene.
  • Potentially use cut shots of Cassian to establish him in the room listening while Jyn is speaking to the council.
  • During the Scarif battle, the only thing I would change would be that the Rogue One crew needs to tell the rebel fleet that they need to take down the shield gate AND lower their own shields in order to receive the transmission. Passing through energy shields would corrupt the data files. This makes all of the effort the crew makes into getting a signal to the fleet less redundant, since the fleet was already trying to take out the shield gate.
  • Make 2 endings: First, mostly the same but where we don’t see Darth Vader at all until the hallway scene. Second, no Vader hallway scene but we get one glimpse of his back. It also establishes that the disabled flagship is sending a transmission to another system and they’re tracking its trajectory. Movie ends where A New Hope begins.

I have mapped out already how I would make these changes work (with new lines, for example, some would be AI generated while others would be unused lines or frankenbites). I also have some ideas of useful alternative shots that could be used throughout the film. I can totally understand if you want keep this edit pretty similar to the original film beyond a few trims, but I’d love get a version of this with the music separate if you wouldn’t mind sharing.

Regardless, thanks for all of your hard work and sharing with us!

Post
#1566063
Topic
ANDOR: The Rogue One Arc (Rogue One Rescore) [AVAILABLE]
Time

I was curious how much you were able to achieve with just score isolation and how much re-foleying you’ve had to do. Has it been a lot or mostly touches here and there?

And sure! I can share some ideas I’ve written down. I actually made a rough edit years ago with some of those ideas, but a lot of my ideas have changed overtime. I can post some of those ideas later. But the gist of the first act changes were to improve the pacing and characterization. For example, I try to make Jyn a more active protagonist throughout the film, and I also try make the other character’s motivations for joining the team clearer.

Anyway, I’ll post some things later. You can take them or leave them, but I’d be happy to help implement any ideas you might be interested in.

Post
#1566059
Topic
ANDOR: The Rogue One Arc (Rogue One Rescore) [AVAILABLE]
Time

Damn, you beat me to it!

This is great. This is exactly what I was wanting to do, just putting it off until season 2 released.

I really enjoy your taste/sensibilities, so I was really excited to see that you were the one to share this project. I was curious how a total rescore would sound and I’m happy to see the samples! I do love the original music too, really appreciate Giacchino’s work, but it is a cool alternative to have! And I agree that it does bring the movie closer to that Andor feel.

I think I had in mind was going to make bigger story/characterization changes, to address some of the issues people had with the original movie, but I think your approach of just pushing through with something more conservative was a smart idea. I know a common complaint of the first act is the constant cutting from character to character, with many people removing the Bodhi scenes up until Cassian finds him. I’m assuming you keep these scenes though? I imagine it doesn’t have the same jarring feeling that the original movie did consider the overall rescore and new episodic format.

Anyway, would love to check this out!

Post
#1563896
Topic
<em>REY NOBODY</em> - A Collaborative Thread
Time

I haven’t been on the forums much lately due to work/life, but Dom and I had a lot of discussions about potential dialogue restructuring. I think we both agreed that we wanted to come up with a version that didn’t necessarily add anything extra, just focusing more on the dark visions, but we also talked about how a Rey killed her parents version would be interesting to see and I did some rewrites that included that premise.

A big reason it never went anywhere, at least in my case, is the weight of endless possibility. The dialogue could be anything now, and I feel like it is challenging to get new dialogue written that feels appropriate to the movie. I haven’t landed on anything that I just loved.

Maybe I could go back and find the scenes I’ve made rewrites for and post it here. I feel like it could help to have an open discussion to try to figure something out. I end up just writing a little bit, not being happy with it, losing interest and then revisiting months later. If there was a discussion here sort of like the discussion over Nev’s TFA Starlight crawl maybe we could finally figure something out, or just end up with an endless adjustments. 😂

Post
#1560026
Topic
<strong>Ahsoka</strong> (live action series) - general discussion thread
Time

Lol, YES. The titling of the shows has been a big gripe for me. It almost feels like they have a mandate that these shows have to have the simplest titles so it is easy for people to find and identify them. Oh! This show is about Obi-Wan Kenobi! Or Boba Fett! Or Ahsoka! The Bad Batch!

Ironically I feel like it works for Andor. Because most audiences are probably like, “Andor who??” I kind of believe Andor may be a play on the Greek “andros”, meaning “man”. Cassian is just one man. But it plays into that idea that one small person, one man, can make a a big impact on the universe. One person’s choices can ripple into a wave of change.

Even the upcoming show “The Acolyte” and “Skeleton Crew” plays into this (if the crew is called the Skeleton Crew at least). The only thing that hasn’t played into this is Tales of the Jedi.

On another note, I saw this comment on Reddit and I agreed with it. This was in regards to why they didn’t show Ezrea hug Hera, and cut away before they could really even interact.

u/joshuaizzo:
Something about this show that stood out to me is that Filoni - for some reason - is afraid of BIG emotion. Ezra and Sabine’s reunion should have been tears and crying and hugging and sobbing. They were both like, ‘Sup.
Same here. Big emotion. Run to one another. Embrace and cry. Revel in the fact you’re back together again. It was an emotional miss to me.

Post
#1558526
Topic
At what point did Tatooine robes become Jedi uniforms?
Time

This is headcanon, but I like to think both are Jedi outfits, but are from different sects/periods of Jedi history.

If you look at Count Dooku, his outfit is pretty similar to Luke’s ROTJ. They probably simply referred to Luke’s outfit from a production standpoint, but from an in-universe perspective, perhaps the black uniform was used by Jedi in the Old Republic that were more “Knight” than “Monk”. They may have been more intertwined with the government they represented than later Jedi, who chose to be somewhat separate to the government they served. These Jedi may have answered directly to a government leader rather than a Jedi Council, or may have been government themselves. In Dooku’s case, he was the Count of his homeworld, and leader of the Separatist movement. In Luke’s case, he may have simply found the outfit or doesn’t know the full history behind it beyond it being a Jedi uniform. Or maybe it could be intentional, since he is a military leader within the Alliance to Restore the Republic. At this time, Luke may have saw himself more as a warrior than as a monk. Maybe this look predates the reformation of the Jedi order and the Republic.

As time went on, perhaps the sects of Jedi who adopted the more religious trappings gained more influence in the Jedi Order as a whole, leading to the more monk-like, samurai look. In the High Republic, the Jedi had essentially beat the Sith, achieving a moral/cultural victory. Because of this, they wore more opulent robes of white and gold, conjuring the image of Catholic priests. But overtime, problems grew within the Republic and the Order. Maybe the Jedi saw their opulence as representative of their pride, so their uniforms became less flashy as they emphasized more of their Buddhist monk mentalities.

Obviously in real life they just made it up as they went, but it is fun to think about.

Post
#1558524
Topic
At what point did Tatooine robes become Jedi uniforms?
Time

That is interesting, have not heard that before.

There is also this quote in In Making of ROTJ, page 119.

Wednesday, January 6, was a big makeup and costume fitting day. “In a way, the first two films were an elaborate setup for Jedi,” says Hamill. “I think people really sense that this is the final chapter in the story–so far–and not a cliffhanger. It’s the big finish–all stops out, all systems go. My costume reflects that. During Star Wars, I was in a floppy, white rag-doll-type outfit. For Empire, I was in a militaristic-looking khaki costume. Now I wear the black uniform of a trained Jedi Knight. But the question is: What kind of Jedi? A wizard, a religious figure, or just a glutton for punishment?”
“Luke’s outfit went through incredible changes,” says Marquand. “We just worked and worked and worked. George really wanted Luke to wear black.”
“That was completely George,” says [costume designer Aggie Guerard] Rodgers. “He told me, 'That’s what it is–just copy the white one from Star Wars in black.”
“George was a little worried about my costume, that I would come off as a Hitler Youth or something a little too stark,” Hamill adds.

I believe there are other references to this idea, whether it is from Lucas direct or artists/designers.

I think the rationale here was that Lucas wanted Luke in black for dramatic effect and to make the audience question if he will turn or not. At the time it being a Jedi uniform was the justification for why he would choose to wear black. But then when making the prequels, Lucas returned to the idea of the Tatooine robes being more like the Jedi uniform because 1) audiences already identified the look with Obi-Wan, the most easily recognized Jedi in pop culture (a lot like how Gandalf sort of became the template of the ‘wizard’ look), and 2) the lighter, earthy tones of the Jedi robes made them more easily recognizable as the good guys.

Basically, costumes are an easy way to tell audiences who the good guys and bad guys are. For ROTJ he wanted the audience to wonder if Luke would be bad, but for the prequels he wanted the audience to immediately recognize the Jedi as good. In universe, I think the argument for the Tatooine robes is that they are reminiscent to clothes of the impoverished, simply-dressed citizens of the galaxy. And the prequel Jedi harken to the concept mendicant, ascetic monks, and the simple robes play to that idea.

Post
#1558514
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

I like 2 and 3.

Also, I think you’ve been doing a great job producing and sifting through these generations. I think the quality we’ve been able to achieve with the other voices just has made me set a higher bar that I think we have struggled to reach with the Poe voice clone (and that isn’t a jab at your skill, because I think your generations have been better than mine). I think it is just an inherent issue with Poe’s voice more than anything else. Just harder to make it a 1:1 match, due to Oscar’s natural delivery, the digital cruft of his clone, etc. But I think any of these would go unnoticed as a voice clone by your average viewer. And like you said, it’d probably hard for even me to notice if I was watching it on my tv or my phone without headphones.

Post
#1558205
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

Not really related to Ascendant, but I feel like there is this unaddressed thing in the movies where the books are the “original Jedi texts”, but also Luke’s personal journal (Obviously a Johnson vs JJ/Terrio discrepancy). I think in some ST edit I’ll probably never do, I would want to make the texts LUKE’S Jedi texts. Instead of being the original Jedi texts, that have somehow survived over 25 thousand years, I’d want them to be everything Luke has learned about the Force and the Jedi that he’s written down. This could include ancient knowledge and lost wisdom from old masters, but all passed through the lens of Luke.

So even though we don’t get to see Luke rebuild the Jedi Order proper, Luke’s very own words can become the foundation of the New Jedi Order. Luke would become a Moses figure for the future Jedi religion.

Post
#1558192
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

Cool, thanks Jar Jar. Well to Hal or whoever it was, was it because of the way it fits in the shot? Or just the wording alone? I feel like it would still fit, but I think you could remove the word ‘lasers’ in order to make it fit if it just didn’t work. Just think “has been” makes the entire speech flow better… though I guess it is punchier without it. It also could just be a matter of delivery, maybe if it was just slightly slower. Idk.

EDIT: Honestly it does sound better on my phone vs my desktop. I have been listening to the same lines for hours so maybe I’m just a little over-sensitive right now.

Post
#1558190
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

So I have the Jannah Scene audio and the “lightspeed” alts done. I’m posting them here in case anyone else wants them for their edits.

The Jannah Scene is basically 5 tracks, small adjustments made to most of them but the bulk of the work is in track 4. I would just put each channel in for the entire scene and adjust volume accordingly if needed. I have a reference video in the folder as well so you can see where these tracks start. It should start on the first frame of the shot before the Jannah scene begins (with Poe repairing stuff in the cockpit). This might not be the most efficient way to do this, but hopefully it’ll do.

Also, the new Jannah shot is in this folder. Idk if the actual video quality is as good as it can be, but maybe it is good enough, or someone can upscale it. I might be able to redo it with a higher quality version as well if it is an issue. But that shot should fit right on top of the entire shot of Jannah saying, “You say that like you’re sure it’s real.”

Folder for Jannah Scene:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HDkzLDm6xKYCM2zWafG6iWlC6fKwpZ1m?usp=drive_link

For the lightspeed alts, I also have a reference video (starts on the shot of Rey and Finn hugging). For this one, you just need to replace the center channel with one of these. I have a lightspeed clip version, and a lightspeed slip version.

Folder for lightspeed alts:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mrCyrOdJEgyCPI_U3Pdn_8LtaNUW2kiw?usp=drive_link

As for the Jedi Text shot, I had considered putting the healing image on the page before Rey turns to the Wayfinder page, but it would literally be a blink and you miss it shot so I don’t think it’d be worth it unless you extended the shot. It’d be a pain to do because Rey is already in the process of turning the page when the shot begins. I think it’s doable, I’m just not doing it tonight. I’d rather be 100% sure we want it before I spend any time on it. And maybe it’d be weird to have the page about Force healing be right next to the page about the Sith Wayfinder.

Also, I did want to point out one thing. The last test Hal posted for the Poe dialogue sounded good, but I still feel like the second line about cannons sounds weird. I think the worsd sound fine, but I don’t think the delivery totally fits the rest of Poe’s dialogue. I think it might flow better if Poe says, “Each ship has been modified with dreadnought laser cannons.”
You may get a better delivery if you type into the ElevenLabs prompt something like: “Each ship has been modified with dreadnought laser cannons…”, he said slow and solemnly.

Based on my tests it should still fit into the shot, I just can’t get a delivery I’m 100% happy with. That’s just my opinion on it though. Might be worth playing around with just a little bit more.

Post
#1558153
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

I personally prefer lightspeed slipping. The idea being that a ship can enter hyperspace in order to “slip” past or through objects in real space. As long as the object doesn’t have a heavy mass shadow, like a planet or moon. So Poe was trying to slip past/through the ice wall, but called it a little close and damaged both the Falcon and the wall. Although it was still preferable to the alternative, which would’ve been just crashing right into the wall and blowing up. I did suggest both originally and made arguments for both, but I feel lightspeed slipping feels slightly more like authentic Star Wars lingo vs clipping imo.

But I think I have versions of both “slip” and “clip”, so I’ll send both to Hal.

Post
#1555811
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

Well in the movie we have no indication the red troopers are different than regular troops. At one point I thought it would be interesting if you implied they were clones bred on Exegol.

And I had considered that as well. My initial notes had Finn basically telling the troops to abandon ship instead of “fighting back”, and then Finn says that “Stormtroopers are surrending”, implying that troopers were taking escape pods and being picked up by the Resistance. So, at the very least, Finn’s trying to save stormtroopers rather than kill them. So something like that could work, but you don’t get any of that imagery of the troopers rising up.

Regardless, I do think the change to the Finn and Jannah scene does a lot for Finn’s story already, even if we did nothing else.

Post
#1555785
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

DominicCobb said:

It would be ReaL interesting if someone here were working on an idea like that.

I have been summoned.

Since it has been brought up, I have been playing around with the idea of adding a little more to Finn’s arc. Really, it is the only way I could imagine one could do the “stormtrooper rebellion” idea, and then it might feel rushed, like Burbin said. Also, not all of these ideas would have to be used, but these are all of the places I felt the idea could be implement to make it feel set up as much as possible.

To clarify, I’m not saying this has to be for Ascendant! This is just what I have been cooking up on my own, but I thought I could share in case any of it could be useful for Ascendant.

Crawl

In the crawl, it could mention that Leia has had her bravest heroes send out messages of hope throughout the galaxy. This includes Finn and Poe. This is to help set up the stormtrooper subplot and the people’s fleet coming to the rescue at the end.

First Finn and Poe Scene

In Finn and Poe’s first scene, when they are attacked by TIE fighters, when we cut to the TIE interior, we could hear that the Falcon is broadcasting one of Finn’s messages on open channels. The TIE pilot says as much and tells the other pilots to turn it off. It is basically Resistance propoganda, Finn sharing testimonial in order to de-radicalize other stormtroopers. Also cut Finn cheering when he destroys TIEs.

Resistance Base

When Rey is reading the Jedi text, we hear one of Poe’s broadcasts on the radio that is on the table in front of her. “The First Order wins by making us think we’re alone. But there are more of us.”

First Order Briefing
During the First Order briefing scene, change Pryde’s dialogue and the off screen officers dialogue from this:
Pryde: Such range and power will correct the error of Starkiller Base.
Off screen officer: We need to increase recruitments. Harvest more of the galaxy’s young.

To this:
Pryde: Such range and power will correct the error of the Battle of Crait.
Off screen officer: And the stormtrooper program. There have been more defections.

This would be a simple change that could set up other stormtrooper defections besides Jannah’s group.

Pasaana

On Pasaana, when the stormtrooper catches them, we cut most of the trooper dialogue and hear Finn off screen say, “Wait! You don’t have to do this!”. Also cut Finn cheering when he kills/nearly kills stormtroopers during the speeder chase.

Kijimi

This is more related to Poe, but when he speaks with Zorii, make it clear that Zorii is simply repeating Poe’s own words to him.
Poe: How long’s it been like this?
Zorii: Ever since Skywalker. People have been fighting, and dying.

Poe: I can’t walk out on this war. Not until it’s over… Maybe it is…
Zorii: You don’t believe that. Hey. “They win by making you think you’re alone.” I’ve heard your broadcasts. “There’s more of us.”

Star Destroyer Rescue

I think it’d be helpful to this idea if Finn and Poe were stunning all of the trooper on the Destroyer instead of straight up killing them. Maybe you just recolor their blaster shots a light blue, add some kind of stun mask to troopers when they get hit, and an altered stun blast sound, to imply their shots are stun shots, but slightly stronger so they can penetrate armor and keep them down longer.

Endor
We could keep the Jannah scene as we currently have it. If you wanted a more conservative approach, you could leave out most of the previous ideas (maybe besides the officer mentioning defections), and maybe Finn doesn’t realize the power his story wields until he meets Jannah, which then encourages him to do what he does on Exegol.

Resistance Meeting

When Poe and Finn are laying out the mission plan, we create a new insert shot of R2 recording the speech their giving. Then, during the prep montage, we reuse the shots of R2 transferring the Palpatine message earlier in the film to make it look like he is transferring Finn and Poe’s message from his memory to the Falcon (for Lando and Chewie to broadcast to the galaxy).

Battle of Exegol
When Finn stops and notices they are resetting their systems and decides he has to do “something”, instead of hacking one of the turrets and shooting the command deck, him and Jannah hack into the navigation signal and use it to send a message to the stormtroopers.

Rose: Finn, where are you? The lander’s leaving. (OS) Finn!
Finn: Go without us. (Cut) We’re taking this entire ship down.
Finn (OS Add): We’re gonna reach out to the stormtroopers.
Rose: What? How?
Finn (OS Cut): We’re gonna hit the command deck.
Finn (OS Add): We’re gonna slice into their nav signal.

Cut the shots of them on the rotating turret.
Add the insert of Jannah plugging the cables together here. And add her saying off screen “You’re in!”

Then, we get a brief montage from inside the Star Destroyer. In this montage, we’d hear Finn’s voice playing over the intercoms.
Some of the shots we could see:
An insert of a computer screen that illustrates their system being “hacked” and now displaying audio waveforms.
A modified shot from earlier in the film where the two stormtroopers look at each other. Mask them out and put them in a different room/hallway. As we hear Finn’s voice, maybe we hear one of the troopers say, “The Finn?”
First Order officers scrambling at their own monitors trying to stop what’s happening.
Empty hallway shots taken from the Vehicle Flythroughs video for the Finalizer as we hear Finn’s voice echo down the halls.
From TFA, a modified shot of two troopers walking around the corner off camera.

A possible version of Finn’s speech:
Stormtroopers! This is FN-2187, now Finn. The First Order only sees us as numbers. But we’re more than that. We had names, families, stories! Now’s the time. To remember! Break free! Resist!

Then, at the end of the battle, you would cut the turret firing on the command deck and Finn and Jannah’s reaction. Instead, we would take shots from TFA from when they blow a hole in the oscillator. I actually have a rough cut of this part already, but basically I’ve cut it to appear that stormtroopers are shooting at each other. We could add new trooper dialogue here to help get the idea across of what is happening. One of the defiant troopers gets shot, but his shot hits a reactor that sets off a chain reaction, causing the entire room to explode. As we follow the explosion traveling upward, we cut to outside the Star Destroyer, where now we see the whole ship exploding, leading to the command deck blowing up. I’ve also timed it to where it doesn’t interfere with the current flow of the scene or score. So it is brief, but lasts just long enough to get an idea of what is happening.
One or two of the shots would need to be adjusted to make it feel more like a generic facility interior and hide the oscillator chasm. But cropping, flipping and color grading can help make these shots feel distinct from their TFA counterparts.

Then, as everyone is flying away, we hear Finn say to Poe. “Stormtroopers are defecting. People are rising up all over the galaxy.”

Post
#1555446
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

I actually never liked the Final Order term either, I just figured it could be kept because it is onscreen dialogue from Poe. The only other times that term is mentioned is Palpatine off screen, and I think the exposition Resistance guy once?

You could potentially cut the shot, and slightly extend existing shots to fit the runtime without affecting the score. Or find/create a new shot that could be used for this scene. And that way you wouldn’t have to cut back and forth between original and AI dialogue. Might not be right for this edit though.

Post
#1555416
Topic
The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released)
Time

The dyad would’ve been a good way to have the power in the movie without it disrupting future storytelling. Like only they can do it. At the very least, full-on resurrection could be something only they could do maybe. Guess it just depends on future stories.

As far as the movie goes, Rey doesn’t seem surprised that she can heal the snake. She just decides to do it, and explains to BB-8 what she did. Which to me signals she learned it from somewhere, and the obvious answer being the Jedi texts.

It could be an ancient Jedi ability, or it could’ve been an obscure ability Luke learned somewhere else and wrote about, since we know Luke also wrote in the texts.