SpenceEdit

I'm going to work on the trailer some more today, I'd like that done by tomorrow or the next day.

I'm also going to start work on my commentary. I think that should be fun. I'm a little goofy in person, so it should be fun and informative!

Also I'm recording a video introduction, and probably a video tutorial on the basics of fanediting. It would cover everything from ripping the dvd to basic editing in Womble. I think this could be helpful for new editors,  as I always wish that I had something like that to visually show me how to get started. Is that something people would find interesting?

I've always felt I'd rather see 90 good minutes than have a bunch of filler in there. And again, it's the right length for the story. I've even kept some scenes I'd rather cut just to keep the pace moving right.

I'm glad you're still doing this cut. To me, there's as much opportunity editing Jedi as there is with the prequels. I hope to see more people editing it in the future.

Well, yes and no. When this is done I'll probably watch it a few times with some friends, but after that it will probably be a while till I watch it again. When you spend this much time with a movie, once it's done you kind of want to get away from it for a while. That doesn't mean you're not satisfied or happy with the edit, just burnt out on it I guess.

I thought of trying out the Death scene after Lando blows up the core, but I don't know if it's a good idea to change the tempo right there. We might lose the tension of Lando escaping by cutting to the Vader stuff. What I might do is make Lando's trip inside a little shorter.

I'm glad you're enjoying the clips so far, and I'm glad the edit is sort of fitting in with what you've been talking about. My biggest problem with the edit right now is the length. It's only 90min. It feels complete, and that's exactly how long I need to tell the story the best way possible, but i just wish there was more that I could put in. Especially the saber battle toward the end. I wish that had about 5 minutes extra that I could add in. Oh well. Maybe it'll be on the blu-rays.

Well that's part of what's nice about starting with the yoda scenes. Luke is told he is finished training and must defeat Vader. the goal of the movie, the personal story is set up right away. The excursion to Jabba's now feels like Luke proving to himself that he is a Jedi, so that scene becomes an extension of his personal story. Luke has to save those he cares about, and use his new skills to do so. A lot of what you said I've had in mind as I cut this. This isn't a "cut the bullshit" fanedit, the entire feel and through line of the story has been changed. The story is the same, but told in a new way. The story telling related cuts are the ones I'm happiest with. The emotional beats are what I wanted to improve the most, and every change I made was to change how we, as the audience, feel about the story we're being told.

For instance, I didn't just change the ending to remove the Ewok stuff that I hate, I changed it to create a moving and cathartic conclusion. Sometimes, scenes I would like to cut were kept. For instance it'd be nice to remove the SE planet celebrations, but if we need grandeur, and we need a cathartic release, then we need more than just teddy bears dancing and Luke burning Vaders armor and everyone happy and smiling at the end.

Well, then the GOUT should be fine for him. Or he could do his own version. Fanediting is fairly easy to start up with.

MTHaslett, I looked at that image when I got home, and it was the exact one I was planning on using for my cover art haha. I'm using a few more of Mondo's posters for art as well.

freelancer I forgot to answer you on this, but I'm not intending on redoing this in HD unless there's some seriously good deleted scenes I want to add in. Right now I'm not set up to do HD editing, and I'm also not a big HD buff, so I personally don't have much interest in it. I don't even have a blu-ray player yet, and I'm getting one solely for Star Wars when it comes out.

To clear up some confusion, as lordsidi seemed to not get this, but most of those clips on youtube are of concepts and ideas. That does not mean all of that is going to be included. In fact, not a single one of those clips represents a finished product. I'm not using the idea of putting other footage into the saber fight anymore and I'm keeping the original music, as I wanted to elevate the edit from "bad autopsy" to "okay autopsy."

That's all stuff I've had in mind since I started this edit. The Jabba stuff is really an excuse to show Luke has graduated to the status of Jedi, and we get done with it by the 25 minute mark. The rest of it's all Empire stuff. I think changing up the pacing will help improve things.

freelancer, I'm glad you enjoyed my other version of Jedi, and I hope you like this one even more! You should also check out the "Dan Edit." An editor/friend of mine called yads did that one, and it's a very good cut of the movie as well.

lordsidi, my reaction to your comments wasn't as much about the comments themselves, you can feel however you want to about my edit. Again, if you don't like it, don't watch it. It had more to do with the fact that you are brand new to the forum, come into the "Fanedits" forum and start flaming a project that I and many other people have worked very hard on and many people are excited about. You also didn't give much reason for why you made such harsh comments, which is in no way constructive to me. So, for appearance sake, you just kind of showed up to my party that I didn't invite you to and started being a dick.

Now, I feel like maybe you don't understand the purpose of "Fanedits" especially if your only experience with them is Adywan's Revisited projects. Those are an entirely different animal, and nobody else has done or is trying to do anything else like that. Ady is very talented, and it's a fantastic project.

Most of the time, Fanedits are people either trying to improve a movie to their tastes or trying to put an interesting spin on a movie. Sometimes it's to present it from a different perspective. My goal is not to replace Return of the Jedi, or tell everybody that this is a better version. I would hope that people who don't necessarily agree with my point of view would still find the concepts interesting, and maybe enjoy it as an alternate cut, a curiosity, or a "What if?" This whole thing came about when I read an interview with Gary Kurtz about how Jedi was originally going to be before George Lucas changed it up, so I tried to edit the existing material to be a bit more like that description. It might be better, it might not, but it's still interesting.

Hopefully now that you're aware of what we're doing, you can add some constructive comments to this and other threads, and maybe watch and enjoy a few fanedits. But if you're going to continue to be an ass, kindly leave. Thank you.

No it's fine, I understand. But as a huge Star Wars fan, I know exactly what their hilts look like, and I think a lot of people will as well. I don't want that to be something that sticks out as wrong in the edit. It runs the risk of changing "Awesome! Luke has Vader's saber!" to "Why did Luke's saber suddenly turn red?" very easily.

No that's not the problem, doing a new rotoscope is time consuming but not that hard. Basically I'd have to crop a lot of the shots toward the end, after Luke beats down Vader. I don't really want to do that, it's some very iconic imagery. I don't think the edit really needs it either, it should work fine the way it is, though it's a cool concept.

Thanks! I'm glad you're looking forward to it. I'm going to start working on cover art and DVD menus this weekend, so I'll see if that fits.

Honestly, I can't see the image since it's blocked and I'm at work, but I'll check it out when I get home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQigbmX4hwg&feature=player_embedded

New preview clip tonight. I tried out a version of "Duel of the Fates" over the Luke/Vader battle, and I really like it. It'll be posted later tonight.

Exciting!

It's definitely a neat concept, I don't like it better than the original way, but I like seeing alternatives even if it doesn't become my preffered version.

If you need any editing program help, let me know.

I'm really looking forward to this, great concept!

Funny enough, they could've just posted Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote and it would've been exactly the same.