What do you think? Anything else I should do? Anything I shouldn’t do? Please share your thoughts, and I’ll keep you updated as I make progress.
Your edit looks good on paper, and since you’re asking, I’ll give it a shot 😄
Ideas I consider to be good:
New opening crawl, written by Hal 9000
Reduce Poe being cocky with Kylo => DigMod Edit is perfect for that scene.
Add Rey having a daydream/vision about the island (idea by NeverarGreat)
Remove Kylo’s line "Comfortable?"
Reduce Finn shooting a lot of people as he escapes in the TIE fighter => DigMod Edit is perfect for that scene.
Remove Kylo saying Finn’s number
Restore IMAX sequence => What is it ?
Remove Finn’s line "… cute boyfriend?"
Reduce Rathtars
Remove General Hux from first scene with Snoke (VFX by Jackpumpkinhead)
Remove Snoke mentioning Han Solo being Kylo’s father
Replace “These are your first steps” with Alec Guinness’ voice (audio by DJ Mitz)
Replace seeing the Hosnian system being destroyed in the sky with a Star Destroyer (VFX by NeverarGreat)
Change Finn’s line “It’s the first order, they’ve done it” to "they’ve found us"
New sound mix and music for this sequence to match the change in visuals and story
New color grade of Takodana outdoor scenes after Rey runs away to more of a warm evening/sunset light (to have the nice looking TIE sunset shot make a little more sense)
Add unused shots of X-Wings approaching from Teaser 1 and 2
Remove Han shooting over his shoulder without looking
Reduce Han playing around with Chewie’s Bowcaster
Remove Han’s line “I saw our son”, keep the “I saw him” part to keep some mystery
Remove mention of the Hosnian system’s destruction when Finn is introduced to Leia
Add Poe telling Leia that Finn knows about a weapon system/base (edit by NeverearGreat)
R2D2 starts searching for map files on his hard drive after hearing C3PO mentioning the map (edit by NeverarGreat)
Add deleted scene with Leia talking to Korr Sella
After Rey resists Kylo Ren’s mind probe, add the portion of the Snoke scene from earlier where General Hux suggests using the weapon to destroy the Republic (VFX by Jackpumpkinhead to overlay Kylo Ren’s face over his mask)
Further VFX to remove Kylos helmet in this sequence
Move General Hux’s speech to after Kylo Ren overreacts to Rey’s escape
After the speech, the nearby Sun begins to be drained
During the Resistance briefing scene, remove Leia identifying their base as the Starkiller’s next target, Threepio lamenting the prior loss of the Republic fleet, and the mention of the First Order charging the weapon "again"
Remove C3PO’s line "It would take a miracle to save us now"
Remove smoke from Starkiller Base when X-Wings approach (based on VFX by NeverarGreat)
Add deleted scene of Kylo searching the Falcon
Remove Finn not understanding Han’s signal to look at Rey behind him
After Kylo kills Han, the Starkiller fires at the Hosnian system, and Leia senses it through the Force
As Finn and Rey head outside the oscillator, cut to the battle in space where the fighters notice that the oscillator has been damaged. Cut back to Rey and Finn before the X-wings begin their descend toward the trench.
As Kylo Ren and Rey duel, cut to the X-wings descending toward the trench, skipping over the portion of the sequence used earlier.
As the Falcon flies away from the imploding planet, remove shots in which the fighter pilots appear too joyful
Remove Poe’s line "Our work here is done"
Remove Chewie walking past Leia (because of the Chewie hug controversy)
Remove Chewie from crowd behind Leia
Stabilized ending shot (by NeverarGreat)
Ideas that I don’t consider to be good:
Replace Main Theme with Episode I version => Stick to the theatrical version !
Reduce the diss battle between Kylo and Lor San Tekka => I love Von Sydow too much to even remove one frame of him
Add VFX to practical effect desert bird to make the feathers look more convincing
Subtle zoom in on the spy watching as they pass
Remove droid saying “Alert the resistance”
Ideas I need to watch finished to be sure about:
Reedit the part with Stormtroopers inside a transport to make the sequence less jumpy
Add unused shots of Stormtroopers from Teaser 1
Fix Kylo’s helmet which has an inconsistent mouth guard
Reduce Bala-Tik part (idea by NeverarGreat and DigMod) => What is that ?
Slight fix of shot of Rey by the lake (straightened horizon, removed lens distortion)
Color correct shot of Maz, Solo, Rey and Finn walking past the spy to match following shot
Remove Kylo calling Darth Vader "grandfather"
Changes to the talk about Kylo between Han and Leia
Flip back flipped shot of Kylo putting his helmet in the ash tray
Flip back flipped shot of Stormtroopers looking for Rey
Remove sharpening artefacts from a shot of Rey inside Starkiller Base
Change Kylo’s facial scar to match Episode VIII appearance
I would then suggest to change other things (most of them found in DigMod edit), such as:
- Cut Poe and Finn’s conversation after Finn says “Because it’s the right thing to do” [DigMod Edit]
as well as Finn and Poe’s celebration after blowing up a turret [from DigMod Edit] while keeping the Tie flying within the ship after the celebration - Cut Finn’s “this is what we look like, some of us” lines [DigMod Edit]
- Cut the mention of a map leading to Luke, in order to remove a very awkward “fourth wall breaking”
- Cut Rey’s “No” when responding to Finn’s “You ever fly this thing?” line [DigMod Edit]
- Finn and Rey’s “I can do this” lines when they first get into the Falcon [DigMod Edit]
- Removed the Falcon taking a nose dive into the sand upon take off [DigMod Edit]
- Cut Finn and Rey’s excessive teenage celebration after they make it to space [DigMod Edit]
- Remove/trim Finn being so awkward at giving Rey the tape
- Cut scene of Finn childishly pushing down on Rey’s head and added Red Gradient glow to mimic the overhead light and connect the edited scene visually [DigMod Edit]
- Remove Han and Chewie coming aboard “We’re home” and cut directly to the two of us finding Rey and Finn in the cargo hold
- Cut the “14 parsecs” dialogue and Rey breaking the fourth wall by being amazed to meeting with a movie hero
- Cut the cameo of the sphere Luke used in Episode IV
- Cut “- What ? - Compressor !”
- Cut all Poe’s cockpit shots and the subsequent “bull eye” shots to free Han-Chewie-Finn [DigMod Edit]
- Cut Poe’s references to his jacket when talking to Finn [DigMod Edit, but keep the “you completed my mission” part of the dialogue]
- Remove troopers walking away from Ren’s wrath after he discovers Rey is missing [DigMod Edit]
- Remove Han’s “so it’s big” line [DigMod Edit]
- Remove Han’s “there’s always a way to do that” line after asking how to blow it up. Removed Leia’s “Han’s right” line [DigMod Edit]
- Remove Leia’s lines about good old times with Han
- Cut scene where Han asks Finn what his job was and their verbal altercation [DigMod Edit]
- Cut the “I’m in charge now !” part when Han and Finn encounter Phasma
- Cut Finn threatening to blow Phasma’s bucket off [DigMod Edit]
- Cut Finn’s answer to Han’s “Trash compactor”: just cut directly to the following scene after Han delivers his line
- Trim Finn v Ren fight so Ren wins easily [darthrush edit]
- Cut Snoke’s line about Ren who needs to finish his training
- Completely cut the hugging scene
- Trim down the “puzzle map”scene so it’s less cheesy
edit: gosh I forgot about one thing: remove Maz’s “Those beasts !” which is cheesy as hell 😄