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Star Wars: Firestorm (The Last Jedi Fan Edit) (* unfinished project *)

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 (Edited)

Hey guys! I posted this fan edit idea to the fanedit forums earlier today but I wanted to post it here, too.

Title: Star Wars: Firestorm

Tagline: Let the past die. Cut it in post if you have to.

Intentions:
Keep the main story and action scenes intact. My main concern is seeing a cut of the film that gets to the point. Canto Bight and DJ might have been bad ideas in hindsight but they still happened. The story’s theme can be about failure without needing a 152 minute running time.
Less awkward dialogue (mainly Rose’s dialogue)
Fewer quips/jokes without making the film devoid of humor. There were certain jokes I liked, such as the frog nun’s cart and the leaf tickling scene, among others.
Less grumpy Luke avoiding Rey. Luke’s avoidance of Rey in the first act is unnecessary and drags the story to a halt. Luke’s introduced, talks to R2, agrees to train Rey. Boom, progress.
Better pacing on Canto Bight. This scene looks nice but goes on too long.
New ending shot with Luke. I care about Luke Skywalker. I love his final shot. I don’t care about Broom Boy or his potential spinoffs.

Edits:
New title (not confusing Last Jedi with Return of the Jedi)
New opening crawl (https://brorlandi.github.io/StarWarsIntroCreator/#!/AL3j2UyRb229sORAGEzT)
Add deleted scenes based on relevance, humor, and/or quality (Rose/Paige sister moment, Luke lesson #3, Snoke backstory if available, etc.)
Remove Hux/Poe prank call
Remove BB-8 Whack-a-mole
Remove Luke saber toss, introduce him with Falcon cockpit scene (depends on deleted scenes on blu-ray)
Remove alien milking scene/spearfishing, get to training after R2 “Help Me Obi-Wan” scene
Less awkward dialogue, particularly from Rose (talking too much, now it’s worth it, save who we love, and middle school kiss)
Less social/political commentary (again, less Rose)
Less Holdo scolding (we get it, she’s suspicious, Poe oks Canto Bight plan)
Keep Maz Kanata Battlefront scene but put some Battlefront/Force Unleashed music in the background
Get to the point on Canto Bight (parking >casino intro > prison > DJ >escape > Snoke’s Star Destroyer)
Remove long panning shot of Space Leia (keep the gist of the scene but cut as her hand touches the glass to avoid space pressure plot hole and then go to footage of stretcher) The silliness of the effect is the most laughable part, the idea still works
Trim porg scenes, keep them if they’re in the middle of a scene to preserve music
Include Luke force lesson #3 depending on deleted scene quality and content
Remove “put on a cowl” (?)
Remove Snoke’s “she’s got spunk!” line
Remove “parents were drunks” Kylo Ren speech, keep real parentage mystery for Episode IX
Trim Dark Side Cave scene, maybe remove finger snapping, cut before the mirror reveals her face so parents are a mystery
Remove Phasma’s Bond villain moment
Remove BB-8 AT-ST scene (?), depends on how Finn and Rose escape SSD.
Color-correct Yoda so his Force ghost is light blue, partially transparent
Keep Finn sacrifice but Rose saves him right after Poe tells him to stop, Rose immediately falls unconscious after smiling and without saying anything
Remove Finn dragging Rose’s body on sled (?)
Keep jokes including frog nuns, leaf tickling, steam iron (my personal preference)
Final scene is Luke looking at Binary Sunset (A New Hope credits song from Revenge of the Sith plays), Luke fades away, iris fade to credits.

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Are you trying to retcon Rey’s parentage or more like just edit it out of the movie?

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ElectroDroid said:

Are you trying to retcon Rey’s parentage or more like just edit it out of the movie?

Edit it out. I may end up leaving the cave scene intact. But then there’s the scene where Kylo tells Rey that her parents were nobodies and “sold [her] for drinking money.” The scene comes off like hasty, cheap dialogue and left many in the audience (including myself) feel it was lacking.

If her parents really are nobodies or if JJ Abrams changes his mind in Episode IX, finding out the parents are nobodies in this movie adds nothing to The Last Jedi’s story. It’s part of Rian Johnson’s message that Jedi can come from anywhere, but the parentage reveal (or lack of one) feels cheap for those hoping for answers. I do plan on keeping the part of the scene where he says “you’re nobody, but not to me” because of the tentative connection that Kylo and Rey have and her temptation to the dark side.

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So, about After Effects. For the Yoda scene (and this kind of work in general) the main things you need to learn are masking, tracking and keyframing. Here’s a good page for tutorials to get you started: http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/

And here are some basics from Adobe:

Masking:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/alpha-channels-masks-mattes.html

Tracking:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/tracking-stabilizing-motion-cs5.html

Keyframes:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/animation-basics.html

Here’s how I imagine you could do your ghost effects:

  • You start out with a layer of the original movie, naturally.

  • Based on what is behind Yoda in each shot you need to create a new layer of the things that should be seen through Yoda’s ghost. This can be an image (or several image layers, or a video, depending on the specifics of the shot) that you create in something like Photoshop.

  • You then need to place that layer on top of Yoda and have it follow the motion of the shot. You can move the layer around using keyframes, or track the motion of the original shot. If you go with tracking I suggest adding the tracking motion to a “null object” and then “parenting” the layer you want to move around to the “null”. You now have Yoda removed, basically.

  • Now you need to “mask” things. This is also known as rotoscoping. Mattes are a similar thing too. You need a mask in the shape of Yoda on the layer covering Yoda so you don’t cover up too much of the shot. When you’re done the mask should follow Yoda’s outline and stay with him as he moves. Adjust the feathering of the mask and keep the blue glow around Yoda but nothing else of him.

  • Copy the original movie layer and put it on top. Add the same mask around Yoda, but inverted so you only keep Yoda and not what’s around him. You can now adjust the transparency of this layer to change how transparent his ghost should appear. You can also adjust the color of this layer using something like a “tint” or “curves” effect to make him more blue.

  • Aaand that should do it, for the most part. I think. We’ll see what happens when we start working on it.

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Wow. Thanks for the advice! I might test the force ghost effect on a different movie and see how that turns out. Preferably a movie scene with darker lighting.

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Good idea. You could also test the basic concept on a still image first, and worry about the motion later.

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 (Edited)

@EvenSteven Three Things:

1-- What were you going to name the movie? I love the idea of “Star Wars Episode VIII: Firestorm” or, my personal favorite, “Star Wars Episode VIII: Echoes From The Past”. I really appreciate your considering removing the word ‘Jedi’ from the title.

2-- Would you be willing to consider opening the movie as Rey makes her way to Ahch-To. I love the ending that DigMod did where the Millennium Falcon blasts off into space. Opening the movie with Rey, Artoo, and Chewie coming out of hyperspace allows for an artificial addition of time lapse from Ep. VII.

3-- Would you be willing to add ~2 sentences of dialogue to Snoke that gives him some backstory? I had thought he could speak during the throne room scene with Kylo and Rey. We deserve some backstory and I wanted to connect the PT and OT better with the ST by having Snoke know Palpatine. Snoke came out of nowhere as a villain and this is supposed to be a nine-part epic. Adding in dialogue such as this:

“Do you hear that Sheev? I have outlasted you!” Snoke calls to the heavens. “Oh, how our Master would be proud.”

1) Brevity. The lines are short enough that it doesn’t turn into a monologue, and doesn’t ruin the momentum Rian Johnson developed and directed.
2) Tone. These lines are things Snoke would say during that throne room scene, and it fits his arrogance in the moment.
3) Who is he? This explains that Snoke is the student of Darth Plagueis, just like Palpatine was. Palpatine and Snoke knew each other.
4) What has he been doing? Plagueis cared about outwitting, outlasting, and outsurviving. It is a trait he would teach his students. Snoke was waiting out Palpatine.
5) Connection This connects the Sequel Trilogy (because Snoke is in it) with the Original Trilogy (Palpatine is in it) and even the Prequel Trilogy (Palpatine is in it and Plagueis is mentioned).

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ChiefWamsutta said:

@EvenSteven Three Things:

1-- What were you going to name the movie?

2-- Would you be willing to consider opening the movie as Rey makes her way to Ahch-To.

3-- Would you be willing to add ~2 sentences of dialogue to Snoke that gives him some backstory?

  1. Star Wars: Firestorm is the working title. The poster will have the text “The Last Jedi Fan Edit” at the bottom. The title crawl will say Episode VIII FIRESTORM.

  2. DigMod already has his edit with Rey going to Ahch-To. In my edit, the opening to the movie is staying the same with the First Order Fleet attacking the Resistance Base. The only major change in the beginning footage is the removal of the Hux/Poe prank call and the BB-8 whack-a-mole scene.

  3. I am not adding any new lines or footage unless the deleted scenes are amazing AND they don’t have timecodes. I am considering using music tracks from Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Battlefront for certain scenes. The biggest changes to this particular edit are the opening crawl, a quick Canto Bight, color-corrected Yoda, and a new ending shot with Luke.

The Last Jedi already feels bloated and my main concern with the Firestorm edit is to mainly stick to the story and action scenes. I can’t really plug in all the plot holes and dangling threads left by this movie. That job should be handled by a different edit and a far more experienced editor.

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EvenSteven said:

  1. Star Wars: Firestorm is the working title. The poster will have the text “The Last Jedi Fan Edit” at the bottom. The title crawl will say Episode VIII FIRESTORM.

  2. DigMod already has his edit with Rey going to Ahch-To. In my edit, the opening to the movie is staying the same with the First Order Fleet attacking the Resistance Base. The only major change in the beginning footage is the removal of the Hux/Poe prank call and the BB-8 whack-a-mole scene.

  3. I am not adding any new lines or footage unless the deleted scenes are amazing AND they don’t have timecodes. I am considering using music tracks from Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Battlefront for certain scenes. The biggest changes to this particular edit are the opening crawl, a quick Canto Bight, color-corrected Yoda, and a new ending shot with Luke.

The Last Jedi already feels bloated and my main concern with the Firestorm edit is to mainly stick to the story and action scenes. I can’t really plug in all the plot holes and dangling threads left by this movie. That job should be handled by a different edit and a far more experienced editor.

I do like your title choice; it is interesting and nice to not have the word ‘Jedi’ in it. I can respect your reasoning to keep things closer to the original movie. I also respect your humility that the plot holes might be addressed in someone else’s edit.

Thank you for all you do!

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If you think Broomboy is getting his own movie, I think you’ve completely misunderstood the meaning of that final scene.

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Based on the YouTube clips, I will not be using any of the deleted scenes footage for my edit. Most of them are superfluous or silly. The only clip that I could see being salvaged is Luke mourning Han’s death. However, that would mean going from a shot with Rey and Chewie in it to a shot of him mourning. Either that, or I would need to find a scene later on where I can cut to Luke alone in his hut.

On a side note, I never thought I’d see Rose biting Hux’s finger or Tom Hardy as a stormtrooper spanking Finn.

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Obviously you know your edit better than anyone else, but I think it would be good to use a few of Finn’s deleted scenes. He was a massive part of the last movie and in the theatrical release of TLJ he seemed relegated to a side role, so with even more cuts to this, it’ll feel a bit rough.

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I might use the space scenes from “Rose and Finn Go Where They Belong.” The shots look cool and could replace the AT-ST escape.

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EvenSteven said:

I might use the space scenes from “Rose and Finn Go Where They Belong.” The shots … could replace the AT-ST escape.

That was my first thought when I saw that scene. I think it works best if you also include the scene of Poe bringing Finn up to speed at the beginning, since Finn’s “where we belong” line is a callback to Poe saying it in that scene.

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EvenSteven said:

Based on the YouTube clips, I will not be using any of the deleted scenes footage for my edit. Most of them are superfluous or silly. The only clip that I could see being salvaged is Luke mourning Han’s death. However, that would mean going from a shot with Rey and Chewie in it to a shot of him mourning. Either that, or I would need to find a scene later on where I can cut to Luke alone in his hut.

On a side note, I never thought I’d see Rose biting Hux’s finger or Tom Hardy as a stormtrooper spanking Finn.

The funny thing is, in the commentary Rian says that they were able to take away the shot of Rose biting the finger “because she is already strong enough of a character to not need this scene”. Rian thinks this scene makes her look strong. Way to go lol!

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 (Edited)

TomArrow said:

EvenSteven said:

Based on the YouTube clips, I will not be using any of the deleted scenes footage for my edit. Most of them are superfluous or silly. The only clip that I could see being salvaged is Luke mourning Han’s death. However, that would mean going from a shot with Rey and Chewie in it to a shot of him mourning. Either that, or I would need to find a scene later on where I can cut to Luke alone in his hut.

On a side note, I never thought I’d see Rose biting Hux’s finger or Tom Hardy as a stormtrooper spanking Finn.

The funny thing is, in the commentary Rian says that they were able to take away the shot of Rose biting the finger “because she is already strong enough of a character to not need this scene”. Rian thinks this scene makes her look strong. Way to go lol!

Any chance of getting Billy Dee Williams to help create a scene so that Lando can be the gambler wearing the lapel pin? lol

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you have hit all the weird things i hate about TLJ, Think i will love this edit, but one thing, the falling bombs from the big ships IN SPACE , nothing falls in space, maybe a flame at the end of them or something…

good luck…

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They’re actually hovering over a fixed point of the planet, which means that the bombs would fall down towards the nearest source of gravity. Everything falls in space.

Or the bombs could have been magnetically impelled down the rails.

Or the topmost bomb in each line could have been pushed mechanically to move the entire line.

Or they could have been drawn to the more massive Dreadnought.

Or they could have been self-propelled like Maul’s probe droids from Episode 1.

There’s five potential explanations with a minute of thought.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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darthrush said:

And it’s a Star Wars movie. It’s honestly one of the stupidest complaints I have heard about the Last Jedi.

Teh lady haz purple hair!