The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 288

stickydixon said:

How about, in the climax of AotC, Anakin doesn’t act like a child and rush forward into combat, getting his ass handed to him, and causing the fight to be lost?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hu5JmhXxvHHxoSeiE7g68UNBAOjkHvg3

And no Yoda - it’s odd, isn’t it, that he takes a clone ship to the bunker and arrives absent clone support?
Also, I tried to limit movie swordsmanship, ie fewer pirouettes and no “duel wielding”.

In short, no shots of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme in the same gunship, cut, cropped, and painted out Anakin for the first half of the fight, and did the same for Yoda’s appearance, simply cut the center channel to remove Yoda’s grunting.

Vast improvement. This should be the definitive version from now on.

Vladius said:

stickydixon said:

How about, in the climax of AotC, Anakin doesn’t act like a child and rush forward into combat, getting his ass handed to him, and causing the fight to be lost?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hu5JmhXxvHHxoSeiE7g68UNBAOjkHvg3

And no Yoda - it’s odd, isn’t it, that he takes a clone ship to the bunker and arrives absent clone support?
Also, I tried to limit movie swordsmanship, ie fewer pirouettes and no “duel wielding”.

In short, no shots of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme in the same gunship, cut, cropped, and painted out Anakin for the first half of the fight, and did the same for Yoda’s appearance, simply cut the center channel to remove Yoda’s grunting.

Vast improvement. This should be the definitive version from now on.

Ooo, hot damn. Glad you like it!

Why’d you turn off the lights?

Since all three prequel films use the same recording for the main title (if what I’ve heard in the past is true) has anyone considered using different versions of the main title for two of the prequel films? I’m having trouble finding other John Williams recordings beyond what was used for the other films, but I do think other non-Williams recordings could be interesting to use too.

Two possible versions could be Joel McNeely’s recording from 1996 for the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack-

https://youtu.be/NSaXhrimzs0

and another is Charles Gerhardt’s 1978 recording from his Classic Film Scores series.

https://youtu.be/ns6KNgOtaEg

I’m not sure which would go with which film, just thought it’d be interesting for all of the films to have unique main title recordings.

Which versions did you use, if you can remember?

And wow, I actually didn’t notice that TFA and TLJ seem to use the same recording for the Main Title. If that’s the case, Episode IX will more than likely use the same recording as well, and I personally think it would be interesting if each film used a unique recording.

Since IX will probably be John Williams’ last Star Wars film, maybe he will re-record it. If he doesn’t though, there are some more options.

I did manage to find a few more versions of the Main Title, such as this one:

Varujan Kojian, Utah Symphony Orchestra, 1983

But after enough searching I actually think I found enough versions actually conducted by Williams that could be used for two prequels and two sequels.

John Williams, Boston Pops Orchestra, 1993

The Hollywood Sound album, 1997
John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra

John Williams Conducts John Williams, 1990, Skywalker Symphony Orchestra

I didn’t know about this, but John Williams actually came out with a collab album with the LSO this year of some of his greatest hits!

John Williams, A Life in Music, 2018
London Symphony Orchestra

So I definitely would have to go with these four John Williams recordings, that way they are all still Williams:
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Hollywood Sound, LSO
Skywalker Symphony Orchestra
A Life in Music, LSO

These can all be found on Spotify, but I believe all of the albums are also available on Amazon, and you probably can find YouTube videos of them as well.

Unless others can find more options, these would be my picks, though like I said, not sure which recordings could go with which movie. They all have a unique sound, and I just thought it would be a cool idea to showcase some of John Williams’ other great performances of this classic theme that people might not usually hear.

I’m working on an edit of Episode III that removes the birth of Vader and the naming of the twins. I believe I’ve found a satisfactory means to this end, which subsequently also removes the death scene of Padme while keeping her death intact. This could easily be reworked to keep Padme alive in conjunction with The Other Boleyn Girl scene.

Lemme know what you think: Leaving Mustafar / Children’s Fate

stickydixon said:

Vladius said:

Vast improvement. This should be the definitive version from now on.

Ooo, hot damn. Glad you like it!

Oh definitely. I didn’t feel embarrassed to be watching it at any point, which is always what I get from the majority of Geonosis and that duel in particular.

RogueLeader said:

Since all three prequel films use the same recording for the main title (if what I’ve heard in the past is true) has anyone considered using different versions of the main title for two of the prequel films? I’m having trouble finding other John Williams recordings beyond what was used for the other films, but I do think other non-Williams recordings could be interesting to use too.

I’ve done it for my prequel edits. TPM retains its recording, though I’ve swapped out AOTC and ROTS. Originally I had Gerhardt’s for AOTC and an alternate take from the original SW for ROTS, but now I’m leaning towards McNeely for AOTC and Williams’s Hollywood Sound recording for ROTS.

I also guess I need to find one for TLJ.

RogueLeader said:

Which versions did you use, if you can remember?

And wow, I actually didn’t notice that TFA and TLJ seem to use the same recording for the Main Title. If that’s the case, Episode IX will more than likely use the same recording as well, and I personally think it would be interesting if each film used a unique recording.

Since IX will probably be John Williams’ last Star Wars film, maybe he will re-record it. If he doesn’t though, there are some more options.

Technically Williams did rerecord for TLJ, though for whatever reason it was not ultimately used. Hopefully that’s not the case next time.

So I definitely would have to go with these four John Williams recordings, that way they are all still Williams:
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Hollywood Sound, LSO
Skywalker Symphony Orchestra
A Life in Music, LSO

I’ll just say I don’t think the Skywalker Symphony performance would work due to the slower than typical pacing. I should also probably point out that the Life in Music recording was not conducted by Williams, though it’s still a good one.

Vladius said:

stickydixon said:

Vladius said:

Vast improvement. This should be the definitive version from now on.

Ooo, hot damn. Glad you like it!

Oh definitely. I didn’t feel embarrassed to be watching it at any point, which is always what I get from the majority of Geonosis and that duel in particular.

Well I’m very flattered, thank you.

DominicCobb said:

I’ve done it for my prequel edits. TPM retains its recording, though I’ve swapped out AOTC and ROTS. Originally I had Gerhardt’s for AOTC and an alternate take from the original SW for ROTS, but now I’m leaning towards McNeely for AOTC and Williams’s Hollywood Sound recording for ROTS.

I also guess I need to find one for TLJ.

I don’t know if I’ve heard the alternate version. Was it on the Complete Score album? I think released in 97 and rereleased in 04?

Technically Williams did rerecord for TLJ, though for whatever reason it was not ultimately used. Hopefully that’s not the case next time.

He did? That is interesting. Where did you read that he did rerecord the main title? Too bad it can’t be accessed anywhere.

I’ll just say I don’t think the Skywalker Symphony performance would work due to the slower than typical pacing. I should also probably point out that the Life in Music recording was not conducted by Williams, though it’s still a good one.

Yeah, after playing it side-by-side I do notice the slower pacing of the Skywalker Symphony performance. So the song probably would overlap a little if someone tried to use it.

And thanks for pointing that out! I’m surprised his name is so hard to find, but the Life in Music conductor’s name is Gavin Greenaway. It is a really solid performance though, so if you had no qualms about using McNeely or Gerhardt’s versions, it is still a very good choice, especially since it was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

So total, that gives you:

1. Alternate Take from A New Hope Complete Score album
2. The Hollywood Sound
3. The Boston Pops performance
4. Greenaway’s Life in Music
5. McNeely’s main title
6. Gerhardt’s main title

RogueLeader said:

DominicCobb said:

I’ve done it for my prequel edits. TPM retains its recording, though I’ve swapped out AOTC and ROTS. Originally I had Gerhardt’s for AOTC and an alternate take from the original SW for ROTS, but now I’m leaning towards McNeely for AOTC and Williams’s Hollywood Sound recording for ROTS.

I also guess I need to find one for TLJ.

I don’t know if I’ve heard the alternate version. Was it on the Complete Score album? I think released in 97 and rereleased in 04?

On the 97 SE album (yes, rereleased in 04), on track 13 after the alternate Binary Sun, there are a few minutes of silence, and then they play a few takes from the original recording of the main title. So there are actually multiple alternate takes in there, though you have to be somewhat careful because the original main title that was used in the film is actually an edit of more than one take put together.

Technically Williams did rerecord for TLJ, though for whatever reason it was not ultimately used. Hopefully that’s not the case next time.

He did? That is interesting. Where did you read that he did rerecord the main title? Too bad it can’t be accessed anywhere.

Rian Johnson has stated it on quite a few occasions. He even posted a video on his instagram of Williams conducting it. So… technically there is an accessible recording of it, but it was recorded with an iPhone, so not exactly usable.

So total, that gives you:

1. Alternate Take from A New Hope Complete Score album
2. The Hollywood Sound
3. The Boston Pops performance
4. Greenaway’s Life in Music
5. McNeely’s main title
6. Gerhardt’s main title

To be honest, I’m retreating from the alternate ANH take myself, for a few reasons. But the others are good, and I think there are a least a couple other good ones somewhere out there, if I’m remembering correctly.

I didn’t realize the original track was combination of multiple takes! Cool info!

What are your reasons? Is the fact you mentioned earlier one of them?

Yeah, I think there are quite a few versions of the theme to choose from. I’m glad I’m not the only one who had this idea!

RogueLeader said:

I didn’t realize the original track was combination of multiple takes! Cool info!

For the record:

0:00 to 0:08, tk.19
0:08 to 0:43, tk.18
0:43 to 1:31, tk.20
1:31 to 1:43, tk.18
1:43 to end, tk.20

What are your reasons? Is the fact you mentioned earlier one of them?

I actually made sure to use parts of takes that weren’t used, but even still, though there are differences, it still sounds too much like that original recording, and sounds a little too different quality-wise from the rest of the prequel scores.

Here’s the platform fight from Clones but at sunrise with some music from the climax of Empire:

https://vimeo.com/281754005

Password: fett

It’s also been heavily shortened with cuts inspired by The Phantom Editor.

I really dislike the Slave I shooting at Obi-Wan, and anything involving them sliding off the platform. I think the CQC in the fight is okay, but I can’t think of a way to edit around the sliding.

remove cgi Grievous and all battle droids and replace a stop motion models

I just thought about how much fun Ray Harryhausen style droids would be!