- Soft opening after “A long time ago” (since this is a spin-off film, I feel that not having a crawl was the best choice for this movie. It sets it apart from the saga films and gives it its own identity while still fitting in with the universe. With what I have done with the opening, it emphasized this fact a little more. Having a sharp burst of horns and strings felt, to me, like it was trying to fit with the saga films without blatantly being one, but to me the execution fell flat. By eliminating that, and slowly fading into the opening shot feels more natural.)
- Hard cut to Jyn in prison after Saw opens hatch to imply the opening was a dream sequence/past memory
- Hard cut from Jyn in prison to new opening titles that mimic what we saw in the trailers. (Again, I feel that the titles for this movie were trying to resemble the crawl without actually having a crawl. By using new title cards, this film starts to feel more like its own entity without deviating from the “Star Wars” formula.)
- Cut “Rings of Kafrene” scene. We now meet Cassian when Jyn meets him.
This is very well done. DigMod had the same approach, but he had to trim the very beautiful cue that leads to the Kafrene sequence. By inserting the title here, you solve the problem.