Nev, I like the ending shots! Good idea to use that extra shot to make it fit with the music. Totally dig it.
I wonder if there are some effects you could add to the “dream shots” that wouldn’t be over the top. Throwing out ideas, what if you played with the stuttering frame effect of the Dagobah cave, or the wispy vignette of Anakin’s ROTS dreams?
In the latest version of the dream sequence I’ve significantly slowed the first handful of shots to achieve a similar effect. I think that plus the different TLJ aesthetic gives an otherworldly feel to the scene. I’ve also done away with Finn being medic-ed and shifted some shots for the finale to cover the weird transition from the Falcon in the clouds to it flying past the rings.
Password: fanedit
I think the stuttering framerate idea might feel too Dark Side for the dream.
So in a hypothetical TLJ edit for you, you might have Rey reach the Jedi Village, then she’d hear the hut door slam maybe? Having Rey dream of an idealized Luke at the end of TFA, but then our first real intro to Luke is him holding himself up in his hut like a hermit, you’d still be getting that subversion Rian wanted without being beholden to how JJ ended TFA.
Something like that. I imagine her going to the cliff, maybe using some of the TFA footage of her climb, then taking the shots of her looking confused and walking back down as if she expected him to be standing there like in her dream.
I wonder if there are some effects you could add to the “dream shots” that wouldn’t be over the top. Throwing out ideas, what if you played with the stuttering frame effect of the Dagobah cave, or the wispy vignette of Anakin’s ROTS dreams?
You beat me to it. I was also gonna highly suggest, recommend, whatever adding the wispy dream vignette from ROTS.
The vignette is kind of weird for TFA since this movie establishes a different style for Force Visions - Rey essentially just finds herself in a different environment.
This edit also adds the echo to the VO, and while there isn’t VO in that dream sequence edit, maybe changing the Jedi Steps track to a slightly softer (or slower) dream-like variation of the track? After watching these final scene clips I feel like the momentum is at an increasing montage-like level where there’s not too much of a breather once they blow up Starkiller and are back on D’Qar? That’s just me assuming from what’s been posted here after silently watching, and I don’t really know if softer music would make any difference.
The latest video is the entire D’Qar sequence so you can judge for yourself whether it feels too rushed or too slow. I’ve debated moving the R2 map reveal scenes to before or after the dream, but if the dream is placed before the map reveal it seems strange for Rey to not be present (or to be present but in another costume) and if the dream is placed after the map reveal it feels weird for Rey to wake up for the map reveal then go back to sleep for a dream then wake up again in the space of a few minutes.
NeverarGreat said:
Two versions would be tricky unless you also prefer the original version with R2’s coincidental awakening, since I’d have to make two entirely different versions of an edit-heavy sequence.Eh, I don’t think it would that difficult. Obviously things are still set to change, but going with your idea of having Rey fix Artoo — that works fine. In fact, I think I’d keep everything after that.
Basically, keep everything immediately after Artoo wakes up.
But that’s just it, in the newest versions R2 waking up is interspersed with the dream.
The only thing I can think of that could be questioned is where is Rey when Artoo shows the map. Granted, she wasn’t in the original scene either, so I don’t really know if this matters.
Rey is in the original map reveal scene though.
…What I’m trying to say is that JJ makes the search for Luke the point of the movie when Luke’s role should really be about what his legend means to others.
I certainly do understand what you are saying, and they are good arguments. What I disagree with you about is that I don’t think JJ made the “point of the movie” to be about the search for Luke. Just because Luke is the focus of the ending scene doesn’t mean that what the movie is about has changed. Also, I do kind of feel like it is necessary because he is a legend, a myth. When the audience sees the mysterious that surrounds him, when we experience that same build-up of curiosity that Rey feels, that’s how you know that the scene is successful.
I can’t argue with the scene being cool. I’ll just have to try my best to keep that mysteriousness and if it still doesn’t work for you, you’re more than welcome to use this edit to create your ideal version 😃