The Force Awakens: Starlight (V1.1 Released!) — Page 27

RogueLeader said:

Seems like it’d be a lot of work to cut Rey out of the map reveal scene. I do like the new sequence of events though (and the blue and rgb split!).

Also, why didn’t you keep the flickering light on R2? I think having him plugged up to the computer plus having the flickering light would help imply that something is in progress, if that makes sense.

I thought the light was working at cross-purposes to the display across from R2, and I think it might be better to have something like a red light blinking slowly on the display to indicate that progress.

Here’s a version with most of the Luke scene and the dream effect applied to the rest of the shots:

https://vimeo.com/336952153

Password: fanedit

I’ve also gone ahead and applied the final piece of the map to R2’s projection, now all that remains is to erase Rey from this one shot and she will be gone from the scene.

It still feels incomplete though. Maybe parallel editing wouldn’t be so bad if it was applied near the end of the two scenes. I’m imagining Rey meeting Luke, then cutting to R2 waking up and in place of the Leia scene having the final bit with Rey offering the lightsaber, then the map reveal.

I know you’re looking at changing it again but since there doesn’t appear to be a shot of Rey waking from the dream, the shot of R2 “waking” kind of works as a replacement.

BleuAsh said:

I really like what you have done here. I do think a jarring wake up right after she holds the lightsaber out and luke spins to see her is critical to bring it all together, it can just be a zoom in with her eyes snapping open. Then R2 can “wake” and then Rey can be in that meeting with the map because she already is awake and the following scene will establish how she will get there to Ahch-to.

I agree, missing a wakeup was just a touch jarring, I think it would be a necessary bookend to that scene. A little more dreamy visual effect could be good too, I think it was just a little too subtle.

NeverarGreat said:

I guess the question becomes, which version of the edit has more promise? The sequential edit might lose the saber entirely as well as the Leia scene while also raising the question of where Rey is after the dream, whereas the parallel edit could keep these things while maybe not being the most intuitive from the outset.

The parallel edit looks so much more polished than the sequential version does. The sequential version feels very rushed because it has to fit the music.

Add the “dream effects” to the dream sequences for the parallel version and it’ll be more apparent. I absolutely prefer the parallel version. Also, I noticed you don’t have the faraway shot of the island in the parallel version (while you do have it in the sequential version).

I’ve mentioned this before: you can always do multiple versions of the same fanedit. Just duplicate your project file. Yes, it’s a little more to maintain, but there will never be one “100% right” version.

That said, your parallel version is so much more slick, in my opinion. Just make the dream clips easier to identify as dream clips.

Good points all. The sequential version feels like it needs Rey waking up and being in that final map scene, but since I don’t have such a shot of her waking up, and since her costume changes back and forth for the map scene (among other reasons), I am leaning towards going back to the parallel version like Ziggy suggests. Definitely going to go further with the dream distortion in any case.

I’ve decided to leave this scene for the time being and come back to it when I can judge more passively.

In the meantime, the deleted Kylo on the Falcon scene needed some work:

https://vimeo.com/337922444
Password: fanedit

Just as Rey should be going down a darker path as the film progresses, this felt like an opportunity to push Kylo’s character in the direction of being more conflicted and tempted by the light. The laughter hopefully reads as a contrast to the anguished screams Rey hears in the castle.

I think instead of intercutting the scenes at the very end when the ties are coming with Kylo then Rey then hux I would do them one after the other. The energy of the scene is just too frantic for what feels like it should be a scene of suspense.

In other words less cutting when the ties arrive

dgraham414 said:

I think instead of intercutting the scenes at the very end when the ties are coming with Kylo then Rey then hux I would do them one after the other. The energy of the scene is just too frantic for what feels like it should be a scene of suspense.

In other words less cutting when the ties arrive

Though I’m still pretty happy with that bit it might be worth another look. I was trying to give the scene more energy via cuts but maybe less is more.

Continuing with scenes about Ben’s past, I’ve taken another stab at the Han/Leia discussion:

https://vimeo.com/339205661
Password: fanedit

My first attempt at an edit was to cut the scene after Leia says ‘That’s when I lost you both’ to give it a more dour tone, but it’s important to show the difference between Han’s attitude and Leia’s. With this version I’ve cut the unnecessary explanation of why Han went back to smuggling, which means that the weird re-introduction of Ben could be cut as well (‘We lost our son…forever’). Most importantly, no Snoke.

I really like this scene. Good work on that! Much more emotional without the extra nonsense, very smooth editing too, I didn’t even notice anything was cut.

RogueLeader said:

The cut on the line, “We still can save him” feels a little weird initially, maybe because it cuts away as she is starting to talk. I know you’re kind of limited on how you can cut it, that’s just the one thing that stood out to me at first.

That’s been the toughest line to work around since the camera is on Han when she says it originally. Maybe if I cut to Han when he says ‘there’s nothing more we could do’, then have her say her line, then cut back to ‘You…me’.

The sound on this one is still a work in progress:

https://vimeo.com/341264928

Password: fanedit

I felt the scene needed some confirmation from Hux after Snoke’s ‘Prepare the weapon’ line, so I took it from the previous Snoke scene. Now that scene has Hux wordlessly smirk at Kylo as he leaves, which works about as well. Also, Kylo is now hemetless in the final shot.

That is correct. I suppose it could also be interpreted as ‘Bring her to me…alone’, but that would be kinda weird unless it’s Snoke’s idea of a pun. 😉

Just a weird idea I had just now, in thinking about how to show more of Ben’s childhood on the Falcon, that the training ball could now be one of Ben’s old toys:

It would need to be a physical prop filmed and rotoscoped into the shot, but it would turn a moment of fanservice into something which recontextualizes where Han is, mentally, that the memory of Ben and his childhood interests still has such a hold on him. It might also give the Rathtars a little bit of relevance in the larger story.

Probably impractical/confusing/not really worth the trouble though.

Your creativity is awesome with that thought. I do video editing for work, and there is ALWAYS something else I could improve. It will never be perfect, so work until you are satisfied. I think it is a cool idea, but we could also come up with cool ideas for every scene in the movie lol. I trust you if you think it is worth the time!

Maybe it should be the glowing “peace” orb from the end of TPM. 😉

SomethingStarWarsRelated said:

Maybe it should be the glowing “peace” orb from the end of TPM. 😉

Or this…

Ha!

But yeah, I won’t be changing the ball, it was just a weird idea.

Been working the past few days on the Starkiller Firing scene, including shuffling the sequence and timing of a few shots, changing the firing shot so that the strong sunlight is no longer visible, and finally adding a new establishing shot to better transition from Rey/Kylo to the Starkiller cue.

https://vimeo.com/342388733

Password: fanedit