The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 323

lol

snooker said:

major changes:

-more dynamic camera operation for a less boring viewing experience
-Amidala’s voice is shifted up
-Gunray speaks alien language
-Restructured scenes heavily

https://streamable.com/du5zz

Does anyone have any ideas for an alternate, non-gungan way to reveal Amidala’s queenship before this scene?

I thought about it for a bit and threw this idea together. Now, this does include Boss Nass so you might throw the idea right out the window…or maybe this could be a springboard.

https://youtu.be/FB5-NyQSLnQ

Ending on her saying “I’m Queen Amidala” could be kind of cool…but how to get there without gungans? I’m not yet sure.

DominicCobb said:

I’ve always thought it’d be great if there was someway to reveal that Padme = the Queen basically immediately, so that we’re never left in the dark and are able to follow Padme’s emotionally journey coherently throughout the film.

Certainly makes sense. You think just we as the audience should know, or the other main characters as well (minus the villains)?

Hmm…what if the reveal was as they were about to enter Mos Epsa?

Panaka: The queen wishes it. She’s curious about the planet.
Qui-gon: The queen doesn’t need to know.
Padme: I am queen Amidala.

I don’t know how one would address the queen’s body guard…

DominicCobb said:

Unfortunately that whole section of the film relies upon Padme being just a handmaiden, not the Queen. Qui-Gon’s basically using the fact that Padme is unwilling to reveal herself to get his own way.

It would have to be some way that the audience knows right away, even if the characters aren’t explicitly told until later in the film. Usually a change like this is executed easiest in a crawl but that doesn’t seem possible here.

Hmm…well, she’s not Queen of Tatooine so there’s no reason Qui-Gon would have to obey her. Still, it probably works better the way it is in the film simply for the fact that a change like that should alter the way the characters interact with each other.

Yeah, I don’t know how you could communicate this idea early in the film to the audience. If it could be done visually with very little to no dialogue… If you could show the two of them in a shot or two where they’re switching costumes right before the battle droids come-…man, there’s like, nothing to work with, is there?

Hmm…possibly. I think you’d still need a shot following that that would show the two of them together. Gotta show-and-tell imo.

DominicCobb said:

SomethingStarWarsRelated said:

DominicCobb said:

I’ve always thought it’d be great if there was someway to reveal that Padme = the Queen basically immediately, so that we’re never left in the dark and are able to follow Padme’s emotionally journey coherently throughout the film.

Certainly makes sense. You think just we as the audience should know, or the other main characters as well (minus the villains)?

Hmm…what if the reveal was as they were about to enter Mos Epsa?

Panaka: The queen wishes it. She’s curious about the planet.
Qui-gon: The queen doesn’t need to know.
Padme: I am queen Amidala.

I don’t know how one would address the queen’s body guard…

Unfortunately that whole section of the film relies upon Padme being just a handmaiden, not the Queen. Qui-Gon’s basically using the fact that Padme is unwilling to reveal herself to get his own way.

It would have to be some way that the audience knows right away, even if the characters aren’t explicitly told until later in the film. Usually a change like this is executed easiest in a crawl but that doesn’t seem possible here.

One of the workarounds is just removing the third person speak from various bits of dialogue, for example when they first land on Tatooine, Captian Panaka says “Her highness commands you to take her handmaiden with you” you can make a tricky cut to “Her highness commands you to take her with you.”

This also requires some really careful watching for implications of many scenes throughout, but from my rough cuts it’s doable, the trick is making it NOT confusing upon the first watch, I’d have to test screen in order to see if it still works that way.

Darth Lucas said:

I feel like it works better if she’s not the queen at all. The handmaiden who becomes a senator and hero is much more interesting to me.

Also doable, but then the queen drama near the end needs to go, regardless, the movie gets really short really fast, if only we had more footage to work with.

Smithers said:

Darth Lucas said:

I feel like it works better if she’s not the queen at all. The handmaiden who becomes a senator and hero is much more interesting to me.

Also doable, but then the queen drama near the end needs to go, regardless, the movie gets really short really fast, if only we had more footage to work with.

I like this idea for sure (Padme = handmaiden only). It would help make a stronger connection between Padme and Anakin. Both starting off in life in a bit of a lowly position and then growing into their roles in the other films.
Also, it would work perfectly with Padmes line in AOTC: “But when the queen asked me to serve as senator, I couldn’t refuse her.”

Unfortunately, I don’t see how you could implement this in TPM. I mean, with the events that unfold, you’d (at the very least) have to have a scene at the end where Padme is recognized for her bravery by the queen or- …hmm…it would be interesting to see if the footage of Padme coming before Boss Nass could somehow be reworked into this idea. Heck, she even smiles and the people cheer at the end of the scene.

snooker, I had a couple of thoughts on a video you posted a few pages ago (not quite sure where it is) of a new introduction for Anakin in Watto’s shop. I like what you’ve done with it. Something I noticed watching it again is that you can hear the “door bell” sound effect and Watto uses the same greeting when he greets Qui-gon and company. Whether this was intentional or not, it appears Watto is greeting a possible customer walking in the store. If this is the case, you could really sell this idea by cutting in an altered shot of the door (with Jar Jar leaving the store) to imply either there are no customers or show a figure walking by the store. It would imply Watto’s business is not doing so well. Did that make sense? Sometimes I have a hard time describing this stuff. 😛

Another idea (in the same clip) is Anakin and Sebulba’s exchange before the pod race. I don’t know how you feel about it, but I’m not a huge fan of the words “Bantha poo doo”. You could potentially remove that whole sentence and simply have Sebulba laughing at Anakin as he walks away.

Food for thought.

snooker said:

https://streamable.com/rfpe0

Playing around with sound design in the Anakin vs. Obi-Wan fight. I feel like removing the score and just hearing them go at it makes it much more powerful and less stupid to watch.

Removing the score entirely is a mistake in my opinion if you want power, that music really is some of the best of the prequels, could it be within a longer sequence punctuated by score like the trench run in ANH?

I like this. Battle of Heroes definitely makes you enjoy the fight, but unlike the duel with Maul you shouldn’t really enjoy seeing Obi-Wan and Anakin fight.

However, I think there should be some music here. Without it, it feels strange. Something soft and tragic to make us feel saddened by the fight. I overlayed this piece from Infinity War onto your clip and it worked well (maybe increase the volume for it a bit) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXjCCWD-bL0

snooker said:

I do like ‘Battle of the Heroes’ on its own, but the final confrontation of Anakin and Obi-Wan shouldn’t be ‘epic’, it should be upsetting.

Love your sound design. And I agree about how the music should be upsetting.

Woah. Just came across this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/bbllh1/resound_anakin_vs_obiwan_no_music/