When do you expect to release your edits for the prequels?
Not for another year or two realistically. There is so much to do still and not even close to done. Not a single scene in the trailers is finalized. There are a lot of scenes i havn’t even touched yet. Plus the audio side of things. The rotoscoping is by far the slowest process, and there is a lot of rotoscoping to do still. Even something as simple as the maul and sidious balcony scene have a lot. Plus tracking the background motion in one shot on top of the rotoscoping of the balcony and all of it’s openings, Maul, and Sidious, and the flying probe droids. Rotoscope the lamp so it shines again after being rotoscoped out from the back gound. Plus adding in new lights for traffic, rain effects, lightening, colorization for lightening. Rotoscope the building so its in front of the lightening. I still have to add a light edge to the building from the lightening. I need to make a list of all the changes but even that list is going to take time. There is so much being done. I really want it to look good too so im trying to take my time as much as possible. Somethings are tricky too. Like the scene of the tanks rolling up to Theed. I’ve never liked the hills and grass in that scene. Replacing it all properly is tricky though and involves a lot of rotoscoping for all those little ships.
Im of the opinion like some others, that the ending has too much going on. So im focusing on the Jedi battle, and the capture of the Vice Roy. I want to still use the cut scenes though, for pacing reasons, and for narrative effect. Some of the space scenes are being altered and reused for the Escape of Naboo. In which the fleet will distract and engage the Federation fleet so the Queen can make an escape. This involves working both fighter ships into some scenes with the Queen’s (which some are in the trailer), and some of the Queen’s ship into the Battle shots. On top of re-rotoscoping the laser fire/impacts. Adding in new explosions. There is camera shake added to the Queen’s ship interior views, on top of Emergency lights kicking on and flashing.
Some of the other shots from the Ending are being used for the Attack on Theed by the Federation, to both create a short dog fight in the skies above Theed, and a short ground battle showing Federation ground troops. On top of trying to create wholly new scenes helping to convey the carnage.
The Gun Gun field battle will happen after Qui-gon visits Otah Gunga and before the Invasion of Theed. Will have Jar Jar removed from the battle and end in defeat. The tanks firing upon the force field will be removed and re-purposed for the Invasion of Naboo.
The deleted scenes being inserted will have work too. I want to try to replace as many elements with elements from the movie in 1080, or with other high res elements. Where possible.
The effects to Jar Jar i want to improve for the scenes he pops up in along with the other Gun Gun’s. Im trying to do an extraction to add more depth to certain aspects of his skin. (Similar to what corridor crew did with the Scorpion king). Im also trying to figure out how to add in new texture bumpmaps and get them to track and move with the body or clothes. Nothing too over the top but enough to tell a marked difference in quality. If i can improve my computers work capability and master Blender or something then i would be capable of improving much more, but we’ll see about that.
I would also love to get a hold of a good camera that shoots in 4k with high enough capability to film new scenes similar to what Adywan has achieved with his edits. Not so much would be needed for TPM, but the next two films it would be especially nice for. This includes filming model ships against green screen as opposed to digital ones. Along with Theed soldiers for some ground battle shots. I would lovvvve to have real clone troopers in the movies, instead of just cgi ones. Along with possibly making new models for backgrounds and elements with in the shots. There is one in TPM of the cockpit view that is horrible. The instrument panel looks so digital, like a N64 game.
So there is a lot to do realistically and i would hate to rush things and put out something that wasn’t on the level it should be.