The Force Awakens: Starlight (V1.1 Released!) — Page 43

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RogueLeader said:

Nev, you’re one of my favorite people on these forums and I think you’re super talented. I hate how TROS deflated your enthusiasm a bit, but I totally understand. Take as much time away from Star Wars as you need to, either to move on to other things, or to come back with some fresh ideas. I don’t know how you come up with half the things you do, but I can only begin to imagine what ideas you could come up with for future endeavors.

I’ve felt pretty deflated after TROS as well and if it makes any fixing we do pointless, but honestly I’m regaining a bit of that optimism as time goes by. Once the DVD comes out and we can break down the movie and any deleted scenes we might get, it might give us a better idea on how far we can really push that film. You might not ever be interested in messing with it yourself but I hope you stick around to provide some insight!

Oh I’m already thinking of ways to fix TROS. This feels like a project that would benefit from as many crazy ideas as possible, from as many people as possible, so my hope is that the community could come together for not just ideas but finished pieces to place into the edit like a bigger version of what happened on Restructured.

Now regarding Starlight.

The BB-8 scene. If you can’t get that to work, I wonder if you could revisit the idea about giving a line to Kylo that could segue right into Finn “rescuing” Poe? Since Kylo’s “I leave that to you” line was removed, maybe Kylo could say something like, “Kill the pilot.” Then we cut directly to a Stormtrooper escorting Poe, presumably to his death, but then it turns out to be Finn.

I just don’t know where that audio would come from. ‘Kill’ would come from the village, but ‘the pilot’ would be from the interrogation, and I don’t know if the two inflections would mesh well.

If you can’t get Rey’s pre-interrogation dream to work, maybe you could use one shot of the island, maybe the one from the original island/desert mirage, then it just hard cuts to Rey waking up. Brief but simple.

Yep. Simplicity is probably a good thing. Though there would have to be something regarding her meeting with Kylo or some other frightening imagery.

EDIT: This might be weird, but what if you just dropped that original ReyDream idea into this moment as the dream sequence?
It cuts to black on Leia, then fades back in on the establishing shot of Rey’s AT-AT home. She’s having a dream that’s back on Jakku (where she wants to go). She’s sitting there wearing the pilot helmet when she starts seeing the island mirage, and then suddenly it hard cuts to Rey waking up in the interrogation. Maybe you could have some VO of Rey saying something like, “Waiting for my family. They’ll be back. One day.”

This would probably be too complicated to convey in a short space of time, though I do wish there was a way to use this idea.

I do get what people are saying regarding the climax and the Hosnian restructuring. I really like how you’ve done it and I do think you should keep it that way. Back in December I actually showed my dad both versions, and I also think he responded more to the one-two punch of Han’s death and the Hosnian destruction. But I think out of many of the changes you’ve made throughout your edit, this is one I feel really deserves playing around with more.

Me too. I feel like it can be better.

I’m almost afraid to type this, but…

I like the idea of just slipping into a contributor role for a TROS project with you at the helm. Partly because life is much more demanding than it was when I did TLJ:L, and partly because TROS is oil to faneditors’ water.

ziggyonice said:

NeverarGreat said:

Sorry I haven’t responded yet, but I’ve had to take my mind off the hook for a while regarding Star Wars in general and this edit in particular. After TROS, everything’s felt a bit surreal. It’s the sort of movie that I feel like pushes the ST into such a campy, turn-your-brain-off direction that any work these fanedits could do is practically meaningless. I suppose that there is still value in them as standalone projects, but those are the feelings I’ve been grappling with. In addition, the total sum of work I’ve put into Starlight has, for me, not been equal to the result. Many things about it are a mixed bag, as your excellent feedback has pointed out. Not that I am opposed to criticism, quite the opposite! But I know that a lot of work must still be done to make this the edit that you have all been hoping for, and I’m not sure that I’m up to the task.

Hey Nev,

I’d really like to have a larger discussion about The Rise of Skywalker and what your thoughts are, but it might not be appropriate for this thread (at least not until it has been tagged with including TROS spoilers). But how The Starlight Project fits into the sequel trilogy as a whole is something that I think is worth discussing.

You are not alone in your opinions about TROS. The truth is, the overarching handling of the ST was all over the place, in part, I think, because of divisiveness of The Last Jedi and the attempt to pull everything together in a single movie at the end. The result was a manic conclusion that is difficult to work out in conjunction with the other two films in the series.

True. I should probably make a thread for a TROS edit, even if it’s very soon to think about.

The Force Awakens is such a good movie — my favorite of the ST — and I do believe that it should get the love it deserves. The work you’ve done on The Starlight Project has been nothing short of spectacular and makes the movie all the better.

So now what? Well, as someone that has truly adopted fanedits as being my go-to versions of various movies, I really think that the ST as a whole might have a saving chance depending on what people are able to do with fanediting these films. I don’t want to just “give up” because the theatrical version of TROS wasn’t what I wanted; rather, I actively thought to myself while watching it — “Oh, we could fix this in a fanedit,” etc.

What I think would help would be, after TROS is released on Blu-ray, taking some of the elements of that movie (esp. Rey’s lineage) and include it in bits and pieces into The Starlight Project. This could be in the form of flashbacks, or other little hits that are sprinkled in. I would like to see the same done in The Last Jedi.

Ultimately, I would like to spread out some of the craziness that is packed into TROS into the other two films of the ST to help give a more cohesive trilogy that anyone can enjoy and appreciate the story as a whole. The first place to start, I think, is with The Force Awakens, as it shares so much with The Rise of Skywalker.

It’s my hope that you’ll come back to this project, because I love the work you’ve done on it. But I can certainly understand if you need a break. But after TROS is released, I won’t lie: I’ll be itching to come up with new ideas to flesh out the trilogy as a whole, and I think a lot of that can be done with the work you’ve put into The Starlight Project. This has is my favorite fanedit of any I’ve watched, and I hope that we can continue to do more with it to improve the entire ST. I am confident that we can.

When you’re ready, let’s talk about how we can integrate some of the elements of TROS into The Starlight Project, because I think we can actually make it pretty cool and improve the sequel trilogy as a whole as result. I know you’ve mentioned some interest in fanediting The Last Jedi (which I would love to see someday), and being able to develop a ST that truly serves as a “definitive” version is one worth watching.

My dream is that, someday, I’ll no longer refer to the “ST” as “sequel trilogy,” but rather as the “Starlight Trilogy,” one cohesive overarching story that brings all of it together the way it should have been.

Thank you! Ideally I would also like to make a comprehensive edit of each film, putting as much time into each as I have into TFA. Of course the issue is time and creative energy - I’ve been neglecting a lot of more personal creative projects because of Starlight, and since TROS I’ve devoted more time to them. TFA will be finished, and probably TLJ to some lesser extent (even though there’s more potential for editing there), but I can’t imagine the timeline for TLJ and TROS edits being anything less than several years, realistically. Probably more like five years. But who knows what the future holds, maybe TROS will give us some great deleted scenes and be fairly straightforward. Hah.

Hal 9000 said:

I’m almost afraid to type this, but…

I like the idea of just slipping into a contributor role for a TROS project with you at the helm. Partly because life is much more demanding than it was when I did TLJ:L, and partly because TROS is oil to faneditors’ water.

But we can’t both be merely contributors 😉

So here’s the plan. You be in charge of the first 1/3rd of the film, and then hand it over to me. I will then do an edit of the 2nd third using my own, perhaps differing goals. Then I will send it back to you for the final third, and then you can form a committee with several members of the forum of your choosing (though it must include Duracell in some capacity) and hash out a bold new direction for the final third of the edit under severe time constraints.

This will be the ultimate TROS edit, remaining poetically true to the spirit of the Sequel Trilogy and the Complete Saga.

I love the idea. We should really do it.

The beauty of it is that you have to start 😉

D’oh!

I’ll help out with ideas and thinking things over … heck, even doing some rough drafts on scenes or whatnot to help get the juices flowing for you skilled guys.

I thank you in advance.

Indeed!

I like a lot of your changes. Can’t wait to watch this!

After watching this a second time I’d like to give my overall thoughts and some input.

I think you are close to achieving your primary goal for this edit - bringing out the films subtext - and specifically for me, the undertones of Rey’s character, her loneliness, vulnerability and longing are very well demonstrated through the various dialogue cuts, reaction shots, sounds and visions.

NeverarGreat said:
Rey’s Daydream (version 5)

Man do I love this, its such a striking visual. I assume you cut this for fear of revealing her powers too early in the film, the feeling I got from it was that Rey was imagining far and different places perhaps as a past time, as the film progresses though it slowly unravels that there is something more to it as the same island pops up again and again.

• Integrate Leia’s deleted scene with Kor Sella directly after Finn disembarks from the Falcon.

It felt a little odd cutting from Finn disembarking to leia and korr sela than back to Finn and Poe.
I think it would flow better if it played out with Finn disembarking - He finds Poe - their scene play out than cut to the deleted with leia and kora with finn and poe coming down to speak with her right after.

• Preface interrogation with Rey fitfully dreaming of her recent vision of Luke and R2 as well as visions of the island and the interior of the Jedi tree.

Maybe simplifying to an establishing shot of achto with the jedi texts would suffice.

• The second Snoke scene has Hux sent to prepare the weapon to destroy the Republic with no mention of a reconnaissance ship and no knowledge of the location of the Resistance, and ends with Snoke taunting Ben by calling him ‘Solo’.

I liked how Kylo’s heritage was not revealed in the first Snoke scene and I think throughout the course of the film his heritage reveals itself so for me the Solo taunt kinda takes away from that.

• Leia’s ‘…again. Our system is the next target’ is replaced with Snap asking if Leia has had word from the Republic, to which she answers ‘No’.
  Generally I think the stakes need to be emphasised a more concerning the imminent attack on Republic.

• Insert deleted scene of Kylo on the Falcon, altered to include new music and sound effects indicating his happy memories on the ship.

Could probably do better without the over-dramatic head turn, flows better without it.

• New sequence on the bridge where Kylo offers the lightsaber to Han in one final test. Once Han touches the saber,
  Kylo can access his memories and hears both Leia’s faith in him and Han’s pessimism, and it is this which hardens Kylo’s resolve.

The voices could be lowered just a tad

• Move Leia’s reaction to Han’s death to right after the explosive detonation.

This felt a little off for me, seeing leia’s reaction in the direct aftermath of her husbands death in resonated with me more.

• Remove indications that the planet is collapsing around Rey and Kylo, including all shots showing the cliffhanger. The lines about Rey needing a teacher remain, however, augmented with the final instance of the sinister whispers and echoes of her many traumas. She uses this to tap into the Dark Side and overcome Kylo.

I think the many voices can be a little distracting and its a little hard to make out what they are saying, I think less is more would be the best option in this case .

• After the shot of Chewie mourning for Han, there is an extended sequence of BB-8 returning to a comatose R2 in an effort to awaken him. Rey sees this attempt and the scene cuts to night at the base with R2 hooked up to a computer terminal which is helping search his backup data. As this happens, Rey has a dream/vision of waking up on Luke’s island and finding Luke himself. She holds out the lightsaber. R2 awakens and the map to Luke is revealed.

To be honest I’m really torn on this sequence. On one hand I feel like the original ending with Luke is the perfect payoff for this Isolated adventure yet on the other hand the dream Sequence is better in the context of the Last Jedi.
Would be great if you released two versions to satisfy both sentiments as I’m many would like to watch this back to back with all TLJ edits.

nevertellmetheodds said:

Could I please get a link to the workprint?

PM sent!

idir_hh said:

After watching this a second time I’d like to give my overall thoughts and some input.

I think you are close to achieving your primary goal for this edit - bringing out the films subtext - and specifically for me, the undertones of Rey’s character, her loneliness, vulnerability and longing are very well demonstrated through the various dialogue cuts, reaction shots, sounds and visions.

NeverarGreat said:
Rey’s Daydream (version 5)

Man do I love this, its such a striking visual. I assume you cut this for fear of revealing her powers too early in the film, the feeling I got from it was that Rey was imagining far and different places perhaps as a past time, as the film progresses though it slowly unravels that there is something more to it as the same island pops up again and again.

• Integrate Leia’s deleted scene with Kor Sella directly after Finn disembarks from the Falcon.

It felt a little odd cutting from Finn disembarking to leia and korr sela than back to Finn and Poe.
I think it would flow better if it played out with Finn disembarking - He finds Poe - their scene play out than cut to the deleted with leia and kora with finn and poe coming down to speak with her right after.

• Preface interrogation with Rey fitfully dreaming of her recent vision of Luke and R2 as well as visions of the island and the interior of the Jedi tree.

Maybe simplifying to an establishing shot of achto with the jedi texts would suffice.

• The second Snoke scene has Hux sent to prepare the weapon to destroy the Republic with no mention of a reconnaissance ship and no knowledge of the location of the Resistance, and ends with Snoke taunting Ben by calling him ‘Solo’.

I liked how Kylo’s heritage was not revealed in the first Snoke scene and I think throughout the course of the film his heritage reveals itself so for me the Solo taunt kinda takes away from that.

• Leia’s ‘…again. Our system is the next target’ is replaced with Snap asking if Leia has had word from the Republic, to which she answers ‘No’.
  Generally I think the stakes need to be emphasised a more concerning the imminent attack on Republic.

• Insert deleted scene of Kylo on the Falcon, altered to include new music and sound effects indicating his happy memories on the ship.

Could probably do better without the over-dramatic head turn, flows better without it.

• New sequence on the bridge where Kylo offers the lightsaber to Han in one final test. Once Han touches the saber,
  Kylo can access his memories and hears both Leia’s faith in him and Han’s pessimism, and it is this which hardens Kylo’s resolve.

The voices could be lowered just a tad

• Move Leia’s reaction to Han’s death to right after the explosive detonation.

This felt a little off for me, seeing leia’s reaction in the direct aftermath of her husbands death in resonated with me more.

• Remove indications that the planet is collapsing around Rey and Kylo, including all shots showing the cliffhanger. The lines about Rey needing a teacher remain, however, augmented with the final instance of the sinister whispers and echoes of her many traumas. She uses this to tap into the Dark Side and overcome Kylo.

I think the many voices can be a little distracting and its a little hard to make out what they are saying, I think less is more would be the best option in this case .

• After the shot of Chewie mourning for Han, there is an extended sequence of BB-8 returning to a comatose R2 in an effort to awaken him. Rey sees this attempt and the scene cuts to night at the base with R2 hooked up to a computer terminal which is helping search his backup data. As this happens, Rey has a dream/vision of waking up on Luke’s island and finding Luke himself. She holds out the lightsaber. R2 awakens and the map to Luke is revealed.

To be honest I’m really torn on this sequence. On one hand I feel like the original ending with Luke is the perfect payoff for this Isolated adventure yet on the other hand the dream Sequence is better in the context of the Last Jedi.
Would be great if you released two versions to satisfy both sentiments as I’m many would like to watch this back to back with all TLJ edits.

Thank you for the detailed critiques.

Despite how much I like the Reydream sequence it feels too soon for her to have any odd behavior with regards to the Force. Although now with TROS and her heritage, maybe it’s worth reevaluating this.

The Leia deleted scene is definitely in its final form. Several attempts by several editors were made to do just what you suggested, but I think we each came to the conclusion that in practice the linkage between ‘I need your help’ and then going to Leia is too strong to break.

The preinterrogation dream is still a work in progress for sure, and you’re right that less is more.

Would you suggest that the deleted Kylo scene would work better without the last few shots of the scene, or just the head turn? Because it might feel weird to go from his reminiscing to outside the Falcon with no buffer.

The voices in the lightsaber fight is something I was actually planning to change. I agree that less is more, so I might try a version where it’s just the darker music and ambient sounds.

I could definitely release two versions with regard to the ending, you’re right about that.

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear you’re planning on releasing two versions of the edit.

Would you suggest that the deleted Kylo scene would work better without the last few shots of the scene, or just the head turn? Because it might feel weird to go from his reminiscing to outside the Falcon with no buffer

For me it’s the head turn that’s a little unwarranted, scene could work with or without the last few shots but I prefer the former.

As for the day dream I definitely agree that it’s worth re-evaluating, perhaps you can add it to the version with the original ending.

If its not too big of an annoyance could i get a link to the workprint? Thank you in advance!

NotFreeman’D said:

If its not too big of an annoyance could i get a link to the workprint? Thank you in advance!

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