Ok, made slight updates to the Rebel Ring shot timing and Finn speeder targeting screen (even a tweak to the Finn cockpit shot), which is posted to the same vimeo links. Currently, I’m rendering out a new workprint, which should be ready tonight and posted tomorrow. Thank you!
Hey Poppa,
I promise I’ll leave you alone soon, but I just caught something else that I thought I might present to you?
It’s not so much of a change, but actually the undoing of a change?
The former deleted scene of Finn and Rose abourd the shuttle immediately after their escape from the ‘Supremacy’:-
That’s always stuck out to me. There’s nothing wrong with it, at least technically, but it just doesn’t ‘sit right’
I can’t tell if it’s tonally, where it’s just a quiet dialogue moment after such a bombastic sequence feeling jarring?
Or whether it’s unfinished VFX? Where the first shot appears too static and like a cheap set? (I don’t know whether adding in a reflection to indicate a screen/canopy would help with that?)
But something isn’t quite right, so I wondered whether it was worth asking the question on whether the information/dialogue delivered justifies it’s inclusion?
I’m sure some could argue that it plays into Finn’s arc of acceptance and belonging amongst the resistance by him stating that they are heading to ‘where they belong’ but I’m not sure that theme is part of Finn’s journey in TLJ? It’s more of an un-needed carry over from TFA.
By the start of TLJ he’s already part of the inner circle and the only reason he tries to leave and gets mistaken for a deserter is out of concern for Rey and not wanting her to return to the danger, so I don’t think his sense of belonging is relevant and in need of affirming within this scene and hence it could be deemed redundant?
To compound the above, part of me wonders if taking it back to the original edit here actually adds some tension when Finn and Rose approach the bunker on Crait?
Not that it was ever super suspenseful, but having enough time to almost forget that Finn and Rose are out there and potentially enroute means that when they do show up it’s more of a homecoming/surprise/crowd pleaser?
There’s also the question of whether deescalating their situation here is a false flag(?), considering the next time we see them they are inexplicably being pursued by two TIE Fighters?
I know you could argue that the original sequence doesn’t explain this either, but aside from escaping the capital ship explosion, their fates were unresolved and there wasn’t any overt indication that they were fully out of peril? So, I quite like that by the time they are properly re-united with their friends, they have been through quite an ordeal!
They just survived near execution and a capital ship explosion, launched a daring escape in an enemy shuttle, been chased by TIE’s where they narrowly manage to get home but not before getting involved in a fiery crash and then coming under under friendly fire. They go through all of this before they are afforded any sort of respite.
I think giving them the breather that this scene allows not only slows the momentum out of the movie at a point that doesn’t feel organic but also potentially detracts from the character’s resilience all the while without really bringing anything new to the table?
I don’t know, I’m sorry to bombard you with ideas for changes etc, but I feel you are really getting into the final run on this project now, so I figure now might have just been a good time to go over things that have just sort of been there, never offending but not really bringing anything either?
I’ve got no issue with the scene itself or it’s presence in the cut but I do know that every time I see it, I do notice it, it feels added in and pulls me out of the flow of events whereas nothing in the rest of the movie does that, so I wondered what your thoughts on it’s continued inclusion were?
UPDATE:-
I just read through the ‘changes log’ to see if I could get behind the reason of the inclusion of the scene.
I see now that it’s a callback or in service to the earlier deleted scene that was restored between Finn and Poe.
That makes sense, and I can see the logic here…but I can honestly say that I had never put those pieces together!?
As I have never made that connection on any of the multiple times I have watched this, is it possible that that first moment between Finn and Poe just doesn’t resonate enough to carry all the way through to that point in the film and then hit it’s mark? If not, does it still warrant the callback in what may otherwise be a potentially redundant scene?
I think the first deleted scene has a LOT of merit. It’s dynamic, fast paced and has some really good, snappy character interaction and it serves the purpose of bringing Finn up to speed on the events he wasn’t party to at the end of TFA.
To offer my objective opinion, I think it’s THIS scene that is the payoff, where Finn’s arc from TFA is fully resolved (even though it’s delivered in a way that makes it seem like it’s no big deal…)
We, the audience have never really had any doubts about where Finn’s allegiances lie or whether or not he’s a coward, so maybe it’s Ok that the movie doesn’t make a big song and dance about it either and just moves on to other things by the 20 min mark?
It’s actually within the spirit of TLJ to drop the threads and conventions it doesn’t have any interest in exploring, so maybe this approach is right on point? 😃
I think if you’re going to excise the Phasma fight, the inclusion of this scene is pretty necessary to complete Finn’s story, such as it is. His story isn’t strong in TLJ, so similar to TFA that I didn’t get the distinction the first couple times I watched it. So his arc isn’t about being accepted by the Resistance (which we see in the first deleted scene with Poe), but rather about accepting his own place within the Resistance and that he is a part of their struggle. You’re right in that after TFA the audience never really doubts his allegiance, but the film does attempt to plant that doubt immediately and then resolve it toward the end. Finn’s story comes to a head in the theatrical after he bests Phasma and refers to himself as “rebel scum”. So in absence of that line, I think the subsequent deleted scene becomes much more necessary in solidifying his character arc in the film.