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Revenge of the Sith: Refocused - a Clone Wars: Refocused Companion Edit (v3.03 Available now)

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The Clone Wars is some of my favorite Star Wars, and the four part Siege of Mandalore/Order 66 finale was absolutely amazing. When watching it I thought it would work really well with RotS(as have many people), but I didn’t want to just use the theatrical or even extended version of the film…

Presenting:

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: Refocused
Or
Fall of the Republic Part 1: The Phantom Apprentice
Fall of the Republic Part 1: Revenge of the Sith

(Original poster by reddit user thementelgen, who gave me permission to use and modify their art.)

RotS: Refocused is a new version of my Fall of the Republic edit. This is based on NFBism’s New Canon Cut of Revenge of the Sith and The Siege of Mandalore four part finale of The Clone Wars.

The purpose of the NCC edit is to make RotS fit tonally with the depiction of Anakin/Obi-wan/Padme in The Clone Wars, and does an incredible job. For v3 of my edit I have decided to incorporate some of my own changes to the plot and structure of RotS, and have been inspired by other editors in making some of these choices. (Like HAL9000, CrimsonMaul, and DominiCobb)

The main story focus of this edit is to shift Anakin’s concern solely from ending the war/saving Padme, to saving his entire family (Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, & Padme). To make his motivations clearer, and thus more tragic. New dreams have been crafted highlighting these elements. Additional trims have been made throughout to lessen the film’s singular focus on saving Padme.

The current version is 3.03, a mostly polished release version. Features of Fall of the Republic v 3.03:

Two episodes in the style of TCW: Refocused. This may become four if the 1hr40min episodes feel unfeasible.
Many restructured scenes, the NCC source is linked above.
Following TCW: Refocused, the first scene with Anakin is the holo convo with Padme from the Bad Batch arc.
Sidious meeting with Grievous is used as a Pre-Coruscant scene, with Sidious sending Grievous to kidnap the chancellor. (The audio here is still rough)
Anakin meeting with Yoda after his first dream is reinstated, following DominiCobb it is placed after the Opera scene.
The Siege of Mandalore scenes are almost entirely untouched, simply integrated with RotS footage.

Following DomincCobb, the March on the Temple has been re-scored with an alternate version of the Imperial March as originally intended.
The Jedi Temple guards confront Anakin and the 501st using VFX edit by CrimsonMaul and StarWarsStory
Some Order 66 scenes from Kenobi have been integrated.
The “Practice Makes Perfect” scene of Ahsoka and Rex marching down the hallway has been integrated into Order 66.
Cut C-3P0 having his memory wiped as a Joke
Cut Vader and Sidious staring at the deathstar

The biggest change since v2 is:
Anakin’s dreams are of losing all his friends. His first dream is of his friends in their potentially dying moments screaming his name, with Vader 's voice saying Anakin was weak. His 2nd dream is Yoda saying “Let go of all you fear to lose” over memories of nearly losing Anakin and Obi-Wan and potentially losing Padme.
Thus, Ahsoka appears at Padme’s restored Funeral using “Resolve”.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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I’m working on something similar right now where I’m essentially making the longest possible canon cut of ROTS. The plan is to have lines from Battlefront 2 replacing the clone and grievous voices in the 2003 CW and every deleted scene incorporated as well.

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I think these ideas are pretty cool and I was thinking of something similar. I would probably use a straight extended cut of RoTS instead of the New Canon Cut though, just to keep things as close to true canon as possible and appeal to people who want the longest possible cut.

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commandercluck said:

I’m working on something similar right now where I’m essentially making the longest possible canon cut of ROTS. The plan is to have lines from Battlefront 2 replacing the clone and grievous voices in the 2003 CW and every deleted scene incorporated as well.

I’m also planning something similar for the clone’s voices, hadn’t thought to do it for Grevious though, good idea!

Octorox said:

I think these ideas are pretty cool and I was thinking of something similar. I would probably use a straight extended cut of RoTS instead of the New Canon Cut though, just to keep things as close to true canon as possible and appeal to people who want the longest possible cut.

I considered that briefly, but personally I really want Anakin to feel consistent between the different source material and no Theatrical or Extended cut of RotS is gonna do that for me, though I’d probably still watch a “ultimate” cut like that.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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I’d love to see this edit when it’s complete!

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Any Thoughts on this for the Crawl:

The Outer Rim under siege! Separatist forces have launched a major offensive. Led by the nefarious cyborg General Grievous, Republic forces are pushed to the brink.

In response to this overwhelming attack, the Jedi Council has dispatched its Generals, sending them far from the Core Worlds to bolster the beleaguered clones.

In the Last Days of the Republic dark forces gather in the shadows, manuevering the final pieces into place as they seek to strike at the heart of the Jedi, and the Republic…

—-

The first two paragraphs are from the Siege of Mandalore opening narration, while the third is original. As such it probably needs the most work, but is also the one I’m most attached to.

“dark forces gather in the shadows” is meant to refer to Sidious, but also Maul and the shadow collective. The “Heart of the Jedi” is Anakin (both Maul & Sidious’ target) and the “heart of the Republic” could mean either Padme or Coruscant itself (since this leads into Sidious launching the attack on the capital)

“The Last Days of the Republic” is set up for my idea of adding a title card before the start of each “Day”, leading up “Day Five - Empire Day” The timpani from “Battle over Coruscant” will play over each card, since that sound is a nice dread builder, and with Maul’s stuff going on, we’re definitely building dread.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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I’ve edited together ROTS, the first two episodes of the SoM and the ROTS Deleted Scenes into something of a very similar nature, though for my first revision I’m not making any changes whatsoever to any of the source material (with the sole exception of cutting a single Mace line from the War Room scene so I could use it in the earlier Deleted Scene without repetition). I also decided not to include 2003 Clone Wars, as the style is too different and it just delays the meat of ROTS. The challenge really is stretching out the actual Siege bit of Episode 9 across the first ~50 minutes of ROTS.

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Re: stretching out SoM.

I actually think that’s helped by starting with an edit of RotS, I think it makes it easier to piece in the material. And it’s not like there isn’t plenty of SoM material.

As for the 03 Clone Wars footage, I’m trimming the action sequences quite a bit, and will be making some other changes. But I’m not overly concerned with it being too different, that’s kinda the point of this.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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I’ve got an edit in the works right now using 4K HDR footage, currently at 3 hours and 37ish minutes.

  1. Start with the Siege of Mandalore retro Lucasarts Logo
  2. New Opening Crawl, merging the original RoTS crawl with text that summarizes Maul’s rescue in Son of Dathomir and Skywalker and Kenobi’s campaign on Yerbana, essentially keeping it as close to the context of the original Revenge of the Sith crawl as possible while simultaneously re-contextualizing when the film starts, then resuming with the normal episode’s opening. While having a narrator “and” a crawl is repetitive, I’m trying not to cut any footage out of RoTS or TCW itself in this edit, so I’m keeping it anyway. The episode continues until after Ashoka calls, followed by…
  3. I’m including all 2003 microseries Coruscant bits, save the scene where Mace crushes Grievous’ chest. The edit starts immediately with Yoda noticing the attack. The rest of the first Siege of Mandalore Episode up to Ashoka’s departure is also intercut with these scenes, including a break between Anakin offering her a surprise, and the reveal of the Ashoka 501st troopers.
  4. The scene where Mace contacts Anakin to tell him the Chancellor has been kidnapped is still included. My intention is that this is now the second time Mace contacts them, but the scene’s trimmed down so that it cuts straight to the call, Mace only mentions the Chancellor being kidnapped and not Coruscant being under Siege (they already know this, per TCW), the conversation about the vision on Nelvaan is gone, as is him repairing his arm, and recolors his scar back to the normal color as best I can.
  5. The Siege of Mandalore’s opening battle is intercut with the opening RoTS Chancellor’s rescue. Maul encounters Ashoka and escapes the first time by the time Anakin and Kenobi reach Dooku/Palpatine.
  6. Most of RoTS will be the canon 4K HDR version, save the inclusion of 4 (maybe 5) deleted scenes…
  • The Extended Constitutional Amendment/Office Scene (Captured through D+ 4K screen recording)
  • The 3 rebellion plotline scenes, including the 2 at Padme’s apartment, and the one in the Chancellor’s Office. All 3 scenes are placed directly where the original script specified they would be.
  • I may add the Degobah scene, but that honestly depends on how the arc ends. There are too many unknowns about the last 2 episodes right now. All 4 of these latter scenes use the Hal9000 upscales as a base with further processing to match the 4K HDR footage in both the film’s main color tone and quality as much as I reasonably can, while mostly preserving their original look.
  1. The scene with Kenobi contacting Ashoka is right after the start of the battle of Kasshyyk, taking place in the same spot where Kenobi originally met with padme in the script’s deleted scene, the second Padme office apartment scene now follows this.
  2. Maul capturing Jessie and interrogating Jessie up to his speech to his recruits is intercut with the start and middle of the Battle of Utapau ‘after’ Kenobi’s arrival.
  3. The Petition of Two-Thousand Office scene follows Kenobi dropping his blade, as specified in the script, which is then followed by the rest of the 2nd Mandalore episode, ending Day 3 and starting Day 4. Because the trailer shows us remade footage of the “plot to destroy the Jedi” dialogue, I end the battle just before this scene, as it will likely be early in the 3rd episode, forcing the rest of the episode’s events to happen after this scene. While there is a bit of a chronology issue with just how ‘long’ Grievous was being chased by Kenobi, I think this order of scenes flows the best in the sense that it divides up multiple subplots in a way that feels cinematic, rather than just having a TV episode slapped in the middle of a movie, so this is what I’m sticking with as of now.

I’m pretty happy with what I have so far. I’ve played around with the non 4K/HDR footage enough to give it at least a light HDR touchup so that it all looks as reasonably decent as possible. Other goals with the last few episode include better intercutting the coming events with the current film Order 66 (if there are new scenes), and also trying to merge the end of the film and the end of the arc as closely as possible (again, if the ending events of the show allow it to fit with the film).

However, if scenes are depicted twice in TCW and in RoTS, I will likely cut the TCW bits so that the live action versions take priority, unless there is some clever way they can be spun together without being disruptive. Again, depends on how the last 2 episodes play out.

I’m hoping to share this next week and am considering posting a thread about it, but as I’m new, I’m not entirely sure how far I should/can go to share this.

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Hedgesmfg, will you be releasing it in HDR, or are you just using the 10bitHDR source material to produce a better quality 8bitSDR final render?

Perhaps we should have a thread - some kind of TCW Radical Redux - for these mashups and other edits of the series, since it seems like there will be at least three two similar edits of this arc and ROTS.

Regarding sharing, you can’t post direct links in your thread, but you can do whatever you like via PM, so that tends to be how edits are shared.

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You know, I didn’t think the idea of combining live-action and animation into a single fan edit, but the idea of also including the 2003 Clone Wars, and cutting back and forth between three different mediums, really clicked for me. Seeing how each of the three mediums reference each other, even though they were made years apart from each other and by different production teams, seems like it would be really satisfying to watch.

If you have trouble altering the color of Anakin’s scar in the 2003 Clone Wars, just let me know and I might be able to help.

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sade1212 said:

Hedgesmfg, will you be releasing it in HDR, or are you just using the 10bitHDR source material to produce a better quality 8bitSDR final render?

Perhaps we should have a thread - some kind of TCW Radical Redux - for these mashups and other edits of the series, since it seems like there will be at least three similar edits of this arc and ROTS.

Regarding sharing, you can’t post direct links in your thread, but you can do whatever you like via PM, so that tends to be how edits are shared.

Both. The 4K version will be HDR, while the 1080P version will be SDR based on the HDR source.

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Hedgesmfg, I like what you’ve layed out in your timeline, especially the intercutting of the 03 footage and the Early SoM bits.

I’m currently toying with the idea of having the only 03 footage be the Dooku/Grevious training duel and subsequent convo with Sidious, ending the use of the footage with Yoda seeing the fleet approaching Coruscant. Then my “Day One” title card will play.

I think pacing-wise intercuttung the Battle Over Coruscant with the Mandalore attack isn’t a bad idea, it would keep the film from going too long without seeing Ahsoka. I might have to toy around with what I’m doing somewhat.

I do think stylistically my edit will feel different than the others, as I’m doing the “countdown to Empire Day.”

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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Most of the Star Wars films are structured with A Plots and B plots happening simultaneously, switching back and forth between one another, even if the events shown in such aren’t completely chronological. That was how the microseries was also structured, but now the battle of Nelvaan is removed entirely (in the EU it took place about a week before Coruscant originally), so splicing scenes together in such a way makes sense and fits the pacing Lucas’ Star Wars films tended to have.

I also consider the earlier parts of the battle of Coruscant to be vital to the canon, and am honestly surprised none of it was animated in TCW, but since it was endorsed by Filoni/George through dialogue, I can’t not use the 2003 series on some level, despite the stylistic differences.

I tried playing around a bit with scene ordering, but ultimately decided to stick with what I’ve got. I’ve been working on this nearly nonstop since last Friday morning.

For now, my early edit is up-to-speed. A 1080p proto has been rendered for testing/subtitle timing (the 4K HDR version will take my 8700k/1080 TI Combo nearly a full day to render in x265 since it’s over 210 minutes long, maybe more), and I’ve got the best versions of the deleted scenes I could find inserted in and upscaled.

I’ll see about sharing a clip at some point this weekend. I’ve got full 4kHDR test renders of the first 15 minutes and several shorter clips ready to go.

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I’m also testing my Upscale on a 4KHDR version of the rest of the 2003 CW microseries, split into 3 episodes covering the Battle of Muunilinst, the Jedi Campaigns (Kit, Mace, Luminara/Yoda, First Grievous battle, Anakin’s Knighting and growth), and the Battle of Nelvaan (Shield World Footage up to Dooku dueling Grievous as a lead in for the Siege/ROTS/Release).

The episodes keep the original titlecards, are cropped to cinematic aspect ratio to match TCW/The PT (with a few scenes manually adjusted), and can be watched before the start of the 2008 series (Episodes 1 and 2) and before the Siege of Mandalore/Coruscant Battle respectively (Episode 3). I’m also adding 2008 styled quotes and title music to the start of each respective episode, though they will be longer than normal episodes.

My encode should be done by end of day, and I can share this along with my edit itself upon release for those who wish it.

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Personally I’d include the following scenes even if they don’t add up in the timeline.

  1. TCWS7: Cody talks to Rex about how it’s hard being the survivors. This instantly gives us a connection to the clones should a viewer not watched the series and jumped right from AOTC.

  2. TCWS7: Anakin and Padme together, with Obi-Wan revealing he knows about it.

  3. TCWS7: Mace Windu claims to have killed thousands of battle droids. Also him willingly risking his life to shut off a bomb, so we know he is good at heart (PT Windu is kinda a dick) giving his death weight.

  4. TCWS7: The Martez Sisters tell Ahsoka about how the Jedi don’t care about the common people. Adds a lot of depth to the Jedi’s fall, although admittedly getting here would require a lot of cutting down on a boring story arc.

  5. CW03: Grevious Introduction: His speech followed by attack on five Jedi is possibly the best introduction to a villain in all of Star Wars. It also gives his attack on the Chancellor against Shaak-Ti extra meaning. I’d even suggest including the deleted scene where Grevious kills Shaak-Ti at the beginning of ROTS, wrapping up the rivalry.

How to do: Open with the Battle of Anaxes. Short 15 minute sequence containing of some early character moments and then the battle in the fourth episode. Then cut to Ahsoka meeting the sisters and get off Coruscant ASAP. In between Kessel cut to Grevious introduction. After this go back to Oba Diah, cut everything from the third episode except for the Jedi speech and then greatly trim anything not with Ahsoka. This naturally leads into the Darth Maul reveal and the Mandalorians. Then cut to Yerbana and the rest of the edit rolls.

Maul- A Star Wars Story

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That’s not a bad idea, though I think it would serve to confuse more than help, as the Bad Batch and Ahsoka episodes take place MONTHS before RotS/SoM.

Personally, I’m making my edit to be a longer Clone Wars finale. I think Clone Wars is vital viewing and don’t really want yo provide more excuse for folks to skip it.

Though I can see why such an edit would be appealing.

Edit: Just watched Shattered. And all I have to say is f*ck.

So I think the trickiest aspect of editing Shattered together with RotS is going to be the Score. Shattered has this ominous sound that doesn’t let up until Ahsoka senses Anakin’s fall and I feel like intercuttung it with the RotS score is gonna sound bad.

On the other hand I am looking forward to intercuttung Ahsoka’s Order 66 escape with Yoda & Obi-Wan’s. This is brutal.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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So I’ve got the latest episode intercut into my timeline already.

I can provide a link to a clip online from a crucial moment via PM, but I don’t want to post the clip here publicly just yet.

  1. I kept the original RoTS music intact during Anakin’s fall, and cut in shots of Maul and Ashoka during those scenes while keeping the original timing, fitting broken up shots of their reactions before, during and after Mace’s death.

  2. Ashoka’s conversation with Rex starts right as Anakin leaves the council chambers, with the music from RoTS stayin there to transition with the shot of her looking outward, then Rex starts speaking. This ties her longing look into the scene where Anakin thinks of Padme without interrupting it. The shot of 3PO walking to her has been replaced with Ashoka.

  3. Because the conversation about the “plot to destroy the Jedi” happens twice, I’m keeping the film version, but hard cut to Ashoka entering the room immediately after Yoda speaks in RoTS, so the transition happens in real time.

  4. Rex’s Order 66 segment starts right after Bail leaves the temple. Rex chases off Ashoka, Kenobi escapes capture, then we cut back to the rest of the episode uninterrupted, ending right when Bail takes off and leaves Coruscant.

  5. I did bump up the start of the battle of Utupau to earlier than my last edit so as to better show the transition from Day 3 to Day 4 (where everything bad happens). Kenobi’s arrival on Utapau is now cut between Maul’s call to arms in episode 2. The end of episode 2 leads into the deleted scene with the senators in the chancellor’s office. This isn’t the script order of that scene anymore, but it is the best place to fit it for story/timeline of events flow.

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Ugh, I’m having technology issues that are preventing me from working on this right now, and I’m so upset. That was an amazing episode and am really looking forward to seeing it with RotS.

-Gonna PM you.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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The final episode (available now if you convince Disney+ you’re in Australia…) might be difficult to integrate into ROTS. It’s essentially continuous with few clear ‘breaks’ and the tone is very different to the tone of the third act of the movie. Cutting from this episode to say, Yoda vs Palpatine, would be a lot of tonal whiplash. You might have to delay the end of this episode to be part of ROTS’ ending montage.

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We’ll see. Having not watched it I can’t say for sure, but I imagine it’s workable.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)

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 (Edited)

I’ve already got a plan for it.

Most of this episode should fit before the final RoTS duels. There are still enough breaks in the action that you can integrate some of the slower post Order 66 RoTS bits in with this while the action ramps up in the episode itself. As the action from this episode builds, it will only add to the intensity of what’s happening in RoTS itself. The pacing doesn’t have to be perfect, it can be a gradual climb to the intensity of the finale with peaks and drops in intensity. The Episode itself also makes no reference to any other RoTS events at all (though most of it is obviously before Anakin is put in the suit), so it can fit wherever the pacing/art best dictates it. This gives plenty of room for careful experimentation.

I also have a plan for the episode epilogue as well.

I’m not going to say what happens here so as not to spoil those who haven’t seen it yet, but I should be able to wrap up the main jist of my edit tomorrow morning once I return to my editing rig.

I’ve already put up a clip on youtube about how this arc fits with one of RoTS most crucial scenes.

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I do highly recommend watching the show if you haven’t.

Edited for correctness.


I’m gonna put up a few test clips tomorrow, along with some more info about the approach of my edit, technical stuff, and so on.

Really big thanks ahead of time to Hal and NFB for making RotS into something usable for this larger edit.

Cheers!

Edit: back from watching Victory and Death, and all I can say is I am actually really glad we got the Ahsoka novel and rebels before we saw the end of the show. If I had to actually sit with this, not knowing what else happens to the characters… That would be rough.

I am a little sad that they chose to keep the brutal pace going and never let up. I was hoping for Ahsoka to have a moment to grieve the loss of everything she’s ever known. Idk, feels weird that we never see that.

As it is, I now also have ideas for the ending,

Following Hal9000 Padme’s funeral is gone, instead this will be Ahsoka and Rex’s last scene.

After Vader/Sidious stare at the Death Star, after Padme arrives on Alderaan, after Obi-Wan arrives on Tatooine, we cut to the final Clone Wars scene, which will be the end of the film.

It’s a more somber ending than RotS usually has, but it is after all a tragedy. The happy ending comes later, right now the galaxy is lost, the republic has fallen, and everything is different.

My Edits:
Revenge of the Sith: Refocused Available

The Clone Wars Refocused: The Chosen One (Mortis Episode)