Octorox said:
Okay so I took a look at the workprint. Overall I think you really nailed your primary goal of removing Rey’s Palpatine lineage from the film. I’m pretty surprised at just how well it works. I have some minor quibbles, and some of the other choices you made about what to take out and what to leave in make me lean toward Hal’s Ascendant as my overall preferred edit, but I think it’s a really solid effort overall. Here are some more specific notes:
Alright I’ll go through some of those but in general I’ll just say, even though my edit is coming after Hal’s and we have some changes in common, it’s not supposed to be an alternate “Rey Nobody” version of his, we worked on ours in parallel for the most part and have different goals. I still haven’t even watched his yet in full! Shame on me I know, but basically point being this is an edit of the original film, not of Hal’s edit, so that’s why you might be seeing a lot of discrepancy. And no worries if there’s changes you prefer in Hal’s, I hope once I’m done people feel free to mash up what they like about mine and his.
I hope you’re able to implement more neutral color grading in your final release. Watching this reminded me how much I dislike the film’s original color grading, which feels un-Star Wars-like.
The green tint is gone, plus some other minor changes here and there. I didn’t take it as far as Hal’s but hopefully it’s more in line with at least TFA. But it’s something I’m going to continue to tinker with for sure.
Like KumoNin, I don’t really understand the choice to remove the Snoke line, especially since you left the vats of cloned Snokes in the film. Along the same lines, Hal made a collection of minor changes meant to suggest some context as to just how Palpatine returned, and I miss those here. In his edit, we can infer that he’s an imperfect clone body possesed with Palpatine’s spirit, but like the theatrical version, I don’t think the situation is quite as clear here.
Explained the Snoke line above. The Palpatine clone thing I go back and forth on. I like the explanation it provides, but I also like the continuity of seeing Snoke bodies, giving some sort of connection between Palpatine and the preceding films. It’s a tough situation whichever way you cut it I think.
I understand the need to remove the line “she’s not who you think she is” but I think the transition out from the first Exogol scene doesn’t feel as strong. Would there be a way to keep the line “You will rule the galaxy as the new emperor” and Palpatine’s sly smile? I feel like it suggests the fact that Palpatine is selling Kylo down the river in this moment.
It’s a tough transition. I feel like his delivery of that line wouldn’t work very well as an ending to the scene however. I also hate that line honestly, it’s just a reminder of how silly it is that he became Supreme Leader last film but it doesn’t mean shit apparently.
I like the elegance of Hal’s implementation of removing lightspeed skipping and shifting the chess scene to the end of the film. I think what you have works fine though. However, with lightspeed skipping still in, I wonder if it might make more sense just to revert to the theatrical scene order.
Personally I feel like the reordering is very important regardless of lightspeed skipping or not, it was one of the first changes I landed on in terms of how to make the opening third feel less choppy.
“Somehow, Palpatine has returned” 🤢 I was originally not a proponent of the Fortnite audio in Hal’s edit, but I have admit that I miss it’s use covering this line.
Unfortunately I don’t know if I’ll ever be persuaded to use the broadcast. There’s a few things about it that rub me wrong. Which makes that line the only alternative.
I think you may have extended the tail end of the First Order conference scene? The transition out felt a little less abrupt to me, which is a good thing.
Yup, that’s the goal, glad it worked for you.
I’d hate to give Rose any less screen time, but I wonder if anyone has considered just cutting the awkward Snap Wexley exchange. It’s such a slight scene and the comedy really doesn’t work for me. I think it might be better to just follow our heroes in this moment.
I kind of like giving a beat there. You might be right, but I do like the scene and it’s nice seeing more of Kelly and Carrie (she actually feels alive here).
I really liked your implementation of excising Finn and Poe’s bickering in the tunnels. I caught the flipped shot, but I think it works, even though there’s a slight continuity error where Poe is bringing up the rear and then suddenly in front of the pack. I think I prefer it to Hal’s shuffling of scenes in this section.
The flip (which by the way, is actually an unflip I believe) was done to help screen direction, so unfortunately it’s a question of which is less jarring, and I think it’s this.
Nice job extending Chewie’s death, although there’s a moment where I feel like the rescore and the original music are competing in the mix.
Good to know, will continue to tweak.
“I wanted you to see it. Who you are.” - I liked what you had in an earlier version: “I wanted you to see it. Your power.” To go along with that:
The hangar scene is close to perfection, love “I feel the pull to the light. You the darkness.”, love the brief flash-forward/vision. The only thing that doesn’t work for me is “your power”. Perhaps you can borrow something from my mockup and use “you don’t just have power. You have dark power.” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kYcr_q8vZfmUBAkINFcC-tnqR7PMDRIl/view?usp=sharing.
I’ll have to take a look, thanks. Always open to figuring out the best solution here.
I would also prefer Kylo just say “You will kill him” because “you will kill Palpatine” sounds like an obvious audio edit, and it’s already clear he’s talking about Palpatine.
It’s something I played with, but oddly that sounded more like an edit to me, because he kinda whispers the line. Still working on it.
I know you’re probably tired of hearing me talk about Hal’s edit in comparison to yours, but I miss Hal’s addition of the mystical Sith whispers as an alternative to the dagger becoming a magical protractor that just happens to line up with the Death Star wreckage.
I love that Goonies shit, sue me.
Kylo’s line to Rey “the dark side is in our nature” doesn’t really jive with how he explained the Dyad. Could it be edited to “the dark side is in your nature”?
Interesting idea. I think the line still works regardless, but I’ll play with that.
Can you cut the line about Holdo maneuvers? I feels like it’s uneccesarily overexplaining something that didn’t need to be explained in TLJ.
It doesn’t bother me too much, I appreciate the callback to Holdo (any way we can make it seem like this movie remembers the existence of TLJ the better). I know they’re trying to explain it but it’s not much of an explanation just a brief dismissal. How I see it anyway.
Kylo finding Vader’s TIE Advanced in the Death Star wreckage seems…convenient? Although I do like the symbolism.
No doubt, though it’s a reasonable assumption it’d be on the DS at least.
I miss the full jonh ghost scene. Palpatine being bested by Rey deflecting the lightning on her own feels weird after he made quick work of Mace Windu when he tried the same strategy. I felt the ghosts lending their force energy made this moment a little more believable. I understand the desire to have Rey stand on her own two feet though.
Hot take I know but that whole concept is really not for me. I could give a longer explanation but I think you get it, it’s more about Rey in that moment and I think the hat tip of them subtly behind her is enough.
I noticed a lot of stuttering when the fleet gathers before the “rising up” montage, presumably due to slowdown in post. I would bring in the Naboo shot if it meant preserving the original timing of the footage.
Yeah good catch. I need to play with it some more.
I noticed quite a bit of stuttering during the celebration scene too, although good job removing the weird Jannah and Lando moment.
This one is really tricky because there’s so much movement. It’s why I was asking earlier about how the Kylo slow-down shot in Hal’s edit was achieved. Unfortunately optical flow really can’t handle these kinds of shots, so I didn’t bother. Need to figure something else out.
End scene works well, although I’ve grown fond of the alternate take on “Rey Skywalker”. I wonder if “Just Rey” would even be more appropriate for this particular edit?
The alternate take isn’t for me, personally. I am considering “Just Rey,” especially if I swap back “I’m no one” for “I’m all the Jedi.”
