In terms of making an Ultimate Cut of FOTR what would you change to make it better match the other 2 films?
To me Aside from the Aragorn & Arwen plot mess that was created here are a few thoughts.
To me I don’t mind the shots of Gollum in FOTR too much but there is a part of me that would desire to see the old design in all shots but one and I really wish to replace the close up…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFsv7e01UCY
I would probably vouch for a a shot of the rocks without Gollum (still of previous scene) on “the ring has brought him here” and a recap of the ring bouncing away from Gollum from the prologue on the rest of the dialogue to cover the very clearly different design totally omitting that designs presence as all the rest are acceptable.
There is a part in the Prologue where the map burns a bit then disolves to Urukhai burning the westfold from film 2… Whilst not a serious issue such as the Gollum design this also feels like simply having flames engulfing the map would have sufficed and almost implies Uruks were already around before when they were not so it’s sort of a small thing but I don’t like Uruks in the prologue.
Thirdly there is a few of effects shots in the trailer one of Aragorn when he throws the torch at the Nazgul on weathertop has a flame effect at camera wich is better and when Gandalf slams his staff there is a bright light flash effect also from the trailers when Frodo puts on the ring there are numerous flash effects when he wants to put it on not when the ring has it’s way at the prancing pony though. Use the shot from TTT in prancing pony of the ring from Galadriels monologue to replace the shot of the ring on a pure black background (no context).
The shot of the elf Ruins at Hollin which look better in the trailer / tv spot I would either find alternate landscape shots and replace as the trailer version is not in it’s entirety of the film version plus without the dialogue and meaning and talk the actual ruin is pretty redundant as Gandalf and legolass conversation is removed or if it becomes available might be worth re-instating.
Add Black Blood Splurts / splashes effects when orcs and trolls get hacked at.
Cropping things out could be employed to fix issues such as the Black Rider only visible one side of the tree as the hobbits hide on the road as he rides in and Boromir’s Hand on Aragors shoulder before he passes away and Boromirs arrow that falls out accidently on a fighting scene.
The Three Daggers given at Weathertop is an out of nowhere moment and there is no fix, unless we see the Hobbits looting the store inside the fortress ruins. The Barrow Whites and weathertop were meant to be paired down.
Adding the Green Puss to Frodos face digitaly whilst Arwen get’s rid of the Nazgul and flip shots back that are flopped.
Sting stops glowing in a few shots in Balins Tomb which would be a cool fix.
Any other Visual Fixes?
I don’t see too much wrong
Gandalfs prologue with restored music cue over Saurons appearance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAQSEVbBOVQ
I Don’t mind Gandalf Narrating the intro but don’t care for it to be changed just observe the music cue when Sauron shows up until Isildur is smashed against the rock wall, also note towards the end of the video the narration over Boromirs arrival at Rivendell. I find this quite important and should be in the film with Gandalf as Narrator introducing Boromir. Bear in mind if Gandalf had of narrated the prologue it would have been at bag end and not a prologue at all.
A newly found TTT deleted scene
https://youtu.be/GgV9B9g19eo?list=PL8dQ2P2JZXXtuAq4klRO60HvIZQdzJhWb&t=2324
Although you can only hear the Audio in this clip and some footage is available the dialogue from Saruman in the clip suggests a returning Uruk is thrown to the warg pit for failing to get the ring the shadows on the wall are of the Wargs devouring the Uruk. We then have a line about wormtoungue will get his revengue upon Theoden and Sarumen will have revenge upon the world of men. Basically “send out your Warg riders” could be an insert and there is a clear jump cut in this part of the film or it had a large chunk removed.
The Third Age game also contains many narrative lines Spoken by Gandalf most of which were recoreded for the game some which were already done for the film It is hard to know what exactly what is from the film, but there is a part about Dwarves and their friendship amongst some history of the mines of moria which is fairly world building and may well be omitted narration, but cannot confirm this.
Sauron “There is no Light in the Void…”
https://youtu.be/aShluZf5DdY?list=PL8dQ2P2JZXXtuAq4klRO60HvIZQdzJhWb&t=1327