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The Force Awakens: Starlight (V1.1 Released!) — Page 59

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Imhotep said:

I finally got around to watching this edit (version 105 I think). You’ve made excellent additions to the film. It’s great to see an edit not only trimming things away, but adding elements in a thoughtful way. Amazing work!

Some notes from my viewing:

  • The drawing of the island in Rey’s hut is a beautiful and seamless addition.
  • Your restructuring of scenes to space out events over a longer period of time works well, given the constraints of the available material. It always bothered me that the majority of TFA seems to take place over just a day or so.
  • I enjoy the new placement of Kylo’s meditation scene, but am unsure about making this a prayer to Snoke. I prefer to keep separate his submission to Snoke and worship of Vader. Though, his worship of Vader was an element that should have been paid off in Episode IX, but wasn’t. So it doesn’t really go anywhere, except for brief dialogue from Snoke at the beginning of TLJ.

Yeah, like you said his Vader worship doesn’t really go anywhere. With him praying to Snoke, it does a few things. First, it introduces the idea of a Supreme Leader without mentioning his goofy name, potentially getting an audience on board through incremental info. Second, it reinforces the implication in TFA that Snoke can manipulate people’s minds across vast distances such as turning Ben to the Dark Side. This is an explicit plot point in TLJ so I think it helps both films in that regard. Finally, Ben knows that Vader turned back to the light in the end, so it doesn’t even make sense to pray to Vader since he doesn’t even exist as a Dark Side spirit at this point.

  • I miss Rey’s dream sequence on Jakku from a few versions back, what are your thoughts on removing this?

I went back and forth for a while on this one, ultimately concluding that the scene works better as an introduction to Rey as a normal girl. Giving her a vision this early short-circuits some of the power of her later Force development such as the saber visions. I have also become less-enamored of visions and things which disrupt the flow of ‘normal’ events in the film. It was still a hard decision because I do still like the vision and it will probably make it into the other version of the edit.

  • The shots of the Falcon entering and exiting hyperspace after leaving Jakku are excellent.
  • I wonder if Leia’s deleted scene with Kor Sella could be placed after the Resistance learn of Starkiller base, as this would clarify the sense of urgency in the deleted scene.

That’s a good idea, but the main problem is one of integration. There would need to be some buffer between Finn telling Leia about the weapon and her going to Kor Sella. Maybe the brief Chewbacca and Kalonia cutaway scene would work there, but it might be too brief. It can’t really happen after the scene between Leia and Han since at that point they’ve already sent a reconnaissance mission to Starkiller and it would be weird to alert the Republic about info they don’t have, and putting the scene after that point feels too late.

The other issue is the music. The music in this scene works really well since it was originally part of the D’Kar landing and all that I did was cut some of Finn wandering around to make room for the deleted scene.

  • Rey’s extended mind trick scene is great.
  • Great use of voiceover from the stormtroopers, where Rey climbs down to hide in Starkiller base. This really helps give context to the scene.
  • I’m keen to see how the restored scene with Kylo in the Falcon worked with the child voice over, would you mind reposting this? I feel this could connect well with Snoke’s line in TLJ, ‘you’re just a child in a mask’.

https://vimeo.com/459628132 Password: fanedit
It’s at about the 6 minute mark.

  • If you can add in the dice scene, that would be amazing! Unfortunately I can’t think of any shots that would help in that regard. It sounds like a difficult shot to add, but it would be a fantastic addition.
  • The binary beacon is a great addition.

The edit is in a great place. It looks like you’re on the finishing touches at the moment, but then you always seem to find ways to improve the film that I never would have expected! I look forward to watching it again when you get to the final version.

Thanks for the review, glad to hear that so much is working!

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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Thank you GMatias for your assistance!

Just a quick mockup of the dice shot in motion to see the broad strokes of what needs doing:

https://vimeo.com/590342667

Password: fanedit

For me Han is feeling a bit constrained by the large panel covering his chest, I’m considering moving that down in relation to the rest of the cockpit to give him some more room in shot. Also, I could move the entire frame down somewhat.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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After reading all this, I’d like to check out the recent workprint version of your cut if you would be so kind. 😉

“The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.”
-Sheev Palpatine, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

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Hi Nev, any updates on how your Visions edit is coming along.

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Sounds great! I can’t wait for the finished product to be done, this will definitely be my preferred version of the film.

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Hi NeverarGreat, thank you for sharing your edit with me.
Just watched this tonight straight after work and really enjoyed.

  • I loved the colour grade that you gave Jakku as it gives it a whole new feel and on first viewing of TFA I thought Jakku was Tatooine.

  • The Island drawing at Rey’s home was done amazingly.

  • Having Kylo meditate after interigateing Poe was a really good idea as it shows him dealing with his inner conflict.

  • All the cuts and transitions are smooth and seamless

I loved all the other changes also, bit too many to mention, this I’d definitely my go to version of tfa awakens and is definitely up there with Hal’s and Digimod’s amazing edits.

Thank you once again NeverarGreat.

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That’s pretty amazing Nev, nice work! 👍

Bringing this scene to life now seems like much more of a possibility.

Though not sure what can be done about the temporarily obstructed elbow and face… 😕


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Chase Adams said:

That’s pretty amazing Nev, nice work! 👍

Bringing this scene to life now seems like much more of a possibility.

Though not sure what can be done about the temporarily obstructed elbow and face… 😕

Thanks! I’m cautiously optimistic that I can do the reconstructive surgery, but only time will tell…

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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NeverarGreat said:

You’re welcome, glad you liked it so much!

JEDIT: updated the mockup again, now most of the cockpit has been restored.

https://vimeo.com/590342667

Password: fanedit

This looks fantastic, it’ll be great to get a better tie-in to Solo and TLJ in TFA!

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This looks fantastic, it’ll be great to get a better tie-in to Solo and TLJ in TFA!

+1👍

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It’s coming along nicely! 🤞

“Always in motion is the future” 🌌

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It’s looking damn impressive Nev, can’t wait to see Han’s face post-operation@

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First off, I just want to say I’m really loving this edit!

The restructuring has not only breathed new life into this film, it has made it a far superior film. The whole sequence in which the Starkiller Base alarm is sounding and the scenes are inter-cutting from Kylo to Hux to Rey and back to Kylo just gives me the chills. The music build-up there is spectacular, and the woman’s voice over the loudspeaker (“confirming launch window”, etc.) is hauntingly reminiscent of the voice from 1984.

The editing is great, the effects are great. Just a super fun project!

With all that being said, I do have a couple of thoughts on things that I would prefer to see tweaked.

  1. Jakku’s new look is a great idea to differentiate it from Tatooine. I get that when it is either early morning or late evening, the new color effect is not so strong, but for my taste, I would still like to see the sand look a lot whiter in those scenes to fully convince me that we are not on Tatooine.

  2. In a few of the scenes and shots, such as Kylo interrogating Rey, the filter/color-correction used adds what feels like a jarring amount of contrast compared to the rest of the film.

In the end, these are just my thoughts.

Overall, I can’t wait to see the finish product. And I can’t believe you’ve gotten me this excited about The Force Awakens again.

Many Thanks!

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You’re welcome and thank you for your thoughts!

  • The Jakku regrade is pushed about as far as I can take it without the washed out grade negatively affecting the explosions and skin tones and such, and so I’m pretty happy with it.

  • You’re right, the scene is too contrasted so the interrogation will be toned down in the final version.

Also, I’ve gotten Han’s arm and left shoulder reattached!

https://vimeo.com/590342667

Password: fanedit

Now what to do with the face…

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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This is some incredible work, Nev. I can see the face being a big challenge, but I know you’ll figure out a way to make it work.

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Amazing, amazing stuff Nev! That arm reconstruction work is so seamless I had forgotten where the camera covered it up.

One thing I did notice that I should probably point out is that the little piece of metal that Han hangs the dice on seems to slide around quite a bit, might be a good idea to stabilise it in some way…

In regards to the face though, my suggestion for the simplest solution would probably be to just trim the clip and make do with a little bit of a loss of continuity between shots. Not sure how other people would feel about that though.


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Wow! Color me amazed once again.

“Always in motion is the future” 🌌

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Chase Adams said:

Amazing, amazing stuff Nev! That arm reconstruction work is so seamless I had forgotten where the camera covered it up.

One thing I did notice that I should probably point out is that the little piece of metal that Han hangs the dice on seems to slide around quite a bit, might be a good idea to stabilise it in some way…

Definitely planning on it.

In regards to the face though, my suggestion for the simplest solution would probably be to just trim the clip and make do with a little bit of a loss of continuity between shots. Not sure how other people would feel about that though.

I feel like for such an important shot it should go as long as possible, as it’s the only one where we see the dice.

Anyway, I’ve updated the mockup to include the work on Han’s face and some scratches on the glass which will be toned down later.

https://vimeo.com/590342667

Password: fanedit

The distortions on the face have literally given me a headache, so I’m calling it quits for now. It might be good enough if I put a bit of glare on the windshield near that spot, or it could be chalked up to distortion through the glass. What do you think?

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)