For audio I'd briefly considered playing with the idea of 5.1 surround, but I'm ultimately enough of a realist to know that tying that learning process into this project will only doom it to purgatory on my hard drive. So I'm going to go with a very basic stereo or mono setup, which will be admittedly crude by comparison to many other projects out there. but it should ensure I can get this done before I apply for social security. Perhaps I once I have this done, I might go back and try to redo the sound after the initial release, whenever that will be, but I'm not going to guarantee it.
In other words, those of you hoping for sound and video so sweepingly incredible as Trooperman's Ep II edit will be sorely disappointed, I'm sure. This is the story I want to tell though, so I'm learning what I need for the presentation I have in mind. It won't be as pretty as some of the editing work I've seen, I'm sure, but I like to think I'll be able to make up for it with creativity and a fresh view of the events. Making The Big-Mig-Maker will be difficult enough without adding in surround sound lessons. Maybe I can revisit the project to remaster the sound later, but once again, please don't count on it as a certainty.
Meanwhile, I've been looking at footage I have laying around from the various DVDs I've been exposed to over the last six months and I'm having trouble locating a complete audio track of Red Leader's talk about Luke's father's skill as a pilot. I really like andij's idea to use that as a bridge to the edited ROTS space battle and then to the Yavin battle. I watched Deleted Magic again this afternoon to see if there was anything there, but it's still missing the completed line, more or less cutting it down almost to the hacked version used in the SE of ANH. I'm guessing that was because of a lack of source material though, as opposed to a cut by OCP.
Does anyone know if audio of this scene was done for the radio dramas perhaps? And if so, does anyone know where I can get a hold of it?
Meanwhile, the basics of the ANH footage are taking shape, and I believe that I'll need to spread this across three separate movies, though none of them should be a full feature-length production in the end.
Once again, thank you all for the feedback and ideas you've given. Your support is greatly appreciated and it definitely gives me added motivation to keep going with this project.