The Empire Strikes Back - Expanded Edition (Work in Progress) — Page 2

Good stuff!

Bobson Dugnutt said:

A bit of fun, here’s what the first frame looked like with only my paint on it.

Couldn’t help to imagine this in motion to the sound of ‘Take on Me’ by A-ha.
Can we get the whole movie looking like this, please? 😃

Honestly it’s kind of surprising no one has attempted something like this before (an extended edition of ESB, I mean). Definitely a worthwhile project.

You mentioned potentially needing help with sound design for scenes Bobson. I’d be happy to try and help with such work if you need any. Feel free to reach out if something comes up.

Really interested in this.

Tack said:

Hey, Bobson! I think you’re on to something cool here, and a bunch of the clips look fantastic so far, but I think you’re using certain bits in ways that aren’t quite accurate. For example, I think that bit with the probe coming to camera through the flames isn’t supposed to be right after it crashes. I think it’s pretty clearly the scene from the script where the Probot wipes out a Rebel outpost before Han and Chewie are sent out to deal with it. I think that’s why the wreckage is pretty clear in frame. The actual destruction of the base is off-screen in the fifth draft, and the shot of the aftermath that it describes is almost exactly like this shot from the eBook.

And right you are! After looking at the 4th and 5th draft, and seeing this line, looks like the probe does attack an outpost.

The “Trooper Voice” is missing in the final cut, but there is around 7 seconds where I could dub the voice back if I could. I think it would slot right back in, and then with the clip of the Probot firing right after.

Tack said:

Secondly, I think your edit of the Echo Base Wampa attack is a bit wonky on the continuity. Granted, the footage as presented isn’t exactly the most easy stuff to work with, but I think it’s very clear to see the shot from the finished film of the ice crumbling onto R2’s head is what segued into the wall collapsing, and then lead to him getting locked in the corridor. The scene of him peaking from the wall occurs during the troopers fighting the Wampa off in the script, and at this point I would say having the sound of the Wampa being defeated over this shot is probably the best bet with the available footage. It’s hard to say if the scene’s scripted finale, with the Wampa being defeated by some large gattling-gun style blaster, was ever filmed, but my money is on no.

And one last thing, I think a lot of the shots of the actual Wampa suit during the attack scene were probably shot just for safety. The script describes quick snippets all until you see the corpse on the floor at the very end.

I honestly might just cut the whole thing, I think there is enough set up with the shot during the Han/Leia argument and C-3PO mentioning the ice monster in the Medical Bay. The Wampa attack just doesn’t have a real conclusion, it just needed like 2 shots of the soldier firing the Bazooka and the Wampa going down. I could dub the scene or something but it’s hard to work with the very limited footage.

Tack said:

Good luck on this! I think you may try perusing the sound effects wiki for the sound design question. In 1979, Burtt would still be using stock effects as well as his own recordings.

I didn’t know about this website but it’s very helpful

https://soundeffects.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:Episode_V-The_Empire_Strikes_Back(1980)/Sound_Effects_Used/Alphabetically

I’ve also got a whole stack of SFX I got from ‘The Sounds of Star Wars’ book which I’ve already used to mix a few things.

this is getting out of hand, now there are duplicate posts

timdiggerm said:

Wow, that really gives me some hope for the all the B/W stuff from ROTJ

…and a new hope… i hope…😃

Wow, amazing project! Eagerly awaiting it 😃

I think this is the final version of the colourised Han/Leia kiss. Or at least I’m sick of looking at it.

https://vimeo.com/696986729

Bobson Dugnutt said:

I think this is the final version of the colourised Han/Leia kiss. Or at least I’m sick of looking at it.

https://vimeo.com/696986729

Most impressive.

Tack said:

Fantastic work! Amazingly, the skin tones look pretty natural, which is always where colorization efforts fail.

It was a pain to get right and took me the longest time out of any part of the frame.

Here’s a new cut of the Vader surpise. It’s not longer, but there’s two new angles integrated in.

https://vimeo.com/697615472

I’m also having trouble working out where the Lobot capture scene should go, or even if I should use it. The missing slug of footage doesn’t let it work quite well and the continuity of the final film doesn’t really work out.

Lookin’ pretty great, Bob!

Regarding the Lobot scene, I think you could potentially address the missing slug of footage by cutting to the footage from outside the door, but play it in reverse as if it is being opened by Lobot. I think it would fit since the door is already moving up when it cuts to that second shot of Lobot.

So the order would be:
• Lobot avoids the troops and starts walking toward door.
• Outside door, we see it begin to raise open (footage reversed)
• Cut back to Lobot, waiting for the door to raise all the way open.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but would this scene go in between Leia shooting a stormtrooper and then rushing into an elevator with more troopers on their tail, and then Leia and Co. coming around the corner with Lando trying to unlock that same door? I think the hard thing would be adjusting the music to make it fit in that spot, since the Escaping Cloud City track starts on Leia and Co getting on the elevator.

Maybe them getting onto the elevator could be reworked without music, and the music playing in the deleted scene could flow into “Escaping Cloud City” around when Lobot gets captured or when Lando peaks around the corner. You might have that figured out in your head already though.

It didn’t really need explaining, but one cool thing about the scene is it explaining why there are no troopers guarding the Falcon. And I wonder if Lando asked Lobot to get himself captured in order to help them escape, or if he told Lobot to escape with them, but they weren’t expecting troopers to be guarding the door.

I definitely think it is worth keeping the scene. I would say the more deleted scenes you can fit in the better! What is the continuity issue you’re referring to?

EDIT: Just a thought, but if you insert a shot to cover up the missing slug of footage, you may have to rework the audio for the scene anyway since the timing of the music would change as well.

RogueLeader said:

I definitely think it is worth keeping the scene. I would say the more deleted scenes you can fit in the better! What is the continuity issue you’re referring to?

It’s hard to place the scene since it’s not in any draft of the script but I figure it’s after Leia Lando and Chewie get in the elevator.
But the Lobot scene is on the same set as the crew getting into the elevator. So the scene doesn’t make sense in the space, since they get in the elevator, then Lobot gets off on the same floor which is now empty, then opens the door, and then Lando comes out from around a corner and runs to this door.
It makes it seem like they got off on the same floor or something.
If I can figure out how to cut it and make sense, I’ll use it but it’s a mindfuck. Thanks for your in depth notes though, they’re very helpful to how it could be cut.

Here’s an extra shot of Boba Fett in the Carbon Freezing chamber, with some new music mixed in. I’m not 100% happy with it but that’s fine.

https://vimeo.com/697684916

I’m also considering using some Special Edition footage from a 1997 35mm scan, mainly the extended approach in Cloud City, but is there any other footage I should desperately use?

Okay yeah, I see what you mean. This might seem dumb, but what if you horizontally flipped the shot of Lobot crossing the hallway? It’s still the same set obviously, but the flipped geography could help differentiate it as a different level maybe.

Cool new shot of Boba!

A part of me feels like it would make sense to only use footage shot during the original production of the film, rather than Special Edition material, but that is up to you. If you went that route, I wonder if you should go ahead and use all of the extra Special Edition material.

Are you also planning to add in the extra Luke training scene, or extended Leia taking care of Luke scene during the Bespin escape?

I’m sure recolorizing the extended Han and Leia kiss scene was a pain the ass, but I’m curious if you’re planning to do the same to any other black and white scenes. To be honest I’m not completely familiar with all of the deleted ESB material.

RogueLeader said:

Are you also planning to add in the extra Luke training scene, or extended Leia taking care of Luke scene during the Bespin escape?

I’ve got the Luke/Leia scene in place, but it needs a lot of audio work for it to even slightly match up.

https://vimeo.com/697690940

The Luke training scene is incomplete, since not all of it was shot. It would need some saber VFX, Yoda dub, some Luke breaths and complete soundscape done. Not impossible, but I can look into it. It’s the only training he does with the lasersword so it would be worthwhile.

Pablo Hidalgo said:
The scene was never finished. It only consisted of a close-up shot of Yoda and the bar, and then a medium shot of Luke swinging. It was shot MOS (without sound). As far as our archivists can tell, there was no reaction shot, no shot of the split bar, or no shot of Yoda explaining the setup, so it could have been scheduled for pickups, and then ultimately cut from the movie before they ever got to it.

Lawrence Kasdan’s Fourth Draft said:
306X. EXT BOG CLEARING – SWAMP – DUSK – DAGOBAH
Luke runs through the dense jungle on the last leg of what must have been quite a marathon. Yoda rides in a pouch on Luke’s back. The young apprentice is sweaty and exhausted. He stumbles into the clearing where Artoo has been patiently waiting. As Luke is about to collapse, Yoda throws a small metal bar in front of him. Luke ignites his laser sword and swings at it. He missed and the bar falls to the ground. Luke does too.

LUKE (breathless): I can’t… Too tired.
YODA: It would be in seven pieces, were you a Jedi.
LUKE (gasping): I thought I was in good shape.
YODA: Yes, but by what standard, ask I? Forget your old measures. Unlearn, heh, unlearn.

RogueLeader said:

I’m sure recolorizing the extended Han and Leia kiss scene was a pain the ass, but I’m curious if you’re planning to do the same to any other black and white scenes. To be honest I’m not completely familiar with all of the deleted ESB material.

There’s a B/W scene as the gang visits Luke while he is in the Bacta Tank. I actually had a go this morning trying to colourise it, but there is almost no colour reference for anything in that scene, so I had to forego trying it. I did half of one shot before giving up.

https://youtu.be/p0Aoc4X9vMk?t=265

The death of General Veers by Hobbie’s suicide is also only B/W, but features animatics in place of VFX. It could be done since there is reference for what the shot is supposed to look like, but it’s probably not going back in.

https://youtu.be/p0Aoc4X9vMk?t=471

As for whatever is in ROTJ as people have asked, there is an extended Rancor pit sequence, with Luke jumping up to the viewing grate, the Emperor demanding the destruction of the Endor Moon, an extended attack on the 2nd Death Star, more Rebel fighter pilots, and lastly an extended goodbye between Han and Lando. The last one is already being worked on by another user on the site though.

erichf69 said:

Here is what is done so far:
https://i.imgur.com/4xQk10g.mp4

The one scene I could see myself attempting is the Emperor calling for the DS.

RogueLeader said:

A part of me feels like it would make sense to only use footage shot during the original production of the film, rather than Special Edition material, but that is up to you. If you went that route, I wonder if you should go ahead and use all of the extra Special Edition material.

Some of it is cool, but I wouldn’t use stuff like the new Wampa or the citizens of Cloud City. It would be the new approach to CC, extended Lando opening the Falcon hatch, and maybe the clip before Han and Leia talk, with the speeders flying around. I’d have to look around.

Luke’s saber training is a pretty cool little scene, so I think it would be worth messing around with!

With the bacta tank scene, without having to recolorize the scene, I wonder if you could make the shot blue or red, whichever color you make the bacta, to make it seem like the bacta tank is just bathing the room in whatever color it is. You could then just rotoscope and recolor a few different color lights in the shot, like R2’s lights, 3PO’s eyes, some of the lights on the back wall. Might not look right but just an idea.

Yeah, I feel like you could reconstruct Veer’s death scene with a lot of material that’s already in the movie. You could reuse a Snowspeeder model crashing/burning shot (or pull one from BTS material, key out the blue screen and find a new background), and the AT-AT animatics are almost exactly like the shots of the AT-AT Luke destroys, so you could reuse those shots (and flip/crop them maybe). Then the only shots you would need to recolor would be the shot of Veers/walker pilots raising their hands up, and maybe that quick shot of Hobbie. Both shots are pretty short. But I could understand not wanting to put that back in.

RogueLeader said:

With the bacta tank scene, without having to recolorize the scene, I wonder if you could make the shot blue or red, whichever color you make the bacta, to make it seem like the bacta tank is just bathing the room in whatever color it is. You could then just rotoscope and recolor a few different color lights in the shot, like R2’s lights, 3PO’s eyes, some of the lights on the back wall. Might not look right but just an idea.

This idea had reminded me of TMBTM’s War of the Stars II: The Future in Motion, which he had taken a similar approach to the scene.

https://vimeo.com/697715624

And it turns out, he had also edited a version of the Wampa attack, quite brilliantly I might say, incorperating a few of the Special Edition shots and some great new VFX and innovative editing.

https://vimeo.com/697715216

I would love to edit together something similar to this, but obviously slightly differently. This is a great use of existing footage to reshape it into something new. I highly reccomnend both War of the Stars I and II for this.

RogueLeader said:

Yeah, I feel like you could reconstruct Veer’s death scene with a lot of material that’s already in the movie. You could reuse a Snowspeeder model crashing/burning shot (or pull one from BTS material, key out the blue screen and find a new background), and the AT-AT animatics are almost exactly like the shots of the AT-AT Luke destroys, so you could reuse those shots (and flip/crop them maybe). Then the only shots you would need to recolor would be the shot of Veers/walker pilots raising their hands up, and maybe that quick shot of Hobbie. Both shots are pretty short. But I could understand not wanting to put that back in.

I managed to find this on my HDD, with a version of Veers dying being remade with footage only from the final film. Could prove to be something similar to your ideas.

https://vimeo.com/697716347

The AT-AT falling over in the final film, was originally shot for the Veers death, but then used for Luke’s bombing when Hobbie’s suicide was later cut.

RogueLeader said:

Luke’s saber training is a pretty cool little scene, so I think it would be worth messing around with!

Since lightsaber VFX is the most common thing that is done in After Effects, it shouldn’t be too hard to do, just might be a little finicky to get it to perfectly line up with the sabers from the rest of the film.

A little colour test

Looking great. Nice touch restoring the bacta tank to its originally intended color.

I’m really glad to see all this footage (the Medbay especially) looking this good. I always felt we could spend some more time chillin’ at Echo Base before it’s blown to smithereens.

Bobson Dugnutt said:

Some of it is cool, but I wouldn’t use stuff like the new Wampa or the citizens of Cloud City. It would be the new approach to CC, extended Lando opening the Falcon hatch, and maybe the clip before Han and Leia talk, with the speeders flying around. I’d have to look around.

Personally I’m in favor of keeping the Cloud City establishing shots to theatrical, just so it doesn’t look too slick or modern in contrast to the grindhouse flair. As for the SE Wampa I actually have no gripe with it being on its original cave scene and I think it would make sense for it to be featured in an expanded edition, given it’s live action footage and not just a CG addition. I wouldn’t bother stitching it into the “ice creatures attack” footage, though. Clunky as that one is, I figure the blaster fire VFX and soundscape would be enough to salvage it (I hope, at least).

theprion said:

Personally I’m in favor of keeping the Cloud City establishing shots to theatrical, just so it doesn’t look too slick or modern in contrast to the grindhouse flair

I’ve got a 35mm scan of the 97SE, and it honestly doesn’t stick out too much. I might put it back in unless there is a violent uprising against it.

Here’s a first pass at the first half of the Bacta scene. I’m not 100% happy with it yet, but it’s shaping up.

https://vimeo.com/697805495