I saw an interesting comment today that suggested the ObiWan and Reva stories might be better as separate movies. I’m not sure if there is any potential there.
So, I’m hard at work rescoring the duel with Vader and Obi-Wan - whilst definitely keeping the new scoring that completely works (mostly the orchestral bits). Also, the complete timeline is now done and the film will roll credits at 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Her entire story in EP 6 is CUT. Not because I hate her character (although I am not fond of it), but simply because her story fit the series format but definitely not the film format I am going for. This is really the story about Obi-Wan overcoming his grief and truma, something that becomes very obvious when you trim the fat and the cringe and pace the film into a working film format. In a series format Reeva has her place, even if her place is forced into the story, but in this film and definitely in the climax parts of it she does not belong at all. Although she is in the film, her presence is only granted when it serves the story.
No. I agree it would be a great moment, but I interpreted Qui-Gon’s arrival at the end that Obi-Wan had passed his test and had now left the grief behind him, found love and true purpose again, and that his mind AND body was now ready for what lies ahead. Simply put, he was now ready for his final lessons whilst preparing for more important times ahead. It was also the less predictable appearance of the two choices they kinda had in when to reveal Qui-Gon. I also found it much more powerful that Leia and his love for her was the tipping point for him. Once he thought of her and felt that love, is when he became powerful enough to overpower Darth Vader and really become “Obi-Wan Kenobi” again. It is just much more beautiful IMHO.
Having worked tirelessly on the edit since the first episode aired, now being six weeks in, I am hopeful that the release will be before the end of the month.
Apart from it being streamlined and un-interrupted, the duel starts with an epic mix between Duel of the Fates and Battle of the Heroes (not done by me, credits will be added at the end of the film and in a seperate text file in the film folder) and a short Anakin’s Betrayal is scored upon Obi-Wan’s heartfelt “I am sorry, Anakin, I am really sorry”.
Also, the opening scene is re-structured to remove all of Reeva’s ep 6 inclusion.
All of you guys and girls who have debated the episodes tirelessly, given ideas and feedback and either knowingly or unknowingly helped craft this edit into a better film day by day.
In the opening forum post of this thread, in a text-file inside the folder of the downloadable .mp4 file and at the very end of the film.
MP4 H.264 Stereo (with Surround Channel mix and amplification added to it) and then a 5.1 mix - with the new SFX and score alterations added into the 5.1 channels (mainly the surround channels, although SFX in the center channel). I expect the file size to be at about 10 Gig - this is the perfect middlepoint of quality and availability IMO.
Yes, I will preview the duel bits soon as to hear feedback. Overall I find it immensely enjoyable, but as always I need AND want feedback to either improve or verify the new addition’s worth in the film and the final product.
Although hardly any of it is present in this film cut, an Extended Cut is very likely in which I include my edited EP 4 into it (which has already been done). When I will literally copy-paste that into the final film and create the Extended Cut is unclear as I will have to make new changes, but it is likely.
The EP 4 Inclusion would be an additional 22 minutes, meaning the Extended Cut would end at 2 hours and 49 minutes (w/ credits).
Also, Darth Raditz had a really cool idea. Perhaps Anakin seeing Qui-Gon stand behind Obi-Wan COULD work. His points and justification of it (on the previous page) is very impressive. Let me think about it and perhaps play around with it.
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
The Ancient Lore
Kenobi: A Star Wars Story
Harry Potter Revisited
Game of Thrones Film Edits
Titanic Restructured
… and more.
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
The Ancient Lore
Kenobi: A Star Wars Story
Harry Potter Revisited
Game of Thrones Film Edits
Titanic Restructured
… and more.
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
dude! Those hit home so nicely.
So, what about Reeva?
Her entire story in EP 6 is CUT. Not because I hate her character (although I am not fond of it), but simply because her story fit the series format but definitely not the film format I am going for. This is really the story about Obi-Wan overcoming his grief and truma, something that becomes very obvious when you trim the fat and the cringe and pace the film into a working film format. In a series format Reeva has her place, even if her place is forced into the story, but in this film and definitely in the climax parts of it she does not belong at all. Although she is in the film, her presence is only granted when it serves the story.
I’m so glad to hear this! Reva during episodes 1-4 was ruthless and angry; Disney ruined the character with the weak “redemption arc” nonsense. Why can’t Disney let villains be villains?
Oh and since when did Lightsabers no longer kill people? It seems that the Disney Lightsabers give little more than flesh wounds. Both the Grand Inquisitor and Reva survived being stabbed in the stomach…what poor writing this is…The whole “revenge does wonders for one’s will to live” line is utter nonsense. Why can’t Disney let characters die?
Obi-Wan not killing off Vader in the final episode was…odd.
Anjohan: your most recent video updates for the final episode look and sound great, especially the third video! Going from leaving Vader behind, to Alderaan is a fine choice!
Is there a way to cut the episodes so that at the end of episode 5, the refugees depart the planet, Obi-Wan leaves the ship to confront Vader, and the refugees jump into hyperspace? As in: remove the “chase” (and I use the term lightly) with the Star Destroyer altogether? Not using the tractor beam, not sending out TIE Fighters, and not simply blasting the starship into oblivion makes no sense at all.
Removing this chase would remove the more silly aspects of episode 6; just cut to the important stuff:
Reva’s fate is unknown (presumably dies) / The people escape / Obi-Wan leaves the starship / Obi-Wan confronts Vader / Goes to see Leia / Goes to see Luke.
Or: what if Obi-Wan doesn’t leaves Jabiim with the refugees at all? As in:
Reva’s fate is unknown (presumably dies) / Obi-Wan asks the fake Jedi to take Leia home / Obi-Wan stays behind / The people escape & jump to hyperspace / Obi-Wan confronts Vader / Goes to see Leia / Goes to see Luke.
Furthermore, is it possible to only have 1x kidnapping with 1x rescue of Leia, as opposed to 2x of each? It reeks of bad writing to have two of every event happening!
What do you think?
My edits:
https://ifdb.fanedit.org/fanedit-search/tag/faneditorname/phase3/
Honestly, I love the commitment to the idea but nothing about this show worked pretty much at all. The fact that Obi-Wan and Leia know each other is a massive misstep and that’s integral to the show, you can’t erase that. I look forward to the end product just to see what you come up with though. Hal9000’s TROS edit made that film slightly more tolerable to me so I’m curious to see what you do.
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
The broken helmet scene feels…odd with the piano theme. Too sad during what is essentially a horror scene, and strangely uplifting when Anakin is screaming.
Definitely liking the new duel music though.
Edit: I took some time to forget about the original music and I rewatched the piano clip. I think I may have been a little harsh on the music change, because it’s not bad.
But I do wish the slow piano kept playing for longer - at least until Vader stops screaming, and then the orchestra can kick in once Kenobi’s in space thinking about Leia.
I’m super excited to watch this when its released! Like most i feel that the pacing of this being a movie rather than a series is going to be benefit it!
You should formally title it “Obi Wan Kenobi: A Star Wars Story.”
I love the music in all three videos, but the third one still bothers me because of Ben’s refusal to kill Vader. But,
I believe I’ve managed to galaxy brain a solution of “why doesn’t Ben just kill Vader” that doesn’t involve Reva.
Delete Ben saying “then my friend is truly dead,” & replace it with the end of Ben & Anakin’s duel from “AotC” where Obi-Wan is trying to impart a lesson. While Ben still disappointingly says “Good bye, Darth” to distance himself, deep down he still thinks Anakin is in there. This plays very well with the way the edit is currently is, with Vader refusing to kill Ben in Part III because “the years have made you weak,” & that’s unsatisfying for Vader.
So now, at the end of the edit, Vader & Ben’s relationship has developed into something more complicated & co-dependent. Vader won’t kill Ben because he wants to fight him at his best, & Ben won’t kill Vader because, whether or not he knows it, he still considers Vader his friend, & wants him to grow & gain the wisdom that Ben knows he’s capable of learning.
At the very least, it’s a better justification than “because the Canon says so.”
It’d be sad to lose the Luke and Reva tension, as I’m usually up for a halfway decent redemption story. But it might be necessary in order to crunch this down to a sensible feature length.
Also, Darth Raditz had a really cool idea. Perhaps Anakin seeing Qui-Gon stand behind Obi-Wan COULD work. His points and justification of it (on the previous page) is very impressive. Let me think about it and perhaps play around with it.
I think that would be an unnecessary distraction that would take away from an otherwise powerful moment.
Rather than the fade to alderaan, I would do a circle wipe
A minor thought:
When Vader says, “Prepare my ship”, it reminds me too much of Kylo. I’d prefer “Prepare my shuttle”, possibly taking “shuttle” from ESB.
To me, that just sounds way more Vader.
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
Dude… This is tragic, that piano and then the flashback when flying away. Bravo, honestly I don’t really have words for it, it hits so hard.
A minor thought:
When Vader says, “Prepare my ship”, it reminds me too much of Kylo. I’d prefer “Prepare my shuttle”, possibly taking “shuttle” from ESB.
To me, that just sounds way more Vader.
That’s what I thought too! “Shuttle” sounds far more appropriate.
My edits:
https://ifdb.fanedit.org/fanedit-search/tag/faneditorname/phase3/
He calls it his ship also in ESB. “Take the princess and the Wookiee to my ship.”
Yeah this is supposed to be an angrier, unrefined Vader, and Kylo’s entire shtick is being a Vader wannabe. Any similarities aren’t a big deal imo (I didn’t notice any though).
As for Obi-Wan and Vader’s last goodbye conversation - I’m not sure that requires any tweaking at all in terms of dialogue. It’s pretty close to solid, and Ewan & Hayden deliver some great lines. It’s already self-evident why Obi-Wan can’t follow through with killing Vader even after what seeing he’s become. It’d be too on the nose to include a flashback of Anakin to try to justify it.
EDIT: I was looking at the main post and the “Alternate Vader Sensing Kenobi” fix. Is there a chance this could be enhanced further? We have enough footage for it. I feel if I showed this scene to someone who’s never seen the show, they’d be confused why a bald man appeared in the middle of Leia’s fall.
But I like the concept of Vader detecting Obi-Wan across the galaxy. It’d be interesting to see whether the scene order can be tweaked.
It’d be sad to lose the Luke and Reva tension, as I’m usually up for a halfway decent redemption story. But it might be necessary in order to crunch this down to a sensible feature length.
Fundamental disagreement here, that was the worst part of the show. Not only was the way it came about ridiculously contrived but Luke having any contact with an Inquisitor with her lightsaber out goes far beyond stretching canon to its breaking point.
I love your duel editing, and despite advocating to keep Reva, I think I am glad you have decided to be brave enough to cut all of her Ep6 inclusion away.
Anyhow, here’s a knitpick:
IMO the only part of the duel footage that needs a change is the establishing shot at 1:01 -
(https://streamable.com/ebtorm)
As we no longer cut away, we no longer need an establishing shot.
I couldn’t help but feel that the slow panning, dark, wide shot is quite jarring especially when it’s so massively juxtaposed against the up-close, lightsaber lit, intimacy of the duel in peak flow as obi-wan lunges in the shot immediately before?
I think the duel would massively benefit from just cutting into another shot from the main choreography to keep the pace up.
I just don’t think that the overall environment is dramatic or ‘interesting’ enough that you would miss an unnecessary ‘eye candy’ shot that now would only exist to depict a sense of scale?
If the location had been really visually interesting or it’s features relevant to the progression of the battle, maybe it could be justified but such as it is, with no cutting back and forth between plot points/locations, it’s inclusion is now just superfluous and quite disruptive to the flow of the duel?
Anyhow, that was my only observation/feedback from your amazing work here. 😃
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
I generally liked what you did here with the duel 😃 The sad piano installment is a little hit and miss for me. Regarding Obi-Wan it fits good, Anakin not so much. I personally feel this scene (where Anakin embraces the dark side again) could be scoreless or the last bits of Anakins dark deeds (from 2:11 onwoards). This way you have some orchestral music with a sad undertone as well as something dark. In that way it hit’s harder for me (subjective) as it reminded me of the rebels episode where Ashoka met Vader/Anakin in the temple and saw who he truly was despite having a feeling who could it be.
In general it came to my mind, that this edit could benefit from a grain template to hide the not so good cgi and tie in more with your plans for ANH edit as well as your prequel edit.
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
I generally liked what you did here with the duel 😃 The sad piano installment is a little hit and miss for me. Regarding Obi-Wan it fits good, Anakin not so much. I personally feel this scene (where Anakin embraces the dark side again) could be scoreless or the last bits of Anakins dark deeds (from 2:11 onwoards). This way you have some orchestral music with a sad undertone as well as something dark. In that way it hit’s harder for me (subjective) as it reminded me of the rebels episode where Ashoka met Vader/Anakin in the temple and saw who he truly was despite having a feeling who could it be.
In general it came to my mind, that this edit could benefit from a grain template to hide the not so good cgi and tie in more with your plans for ANH edit as well as your prequel edit.
I would watch too much grain, but the right amount does give a nice “film look”
It’d be sad to lose the Luke and Reva tension, as I’m usually up for a halfway decent redemption story.
There aren’t any redemption though since there was no reason for her to come after the boy to create a forced tension only there to mimic Lucas parallel montage. And to show Beru as a badass character (because it seems every female character has to be a Ridley/Sarah Connor figure now even if it has nothing to do with the already established character). I can’t think of anything making any sense in this entire subplot… cutting it entirely is a fine decision by all means.
So long 🙌
I think Obi-Wan getting the chance to shift Reva’s sense of failure into a redemption-esque moment is key to Obi-Wan not spiraling again, but I get removing it, as it would be jarring. Depending on how season 2 plays out, it might be something that could be used toward the beginning of a cut there, with her seeing the tracker as a post-credit stinger for this one.
I do wonder if the conversation Obi-Wan has with Owen about trusting the Lars family to take care of Luke should be retained, and possibly pushed toward the beginning, after Reva’s confrontation with Owen from Episode 1 (if that’s still in). It would be a major re-contextualization of the scene - he’s well aware that adventuring is a massive risk that he might not make it back from, so it becomes a decision made out of fear and worry of failure.
EDIT: Regarding the streamables for score changes, love what was done here, though I’d worry that the piano theme might clash with the scene at Mustafar featuring the regular Imperial March, which would come very soon after this scene if kept. I wonder if bits and pieces of the piano theme could be mixed in throughout the duel, intensifying when he speaks with Anakin’s voice, but only giving us the full payoff with the regular Imperial March.
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
I liked the battle theme, helped to enhance the duel significantly. But the piano theme I really don’t know what to think of, sincerely.
Personally I think that it could be cool if Obi-Wan, after seeing Vader with the broken helmet, heards Qui Gon’s voice saying “He’s the chosen one”. To me this would make more sense to Ben choosing to leaving him alive, because even if he feels that he can’t kill Anakin because he still cares about him, it was a pretty dick move to not do so (after all, Ben knows that Vader is torturing a bunch of people through the galaxy). The only thing that I can think of to Ben not killing Vader is if his own master gives him guidance through the force saying this, because it would reinforce that even Anakin going to the dark side there’s still hope for him. After all, Ben is seeking for Qui Gon’s guidance the whole show, it would be natural if he manifests in a crucial moment of decision like this.
If this approach was chosen, I would suggest a more uplifting theme instead of the piano theme, like the theme of when Luke saw the twin suns outside of his house (or something like this). After all, ROTS ended in a pretty dark way, and this finale is almost THE SAME of ROTS (Obi-Wan abandoning Anakin because he thinks he have no salvation). I think it could be cool to see a more hopeful tone in the end for Anakin in this one, even to differentiate a bit from the tone of ROTS.