Hi Spence,
So I have to confess I’m not all the way through this yet so, I should perhaps hold off on any my overall thoughts until i can offer a full ‘review’
Anyhow, I’d just like to say that technically this is flawless and so please know that Im aware any/most/all critique’s on your work are most likely you doing the best job you can whilst trying to work within the limits and flaws of the source material.
Im also very aware that I’m mostly bringing up ‘problems’ but not offering much in the way of solutions, so it’s not like I’m suggesting I could do better?!?
This is merely me querying whether there might be more ways to skin the cat??
Iv tried to view this as a standalone movie, bringing as little of my fandom and franchise knowledge to this as possible, as if I was a first time uninitiated viewer.
Anyhow, as far as I’ve watched here are some thoughts.
The opening and the arrival of the inquisitors?
Im not sure this is the ‘way in’ to the story.
Without an opening crawl or the ‘previously on star wars’ montage, the inquisitors immediate arrival on tatooine, and hunting a nameless seems a strange/unengaging jumping off point for the story?
As i watched a bit more, I wondered if starting on Alderaan might be a better way in. Meet/introduce Leia until she gets kidnapped.
The way into this story is the abduction of a young girl… which that is what leads us to introducing our hero, Obi-wan, who after we see his down on his luck existence, receives his call to action?
Once Bail has given him the call asking for help, perhaps that prompts the arrival of the inquisitors?
That was my first thoughts?
I watched further and definitely spotted some scenes that might be better re-ordered in the edit, as I think my primary observations were that if we weren’t all comparing these edits to the source material (and what I will say is that this is already 100 percent better!) would it still hold up as a standalone movie, without our previous knowledge filling in gaps in the narrative and character motivations?
As I said above, I fully acknowledge that it’s tough to overcome the limitations of the source material, especially since that was shot and edited to work as a tv series, but I do still wonder whether we can push this further and be braver with the structure.
Something I will say about all of these Obi-wan edits is that I think the way through this is to organically find the tighter story and better characters/their motivations from almost a stage 1 rewrite, using what we have to work with, rather than trying to targetedly fix or remove the pieces we didnt like within the existing structure?
What’s the story, who are our players, and how do we get them from A to B as logically, efficiently and effectively as possible.
As above, these points aren’t specifically aimed at you or your edit, as what I have seen here has been amazing from a technical standpoint, I just wonder if we can do more to find a better story structure in amongst it all?
More to follow as I watch more….if you want it, that is?
Thanks so much for all of your hard work!!