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Spence's Obi-Wan Kenobi (V3 Released) — Page 6

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Back to the topic at hand, I am currently rendering out my first test of V3. Other than the big improvement to the video quality, here’s a few other changes:

  • reinstated the GI’s “I would say that Jedi hunt themselves” in the opening scene.
  • Added in a little more the Alderaan landing pad scene for better flow and transitions.
  • reinstated Leia roasting her cousin.
  • removed the remainder of the kidnapping scene. Ending it after the thug says “you!”
  • removed the first scene of Leia with the kidnappers. Only keeping the one where Lola gets damaged.
  • reinstated Kenobi digging up the lightsabers, which now acts as his “answering the call” moment.
  • the scene where Kenobi leaves Tattooine has been removed, as it’s not needed now that the saber scene is back.
  • reinstated the homeless clone trooper, for world building.
  • Kenobi no longer sets off an explosion in the lab. He is able to slip through the lab unnoticed without it.
  • reinstated Leia showing Lola to the other refugees on the ship, and her and Kenobi’s little bit of dialogue immediately after.
  • reworked the refugee ship/escape sequence and the final duel for better transitions and pacing. Nothing hugely notable was removed or added. It was mostly audio work.
  • other small changes throughout to help with timing and transitions.

You may have noticed that I added more than I removed on this go around. This is typical of the way I work. I tend to oversteer at first, then bring back things that feel like they need to be there.

So we are looking at exactly 2 hours and 25 minutes, which feels right to me.

I’m going to keep toying with this one till I’m absolutely satisfied, so I’d say another week or so.

I’ve so far been avoiding other Kenobi edits, but I did watch that one that went viral out of curiosity today and let’s just say… I don’t think I’ll be using any ideas from that one.

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So I had a bit of fun today experimenting with adding some more classic Star Wars themes to the movie. Again, I wanted to do this fairly sparingly, but I felt like I could go a little further with it. It’s also important to me that we don’t hear any familiar themes until that first Imperial March at Vader’s castle, just for impact.

So here’s three tests. Nothing is final here, it just gives you an idea of what I’m trying to do.

First one is in the hallway at the fortress, where Kenobi finally gets back in tune with the Force.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RHLsWHUlO-Hwj3AsmBqrOamyXjc2SM43/view?usp=sharing

Second is the first half of the final duel. (I feel like a lot of people might like this one)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjRDw1yf1sQbEq_pxvKxH2IWU3fCIs4I/view?usp=sharing

And finally, the transition from the duel to Alderaan.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J75QYQe0fuHRsRoPZ0yNwI7qT48cA2to/view?usp=sharing

I rendered these out at a pretty high quality level, so if you’re so inclined you can download it and check out how the new source files look.

I feel like these are more than enough regarding additional music. Not sure if I want to use them or not, so let me know what you think.

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I really didn’t think a movie edit was necessary, but reading through your thought process has absolutely sold me.

Likewise, I didn’t feel like music editing was necessary, but all four of those examples have been brilliant. I especially liked Obi-Wan in the water tunnel, and the Vader fight intro, where the music felt like it matched perfectly.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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EddieDean said:

I really didn’t think a movie edit was necessary, but reading through your thought process has absolutely sold me.

Likewise, I didn’t feel like music editing was necessary, but all four of those examples have been brilliant. I especially liked Obi-Wan in the water tunnel, and the Vader fight intro, where the music felt like it matched perfectly.

Thanks! I’m really trying to operate from a “what if this was planned as a movie from the beginning?” sort of viewpoint. It’s not necessarily about cutting things you don’t like or adding things you do like. It’s about what makes it feel like a real movie.

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The hallway clip and the end of the duel are fantastic. Ironically, the only one that doesn’t quite work for me is the Battle of the Heroes one, but I think that might be mostly because of where it sits in the mix. While I like the slower rendition of the theme that you used, It’s mixed a bit too louldy and seems to compete with the existing audio.

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Octorox said:

The hallway clip and the end of the duel are fantastic. Ironically, the only one that doesn’t quite work for me is the Battle of the Heroes one, but I think that might be mostly because of where it sits in the mix. While I like the slower rendition of the theme that you used, It’s mixed a bit too louldy and seems to compete with the existing audio.

Yeah, that one would take some tweaking to get absolutely right. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worth the effort.

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SpenceEdit said:

Octorox said:

The hallway clip and the end of the duel are fantastic. Ironically, the only one that doesn’t quite work for me is the Battle of the Heroes one, but I think that might be mostly because of where it sits in the mix. While I like the slower rendition of the theme that you used, It’s mixed a bit too louldy and seems to compete with the existing audio.

Yeah, that one would take some tweaking to get absolutely right. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worth the effort.

I think it’s worth trying to get it there.

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Love the ideas for v3 So far. The theme you used for the hallway scene fits So great. No one wanted, everyone needed 😄

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szopman said:

Love the ideas for v3 So far. The theme you used for the hallway scene fits So great. No one wanted, everyone needed 😄

Yeah, I’d rather have the added music be “oh, cool!” moments as opposed to something that’s prevalent through the whole thing. One reason is because the style is different in this compared to the other films, and the music by Natalie Holt fits it well, but also it’s better if it’s a big moment.

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SpenceEdit said:

EddieDean said:

I really didn’t think a movie edit was necessary, but reading through your thought process has absolutely sold me.

Likewise, I didn’t feel like music editing was necessary, but all four of those examples have been brilliant. I especially liked Obi-Wan in the water tunnel, and the Vader fight intro, where the music felt like it matched perfectly.

Thanks! I’m really trying to operate from a “what if this was planned as a movie from the beginning?” sort of viewpoint. It’s not necessarily about cutting things you don’t like or adding things you do like. It’s about what makes it feel like a real movie.

Yeah, exactly. I think the approach you’re taking is a powerful one, letting those ‘movie moments’ hit better. And taking care to pace it like a movie could really elevate the existing content. It sounds like you’re not cutting anything too significant anyway, such that this could serve as a pretty clean replacement either way.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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EddieDean said:

Question: You’re trimming some Reva, but are her motivations (as a padawan who survived the purge) still intact?

Yes! I’m really just cutting the bit where she goes after Luke, her story ends after Vader defeats her. I removed the initial flashback so we don’t get a hint of her story until Kenobi figures it out. I also generally minimized the presence of the other Inquisitors and the competition between them.

I really like Reva as a character.

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I just updated the link to the final duel music change. The mix is significantly better.

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SpenceEdit said:

Yeah, that one would take some tweaking to get absolutely right. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worth the effort.

I think it’s absolutely worth the effort considering how well you’ve gotten it there already (the hallway cue is from The Last Jedi, right?)

I also think Jkimm’s little tweak posted directly above is a good one, too!

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SpenceEdit said:

I just updated the link to the final duel music change. The mix is significantly better.

Yeah it fits right in now. Where did you find this rendition of the theme?

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SpenceEdit said:
That works a little smoother. I think I’ll implement that. Thanks!

Glad you thought it was a worthy addition!

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SPENCE!!! I absolutely love the beginning of that duel scene with the slow version of Battle of the Heroes! That feels like something straight out of a samurai film. Unfortunately, I don’t think the song works when they actually begin to start fighting. Also, I know that you said you fixed the mix on it but I honestly think the music could be even lower. Almost like it’s just playing in the wind, hanging there like a ghost of their past friendship.

Anyways, I think the other music edits you did are fantastic as well (and I really like how you cut the “running away in the tunnel” part of that one clip shorter jkimm!)

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About the duel music, I think its one of the very few moments of the show, that doesnt really require any reacoring, the music was really nice there. Also I think that using the battle of heroes is a bit faneditish here. But thats Just my humble opinion. Maybe this theme would worka better somewhere in the middle of the duel?

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BrotherOfSasquatch said:

SPENCE!!! I absolutely love the beginning of that duel scene with the slow version of Battle of the Heroes! That feels like something straight out of a samurai film. Unfortunately, I don’t think the song works when they actually begin to start fighting. Also, I know that you said you fixed the mix on it but I honestly think the music could be even lower. Almost like it’s just playing in the wind, hanging there like a ghost of their past friendship.

Anyways, I think the other music edits you did are fantastic as well (and I really like how you cut the “running away in the tunnel” part of that one clip shorter jkimm!)

Yeah, I was starting to think that too. It’s always going to be a bit compromised, because the center channel isn’t clean. So you’ll either always hear a little bit of the old music, it’ll be too loud, or I’d have to re-do the foley for 90% of it, which I’m not prepared or equipped to do believably. I rescored and foleyed a short action scene for my Mission Impossible 2 edit, and it took weeks. That was a quarter as long and complicated as this would be.

I’m leaning toward maybe keeping the quiet bit while they stand off, then pivoting to the original music when Kenobi says “I will do what I must”.

Honestly, I think I might start from scratch on the whole duel, as I’ve been doing so many little changes to it it feels a bit overwhelming. I might just do a nice, clean start over.

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SpenceEdit said:

I’m leaning toward maybe keeping the quiet bit while they stand off, then pivoting to the original music when Kenobi says “I will do what I must”.

That sounds good 😉

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I’m leaning toward maybe keeping the quiet bit while they stand off, then pivoting to the original music when Kenobi says “I will do what I must”.

I gotta say, I really like what you have as you’ve posted it. I don’t think the original music works that well there, how you’ve mixed that version of Battle of the Heroes maybe only needs the tiniest of nudges downward at most, and probably not even that. It’s not a subtle piece (it isn’t a subtle fight) and the fact you’ve managed to make it fit this sequence as well as it does is quite a feat.

For what its worth, as a person who REALLY keys into the music choices and music editing, I think you’ve done a good job here with your choices, and how you’re executing them.