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Spence's Obi-Wan Kenobi (V3 Released) — Page 9

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Watched V3 last night. Outstanding work overall. For the most part the scenes cut do not feel missed and cutting them improves the narrative overall, so great choices there. One I’m not sure of is the ‘answering the call’ choice. I feel like ‘digging up the sabers’ doesn’t quiet work as well as the ‘getting on the ship’ scene. I think its mostly due to a combination of the music and the look on Kenobi’s face as the ‘sabers’ scene ends feeling doubtful, vs. the music and his look in the scene with the ship feeling more resolute/determined. But it still totally works how you have it now.

Also, I think the music right at the end of the Leah kidnapping scene in the woods might work better if it was more subtle and sinister rather than sudden and abrupt.

The first Kenobi vs. Vader showdown still bothers me but this is a problem inherent in the material and probably beyond the abilities of an edit to correct. Why doesn’t Vader use the force to pull Kenobi back through the flames or levitate him up and over the flames? Or the stormtroopers could just charge up the sides of the gravel hill and get to the droid (who wasn’t exactly moving fast), take it out, and recover Kenobi. I get that the intent is supposed to be that Vader is in some kind of PTSD moment with the wall of flames (at least I think that is supposed to be the intent–I’m not sure what else would make sense), but this is a digression that relates to the source material.

This really did feel like it could fit into a midquel watch between Solo and Rogue One as a stand-alone movie and hold its own. This will be how I watch it going forward, and I thank you for it!

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 (Edited)

That’s understandable. I guess I was subscribing to the Jaws theory, which is “the shark is dead, time to wrap it up”. The last scene between Vader and Kenobi is a powerful one, and that last image of Vader, broken and alone, is great. So to me, that wraps up Vader and Kenobi until the next movie. Time to wrap up the loose ends and finish the rest of the story threads.

Palpatine = Post credit scene, then? Haha. j/k

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polevoi said:

Watched V3 last night. Outstanding work overall. For the most part the scenes cut do not feel missed and cutting them improves the narrative overall, so great choices there. One I’m not sure of is the ‘answering the call’ choice. I feel like ‘digging up the sabers’ doesn’t quiet work as well as the ‘getting on the ship’ scene. I think its mostly due to a combination of the music and the look on Kenobi’s face as the ‘sabers’ scene ends feeling doubtful, vs. the music and his look in the scene with the ship feeling more resolute/determined. But it still totally works how you have it now.

Yeah, and I can understand that. Personally, I liked leaving him a little doubtful when he decides to go rescue Leia.

Also, I could tell that one of those scenes had to go, and I felt the Saber scene had more meaning overall than the scene where he gets on the ship.

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polevoi said:
The first Kenobi vs. Vader showdown still bothers me but this is a problem inherent in the material and probably beyond the abilities of an edit to correct. Why doesn’t Vader use the force to pull Kenobi back through the flames or levitate him up and over the flames? Or the stormtroopers could just charge up the sides of the gravel hill and get to the droid (who wasn’t exactly moving fast), take it out, and recover Kenobi. I get that the intent is supposed to be that Vader is in some kind of PTSD moment with the wall of flames (at least I think that is supposed to be the intent–I’m not sure what else would make sense), but this is a digression that relates to the source material.

I interpreted this as Vader playing with his food. He doesn’t want to kill Kenobi just yet, he wants a challenge. I felt like he was making a choice in that moment to let Kenobi regroup with the confidence that he’ll have a more satisfying opportunity to face him later.

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Octorox said:

polevoi said:
The first Kenobi vs. Vader showdown still bothers me but this is a problem inherent in the material and probably beyond the abilities of an edit to correct. Why doesn’t Vader use the force to pull Kenobi back through the flames or levitate him up and over the flames? Or the stormtroopers could just charge up the sides of the gravel hill and get to the droid (who wasn’t exactly moving fast), take it out, and recover Kenobi. I get that the intent is supposed to be that Vader is in some kind of PTSD moment with the wall of flames (at least I think that is supposed to be the intent–I’m not sure what else would make sense), but this is a digression that relates to the source material.

I interpreted this as Vader playing with his food. He doesn’t want to kill Kenobi just yet, he wants a challenge. I felt like he was making a choice in that moment to let Kenobi regroup with the confidence that he’ll have a more satisfying opportunity to face him later.

Yes, this. A lot of these things are apparent in the way the scenes are played by the actors, but it’s not necessarily in “the text”. Same with Kenobi not killing Vader at the end when he easily could.

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This edit is simply amazing. In my opinion is like “Kenobi - A Star Wars Story” should have been done. I like the Star Wars Classic Movie structure, the transitions tipicals of a Star Wars Movie and how emotions and pathos grows through the movie. All useless scenes or sequences are removed and the focus is only on Obi Wan-Vader and Obi Wan-Leia… that’s enough. These are the only important things. Unfortunately isn’t clear how the First inquisitor survived, but also in the TV series wasn’t clear; Reva’s destiny is perfect, because we don’t know if she survived or not and she can comes back in others future projects, and her end is better than what she does in TV series.
That’s it.
Good job, Spence.

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rik said:

This edit is simply amazing. In my opinion is like “Kenobi - A Star Wars Story” should have been done. I like the Star Wars Classic Movie structure, the transitions tipicals of a Star Wars Movie and how emotions and pathos grows through the movie. All useless scenes or sequences are removed and the focus is only on Obi Wan-Vader and Obi Wan-Leia… that’s enough. These are the only important things. Unfortunately isn’t clear how the First inquisitor survived, but also in the TV series wasn’t clear; Reva’s destiny is perfect, because we don’t know if she survived or not and she can comes back in others future projects, and her end is better than what she does in TV series.
That’s it.
Good job, Spence.

Thank you for the feedback, glad you enjoyed it!

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 (Edited)

Just finished watching. Great work, the best edit of this I’ve seen. Probably one of the better fan edits overall… Didn’t feel like there were things cut that much, which is an amazing feat.

Any plans of making subtitles?

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cjh808 said:
Any plans of making subtitles?

I really regret that the trend launched by Hal to cut the subtitles files in parallel of the video/audio cut has not been used by the entire communauty (not sure how Hal does it lately but I think that’s why he can easily add or remove subtitles in several files for his new edits). At some point I think if the edit grows in consideration someone might create subtitles (I haven’t watched the edit - I intend one day, when it’s reached enough iterations to be perfect for all watchers 😃 - but I guess there are many cuts so by using the existing sub files it would still be a work of around 3/4 hours to resync them).

So long 🙌

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 (Edited)

Oh, the subtitles were very much not edited in parallel with the video and audio. It’s a huge pain in the ass, done after the edit is finished and sync-locked. It’s very “adjust by a quarter second, save, and see how it looks in VLC, repeat.”

I’d imagine that, yeah, 3/4 hours to conform subtitles to Spence’s edit would be about what it would take me.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Honestly, I don’t know how to do subtitles, and it’s not something I’ve ever been too interested in learning. Making subtitles isn’t particularly fun, and this is a hobby I do for fun.

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Hal 9000 said:

Oh, the subtitles were very much not edited in parallel with the video and audio. It’s a huge pain in the ass, done after the edit is finished and sync-locked. It’s very “adjust by a quarter second, save, and see how it looks in VLC, repeat.”

Oh, I thought that was your new MO with the latest iterations of your edts, my bad! So you don’t use apps like subtitle workshop? This is what I used to sync your edits. Last time I tried to use it for some reason the video no longer displays, but properly set the app allows to have the video and the sync in real time, without needing to check in vlc.

https://subtitle-workshop.fr.uptodown.com/windows

Even with this tool, subtitles are very time consuming to create. A few years back I had lots of time to help with those but not anymore 😕 that’s being said Spence, if you have a log of all the cuts (meaning: “this part from Ep5 is moved at this point of Ep1, and this from Ep2 is cut, etc”) it can be a massive help to sync most of the part, then fine tune it.

So long 🙌

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MalaStrana#2 said:

Hal 9000 said:

Oh, the subtitles were very much not edited in parallel with the video and audio. It’s a huge pain in the ass, done after the edit is finished and sync-locked. It’s very “adjust by a quarter second, save, and see how it looks in VLC, repeat.”

Oh, I thought that was your new MO with the latest iterations of your edts, my bad! So you don’t use apps like subtitle workshop? This is what I used to sync your edits. Last time I tried to use it for some reason the video no longer displays, but properly set the app allows to have the video and the sync in real time, without needing to check in vlc.

https://subtitle-workshop.fr.uptodown.com/windows

Even with this tool, subtitles are very time consuming to create. A few years back I had lots of time to help with those but not anymore 😕 that’s being said Spence, if you have a log of all the cuts (meaning: “this part from Ep5 is moved at this point of Ep1, and this from Ep2 is cut, etc”) it can be a massive help to sync most of the part, then fine tune it.

Unfortunately my style is a bit more “loosy goosy” than that.

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Finally got round to watching this last night and wow absaloutley loved it. Your edit works far more better than the series, with the series in the end I found I was just watching to see where it goes and how will it end rather than being excited to watch it but your edit put the excitement back in it👍.
Thank you Spence for sharing yet another amazing edit with me.

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Atom-88 said:

Finally got round to watching this last night and wow absaloutley loved it. Your edit works far more better than the series, with the series in the end I found I was just watching to see where it goes and how will it end rather than being excited to watch it but your edit put the excitement back in it👍.
Thank you Spence for sharing yet another amazing edit with me.

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

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SpenceEdit said:

Honestly, I don’t know how to do subtitles, and it’s not something I’ve ever been too interested in learning. Making subtitles isn’t particularly fun, and this is a hobby I do for fun.

That’s fine, thankfully this series is quite easy to hear. Thanks for the great edit.

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 (Edited)

Hal 9000 said:

Honestly, dude, I might go ahead and put together some subtitles together for your edit. At this point it’ll probably be my general go-to.

Oh wow, that would be amazing of you. It’s my dad who probably can’t follow the dialogue well.

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I would love to check this out! Could I get a download link?

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Hey could I have a link for your edit please? You seem to have put quite a lot of work into it!

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Hey guys, if you want a link please just PM me directly, don’t ask for it in the thread. . I don’t look at this all the time but I check the PM’s a couple of times a day. I get a ton of requests for this from many places. Thanks.

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Thanks Spence for an amazing edit. I watched it last night and was impressed at how well the story flowed in this format and I agree with virtually all the editing decisions that were made.

If I had any further suggestions It would only be that the first 20 mins or so take a little longer than I’d prefer to really get into things and their are a few elements up front that might be extraneous. I’d like to see how the beginning flows with an even briefer introduction of Leia. I don’t care too much for the scene with her cousin for example and the scene with Bail that follows is nice but it’s hard to have one without the other. I’m also not sold on opening with the arrival of the Inquisitors on Tatooine. With the rest of your edits their presence there doesn’t serve the story that well, I’d prefer opening with the re-introduction of Obi-wan working then looking after Luke followed by the possibly briefer introduction of Leia and her kidnapping as an opening which are all the main characters we really care about and are excited to see up front. I do still like the scene of the Jedi asking Obi-wan for help and subsequent scene of him hanging however if you remove the scene of the arrival of the inquisitors on Tatooine we are left assuming either he was killed by an inquisitor off screen or he was killed by locals that sided with the Empire. Even if you kept all the scenes in your current edit, I still feel like opening with Obi-wan rather than the inquisitors might flow better as an opening. Introduction of Obi-Wan (which orients the viewer to place and time of the story) -> Arrival of Inquisitors -> introduction of Leia and her kidnapping… etc.

After the first half hour of setup I think the story as you have edited it flows very well so thanks again for all the hard work. I know you are essentially done with this until maybe some more VFX shots are available but just providing some thoughts for consideration.

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 (Edited)

potatoechip said:

If I had any further suggestions It would only be that the first 20 mins or so take a little longer than I’d prefer to really get into things and their are a few elements up front that might be extraneous. I’d like to see how the beginning flows with an even briefer introduction of Leia. I don’t care too much for the scene with her cousin for example and the scene with Bail that follows is nice but it’s hard to have one without the other.

First of all, thank you for the feedback! This story is set up as a two hander, with Kenobi and Leia as the leads. If you remove too much Leia, she starts to be underdeveloped, which not only hurts her as a co-protagonist, but makes Kenobi’s story and arc weaker as well. I tried to remove some more of her stuff, and it just felt like too much was missing.

potatoechip said:

I’m also not sold on opening with the arrival of the Inquisitors on Tatooine. With the rest of your edits their presence there doesn’t serve the story that well, I’d prefer opening with the re-introduction of Obi-wan working then looking after Luke followed by the possibly briefer introduction of Leia and her kidnapping as an opening which are all the main characters we really care about and are excited to see up front.

Well, if we don’t set up Reva and the Grand Inquisitor, and the whole concept of Inquisitors (which is necessary, not everyone that would watch this movie has seen Rebels, read the comics, or played Fallen Order) then we haven’t met all the characters we are supposed to care about. Personally, I think it’s best to set up the stakes (The Inquisitors are hunting Jedi, one of them is obsessed with Kenobi, and they’re unknowingly on the same planet as him) before we start introducing Kenobi, Luke, Leia, etc. so that the stakes are already in place.

Not arguing with you, like I said I appreciate the feedback! I just like to explain my point of view of why I did things the way I did. I definitely thought a lot about the opening of the film, it’s probably the piece that’s changed the most from version to version. From a story, pacing and character respective, it’s where I want it to be.

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SpenceEdit said:

potatoechip said:

If I had any further suggestions It would only be that the first 20 mins or so take a little longer than I’d prefer to really get into things and their are a few elements up front that might be extraneous. I’d like to see how the beginning flows with an even briefer introduction of Leia. I don’t care too much for the scene with her cousin for example and the scene with Bail that follows is nice but it’s hard to have one without the other.

First of all, thank you for the feedback! This story is set up as a two hander, with Kenobi and Leia as the leads. If you remove too much Leia, she starts to be underdeveloped, which not only hurts her as a co-protagonist, but makes Kenobi’s story and arc weaker as well. I tried to remove some more of her stuff, and it just felt like too much was missing.

potatoechip said:

I’m also not sold on opening with the arrival of the Inquisitors on Tatooine. With the rest of your edits their presence there doesn’t serve the story that well, I’d prefer opening with the re-introduction of Obi-wan working then looking after Luke followed by the possibly briefer introduction of Leia and her kidnapping as an opening which are all the main characters we really care about and are excited to see up front.

Well, if we don’t set up Reva and the Grand Inquisitor, and the whole concept of Inquisitors (which is necessary, not everyone that would watch this movie has seen Rebels, read the comics, or played Fallen Order) then we haven’t met all the characters we are supposed to care about. Personally, I think it’s best to set up the stakes (The Inquisitors are hunting Jedi, one of them is obsessed with Kenobi, and they’re unknowingly on the same planet as him) before we start introducing Kenobi, Luke, Leia, etc. so that the stakes are already in place.

Not arguing with you, like I said I appreciate the feedback! I just like to explain my point of view of why I did things the way I did. I definitely thought a lot about the opening of the film, it’s probably the piece that’s changed the most from version to version. From a story, pacing and character respective, it’s where I want it to be.

Totally fair points and I respect your decisions and preference, just thinking out loud mostly. Again, it was an amazing edit and I plan on watching some of the other edits floating around for comparison but I suspect this one will be at the top of the list.