Spence's PT Edits Round 3 (V2 of AOTC Released) — Page 3

G&G-Fan said:

An idea I’m using for my edit that I’d be honored if you stole: Anakin using Padme as bait is his idea. Makes him more bold and calculating like Vader, and using someone to lure someone else is basically also his plan in ESB, which makes him feel even more like a younger Vader.

So I actually debated that sequence quite a bit, and I’m actually cutting the whole “using as bait” bit all together. The only reason we know there are meant to be cameras watching her is because Obi-Wan mentions it, so her being monitored by R2 can just be one of those “star wars things.”

I look forward to seeing this! Definitely looks promising!

EddieDean said:

Changelog sounds great. Are you also making the common changes made by the current leading edits (Hal’s, L8WRTR’s, etc)? Do you have plans for an alternate opening crawl?

C-3PO’s removal from 1 & 2 is understandable - are you likely to make any other similar deviations from canon? I’m asking here more in the sense of other media which reference events of those movies, whose references might not make sense now. Coming at this from a Clone Wars angle (naturally), C-3PO appears in that as a previously known character, for example.

Speaking of C-3PO (but irrespective of my last paragraph), his inclusion in TPM does introduce a nice connection - if you cut the lines where one of Padmé’s aides (posing as Padmé) assigns Padmé (posing as an aide) to clean up R2-D2, it’s implied that she’s essentially assigned herself that task. And if Padmé’s just naturally interested in working with droids (or at least working with her hands) it makes sense that she’d be impressed that young Anakin has made his own droid - something that might add a nice first step in their relationship.

I always found the world shrinking to be much less noticeable/offensive when the movies are watched in chronological order, but I understand the objection, and the priority to keep these movies tight and ask fewer questions, which may override that.

I think that’s the only thing that could be considered a canon deviation, other than like Yoda not fighting Dooku and minor stuff like that. If people end up caring enough about this to have a “Canon version” I would consider doing that and keeping 3PO, but so far I can’t really gauge what the interest level is.

I’ll be honest, editing through these right now is the first time I’ve watched the theatrical versions in a while, so I likely am doing a lot of HAL’s cuts just naturally, but I didn’t watch any edits to prepare for this one as I wanted to go at it with the freshest eyes possible.

No changes to the opening crawls or titles of the films are planned right now.

An updated crawl would be very appreciated to properly introduce the state of the galaxy, what the Separatists are after exactly, what is this “army” the Senate is debating, why is Padmé being targeted, Dooku’s role, yada yada yada. Movie does an extremely poor job at that.

Also IMHO 3pO not being here and then appearing in Clone Wars is not a problem at all. It’s just a manufactured protocol droid we see every corner, it could have come from literally any place in the galaxy.

Just…

SpenceEdit said:

• Removed the Jango/Kenobi space battle. I love the sonic bomb things as much as the next guy, but we really don’t need another action scene here given the way I’ve recut things.

oh no! needed or not, that is one of the coolest things in star wars ever! trim it down if you must, but please please leave it! even makes the slave I bombing in the mandalorian so much more nostalgic and impactful!

Also, will you be using the updated sound effect for Jango’s blaster?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3SJoXFhZfY&ab_channel=Porkula
sounds a millions times more badass!

SpenceEdit said:

• Remove the scene with Yoda and the Younglings

I would argue against that. I know that the younglings scene is very… divisive and just not very good, but nowadays it’s just so part of the main lore (mandalorian, kenobi, clone wars) that not having this here makes them showing up later on very confusing and out of nowhere. Also, it’s the only time in the entire trilogy we see Yoda more relaxed and even cracking a couple of jokes, which IMO makes him more in line with what we see in the original trilogy.

Anyway, can’t wait to watch this!

I apologize that I haven’t gotten the change to watch your workprint yet, but the changelist sounds excellent! My only reservation is that I think it would be much better to cut/down remove the Obi-Wan/Jango fistfight on the landing platform than the asteroid battle sequence. The original “Attack of the Phantom” actually removes both, but I generally find that I miss the space battle more. Just a thought.

PsyGemini said:

An updated crawl would be very appreciated to properly introduce the state of the galaxy, what the Separatists are after exactly, what is this “army” the Senate is debating, why is Padmé being targeted, Dooku’s role, yada yada yada. Movie does an extremely poor job at that.

Also IMHO 3pO not being here and then appearing in Clone Wars is not a problem at all. It’s just a manufactured protocol droid we see every corner, it could have come from literally any place in the galaxy.

Just…

SpenceEdit said:

• Removed the Jango/Kenobi space battle. I love the sonic bomb things as much as the next guy, but we really don’t need another action scene here given the way I’ve recut things.

oh no! needed or not, that is one of the coolest things in star wars ever! trim it down if you must, but please please leave it! even makes the slave I bombing in the mandalorian so much more nostalgic and impactful!

Also, will you be using the updated sound effect for Jango’s blaster?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3SJoXFhZfY&ab_channel=Porkula
sounds a millions times more badass!

SpenceEdit said:

• Remove the scene with Yoda and the Younglings

I would argue against that. I know that the younglings scene is very… divisive and just not very good, but nowadays it’s just so part of the main lore (mandalorian, kenobi, clone wars) that not having this here makes them showing up later on very confusing and out of nowhere. Also, it’s the only time in the entire trilogy we see Yoda more relaxed and even cracking a couple of jokes, which IMO makes him more in line with what we see in the original trilogy.

Anyway, can’t wait to watch this!

I feel like the Senate deleted scene clears all of the crawl concerns up pretty well, and if I updated the crawl it would just repeat that information.

I don’t think the space battle with Jango is a particularly good or exciting sequence, or a necessary one, so the only reason to keep it is because it has bombs that sound cool, which honestly isn’t enough for me.

I don’t plan on changing the blaster sounds in particular, but this is the first time I’ve ever heard that idea.

I don’t think I quite understand your concern about the youngling scene. It’s needed to… introduce the concept of younglings? I feel like there being children that are Jedi is pretty well set up in TPM and is kind of a logical conclusion.

Octorox said:

I apologize that I haven’t gotten the change to watch your workprint yet, but the changelist sounds excellent! My only reservation is that I think it would be much better to cut/down remove the Obi-Wan/Jango fistfight on the landing platform than the asteroid battle sequence. The original “Attack of the Phantom” actually removes both, but I generally find that I miss the space battle more. Just a thought.

I tried putting it back in, and it just doesn’t play right with the pacing based on how I’ve cut the stuff around it. We are just getting some momentum in the Anakin/Padme story so taking an unnecessary deviation for an action scene just feels weird.

It’s less about the scene itself and more about how everything is playing together.

Here’s a little video I made that illustrates all the small changes I’m trying to make to get these scenes feeling more natural. I have notations on the video in the bottom left detailing what was done.

https://streamable.com/rg02xy

Here is the scene without the notes, if you’d like to see it clean:

https://streamable.com/mp74pc

This is partly why I don’t have a detailed cut-list. I just fidget with scenes until they feel right.

Last one for today, here are some pictures demonstrating how I cut 3PO out of the middle of a shot.

Here is the original shot in the theatrical version:
https://ibb.co/g6vggZL

Here is the plate of just R2
https://ibb.co/LZyCbYW

And just Padme:
https://ibb.co/4WW5PPT

Combined so the horizon matches and the house doesn’t look weird. Missing a little sand in the middle…
https://ibb.co/THC1Hyh

And the final shot:
https://ibb.co/FHKFw47

StarkillerAG said:

Wow, that is so much better than the original! Anakin and Obi-Wan actually feel likeable with all the awkward pauses and pointless bickering removed.

I especially like how you rearranged Anakin’s “we will find out who’s trying to kill you” to be a direct response to Padme. It makes it feel like Anakin is actually worried about her safety, rather than just trying to get on Obi-Wan’s nerves after he said there wasn’t going to be an investigation.

Thanks! One of the most important goals for me on this is to make Anakin’s relationships with Kenobi and Padme stronger, so the downfall hits harder. So both are more pleasant throughout, but there’s still some tension with Kenobi. To me, it’s more important to enjoy spending time with the characters than to have a lot of drama between them. There’s plenty of that in the next movie.

Hal 9000 said:

That is a solid approach to that scene. One thing to be aware of is the line about Padme seeing him as a little boy. If you keep their later “but I am grown up,” this picks up on that. Certainly not necessary to keep even so.

I actually cut that part of the later scene, but yeah that was in until I decided to cut the later scene.

EddieDean said:

Spence, if you’d like, I’ll do a scene-for-scene comparison of yours against Hal’s v8s, to highlight anything that worked for his that you might want to consider?

If you’d like to do that, I’ll shoot you a link.

For those that got the workprint link, if you haven’t downloaded it yet, I’m uploading a newer version. Should be up later, I’ll send a new link out.

I’m excited to see this! i love your pacing to Hal9000’s edits, and i love your sequel edit final order (rise of skywalker). will be interesting to see how you can improve the prequels 😄

I’ve reached Coruscant on TPM. Again, this is a lighter edit than Attack of the Clones, as I’ve always felt that TPM is an editing pass away from being genuinely good. So Nothing quite as drastic.

Some stuff I’m doing:

• Similar to AOTC, lots of small nips and trims to conversations or dead space to keep the pace moving. This is happening in pretty much every scene.
• I’m keeping a little more of the battle droid chatter than most editors, but still trimming the most egregiously annoying parts.
• I’m keeping the visit to the Gungans at the beginning, with some heavy editing for pacing and silliness. I know that it’s popular to remove that sequence, but I feel like we need to see them and set up their antagonism with the Naboo for the later scenes to work. The planet core journey will be cut though.
• I’m reinstating the usual deleted scenes (Anakin stuff on Tattooine, some of the extended podrace stuff)
• 3PO is going to be cut from this film as well. This will be a little trickier to execute as he’s in more of the film with other characters than AOTC.
• The podrace is getting some trims, especially to the opening of it. I feel like the festivities go on a bit too long before we actually get into the race itself. I’m doing some minor cuts for pacing but it’s largely the same sequence.

I’m really interested to see your takes on these films as I really enjoyed your work on Kenobi. I’ve found the prequels the hardest to find edits of that I’d be happy to put into into my definitive collection, but your AotC sounds like it could be just what I’m looking for.

Out of interest, what’s your stance on multimedia, or inserting Clone Wars/Tales of the Jedi scenes? I know many find it jarring, but I feel some of Dooku’s scenes from TotJ could really add to the tone of TPM.

Daiyus said:

I’m really interested to see your takes on these films as I really enjoyed your work on Kenobi. I’ve found the prequels the hardest to find edits of that I’d be happy to put into into my definitive collection, but your AotC sounds like it could be just what I’m looking for.

Out of interest, what’s your stance on multimedia, or inserting Clone Wars/Tales of the Jedi scenes? I know many find it jarring, but I feel some of Dooku’s scenes from TotJ could really add to the tone of TPM.

I’m a big fan of the animated series. But I don’t intend to integrate them into the movies. They’re always separate things to me.

SpenceEdit said:

Daiyus said:

I’m really interested to see your takes on these films as I really enjoyed your work on Kenobi. I’ve found the prequels the hardest to find edits of that I’d be happy to put into into my definitive collection, but your AotC sounds like it could be just what I’m looking for.

Out of interest, what’s your stance on multimedia, or inserting Clone Wars/Tales of the Jedi scenes? I know many find it jarring, but I feel some of Dooku’s scenes from TotJ could really add to the tone of TPM.

I’m a big fan of the animated series. But I don’t intend to integrate them into the movies. They’re always separate things to me.

That’s fair enough. I’ve seen a few edits that integrate, and a few that don’t, and to be honest, both can work really well. I’m undecided as to how I’d like my definitive collection to look, particularly surrounding Dooku’s TotJ arc as it works well stand alone or integrated. I look forward to viewing your edits; it might give me some much needed clarity on this topic.

Daiyus said:

SpenceEdit said:

Daiyus said:

I’m really interested to see your takes on these films as I really enjoyed your work on Kenobi. I’ve found the prequels the hardest to find edits of that I’d be happy to put into into my definitive collection, but your AotC sounds like it could be just what I’m looking for.

Out of interest, what’s your stance on multimedia, or inserting Clone Wars/Tales of the Jedi scenes? I know many find it jarring, but I feel some of Dooku’s scenes from TotJ could really add to the tone of TPM.

I’m a big fan of the animated series. But I don’t intend to integrate them into the movies. They’re always separate things to me.

That’s fair enough. I’ve seen a few edits that integrate, and a few that don’t, and to be honest, both can work really well. I’m undecided as to how I’d like my definitive collection to look, particularly surrounding Dooku’s TotJ arc as it works well stand alone or integrated. I look forward to viewing your edits; it might give me some much needed clarity on this topic.

It’s tempting to use some Dooku footage from Totj in conjunction with that deleted scene from AOTC, but I think the merging of the two mediums will just feel too fanedit-y.