Updated Book 2 is released! Post here/DM for the new link. Changelog below:

New Act 1 scene order/transitions. The back-and-forth pacing of Din and Boba’s story was an incredible challenge when I first created this idea, and one of the sticking points from the last release was trying to get some better “connective tissue” and balance between the storyline transitions. I painstakingly wrote out every scene from the last release and tried to combine the puzzles to give thematically and visually satisfying transitions. I believe it is a marked improvement over the prior film in this area. From new shot orders within scenes to scene organization to altered transition SFX and visuals, I hope this creates a more unified structure.
Per my scene demo posted above, I have engineered a new extended scene for Din’s Sorgan landing to better pace out his content in Act 1. With new content in the landing to the nighttime scene with the locals, this will help explain how they got into the Sorgan village in the first place.
New Cara Dune storyline. This was my biggest personal gripe with the last release, I could not figure out a cohesive way to introduce/involve Cara without the full Sorgan side quest. I tried something in the previous version, and it was functional, but still felt a bit choppy to me. I have a brand new attempt at all of her scenes on Sorgan plugged into this update which I much prefer. To summarize, it’s a bit more somber than the old chummy version where it seemed like they bonded too quickly. When I watch this version, I now see mutual respect more than buddy-buddy friends right away. As Cara tells Din he needs to leave the planet for her safety, Din understands why, and out of respect for a fellow warrior he does so. As Din prepares to leave, Cara sees how happy Grogu is and she starts to regret it all, Din tells her that he will be leaving but Grogu will be staying. She seems to accept this proposal after watching Grogu play with the children, but of course, this is before the assassination attempt on Grogu, and that prompts the whole storyline to move forward. As Din leaves the planet with Grogu, I have a new soundtrack to tie into Boba’s journey which completely changes the tone of this whole scene. I hope it tugs the heartstrings!

arabian said:

When Mando’s ship is shot at before he heads to Tatooine, can you add some line about looking for a nearby planet? Because he mentions losing fuel and then he’s just pushing buttons, switches and then a voice says: “Mos Eisley, bay 3.” It just would make it make more sense. If that line is available.

This suggestion is added, great idea! Din now says, “We meed to make an emergency landing,” before he sublight travels to Tattooine.

Here I go with the ending again, sorry. I think you should SW wipe from the darksaber moment with Gideon to Boba and Fennec with him saying “tribes” to the last scene you had with Mando, where we see him with his little tribe, him and Grogu. That way you end on Mando.

I have also altered the ending scene order to this as well. Another great idea! New soundtrack here as well.

EddieDean said:
Another thought for Book 2. We’ve talked a lot about the overlap point between Din and Boba, around Fennec’s unconscious body. I think the ordering you have right now from Din’s perspective is absolutely right, but I’d tweak Boba’s just slightly. I’d cut from the scene of Din and Grogu flying away (the shot of the Crest from behind going off into space) to the scene of Boba discovering Fennec - but only to the point where he turns her over and sees who she is. (This works nicely with the shot of the ship leaving, since abnormally for this show, the camera doesn’t follow the ship away - it’s almost as if the direction here says “there’s more to see on Tattooine first even though Din is leaving”). Then, once Boba turns over Fennec, cut to the scene of levity in the Crest cockpit into the flight toward the wetlands planet (music works for this), and the scene of Din and Grogu seeing Cara’s fight. Then back to Tattooine for Boba and Fennec now sitting at a warm fire, and you’re back to where you were. This version of events just slightly improves the timing of scenes relative to each other, and makes a bit more logical sense to me.

This suggestion was implemented, thanks!

kypo said:

It feels like it takes a long time to reach Mando- (14 minutes). Perhaps starting the Mando in the village scene earlier could help. A good earlier segue point would be when Boba arrives at the raider camp. If we add a Mando cut here, we see a tighter similarity in Mando “Moving in” to the village, as Boba is “moving in” to the slave camp. It would also mean where your second cutaway would land is now when Mando is “fitting in” as Boba is “fitting in”- tightening the two halves of our story.

I would also love to see even a glimpse of Boba in his nighttime chains to extend the perception of time to the audience.

Both of these are now in!

I would love to get just a little more of Fennec’s droid, we jump immediately to the droid returning. It’s minor but a scene separation or slightly additional footage of its exploration might help here.

When they sneak into the bay- they are caught immediately. It seems really quick. A second or two of sneaking before this would be good to imply they have gone undetected for a bit- but I don’t know what footage you even have for this!

Added a brief scene of each of these moments, thanks!

“Kuilil do you copy” - I think the pan up would go to his body for the most efficient storytelling. We can infer Grogu is with the scouts.

Done!

Aside from those changes above, I did a bit of volume balancing across the film, new transitions throughout, a couple of new soundtracks, adjusted shot orders in scenes, etc. A step up all around, thanks so much to everyone who wrote out so many suggestions and participated in the discussion about this film, months later it was amazing to have all of that available to review and implement. You guys are the best, hope you enjoy the new version of the film! Onto Book 3 after the weekend!