Hey Joy, how’d you go about editing/editing around the Obi-Wan Vader duel in ANH? I’ve seen some people increase the playback speed, make quicker cuts, etc. You do anything like that? Or do you somehow remove the fight all together? I’d enjoy watching your take on that
I’m still fine tuning that sequence, but the short answer is cut it out entirely.
There’s several reasons why for me that’s the right answer, if like me you’re trying to do a recut of all six of George’s films.
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The scene is unsalvageable. I don’t know if you saw my recut of the Empire Duel that I posted a while ago, but both that duel and the RotJ Duel can be brought into pretty close alignment with the Prequel Duels if you use the same editing techniques that Ben Burtt and his team used in the Prequels. There is no way to fix SC38 like that.
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The scene is unnecessary. There is no essential dialogue or information delivered in that scene. Furthermore, the dialogue seems odd considering how the Battle of the Heroes ended. That duel is a fight between brothers, whereas the dialogue in SC38 feels more like a detached teacher/student relationship. This misalignment is another reason I would argue to cut it. Ironically Vader’s conversations to himself and Tarkin about Obi-Wan’s presence, and the look on Obi-Wan’s face when he draws his lightsaber while he’s sneaking around tell a much better story on their own without SC38.
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I reworked the whole action around SC38, so that we don’t know that Vader and Ben are dueling until Luke does. If the whole sequence is restructured as a surprise reveal for the duel, the result feels shockingly natural and intentional from a filmmaking standpoint.
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The new sequence actually makes MORE sense and to my mind is WAY MORE interesting without SC38. Vader tells Tarkin that “Escape is not Obi-Wan’s plan.” . . . Then what is Ben’s plan? I think Ben’s plan is to draw Vader into a duel to stop him from stopping Luke and his friends from escaping. Ben knows this will work because Vader wants revenge for what happened on Mustafar. I think Vader knows that this is Ben’s plan and doesn’t care because he hates Obi-Wan that much. That’s why he tells Tarkin that he must face Ben alone. He is determined to kill Obi-Wan himself. The smile on Ben’s face as he sacrifices himself, could now be read as Ben realizing his plan to use Vader’s hatred against him has worked, and he might also be basking in the irony that Vader’s son is slipping away right under his nose.
Does that all make sense?