I don’t know that Chewie’s death was ever “believable”; but then, I never really thought Luke was going to fail to destroy the Death Star either - that doesn’t mean we should remove the Trench Run. I guess it’s important to consider the characters’ perspectives - what’s true to them. And ideally, showing Chewie here might make Rey’s perspective of the event feel more authentic.
Similarly, just because someone knows what’s going to happen doesn’t mean we shouldn’t treat the story seriously - otherwise there’d be no point in rewatching anything ever. As it so happens though, I’ve actually shown Untold to a few people who haven’t seen the original, and they all seemed to like it! My goal here isn’t to improve a bad film; my hope is to make a good film, period.
As for the scene in question, I’ll be honest, I’m having trouble finding the right balance. It needs to be significant enough that it doesn’t look like a mistake, but short and inconspicuous enough that no one will notice it unless they’re looking for it. And of course, I have to consider my own lack of expertise with these sorts of effects.
I’m not sold on my handiwork, but suggestions are welcome!
The Rise of Skywalker: Untold - A “Rey Nobody” edit of Ep. IX - Available now!
Perfect! That’s exactly what I was talking about. The camera shake really sells it, too.
Also, I think if you were going to include that secondary transport in the shot with Finn, then you should have it taking off in the top right corner of the screen - opposite of where Finn is pointing. Honestly you could even just have it visible for the very last second of that shot, it doesn’t need to fully take off outside of the camera’s view.
I was thinking about adding the ship to the Finn shot, but like I said, it’s a tricky balance to find. Since the ships have to take off from the same spot (and are presumably going to the same place), they’d be roughly the same size in-camera. And the ship is so close, and therefore large, in the Finn shot. When Rey says “There must’ve been another transport,” it means that the other ship must have gone completely unnoticed, which is why I think it would have to be a “blink-and-you-miss-it” situation.
Or, we just don’t duplicate the ship at all, of course.
The Rise of Skywalker: Untold - A “Rey Nobody” edit of Ep. IX - Available now!
Okay, I made some tweaks to the double ship shot: I’ve shifted it over a bit (now there’s not a straight line directing the viewer’s gaze from Rey pointing, to the first transport, to the second transport), and I’ve also made it disappear into the clouds faster (this also helps to hide potential jankiness in the animation); but, trying to be fair to the audience, I’ve also made the second ship larger.
I’m aiming for something that the viewer shouldn’t even notice unless they’re specifically looking for it. Did I go too far, though? Feedback, as always, is appreciated.
The Rise of Skywalker: Untold - A “Rey Nobody” edit of Ep. IX - Available now!
I can’t seem to find it if that’s any sign LOL. Do you have a timestamp?
That is a good sign! It’s at 0:10 in the clip, right before Rey stops the other ship.
The Rise of Skywalker: Untold - A “Rey Nobody” edit of Ep. IX - Available now!
Oh I see that’s an interesting approach. I was imagining that the secondary transport would have taken off at the same time as the other one. So, in this case, the transport took off while Rey was distracted by Kylo’s ship and Finn was running to tell Rey?
Yeah, I think that works. Not how I would have handled it, but it works good.
Exactly! I just think that if both transports take off at the same time, Rey would have seen both, and it would have been obvious (to her and to us) that J.J. did the ol’ switcheroo with the ships. This way we can preserve Rey’s horror, while also having a little “hidden details” moment with the other ship.
But that sort of “I don’t see anything”/“It’s right here.”/“Oh there it is!” response is exactly what I was aiming for, so thank you!
The Rise of Skywalker: Untold - A “Rey Nobody” edit of Ep. IX - Available now!
I honestly think you got it right with Chewie3.
It looks much more believable and far more natural.