I'm glad people liked those video previews. Thank you for your feedback. You haven’t even begun to see the Coruscant sequence, though
From beginning to end, I am absolutely thrilled with the sound effects, the flow of the music, the synchronization, and the excitement. I never get sick of watching this sequence. I have pretty much completed Zam’s first appearance up to the Anakin/Obi-Wan talk in front of the nightclub. I’m still trying to figure out how to separate Obi-Wan’s dialogue from the trailer music in the cut exchange. One thing I’ve added is this- right before Anakin and Obi-Wan do the nosedive in the chase with Zam, Anakin says, “I hope you like flying.” After the chase (and the Asteroid Field theme from TESB), Obi-Wan says, “I don’t mind flying, but what you’re doing is suicide.” Rather than a lengthy exchange with a bad quip at the end (You know I don’t like it when you do that. Sorry master, I forgot you don’t like flying. I don’t mind…etc.) , we have the chase in between the comments. It seems more breathless and exciting. I’ve also recut the action during the last part of the chase, sometimes using horizontal flips and other tricks, so that the speeder is in the upright position necessary to use the footage of Obi-Wan. It works very well. However, I want to preserve the surprise at this point and not reveal any more of that. Thank you for the recording, Sluggo. I actually had recordings of the Wilhelm: takes 1, 3, and 4. I created a “female Wilhelm” simply by speeding them up and thus raising the pitch. I love the effect because it gives the scene a much more brutal quality, along with Anakin’s action. It shows that Anakin is out to get her. I also love the fact that right before Anakin jumps, she takes off her mask and smiles in boredom. Anakin jumps, she looks up, and there he is pulling out his lightsaber. She hadn’t counted on that!
I actually hadn’t intended for the Raiders music to play during the questioning scene- it was a temp track until I make the new recording for that scene. However, it does work well dramatically. I’ll have to think about this.
“Sifo-Dyas/Qui-Gon: The logistics of this will have to be hammered out, but if you're open to the idea I hope we can find a way of getting it done. This will tie into the extended ending with Sidious and Dooku, as that's where an explanation will be needed.”
That’s the issue. I can’t finalize the Lama-Su dialogue until I figure out what the plan is for the possible extended ending. This will probably depend on what is being done on Ep. I. In the meantime, I have plenty of other things to work on
“The Lama-Su dialogue is good. I don't know if you'd had a chance yet but I'd again suggest checking out "The Island" to see if there's anything you can use on the Obi-Wan end of the cloning discussion.”
I still need to do that….
The sunset funeral: I really love the idea myself. However, I’m worried that if I do it myself, it could come out sub par, as I’m not that great at the compositing. I do hope this is possible, though.
My dilemma with the elevator scene and the bedroom scene is that the concepts are good, the plot embellishment is good, and removing them leaves something to be desired between the characters. But the overall design, the way they were shot, and the delivery is just awful. Not just Anakin (which I can fix), but Obi-Wan and Padme as well. There isn’t even a full-screen version of the bedroom scene that I can play with. If there is a way to bring these up to the rest of the movie, I will find a way. Otherwise, I just cringe through these scenes and even if they wind up in the release cut, I’d probably just cut them for myself.
Right now, I’m trying to make some headway on the Kamino material. Just wanted to check in,
-TM