This is true, Preston. I really do want it to go out soon, though. There are a couple people that I know REALLY want it to be now. But I've just made a decision.
Rather than rush out an inferior product for Christmas, I do think I might release this in January/February of 2007. I really hope this doesn't create an outcry, but I've had several roadblocks in my life that have prevented me from working on this thing the amount that I would've liked. And for something I've been working on for so long, I really think that a month or two of testing, screening, and tweaking the sound mix would benefit this movie so much.
It was always my intention to do this. I expected to have the movie done by the end of September, and then watch it, tweak it, and make it more perfect so by the time November rolled around, it's be ready to release. But it didn't happen that way. I was out of town quite a bit. My hard drive crashed. I was receving character voices in October and November (which was no fault of the actors- I had been rewriting dialogue and etc). I didn't talk about this much, but I was also running into major glitches with my video software- there are sequences that I had cut to the frame that were screwed up by this. This coincided with the installation of another video program.
But it's getting better and better and better. I know some people don't mind the "Anakin voice" the way it is, but if I had a month or two to play with it, then I'm positive that I could satisfy everybody.
Believe me, I'm POSTIVE this will be released soon. Heck, I already know that I'm going to have a DVD in my player before Christmas, the complete version of SOTDS.
But I guess it comes down to this- hearing the recent comments about Anakin's voice, it would really kill me and make me very sad if I worked on this for two years only to get criticisms about something like the audio mixing after I release it. I think this will be my only contribution to OT.com that I'm completely in charge of, and basically I want it to represent my filmmaking abilities the best that it can. Also, this will hopefully give me a chance to make the stereo mix a “matrixed” one. What that means is that it’s a two-channel stereo track, but when you play it through a home theatre setup, it’s decoded into four-channel surround sound. It’s kind of old technology (Dolby Digital 5.1 is pretty much always used for new movies nowadays), but that fits all the better with the point of the project. I’m reading up on this and seeing if it’s possible to encode a matrixed track without having to buy a $600 piece of software.
I hope that some of you understand, and I'm really sorry. I know that you all want to see this. And my feelings wouldn't be hurt at all if you left this thread and didn't come back until January/February next year. But I want this to blow people out of the water in every way possible, and by golly, that's what's going to happen.
I'm really sorry
In regards to the fun factor....
This thing is unbelievably fun. All the things I've done to the movie are means to an end- to make this movie enjoyable to watch. So if you want to pop in Ep. II, you can watch a well-made film with a main character that doesn't whine his way through the pathetic film like Hayden does. To me, even if the ADR doesn't sound quite natural in a couple places, the viewing experience is so superior to the alternative (listening to Hayden), that it's really, really worth it for me.
I realize that everyone looks at movies in different ways. It's the difference betwen someone that takes in camera angles and lighting, and someone that looks for cameos, or someone who notices continuity errors. I'm trying to fill all of these needs with the film, but a one-man overhaul like this has never really been done before, and it's an incredibly arduous undertaking (which I didn't realize when I jumped in to it, of course). The only person that's come even close to putting this many new elements into a fan edit is MagnoliaFan, but he had the advantage in that he was only using movie audio. I am using English ADR recordings from amateur actors, which are a lot harder to incorporate into the film seamlessly. Throw in a new music soundtrack, new colors, and playing the cinematographer role, and you've got something crazy.
But I think the best part of all this (and the most laughable), is what Sluggo said:
The final recordings I have for each character right now are incredibly good, acting-wise. Honestly. I had no idea there was this much talent on the boards. Actually, this is a good idea I have for a trailer. Do a caption that says, "George Lucas' Actors" and then show footage from AOTC. Then, have a caption that says, "OT.com Volunteer Actors" and show footage from SOTDS.
Honestly, I listen to Lama-Su, or Anakin, or Nute Gunray, the stormtroopers, Jar-Jar, Marcus Fett inside the helmet, and etc. and I'm still amazed at how good the acting is. Nute Gunray actually sounds nasty/dangerous. The two Fetts inside the helmet (Marcus from SOTDS and Boba Fett from the original "Empire") actually sound the same. Uncle Owen sounds a lot like his counterpart Phil Brown in the original SW.
In short, not only does the acting hold up on its own terms, but the people that were tasked specifically with impersonating OT actors did so amazingly well (you guys know who you are). Granted, in some cases it took two, even three auditions to get to that point, but right now, I couldn't be happier with the acting.
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Question:
Does anyone happen to have a high quality version of this 70's rating card:
I would love to start out the movie with this because it would set up the whole mood before the movie even started. I read the "70's widescreen bootleg" thread, and apparently this ratings card was on the original theatrical release, so it'd be a neat, authentic thing to include in SOTDS.
Thanks so much!
TM
PS: Since this project is postponed for a couple months, I might as well tell you this: There’s a possibility (*wink*) that the droid analysis sequence might be in the process of being recomposited right now….
