As usual, circumstance and real life have combined to keep me from working on this project. But as summer approaches and things wind down, I might be able to finish this thing properly. I haven't visited this site in a long while. This is a strange new forum!
I have sent a rough cut DVD to Adywan, who liked the film. I'll just post part of his earlier PM for all of your benefit.
"1/ when the crawl finished there is a very noticeable shift in the black levels at the point you swap sources.
2/ after the officer says "senator, we are making our final..." you have cut out padmes line but he still makes a gesture to acknowledge this line. maybe shorten that shot to eliminate this.
3/ One thing i will mention about the audio is Jar Jars new voice. it just doesn't fit with the character at all and really sounds very amateurish. i would go with your idea of replacing this with a new voice that is similar to the jar jar we know.
4/ When Anakin jumps in the speeder to follow obi-wan in the chase scene you have added a wipe. I don't feel that it needs it. a straight cut would probably be better
5/ after Zam leaves the tunnel the video jerks really bad. is this a result of you speeding that shot up?
6/the new screaming addition when Anakin is cutting into Zam's speeder seems out of place
7/ when they enter the cantina, when you see it from the inside, you have recoloured that scene but it doesn't match the previous outside shot. the best way to fix this would be in the first shot you need to mask the outside parts and return them to the original colour then the colouring changes would better match.
8/Not too sure about the dream sequence. it just doesn't feel right to me.
9/ at 0:36:39 you cut from them sitting in the grass to a close up of padme running to Anakin laying on the floor. i would personally cut that whole section because as it stands it creates a huge continuity problem.
10/ Boba's voice sounds too old and really doesn't match his age appearance.
11/ at 1:25:14 (i think) you cut to a close up of a boys eyes. i guess this is supposed to be Boba but it really doesn't look anything like him and it leaves the audience wondering who the hell it is.
12/ during the battle you have used footage from Independence Day. this i would seriously consider losing. you can see jet fighters and the pilots look totally out of place.
as you can see the list isn't long which shows that you are totally on the right track with this edit."
Some of these things I will fix, some I will not because it would require an inordinate amount of time (like removing the battle footage from the final sequence. I think it works as-is). There are also a few other shots Ady didn't mention that need a little FX tweak to make work. This includes painting out lightsabers in a shot and making a character's mouth stop moving in a shot.
However, the audio does need work.
Adywan explained to me a couple months ago that he will not be able to work on my movie anymore. He is taking a 6-8 month break from everything. Which is totally understandable. But after I heard this and more and more things crept into my schedule, I had to temporarily shelve it.
So just to recap, this movie is, creatively, finished. In fact, it's completely encoded, double layer. It just needs a lot of audio polishing to make it professional sounding. The only new audio elements I need are a new Jar-Jar voice from Sluggo and a child recording from MTHaslett.
I go to college this September. If this movie is not done by then, then any fan with experience in editing and interest in the project can get in touch with me and send me an external hard drive. I'll load everything onto it and send it back. And then it can be finally put away.
Either way, this needs to come out soon. It's been way too long and I want it to be done and in your living rooms.
Talk later,
TM
P.S. Thanks to "Strooper", there will now be Spanish subtitles in addition to German. Thank you so much:)