lorang said:I have just had the opportunity to watch Son of Jorel and for a pre release it scores very highly with what you have attempted to do with many high points and a couple of nags.
The overall edits with part one concerning Superman the Movie are mostly flawless, I was very impressed with the edits, I watched it with a friend who didn't notice any edits until nearly into the first half.
Cool, did your friend just notice that certain things had been removed, or were there harsh edits? I'd like people to point out harsh edits, so I can fix them before the official release. There are only a couple that still jump out at me.
A few niggles with me are minor on this section but I'll list them for any creative review from Jo public.
Excellent. This is exactly what I'm looking for with this release.
1. After the credit sequence there is a fade to black and sound drop with Jorel approaching earth, this fade out didn't really suit with the sound drop a little jarring, possibly better with some form of a blend with the end of the fanfare Superman theme credit sequence then approaching earth.
Yes, I had some difficulty with this transition, but didn't spend too much time on it because I'm going to completely redo the title sequence, and it should transition perfectly then.
2. The introduction of the Otis character is lacking the reason why the cops are following him. In the original it's in the hope he will lead them to Lex, with Otis not a major character the inclusion of this section may help.
I took it out for a couple reasons. First, I considered the explanation of their reasoning to be lame exposition. It's the type of dialog that is there only to explain to the audience, when really the characters would not be explaining it to each other because they both already know why they're there. I like that now the audience isn't 100% sure why they're following him. They should get the clue when Lex offs the cop. But even if the audience never figures out the cop's motive, it doesn't hurt the story.
Second, I needed a nice transition from the robber scene, where I had cut some bad dialog as they were leaving the alley ("How did you just described the exact contents of my purse?" "Um, lucky guess?"). The back drop photo in Grand Central station was perfect, I think.
3.The rearming of the missile by Miss Teshmacher, Otis and Lex, not sure on this one, nothing wrong with the scene as its needed, but I thought the fake car crash sequence may of suited it better excluding the comedic elements with Otis tho, whether that’s possible I don't know.
I tried an edit of the previous scene with the fake car crash, and almost used it. But I had to edit out the part where Larry Hagman says he's going to give Ms. T mouth to mouth and vigorous chest massages. And the end result was too choppy. It just didn't look professional, so I went with the second scene. There were several things I wanted to do in this edit, but had to abandon them because I couldn't get the end result to feel professional. Otherwise, I agree with you on this one. I'll take another look at the scene and see if I can make it work, but most probably it will end up as a deleted scene on the DVD.
4.The sequence in Lex's underground lair when they are discussing the missile and detonator, obviously they are originally talking about 2 missiles but the voice editing on this section seemed a tad rough.
Yes, this took a lot of work just to get it sound a "tad" rough! :) I plan on working on this some more.
5.This one I hated in the Donner Cut, and is dependant on how you are watching it but the release of the 3 super villains (as Lex calls them) I hate the very bad blue screen work here as they are floating in space, the Lester footage is a lot better if its possible to add Zods FREE! Quote on the Lester footage it will look a lot better to me, sorry pet hate on Donners cut.
I'm not happy with the escape from the Phantom Zone either, and it's on my list (see updated bottom of my first post) to completely redo. If I can pull it off, it will be the biggest FX sequence I've ever done.
But I have to disagree that the Lester escape is better than my current edit of that scene. The orginal S2 had some really awful animation of the Phantom Zone's destrucion. It looks like something out of S4!
6. The unfinished FX shot of Perry White reading the news headlines, great to see what you are going to do here.
Thanks. I wish I had been able to finish that one for this release, but that's going to be a tough one. I'm still not exactly sure how I'm going to pull it off. But I thought the same thing about the Lex newspaper scene too, and I think that works pretty well.
7. This one is my biggy Lex's trip to the Fortress of Solitude, there is no explanation that I could see of why Lex is heading to the North Pole and to find the Fortress or even how he knew it existed did puzzle me this one!
Yep, this is a problem. Hopefully not a big one for most people. I tried several edits where this is explained during the snowmobile ride, but nothing worked. The scenes that explain this are in prison. Combining these two movies meant that only one day passes between the missile sequence and the beginning of part 2. And it makes no sense that Lex would be convicted, in prison, able to build the device that finds the Fortress of Solitude, and execute an elaborate hot air balloon (?!?) escape in one day.
In my defense, the original explaination for figuring out where the fortress is was pretty lame anyway. And there are several moments in the original movie where Lex does something or figures out something without a good explanation. For instance, how does he know Kryptonite is lethal to Superman? How does he get his hands on Kryptonite? How does Lex know that Superman will be able to hear the high-pitched message he sends out to lure him? We don't know, but have to suspend disbelief in order for it to work, and assume there's an explanation to his ways that just isn't presented to us as audience members. I wish this wasn't the case, but it is.
I'm hoping by the time most viewers get to that point in the movie, they will just accept it the same way they accept those other issues. I think it is pretty minor, comparatively. And I don't see any real solution anyway.
8.The villains arrival in the Hick Town, with Zod and Ursa looking at the arm wrestling then Bang one of the guys thrown through the wall of the bar, would work better with the inclusion of Ursa sitting down with the guy then we'll known Ursa throw him through the wall.
I removed the scene because I hated how it ended. Your solution is interesting, but I can't separate the dialog from the Bee Gees background music that would NEVER have been played in that country restaurant. I moved the scene of the kid walking down the street to give some time for them to throw the guy through the wall, but you're probably right that it's still a little sudden.
I'll give your suggestion a try. If I can make it work, I will.
9. The sequence straight after the above with the guy pointing a Shotgun at them and Zod stating these humans are beginning to Bore me, was confused as to why you replaced the finger beam with a double eye beam, the single finger beam would be better as when it burns the guy its a single beam, Gotta say love the FX shot of the burn and scream, gives it a darker edge.
Well one of my rules was that I would take out all references to new powers that show up in S2. The original finger beam was some sort of telekinesis. I removed it and replaced it with heat beams, which of course only come from the eyes. I am planning on trying to remove his pointing finger and arm before the DVD release. See the list of changes I have at the bottom of the first post. The reason it shows up as a single beam on the man is because both eyes are focused on one spot. I think all heat beam FX shots end up looking that way.
Glad you liked the burn and scream though. That's one of my favorite additions. :)
10.I it possible to add a couple of neck break sounds in the White House attack when Ursa kicks and karate chops a couple of the guards, her actions look very lightly a bone break sound may make it look more edgy.
Sure! That's a great idea!
11. The sequence were Clark is begging for his powers back off his father is truly missing the Brando footage Clark just finding the green crystal leaves it unsure how he gets his power back. The Donner/Brando footage explains it way better.
I took it out for a couple reasons. The main reason is, if left in, it turns Jorel into a liar. In the Donner Cut, when Sup first loses his power, Jorel tells him that it can't be reversed. When Clark returns to beg for forgiveness the green crystal is seen undamaged lying amongst the control panel rubble, ready to be used one last time, and Jorel shows up and tells him that he will give him his powers back, but at the expense of losing Jorel forever. Why would Jorel have lied in the first place? What's the point? He could have just said "Ok, I'll temporarily take away your powers, so you can see what it's like. If you ever want them back, use the green crystal one last time".
In my version, similar to the original S2, the control panel and all the crystals are completely destroyed. Jorel thought he was telling the truth when he said that it's irreversible. The green crystal should have been destroyed too. The only reason it wasn't was because Lois accidentally left it on the ground.
And I think it's a better plot device to have Lois inadvertantly be the one who lets Superman get his powers back.
And, as much as I like Brando's footage, I think the whole thing about him using the last of his energy to bring back Sup's powers is a little sappy. It's better to leave it a mystery how Superman did it. It's a mystery how he switched the molecule chamber to work outside instead of inside anyway. As a viewer, I had always imagined the green crystal (which was able to build the fortress in the first place) just repaired what was left of the control panel when Superman tried to use it.
BTW, that scene, as it is in my edit, is mostly the Donner Cut footage. The blood stains on his face... his primal screams... the total dispare he has weren't present in the orignal S2 scene. I only spliced in the green crystal shots from S2 because of it's location. I'm very happy with how it turns out, except for once scene where the lighting is odd. I still need to work on the color matching.
12. Love your new ending, but the voice over in the Donner cameo explaining they have found Superman’s home needs a little bit more tweaking.
Hahahah! I agree. I need to remix or reshoot that voice work. It's me, by the way. :)
Thanks, I'm so glad the ending worked for you! That was the part I was most worried about. The ending is the most important part of a movie, and I re-worked it so many times it's impossible for me to be objective about it. I actually showed a fairly rough cut of this movie to a popular fan editor around here, and he wouldn't comment on the ending, so I figured he just didn't want to say anything negative, which really got me worried. But its now in a much more polished state, and so far everyone else likes it. :)
These points are minor, in my opinion and with what Taolar has achieved is truly amazing and I do give him high praise indeed, the minor points aside there is way too many plus sides to list. So to any one wishing to experience a full Superman experience get Superman: Son of Jorel and fully support Taolar and hopefully a DVD completed version soon???
Thanks again, Lorang. Your review is much appreciated!!
-T