ImperialFighter said:adywan said:Getting back to ESB, i have been looking at the new Hoth battle footage and i'm really not too sure if adding more AT-AT's is the way to go. I've been thinking and i think that the original amount is perfect. Having just a few AT-At's kick the rebels ass really shows the might of the empire. Adding more in was really just a bit of fanwank really if you think about it. Its something that goes under the category "adding it because we can". It really adds nothing. I will be making the battle more intense but not with extra AT-ATs.
However, although the Hoth ground battle is already great in many ways admittedly, I cannot wait for any little enhancements along the way that you are doing (i.e.- the improved laserblasts, firing Rebel turrets etc.). There will be other changes no doubt, but having more actual AT-AT's on show is not such a big thing if you decide against it. Just a thought though, does this mean that you are still initially showing the few extra ones in the initial shot as they come over the ridge, that you already completed? I hope so, as I think that extra number that you show at the beginning, can easily tie-in with the rest of the existing AT-AT footage as is, quite comfortably.
Just a quick check-in before some serious Hogmanay shenanigans kick in here... :)
First, an admission! - In hindsight, my wish above (in bold) to still have Adywan's enhanced reveal shot of nine AT-AT's on show at the beginning was just plain wrong!....because the shot does not fit in as comfortably as I first thought, after all.
On checking out the whole scene a couple of times since then, it actually doesn't make sense to include it anymore, if Ady has indeed decided not to include any extra additional AT-AT's throughout the whole battle now. The fact is that we only see two AT-AT's destroyed, and only see three (including General Veer's one) survive the snowspeeder / Luke Skywalker onslaught throughout, with what does indeed seem like only a sum total of five AT-AT's (not counting the AT-ST) onscreen during the scenes on show.
Therefore, I now hope Ady just uses the original, unenhanced shot of only five AT-AT's coming over the ridge at the start, if he is leaving the actual numbers during the battle as they are. (I've really come round to the removal of the 'red' window glow now, as it seems be too big for the narrow slit of the front AT-AT it was placed on anyway!)
Personally, I'm more than okay with his latest decision not to add more AT-AT's, as the actual imagery already looks great in the main, and it's a huge ask to expect the work that extra numbers would involve at the end of the day. Anyway, as Luke comments at one point "That armour's too strong for blasters"- which indicates the AT-AT's are thought to be mostly impervious to the likes of Rebel snowspeeder fire-power, so the Empire could be confident that five of them (plus an AT-ST) is more than sufficient to reach the Power Generator.
And on the other hand, more could have been planned (or have been in transit) to be sent down also, in an unseen-by-us 'follow-up wave' to support this first batch at the end of the day, since General Veers tells Vader's hologram "Yes Lord Vader, I've reached the main Power Generators. The Shield will be down in moments, you may start your landing."
We didn't see if he came in another AT-AT or 'something else' at the end of the day, since the ground battle cuts to different scenes involving our heroes in-between when that line is said, and when the eventual storming of the Rebel base by Vader and some Imperial Snowtroopers is shown.
For anyone concerned that there would have been more AT-AT numbers dropped down, it is possible that they arrived from a different direction to the oncoming 5 AT-AT's we see onscreen. The Rebel base is actually quite big and cavernous overall, with various potential escape routes, so 'another / or other waves' from the many Stardestroyers could conceivably have been dropped 'beyond' the Energy Shield to approach the base from another direction / or other directions too, and we just weren't shown that one / or those ones!
On the other hand, after General Veers line, Vader and his troops could simply just have arrived in 'something else' from the same direction as the 5 onscreen AT-AT's, when our attention was following the in-between scenes where we followed our heroe's progress, before the base was stormed.... Take your pick. Either way, I hope that helps.
Regardless, there's no doubt that Adywan will add a lot of little bells and whistles and improvements throughout the existing footage, which will indeed add to the overall 'intensity' of the battle, and that it will end up looking better. :)
As far as extra AT-ST's go, if he wants to do that, then fine, but the one we see doesn't appear until a good bit later in the battle anyway, suggesting that it might have just been 'dropped off' further back than the rest, and has only caught up now with it's faster moving steps... Just another thought.
As far as those interior shots of the AT-AT drivers go, I'm now 100% sure that they are all meant to be inside General Veers AT-AT! They are certainly edited together that way, being immediately cut next to close-ups of General Veers. If there had been some kind of shot between the differing helmet colours, then it could be argued that they are meant to be different AT-AT interiors, but the way things stand, they only come across as being General Veer's drivers to me, whether that was the intention or not.... Still would love consistency with all-RED markings, but will just be happy with any consistency if Adywan decides to take the easier route of just removing them.
It only remains for me to wish you all a very Happy Year again, and 'may yer lum aye reek' as we say here in Scotland. Slange! :)