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Post #355322

Author
The Golden Idol
Parent topic
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Edit Suggestions
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/355322/action/topic#355322
Date created
17-Apr-2009, 1:31 PM
InfoDroid said:

Thanks, m.s!  Yes, you're right about the structure.  It's similar to what I did with Temple.  And OMG it feels so much more like INDY again!  :)

Originally posted on FE.com:

Okay, guys...I'm back to actively editing this. Gaith got me charged up, reignited my interest in this movie. Should be completed within a month or so.

Here's what to expect: It's going to be a very unique arrangement of the scenes. Timeline has been rearranged to make it more interesting to watch. In addition to that, I've eliminated the weird candy coloring and desaturated and darkened up the picture to give it that washed-out, almost Saving Private Ryan look. This film, like AOTC, really benefits from this treatment.

-We start with the Lucasfilm logo and a black-and-white version of the very last scene of Raiders with Indy and Marion on the steps and the subsequent scene of the Ark being crated and hidden away in the warehouse. (Thanks to Gaith's suggestion. I thought it sounded crazy at first, LOL, then I tried it and really loved it. It's a nice little preamble which happens to be relevant to both the Indy/Marion relationship and the warehouse scene we see later.)

-Then, as the Paramount logo fades into the pointed stone spire at the graveyard in Orellana's Cradle. We go underground into an opening credits sequence I've cut as close as I could to echo the feeling of the very beginning of Raiders. Not a lot of dialogue at first. It's dark and mysterious. Title reads: PERU 1957. Indy, his face almost disappearing into the shadows of the cave he's navigating...his scared-stiff sidekick trailing along behind him...

-They find the crystal skull and are amazed..."What IS this thing?"

-Fade to a jet flying overhead...jeeps pulling up to a military base. Title reads: SEVERAL DAYS EARLIER. (Not sure if I should keep it like this, or specify the number of days.)  "I had no reason to beleive Mac was a spy". Cut inside to interrogation room, Indy sitting at table. "We did twenty...thirty missions together in the Pacific." The scene plays out up to: "What was in the steel box they took?" "You tell us..." comes the response, as we cut to trucks pulling up to a checkpoint in the desert. "You've seen it before." Title reads: NEVADA 1957. The Russians shoot the soldiers and drive further into the desert toward the base...American flag waving as they speed away.

-Cut to Indy looking defiantly at the interrogators. "It was the middle of the night, I was thrown into a bus with blacked-out windows...etc." up to "And we were threatened with treason if we ever talked about it. So you tell me...what was in the box?!?" Cut to trunk being opened. Mac is dragged out. So is Indy.

-Replaced "Not as easy as it used to be" with trailer version. Cut all banter between Mac and Indy and Dovchenko. Now, Dovchenko's jeep pulls up, Mac groans and Dovchneko balls up a fist to slug Indy. Spalko stops him. "Where was he found?" "They were digging in the dirt looking for this stuff." Stuff gets thrown on the ground and breaks, immediately followed by Spalko's FBI file getting thrown on the table in front of Indy in the interrogation room. "Yeah, that was her. Who is she?" "Irina Spalko, Stalin's fair-haired girl...etc..etc...if you call psychic research science."

-Cut to the giant Hangar 51 doors opening. General Ross continues his description through voiceover as they walk into the hangar. "She's leading teams from the Kremlin all over the world looking for...etc."

-Hangar scene continues with heavy editing for pacing, dialogue, creaky editing, etc. No compass jokes. No "I like Ike." No "You don't know him!" being screamed 40 times. And I kept the reveal of the alien body hidden, so we don't really know what's in the box until later. I like it better that way.

-All prairie dog shots were removed, some shots were re-arranged and most of the comedy schtick on the rocket sled is edited out. I left just enough in there to keep the classic Indy charm.

-Transition from Indy hiding from the Russians, fading to dawn. "So what exactly am I being accused of?" "Nothing yet....etc, etc." Scene plays out from there until we go to the college.

That's all I'll elaborate on for now. I'll get some more details up here soon.

I'd like to know the general consensus on the conversation Indy and Mutt have when they arrive at Peru. "Don Pancho Villa" and all that. I always found it strange that the uneducated Mutt even knew who Pancho Villa was. It was a strange, after-school special-like conversation intended to provide some more backstory for Mutt's character. In my opinion, it's not really needed and I'd like to cut it out. But I'd like to know how other people feel about that scene.

More later.

--ID

 

 Great ideas. Like doubleofive said, the intercutting will really move the film along. Good job!