Trooperman said:I want to send it out as-is. If nothing else it'll make good conversation. But, you'd lose the impact of seeing it finished, assuming that ever happens.
I like the idea of sending out a time coded version. I, like many others, have followed this from the beginning, and spent a great deal of time being really, really, really excited about this. I kid you not when I say I felt much more excitement and anticipation about seeing your edit than I did about seeing either AOTC or ROTS for the first time in the theater. I was really looking forward to this for a very long time. I read your ideas, and saw your clips, and you had me completely sold on this thing.
To be completely honest, I had pretty much accepted the fact that I will never get to see this long ago, and disappointingly put it out of my mind. Yet, every several months I'd still find myself visiting the SW fanedit section and searching this thread just to see if anything new had come up.
Getting to see this in rough form with a time code would be absolutely brilliant. You'd really make my year. I am sure if it was something you had been looking forward to for a long time, and you had the choice of getting to see a rough cut or nothing, you'd jump at a chance to see the rough cut. Words cannot describe how thrilled I'd be to get to see this even in rough form.
You mentioned others getting to see the rough version and liking it, so obviously there is quite a lot there to like.
And as for these guys complaining about the voice not being the right voice, hang it. It is jarring at first, because it isn't Hayden's voice. But that change was the whole essence of your edit. That is the fanedit I have been dying to see for years. I heard the voice, and I liked it. Don't let this kind of criticism get you down. I remember a few years ago a very respected member of this community, who is actually professional who works in the film industry, came in here and outright denounced your edit as a failure, and urged you to target your creativity and good ideas at something else. It is wonderful he felt that way, but the fact remains, even as he typed those words, you had many eager followers who had seen all the same clips he had, and who still couldn't wait to see this edit. It may never be completed, but it will certainly never be a failure. You've put up with this kind of criticism since the very first page, yet you didn't let it get you down, and you went on to make what absolutely could have been one of the most amazing fan edits ever made. If you didn't let it get you down then, don't let it get you down now.
Ambition doesn't always lead to success. Sure, you didn't finish this. You aimed really high, and found you couldn't quite reach your goal. Don't let this bother you. This project isn't that important, and you seem to have done a good job prioritizing with putting school first. You did the right thing. Even though you couldn't finish what you started, you have (or have the potential to if you release it in some form) shown what can be done. You have laid a foundation, and who knows what inspiration this may insight in others.
Finished or not. To me it is a real shame for this to remain unseen. I would encourage you to time code the thing, and slap a notice on the beginning stating that it is an unfinished product due to the fact that it was more work than you could handle at that time in your life, and that you wanted to share what you have done even in its incomplete form, rather than just let it collect dust. Sure, there will be people who will watch it and criticize it to pieces. Screw them! That is just part of putting your creativity in front of others. Some will love it, some will hate it. It is like that with everything. You poured your heart into this. You took a truly awful film, and tried to turn it into something good. Life got in the way, you did what you had to do. Let those who complain about your work show us what amazing projects they have done. Even if they have done any, I highly doubt they could show us anything half as ambitious or as interesting as yours.