The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 142

JasonN said:

brash_stryker: It took me a little over a month of "on-again, off-again" editing to recolor Dooku's lightsaber in EP2. I had previously tried using masks and compositing in both Vegas and After Effects to change the saber's color, but the results were never exactly what I wanted. Ultimately, I selected to recolor the saber by hand, frame-by-frame using a graphics tablet and the software Mirage (the predecessor of TVPaint) - it was definitely time-consuming, but it gave me the best results for my edit.

Having said that, I'd never choose to recolor ALL the Jedi lightsabers blue: all that work would probably drive me up the f***ing wall....  O_O

Do you happen to know how Ady changed the colours of the lightsabers in ANH (like Luke's inexplicable green saber aboard the falcon). I know he rerotoscoped, but he must have done some kind of colour change on the surrounding haze of the blade as well.

TheTome said:

Agreed, one thing at a time.  I've done a crazy amount to my edit, but I focused on one thing at a time.  If a sfx trick was needed to complete an edit then  I would teach myself, otherwise I avoided that stuff like the plague, and yet now I'm color correcting.  You'll get there.  That said, if you are actually looking for help, the real question is what are you using right now?  PC, Mac, software, etc.

I'm using a PC with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Another great thing about your edit is that it also turns the jedi into detectives who suspect something is up and they're going to Kamino to find out about it.

By moving up the emergency powers act, you've also kept the momentum going because the assassination attempts just happened. In the existing film, they were presented so late and so far after the assassination attempts it just seemed to languish.

Are Padme and Anakin already gone to Naboo in your edit brash?

what ever happened to...Cade Skywalker and his fantastic color corrections

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K77C5DOdKsA&feature=channel

god i hope nothing bad has happened to him cause his color corrections made things look like they are really there

brash_stryker said:

I'm using a PC with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Sounds good.  I'm using a mac with Final Cut, but most of the concepts are the same.  My personal advice would be to get a rough cut of the movie made so you can test pacing, plausibility, etc.  then, once you have that, work with sfx problems you know can be solved (ie. seen it done before) and find out how they were done.  You may learn enough from that to figure out what can be done in later scenes.  Basically, the more focused you are on a single problem, the more likely you are to get the exact help you need.

shanerjedi said:

Another great thing about your edit is that it also turns the jedi into detectives who suspect something is up and they're going to Kamino to find out about it.

By moving up the emergency powers act, you've also kept the momentum going because the assassination attempts just happened. In the existing film, they were presented so late and so far after the assassination attempts it just seemed to languish.

Are Padme and Anakin already gone to Naboo in your edit brash?

Yeah. Immediately after Anakin and Padme take off for Naboo, we get the tweaked senate scene and then the scene of the two of them aboard the ship on its way to Naboo.

TheTome said:

Sounds good.  I'm using a mac with Final Cut, but most of the concepts are the same.  My personal advice would be to get a rough cut of the movie made so you can test pacing, plausibility, etc.  then, once you have that, work with sfx problems you know can be solved (ie. seen it done before) and find out how they were done.  You may learn enough from that to figure out what can be done in later scenes.  Basically, the more focused you are on a single problem, the more likely you are to get the exact help you need.

Well the rough cut is already done. I just need to add wipes and such (and I don't yet know how to do so with the same feathered edge as seen in the rest of the movie) then there's the sound to sort out, and I wouldn't know where to begin with creating a 5.1 mix. I've only worked with the centre audio channel so far (I'd assumed it would be easy to duplicate the cuts for the different channels down the line).

After that, it's all After Effects for the crawl, compositing, deleting, recolouring. Again I'm a bit lost with how to do any of this. If anyone can point me to some useful tutorials, that'd be great.

Well the rough cut is already done. I just need to add wipes and such (and I don't yet know how to do so with the same feathered edge as seen in the rest of the movie) then there's the sound to sort out, and I wouldn't know where to begin with creating a 5.1 mix. I've only worked with the centre audio channel so far (I'd assumed it would be easy to duplicate the cuts for the different channels down the line).

Well I personally never bothered making a 5.1 mix as my audio is so mashed together there would be no point, but if you can figure it out, more power too you.  As for the wipes, what you do in Final Cut (may be the same as Premiere) is to create your wipe, then there is a slider on the filter settings for border.  Crank it up a bit, creating a big thick black line.  Then you can turn on feathering.  Hopefully you can figure something out from that.

Also, on a side note, I'm currently removing young Boba from my edit, and replacing Jango, with Boba.  He'll still have the blue suit, but heres a quick clip of the word Jango being removed.  It's a bit rough, and if I can't smooth it out he'll simply be known as "Fett"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJAb4l6P80s

Very nice! I did something very similar in my edit, where he just says "a bounty hunter called Fett"

If I can find a way, I'll be removing the name altogether. We only ever hear his name in that fan service moment in ROTJ anyway, when Han goes "boba fett? where?"

He's more of a mystery man if we never get a name and he's only ever referred to as "bounty hunter".

All those pictures look great, but I really love the top one. It looks real and not so in your face orange.

Also, I like your idea of removing boba from the movie. What would you do with him for the Geo battle?

I don't know about TheTome, but "Boba" won't be seen on Geonosis in my edit. He leads Obi Wan there (under Sidious' orders) but has nothing to do with Dooku. Them being associated makes the Jedi look stupid and also is incompatible with an edit where Dooku is a good person.

Well my plan for "Boba" is as follows.

1. When Zev is shot by the dart, her dying words are "Fett"  much like in attack of the phantom how she said Kamino Star System.

2. This mean that when Obi is on Kamino and hears of Fett he becomes suspicious, calls yoda, and is told to bring him for questioning. 

3. Obi goes to find Boba on the landing platform and recognizes the outfit (and the fact Boba is shooting at him :P )

4. Boba gets away, but Obi follows him to Geonosis.

5. His part in the battle is the same, but when he jumps down to fight Mace he drives him back slightly, leading to the footage of all the jedi being rounded up.  The Republic Army attacks, and Boba is not seen again till Empire.

In order to pull this off I've completely removed the scene where Obi meets Boba/Jango in their room, matted young boba out of every shot in Geonosis, and I'm currently matting Jango's helmet on top of his head so we never once see his face.

Here's a test clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LehtVEd-cTI

This clip is an early proof of concept, so the picture quality changes a bit as it goes on, but the general effect is there.

TheTome said:

Well my plan for "Boba" is as follows.

1. When Zev is shot by the dart, her dying words are "Fett"  much like in attack of the phantom how she said Kamino Star System.

2. This mean that when Obi is on Kamino and hears of Fett he becomes suspicious, calls yoda, and is told to bring him for questioning.

3. Obi goes to find Boba on the landing platform and recognizes the outfit (and the fact Boba is shooting at him :P )

4. Boba gets away, but Obi follows him to Geonosis.

5. His part in the battle is the same, but when he jumps down to fight Mace he drives him back slightly, leading to the footage of all the jedi being rounded up.  The Republic Army attacks, and Boba is not seen again till Empire.

In order to pull this off I've completely removed the scene where Obi meets Boba/Jango in their room, matted young boba out of every shot in Geonosis, and I'm currently matting Jango's helmet on top of his head so we never once see his face.

Here's a test clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LehtVEd-cTI

This clip is an early proof of concept, so the picture quality changes a bit as it goes on, but the general effect is there.

 

I'm not sure where you are going here.

Is Fett just a bounty hunter hired by the Separatists (no link to the clones) in which case why is he acting as a bodyguard and what is he doing on Geonosis?

If Fett is still linked to the clones why do the Jedi use the clone army? It's the main area of stupidity that ruins AOTC (along with the badly handled romance).

I agree that Fett should be Boba and should remain covered up but being the link between both sides of Palpatine's fake war makes the Jedi look so rubbish that they almost deserve to get their arses kicked.

TheTome said:

and I'm currently matting Jango's helmet on top of his head so we never once see his face.

 

I've considered doing this but I always assumed it would be impossible to do in motion.

It would be easier to replace him entirely either with footage from elsewhere in the saga or with new footage of someone else in a suit.

Bingowings said:

I'm not sure where you are going here.

Is Fett just a bounty hunter hired by the Separatists (no link to the clones) in which case why is he acting as a bodyguard and what is he doing on Geonosis?

If Fett is still linked to the clones why do the Jedi use the clone army? It's the main area of stupidity that ruins AOTC (along with the badly handled romance).

I agree that Fett should be Boba and should remain covered up but being the link between both sides of Palpatine's fake war makes the Jedi look so rubbish that they almost deserve to get their arses kicked.

 

I should clarify. For my edit I'm turning the PT into a mini-series. A collection of half hour episodes, each with their own crawl, roughly 4 for each movie.  For AOTC, the first 30min chunk:

"Padme is attacked, then makes her anti war speach, then is protected, the assassin's dying words are "Fett", Amidala is sent into hiding, the Senate votes to create an army, obi wan is sent to kamino to inspect an army."

The second 30 min chunk will have it's own crawl stating that Kamino is a planet of cloners who create armies for hire. (this means they already have armies made) the Republic then orders all of their units, and commission more.

During the story, obiwan will end up in kamino, inspect the troups, and learn they were created from a host called "Fett" (no mention of unaltered clone).  Obiwan will recognize the name fett from the assasin's dying words, and try to bring him for questioning.

This allows for a couple of things.  Firstoff, since the armies are already built as part of their regular business, then they exist before the Republic needs them, it makes the fact that Fett is involved with both Kamino and Geonosis seem like it could actually be a coincidence.   He is a bounty hunter, he probably does all sorts of things for money, (ie. act as a host for the Kamino, and during the time he lives there, taking on other odd jobs such as assassinating a Senator) so there is no real need for the Jedi to be too suspicious.

This makes Palpatine seem smarter too.  He gets Fett to be a host, and makes a deal with the Kamino to have Order-66 implanted.  He then secretly creates the Separatist Movement (with Dooku's help) giving him cause to create an army, and with the help of corrupt politicians, they decide to buy one from Kamino.  The Jedi see nothing wrong with buying an army from an group of people who job it is to create armies for a living, and go along with it.  Therefore they have no idea anything is amiss until it's too late.

Yeah, thats what your going to have to do, is use footage of Fett already seen in the movies. It would be way to hard to try and copy and paste a helmet on his head in motion.

Ghost said:

Yeah, thats what your going to have to do, is use footage of Fett already seen in the movies. It would be way to hard to try and copy and paste a helmet on his head in motion.

Actually, his head doesn't move much in any of the shots with his helmet off.  He just stands in the background and does nothing.  The only exception to this is when he is talking with Obi-Wan on Kamino, but I've axed that scene, solving the problem. I'll post a clip of all Fett's scenes in my edit once I have all the footage completed.

The Phantom Menace:

It needs more than an axing of midis and less Jar Jar. It needs less people standing around and talking for one thing.

It also needs a driving narrative that takes us from one location to a new one and then another new one, and so on. It needs a forward momentum to it. TPM just stops in places: the jedi on Naboo take forever to warn the Queen, the loooong podrace, and parts of Coruscant drag. They could all be trimmed.

I'm also for preserving OT characters for their proper first appearances like the Tuskens. Reducing them to comics in their first appearance in the saga diminishes their threat later in ANH. Same with Jabba.

Make Tatooine something different for TPM than what it was for the OT. Set up things. Add some history and deeper meaning to what we will see in ANH and just accepted at face value.

Maybe it was a world ruled by a gang of criminal slavers led by Watto that Qui-Gon bankrupts in the podrace bets, leading to the rise of the Hutts to fill the void?

All true shaner. I truely believe the story is there to show a great movie, it will just take alot of work. I can not wait for TPM R.

Indeed, the Phantom Menace still has some promise. One thing I ended up doing was removing Darth Maul from Tatooine, so that the first time the Jedi actually run into him is on Naboo. Cuts a lot of runtime, and surprisingly, the plot doesn't miss him.  

It also helps move the whole Coruscant section along as it's simply one less thing for everyone to talk about. All the while, it makes the Jedi seem a little nicer, as they're going to Naboo to protect the Queen, not to use her as bait.

Avatar said:

what ever happened to...Cade Skywalker and his fantastic color corrections

I second this. His colour corrections were amazing. I'd love to know exactly what he did so I can do the same in my edit. I'm going to be starting from scratch in another program soon, so doing a global colour correction first before getting stuck in seems like a good idea.

Again, it's something I don't understand enough about though. I need an idiot's guide!

brash_stryker said:

Avatar said:

what ever happened to...Cade Skywalker and his fantastic color corrections

I second this. His colour corrections were amazing. I'd love to know exactly what he did so I can do the same in my edit. I'm going to be starting from scratch in another program soon, so doing a global colour correction first before getting stuck in seems like a good idea.

Again, it's something I don't understand enough about though. I need an idiot's guide!

I'm still alive. I just don't have time to do this since college. I promise to post a detailed howto (it's not really that difficult, those were some of my first color corrections ever) when I have some time.

It'd be amazing if Ady'd upload his after effects project/preset (or whatever) for each prequel film so that anyone can have a colour corrected version to work with without having to rip from his AVCHD (which would result in a loss of quality when it comes to reediting I assume)

I'm planning to do a more radical colour correction in places, but it would be great to have a film to work with that's not tinted mauve throughout.

It's not that i'm too lazy to colour correct myself. I just don't know where to start.

It'd be the actual project file then, no? I've always figured that After Effects is a lot like Premiere in that the project file doesn't actually contain a copy of the movie itself, but rather the information of what to do with it.

Am I wrong?

No, your right, they work the same.  It will have all the effects you create in it though.

I would also personally recommend you do all your color correction last.  I'm in the middle of color correcting and it's true, you need to do each scene individually, sometimes each shot, and there is no sense color correcting the entire movie if you plan to cut, say, 20 minutes of it.  Finish the edit, transitions, and special effects to match the original color then color correct it.