Ambitious RotJ Edit (* unfinished project *)

Hi everyone, this will be my first fan edit if I go ahead with it.  I have sat and watched RotJ and made a big list of everything I would like to do with it.  Some parts are pretty basic and others are going to be a lot more difficult.  For example, I want to set the fight between Vader and Luke on Coruscant instead of on the death star, though this will only mean changing the establishing shots and the view from the windows from space to sky, so I don’t think this will be too bad.  More ambitious parts will be making it as it it was opening up the sequel trilogy (episodes 7-9), and removing the ewoks.

People might think I’m mad to leave it open ended given that I can hardly try to create an episode 7, but hey, no point in aiming small is there.  Likewise to removing the ewoks.  They should have been wookiees, so I’m happy to try to replace them with wookiees, or alternatively to try to add more rebel soldiers so it just looks like the rebels won without the help of anyone else (ideally it would have more wookiees though).

So I just thought I would create this to keep everyone updated with my progress, and also to see what you guys think of my ideas so far.  If anyone has any advice or suggestions I would love to hear them.

If you haven't already it might assist your ambitious edit to click on the wishlist linked into my signature.

I will be very interested in seeing your results.

Yeah I have had a look there thanks.  Another of the things I had thought about which I noticed on that list too was adding Mara Jade to Jabba's Palace, which I have already started making mock ups for. 

One thing I am stuck on though is I wanted to make it so the Emporer is still alive at the end so he would remain the villian until Episode 9 (hypothetically), however, I cannot decide how to have it so Vader dies, turns good, and Luke escapes without the Emporer dying.  Any ideas?

To be honest I'm not too keen on the clone bodies idea (well technically that's not entirely true, I just don't really like the idea of Palpatine being a clone because it seems like its too convenient to always just bring back the big bad guy then), but if I can't avoid it then I may just go with it as a way to complete the edit.  However, so far I was thinking that it could be editted to look like Vader picks Palpatine up, but then if instead of throwing him, I cut a bit to where vader is barely supporting himself on the rail thing, and try to add the lightning effect and a clip of Palpatine standing again, then it might look more like he is finishing Vader off.  I think it would be a little jumpy but I would rather have a jumpy edit that tells a better story to be honest.  The problem with this idea is that Luke would then still be at the mercy of the Emporer, unless he runs off, which means no saving Vader.  So yeah still a bit stuck on that idea.

With regards to the wookiees there is definitely not enough footage from RotS to edit out the ewoks properly.  That is why I am going to look for as many places to add shots of static wookiees as possible, and also try to make it look like they are firing from behind trees and suchlike, to minimise the need to show them moving around as the footage just doesn't exist.  Also I'm looking at other films for clips of footsoldiers in a forest setting that could be used to expand the rebel forces so they don't seem quite so outnumbered. 

I'll try to update with some mock ups soon.  Oh and thanks for the heads up on Judge Dredd, I'll check it out. 

Well with the ewoks problem I'm going to start by cutting the ewoks out as much as possible.  Then I'm going to work in as many additional troops clips as I can.  Then I'm going to try to incorporate as many of the wookiee shots as I can, but the problem here is that there aren't really any to work with.  In RotS there are really only a few seconds worth of usable shots, and even these will require a fair bit of work.  There is at least one clip from the Force Unleashed game where the wookiees are celebrating so I'm going to try to use that after the rebel victory.  Other than that I don't know of any other sources of clips with wookiees so I will see what I can do with regards to recolouring and reusing the clips to try to expand it a little, however even then it isn't going to look great without expanding the original material.  I also havent found any clips from other non star wars films that would be suitable, but if anyone has any suggestions I'm happy to hear them.

So to get round this I was thinking there are many shots where we see stormtroopers or rebel troops firing, and then it cuts away, and really there is very little movement, so I'm hoping to replicate this style of shot for the wookiees.  Also when Han and co first enter the bunker, we see the forest behind them, here I will also add in some wookiees and other troops, again to create the illussion (because that is all any of this really is) of a large strike team. 

As for Coruscant, there is a shot of some tie fighters approaching the surface of the death star which I noted as a possible change to have them approach Coruscant, and I'm hoping to create a new shot showing the Emporer's palace as being quite high, so that the majority of the views from the windows behind the Emporer will just be sky, though this could change.  I hadn't really considered trying to make it mesh perfectly with the Coruscant from the Prequels because I don't think bringing RotJ in line with the PT would help to improve it.  To be honest the name was the only thing I had really decided to keep, and even that is open to change. 

The first motion clips I'm working on will be mostly rough cuts to see how well playing around with the storyline can work so I'm not sure if I'll upload those, however, the images I've been working on are more to give a feel of the changes to how things will look, so they have a bit more to show I think.  Either way I will keep you all updated with the successes and the problems as they happen. 

Thanks again everyone.

Thanks for that.  That actually looks a lot like the tower in the clip I mentioned.  Heres a picture.

I think I'll have to pla around with it a little, particularly the colours, to make it look a little more planet and a little less space station.  But I think it is a good starting point. 

I played around with the colours a little (only very quick experiment) to give an idea of how it could look if it is used as the planet.

I'm thinking that dark area to the right could become some sort of water feature too.  Just a quick mock up.  What do you think?

vaderios said:

Dark area=water feature? I want to see this. (coruscant has no water)

Ric Olie said:

The entire planet is one big city!

A city (and a song title) :

Coruscant is one big city in the prequels, but as this is an edit to make RotJ more in line with Episodes 4 and 5, then I have no need to listen to the prequels :)  Also cities often have water features. 

As for creating new shots such as a distant shot of the city before moving across that shot, I could do, to be honest I hadn't thought about it because if I decide to then it wont really be that hard, not compared to things like solving the wookiee problems and the ending, and making the script work with some of the altered scenes. 

Even if I manage to do all of those things I think it would still take ages to actually smooth it out with all the soundtrack and hope that the story was still explained enough to be ejoyable.  Oh well, we'll see.

The main problem is that no matter how you cut it the Death Star surface looks like the Death Star surface, if you drop in water it will look like the Death Star surface with water, if you paint in a sky it will look like the Death Star with a sky.

The PT (for all it's numerous faults) made the capital planet look visually interesting (even if the characters and the audience were short changed).

Seeing as it's already there you might as well use it and the available mattes etc.

Angel:  I get that you dislike the idea of static.  If it was a factor of laziness then I would too, but with the case of the wookiees I think it would be the best of a bad situation. With regards to the water on Coruscant then no that wouldnt be static (though to be honest in that brief clip a still water surface wouldn't really show much movement). 

As for the death star still looking like the death star, there is probably a lot more that could be done here, it was only a very quick mock up to show that a colour change could make a lot of difference, I will have a look at some of the Coruscant clips from the PT and see if I can improve this to look different enough to be passable. 

Thanks again for the feedback guys. 

Well so far I've just been using VirtualDub to do some quick cuts to play around with the way the scenes work.  I have After Effects which I will be using for most of the video, along with Paintshop Pro to play around with any images I need.  A big issue for me will be the audio side of things because I have never done any audio editing at all whereas I have a little video, and a lot of image experience. 

I'm going to have a go at turning that little clip into Coruscant so fingers crossed and I'll let you know how I get on.

I have contacted two people with amazing Wookiee costumes, so far one declined to help and the other has not yet replied, however, I will persue this as and when i find more people with top quality costumes.  Hopefully someone will be able to help. 

Thanks for the tips on those too.  I have been working my way through various fan films and game clips in the hope of finding some useable shots, again with very limited success so far (but there is so much to go through that it will just take time).  Likewise with Clone Wars (though I have only seen season 1, so will be sure to check out season 2).

Thanks again Angel.