Star Wars: Renascent *** NOW AVAILABLE!!! *** — Page 49

The Aluminum Falcon said:

By the way, photocactivist, I liked your Ewokless ROTJ. Ever plan a full DVD?

You saw my Ewokless!? Wow... my one fan. Thank you!
Actually, my original production of it was a dvd. Shall I upload it?

A-Man, I'll totally be willing to help out if you want to coordinate some kind of data exchange through the post. Depending on what editing program you used and the size of the raw footage, maybe I can mail you an external drive to dump it all on and I can whip up an MKV for you.

Why not just rip the footage from the DVD once it's up to make an MKV? The footage I was working with was all 720x360 anyways. Only difference is that the digital copy I made is an MP4 and in Stereo.

Guys please remember that you won't be able to skip ahead in the MP4 file unless your computer is VERY powerful, so be sure that if you want to watch it, you either watch it all at once, pause the video when necessary, or convert the file. Again, for some reason it won't let you jump forward. If you want the viewing experience I meant for everyone to see, please wait for the DVD release (which is also in surround sound). Consider the MP4 as a kind of "Theatrical Release" where it's meant to be viewed as a preview and in one sitting.

To those of you who've downloaded the Digital Copy, please post a review so people will have an idea of whether or not this is an edit they should spend their time watching. I'll begin uploading the DVD parts tonight after work.

Asteroid-Man said:

Why not just rip the footage from the DVD once it's up to make an MKV? The footage I was working with was all 720x360 anyways. Only difference is that the digital copy I made is an MP4 and in Stereo.

I can...   but it's always better to get it from the raw footage, if possible. DVD is such a $*&(#^ in my opinion. I started all my original editing with it, and have seen time and time again how it loses quality depending on the size, the generation of re-edits, and length...  The transcoding process always seems to leave me unimpressed, which I found out over two years of editing together the Back To The Future trilogy.

Your call, budd. We're all your faithful supporters, and just want to basque in the glory that is Asteroidiness.
But I really don't have a problem with doing some penpal assistance, if you're interested.

So, did I miss the links? Because if it's up for download, I'm all over this like women on me.

photoactivist said:

Asteroid-Man said:

Why not just rip the footage from the DVD once it's up to make an MKV? The footage I was working with was all 720x360 anyways. Only difference is that the digital copy I made is an MP4 and in Stereo.

I can...   but it's always better to get it from the raw footage, if possible. DVD is such a $*&(#^ in my opinion. I started all my original editing with it, and have seen time and time again how it loses quality depending on the size, the generation of re-edits, and length...  The transcoding process always seems to leave me unimpressed, which I found out over two years of editing together the Back To The Future trilogy.

Your call, budd. We're all your faithful supporters, and just want to basque in the glory that is Asteroidiness.
But I really don't have a problem with doing some penpal assistance, if you're interested.

So, did I miss the links? Because if it's up for download, I'm all over this like women on me.

I just feel that sending a harddrive would be a tad bit unnecessary. I can send you a 5.1 audio file though if you'd like. The MP4 is about 90% the video quality of the DVD (just so you know, the original project is file was made to fit the DVD specifications EXACTLY so the quality on the DVD is the quality I had in the project timeline). I'm going to upload the AC3 file now and then PM you the link.

The Aluminum Falcon said:

I've watched part of it so far, and, from what I've seen, it's quite excellent. The new description screens that preface the ANH footage and AOTC footage do seem a bit digital but have a somewhat ancient feel... which fits since this all takes place a long time ago. Your color treatment of AOTC seems nice and helps dull down the obvious CGI backgrounds, etc. The Senate scene actually works pretty well and I'm surprised it's not in more fan edits. ANH looks excellent by the way. I'll put down further thoughts about it later.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. Just so you know, the sepiah look of AOTC is only in the opening segment, and the first and last few seconds of following segments. I didn't want the colour change to be too distracting. Also, when ANH and AOTC are cut back and forth into a segment, the sepia to AOTC is no longer there as I wanted to blur the timeline to make it seem as though everything flows together.

46fleetline said:

i do not know how to join files or do computer stuff like this.i only have a 2gig computer as it is. the part 2 said 500mb, i didn't get part 1, but did get part 3, so if i get part 1, i will not be able to view do to low power. my hyperdrive may not be big enough.

There is NO WAY you have a 2GB harddrive... you probably have 2GB of RAM. And the DVD (Discs 1+2) is about 11GB.

46fleetline said:

well, i'll just have to wait for the dvd. awesome covers though a-man, great pictorial presentations.

Thank you! I was actually into Graphic Design before I got in to Video Editing. :P

The Aluminum Falcon said:

All right, well I saw the whole thing and here are my thoughts. To preface this, I must say that I loved the narrative style of this edit. The Godfather II-style works here: a story of similar fathers and sons. I took notes while watching this so here they are:

This was actually surprisingly good quality for an MP4 considering it's small size and large compression. While I was watching, the video blacked out two times for a few seconds once when Vader was talking to Leia and again when Anakin and Padme arrive on Geonosis. I'm not sure if this was just my computer glitching and I couldn't go back to see if it was because of the nature of this MP4. Also when they arrived on Tattooine, I thought I saw a flash frame but this might just be my imagination. One other technical thing I noticed was that the alien captions varied between ANH and AOTC. The AOTC alien captions were the plain DVD subtitle track captions while the Greedo captions were hardcoded; I don't think this could be helped though unless you created new captions exactly like Adywan's.

 

That's weird about the blackouts... I'll go double check them (I'm on my laptop right now). And regarding the subtitles, I could do much because they were stamped on the files when I ripped them.

While watching, I thought that the AOTC speeder chase looked slightly color corrected to look more real, so it seemed less CGI-like; in any case, I did enjoy it here because of the Classic OT music you inserted at the beginning of it as well as the precise excising of the CGI shennanigans. Speaking of music, all of the added music was utterly fantastic and achieved an alternate mood, which I believe was your intention. Some scenes, in particular that were improved, are R2D2's capture by the Jawas which is now more menacing, the Death Star round table sequence, and absolutely especially all the sequences during Geonosis, which now were filled with excitement and suspense as opposed to before when John William's rather luckluster score was all to be heard. The only music addition which seemed a bit too sudden and a tad rough to me was the Imperial March during Vader's entrance. It seemed very sudden.

The AOTC speeder chase was one of the scenes I used from Reborn. I had to make slight adjustments to the audio to allow it to flow into the edit a little better (some aspects of that sequence were too quiet). And yeah I see what you're saying regarding Vader's entrance. I tried so so hard to try and make that one work. I played with it so much - including rebuilding all of the sound effects in the scene. I think the issue was that the song which came before it had a fraction of the instruments used in the Imperial March, so it's transition was obvious. Either way, I thought it essential to have Vader's theme in there. It's just too bad there isn't a less powerful brass take of it.

The love between Anakin and Padme now seems genuine and there appears to be chemistry between the two actors. I was a bit surprised at the new scene but it worked, and it made the promise not to fall in love mentioned at the end all the more effective. Also, not being distracted by Ewan MacGregor at the cloning facility was a definite plus. When Anakin and Padme leave the ship on Geonosis and are immediately apprehended, it was a very good move to cut the conveyor belt scene, as it's unnecessary action; however, I was surprised to see the tail end of it rather than the alternate negotiations deleted scene presented on the DVD.

That love scene was another brilliant clip from Reborn. Again, I had to play around a little with the audio for it to fit a little better. Unfortunately though, the difference in audio quality in this scene and the rest of the edit is a little noticeable in surround sound (as I had to take their stereo clip and work it into a surround mix). I tried to delete as much non-Anakin/Luke stuff as possible, and getting rid of the Kamino plot I thought was essential as it was just so confusing and all over the place - instead I thought having the deleted senate scene would make it seem as though the army was already there just its use was being debated. Also, I had the negotiations scene in at first but the pacing got very weird, so I got rid of it.

The Phantom Menace clips were a bit surprising; I didn't expect them. The green tint was personally a bit much for me, but I found I got more used to it the second time I saw a TPM clip. Anyway, as AOTC and ANH transition, it is very effective and I like it later when they seem to be one narrative and flow more together, as you put it. An early transition I did like was between Anakin killing sandpeople and the Death Star; it seemed to suggest how evil in the past leads to evil in the future, very Godfather II like. The only (IMO) awkward transition was when the AOTC timeline suddenly jumped back to the bar where they were chasing the Zam. Granted it goes well with the Cantina, but it seems odd to go back in one timeline. This did not deter my enjoyment though.

With the Phantom Menace scenes I was trying to make them look like very damaged footage to reflect Anakin's damaged memories. And that Anakin to Death Star bit was another Reborn sequence, including the whore Mirrored Losses. :P In terms of cutting back for the cantina scene I've gotten a lot of hate for that one haha. One of my favourite films is "The Following" and seeing the editing style there made me think I should do it, and I'm actually quite happy I did it. I know 90% of viewers will find it weird, but hey what can I say? I'm a sucker for Nolan films. :P

Also, I was surprised that you cut the "I care" scene since it made Luke a little less light-hearted and more grieved. This actually accentuated his likeness to Anakin and was a pretty good change; Luke seems more sullen like his father. Also, forgive me since I was momentarily distracted while watching this; did you cut out Han's "May the force be with you."? If so, it's further effective in altering Luke; I was actually surprised you didn't go as far as to cut out the TIE fighter scene.

As far as I can remember, the "May the force be with you" is still in there. And I considered cutting down the TIE fighter scene but then I felt like it was the Holy Grail of Star Wars and that I'd better not touch it - so I added new music instead. :P

Now onto my most favorite parts of this. I liked how the protocol droid in Geonosis is not C-3P0. Your voice modulation clearly pointed this out; you can assume he's just a droid of Padme's and it works since we didn't see him at the Lars Farm. I also liked Obi-Wan's death; it's very powerful how the music overpowers everything and there's no dialogue. It also makes it a bit surprising when Obi-Wan talks to Luke in the X-Wing from beyond the grave. You felt Luke was more sad there and also switching to AOTC seemed to allow Luke to grieve longer and not suddenly be happy when destroying an X-Wing. In short, good music and good version of the scene! I really did love the scene where Ben describes Vader. The tint and the distortion on Vader's face fits perfectly and those who don't know would not suspect it's Anakin. The music works fantastically too.

The bit about Ob-Wan's death was actually inspired by Gandalf's death from Lord of the Rings, which (as you mentioned) made his return that much more surprising. (Also I appreciate you not spoiling how that following AOTC segments ends. :P)

However, the absolute end-all best part of this edit for me is the Owen and Beru/Shmi deaths which you have successfully blended. The effect on the video was great and showed the emotional turmoil both main characters were suffering. The music was emotionally overwhelming in this one and it was perhaps the greatest parallel of father and son. For me personally, it was just as powerful as the christening/assassination scene in the first Godfather.

As I mentioned above, the "Mirrored Deaths" was from Reborn, and it was actually that clip that made me really excited for this kind of fan-edit. I'm so grateful that TJ and InfoDroid gave us fan-editors permission to use their clips.

So, those are all my thoughts about the edit! I really did love it and can't wait to see the full DVD version... It's a fantastic reimagining and retelling of the Star Wars story in it's own right.

I'm glad you liked it. I'm also so incredibly relieved that you liked the new music - I thought that would be the first change people would not like as it sets out a different feel. Originally I was going to reconstruct the entire sound scape and insert an entirely new soundtrack, but I decided against it, as many of Williams's scores should not be touched. :P Also, how long are those blackouts you mentioned?

Aw, you are indeed correct about that flash-frame. Unfortunately, I won't be going back to re-render everything just for one frame. In looking at the project file I also noticed that this was a glitch on Vegas's end. No matter where I try to cut that part, that flashframe jumps in at the end. I think it's because I had to edit the timing on the landing and the frame-count was slightly off so it kept that in for some reason. I don't see those black parts that you mentioned (not on the DVD or the original WMV (which was converted into the MP4)). I can't skip through the MP4 to check, but it seems as though it was just an error on your computer's end. I hadn't seen them and I didn't see them in the WMV, MPEG2, project file, or the VOB.

Oh sweet! Could you check on those black screens that TAF mentioned?

Alright I think we're in the safe then. Sorry TAF, looks like your comp just malfunctioned. :P