Star Wars Episode II: The Galaxy Divided (The Brash Cut) - CANCELLED — Page 15

Thanks for your help! =)

Slowly.....lol. I've been tinkering with certain scenes in After Effects - frame by frame rotoscoping without the rotobrush tool (as that only really works when the edges are clearly defined and the scene isn't very dark) but still don't have the hang of it yet. It's the colour correction that's the biggest pain. I don't know how other people do it. I wish someone could release a lossless source video that's already been colour graded. I've also started a secret side project which I'm hesitant to announce on the forums at this early stage so I'm dividing my time between the two.

You're too smart for me, euroherbal. Here's the latest still from Howard the Duck: The Brash Cut.

brash_stryker said:

Exactly. If you spend all your time doing something you're gonna get tired and lose passion for it. That's why I've been taking a break from my own edit, but sort of getting back into it now.

So what's up, man? How's everything?

Well I've had a massive break from the project as learning all the after effects stuff along with colour correction was really daunting. Plus I have a faddy personality and various disparate hobbies (all of them geeky :p)

I've been getting back into the edit in the last couple of weeks though. I'm really getting to grips with the rotobrush tool in AE now and am working on a shot that has the potential to be pretty amazing even though it lasts only a second. Once I've put something presentable together, I'll post samples.

brash_stryker said:

... Once I've put something presentable together, I'll post samples.

Awesome! Can't wait!

Can't wait for the samples too!

Geez im new to the forums and your stuff was the first ive discovered and im intrigued with pretty much everything your doing. this edit looks promising from what ive seen.

I really appreciated the COMI reference too. Glad to see others on this forum are fans :)

Akwat Kbrana said:

Welcome, Bloodnose. Love the username and avatar. (Is that by any chance a highly sophisticated beard-weave made from the chest and back hair of real pirates?) ;)

I'm hoping it will take root if i dont wash it for a while.

im actually surprised there are so many of us.

Any noteworthy progress, Brash?

I apologise for the lack of updates. There's been a lot of issues halting progress on my edit. I've been tinkering sporadically but didn't think an update was justified. I've moved into a house where I have barely any room for my computer, I'm trying to run a business from home (as the economy and job situation are so messed up that the only other alternative would be working in Tesco part time for less money - which I did for a while, but realised I was worse off) so my bedroom also looks like a small warehouse with cardboard boxes stacked to the ceiling. 

The entire edit has been quite discouraging overall as it's ultimately an unfixable film without a lot of refilming, but I've stated from the get go that I consider my edit more of a 'proof of concept' than anything else. I hope that when someone more ambitious comes along who's got the support/resources to shoot new scenes, that my edit will be there as a handy reference for what I hope will be considered some great changes.

I'm utilising the voice of an OT.com member for redubbing Anakin and hopefully adding new dialogue, so this should hopefully go a long way towards making this a better film. 

I am working with an NTSC DVD source now (previously cut the whole thing on PAL 25FPS) so I'm gradually replicating all my cuts with the new framerate. The reason for doing this is, aside from the annoyance of PAL speedup, I'll now have a framerate in my project that matches the Blu Rays, so if I want to switch to those as a source at some point, I can. 

Also I've updated my title. I've been chewing it over for quite some time and have settled on 'THE GALAXY DIVIDED' thanks to some input from Bingowings quite some time ago. 

I could more or less have easily released this edit 2 years ago as it was just as polished as many other edits and more radically edited, but I judged it on the fact that I still wouldn't watch it myself, so it was back to the drawing board. I'm now on my 4th editing attempt from scratch. It's been improving...slowly but it's hard work getting good results from this mess of a film. 

It feels nice to be useful.

Actually, is it better if it's becomes "A Galaxy Divided" instead? I've just realised I've fallen into that trap of forcing it to start with "THE" just so it can mirror TESB. Ultimately I don't suppose it matters, does it?

Also I might be renaming it 'Episode 1' as if The Phantom Menace never happened. It depends how much there is to salvage in that film or how much of it can be utilised somehow in the other two. Does anyone have any thoughts? 

That way, episode 2 becomes about Anakin's fall and Episode 3 becomes about the formation of the Alliance/The Rise of the Empire (and someone can film the damn thing!) :)

The way I see it, if there's any material in one film that could fix the other two, I'd much rather have an incomplete trilogy with 2 decent films than a trilogy of still very flawed films.

The episode I idea is good. I've often thought about it myself, but in the context of an TPM/AOTC mashup, where padme fleeing naboo (without jedi) forms the first few minutes.

Just out of Interest, how is the work going on starting your own business? I also live in UK and the company I work for might not be around for much longer. Do you have a website? Maybe it could be a free plug hehe.

Also, do the Government give you a thousand pound or so for people starting up? I know this was the case a few years ago to encourage more business's being created but unsure about now.

Appreciate this is wildly off subject but thought I'd ask.

Hi Brash are there any updates on this project anytime soon?

Wouldn't you rather an update now? :p

Unfortunately not. Even in its current state, it's a lot more radical than most prequel edits out there, but I still won't release it like that, simply because even with all the changes I've made, I still wouldn't watch it myself.

Episode 2 is definitely the toughest of the prequels to crack. I dip back into it occasionally when I have time (which isn't that often anymore) but every time I do it's quite disheartening. This film is broken on a fundamental story level. (I must sound like a broken record saying that, but it's true).

So this won't be an "update" as such, but rather a recap of what some will have already seen, but other might have missed.

I've tried to fix Anakin and Obi's relationship somewhat. For instance, in the scene we're introduced to them. To cut all the whining out whilst still leaving some genuine "friend" moments is a challenge. The current version of that scene is here: - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv1Zfh244dI

Though some may notice that I've had to reverse a certain shot to get a proper smile from Obi (while he faces the same direction as the previous shot). This means that the elevator is travelling down just for that shot. 

Anyone with experience with Visual Effects might be able to correct these issues. As I've said all along, my edit is more a proof of concept on a pure story and character level. 

I may even end up releasing it with text saying things like "This effect here". "New shot here". "Redubbed dialogue" etc. 

I have toyed with some effects work, working purely with tutorials, however I was really out of my depth. This was one shot I tried tinkering with, which would explain why Boba Fett has a reputation for disintegrations. It was next to impossible to rotoscope this shot as the scene is so damn dark I couldn't see the outlines of the characters!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHHmM1nkjMA

Ultimately, the shot as it is isn't really long enough to showcase the effect. Again, someone who's an effects wizard might be able to create a whole new shot from existing elements. 

Here's one of my attempts at giving the speeder chase a more OT feel. This is a very rough early version of this scene and things like the end of the music not transitioning out properly have been fixed long ago. Also the music is louder than it should be just to see whether the music fits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK6iTx3it0c

I've rearranged the order of the movie, as showcased in this particular clip. I'm quite proud of Yoda's dialogue edit, but ultimately I don't think Yoda should be in the prequels AT ALL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49L3xzkZ3Pc

I've gone to great lengths trying to make Dooku a more sympathetic character, as seen in these 2 videos:

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

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

Choosing alternative music has been a lot of fun, and there's a particular track from the KOTOR 2 game that fitted perfectly for both the Clone reveal on Kamino and the Clone army at the end. Both tracks are variations of the same theme:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL9_JOrm0o8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eVNlF3wpdI