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Long time lurker, new poster here. Hello!
So, most edits I tend to find are typically sub-HD and often sub-DVD quality, and while I definitely admire all of the hard work put into these edits, it makes them difficult to watch. Besides just the resolution it’s also the bitrate. This is understandable because a lot of the widely available edits are pretty old.
So, I have a bunch of free time on my hands. I’m currently employed where I can work at home and have been wanting to do a fan edit ever since I was 16, but my skills with Premiere and Vegas were not where they are now. I also was worried about sound. I myself am a freelance audio engineer (occupation wise, also a musician but that’s not my job) and now have the experience to make an edit that is all around consistent, since cuts are really rough usually are the fault of the soundtrack.
So, I have an outline for an edit idea and perhaps you guys could suggest some things, as I haven’t fully fleshed it out yet. My planned edit is largely inspired by Topher Grace’s edit, however I will only be combining episodes I and II. With III, the changes I have to make are pretty minimal, as the CG is far better, the source is better and overall the film is not as plagued. Mainly that would involve removing scenes such as unnecessary “romance” dialogue between Anakin and Padme, changing the pacing a bit to make it flow better, truncating or trimming certain dialogue and scenes (i.e. removal of “get help, he’s a sith lord”, “NOOOOOOOOOO”, trimming “only a sith deals in absolutes” to just “I will do what I must”…same goes for the other films with things like “I don’t like sand”, etc.) and finally re-inserting some things I felt were inappropriately removed from the film, such as the meeting (at least the latter half) where Padme, Organa and co. discuss the beginning of the Rebellion.
But this is more about episodes I and II. I’d like to combine them (properly), resulting in a total of five films and the removal of a bunch of filler. I’d like to re-insert scenes like the one where Padme talks about that species that died while she and Anakin are in her bedroom on Naboo, but I don’t believe or know if that exists in HD. Some things I might have to upscale so likely I’m going for a solid, 720p image - high bitrate, compressed properly to an MKV. If I end up not using upscaled footage often, then it’ll likely be 1080p.
So with TPM I have a rough idea how I’m going to order it. Topher’s edit presumably begins with the duel on Theed, however I was probably going to bump it back to Tatooine and start it around there, removing some Lloyd-isms and making Anakin a functional character as opposed to annoying. Was also likely going to edit the destruction of the Trade Federation ship so that Anakin is never shown to be flying the starfighter, and finally I planned on removing the big CG battle between the gungans and droids entirely (though if that goes, the space part might as well). Finally, I would be re-organizing it so that the “ending multiplication effect” doesn’t occur and these events occur with minimal cuts back and forth and moreso in a sequence. The ending would likely be the funeral, and the fire would fade into the beginning of AOTC, with some sort of “x years later” caption, or the actual date BBY.
With Attack of The Clones though, I’m not sure how exactly to order it. I’ve always seen the movie to be fine from the start up until the point where Obi-Wan finds the toxic dart: then it all just goes down hill. The ending is something that might be necessary, but it looks horrible. I’d have to modify the appearance heavily to make it look realistic. It’s a similar situation with Kamino - I’d like to include it so that I could include Fett, but it looks really fake. I definitely would like to include Tatooine because past the beginning, I’ve always seen this as the most redeemable part of the film, however because of the changes I’d like to make I have no idea how exactly to get us there while still covering Obi-Wan’s point of view so it all fits when they appear later on Geonosis. Cutting the assembly line sequence, cutting 3PO being an idiot (and possibly the whole arena sequence to begin with, though I’m not sure), and possibly cutting the Yoda and Dooku lightsaber fight, having him put Obi-wan and Anakin’s lives in danger during the force sequence so as to save Yoda with a lightsaber for episode III, where I think it truly would have had a greater impact and fit better - a situation of desperation, a need to destroy Palpatine, not the beginning of a war because as Yoda has stated, wars do not make one great. An attempt I might make that would require a lot of work would be to remove young Boba Fett and have Jango referred to as just “Fett”, as to imply this is just a younger Boba with different colored armor and whatnot considering the age of his actor in the OT and the time lapse not being too great. If I end up doing that, he will no longer fly off into the arena (again, if that’s included) but instead retreat from the arena. Either that or simply have the young Boba Fett implied, or simply have very few speaking lines, likely just “Dad, Taun We is here” and his laugh in Slave I after “well, we won’t be seeing him again”. Though his actor was far less annoying than Jake Lloyd, I find lines like “what is it, Dad?” to be inappropriate for Boba - he’s better than that, he would know something’s up without having to say something before being told to pack his things.
Though I’m not sure of anything just yet. What I would like to ask is for a little bit of help regarding Attack of The Clones - how should I sequence it? What’s a typical sequence and what do you guys prefer the most? What scenes do you/don’t you like? This would help me to infer a proper pattern that would appeal to most people. Input would be appreciated, thanks.
If episode II ends up just not being salvageable at all, then at any rate I will still be doing an edit of episode III for pacing, dialogue and whatnot in HD.