The Star Wars: The Lost Workprint (* unfinished project - lots of info *) — Page 8

RIJIR said:

One think I want to suggest to both "Lost Cut" creators is to possibly replace all the space battle scenes with footage of models/toys in their place.  Wasn't Lucas not pleased with the initial battle footage?  So replace it with raw scenes.  This would be for someone who is adventurous in order to make the edit more of a completely different film like the "Lost Cut" is supposed to be.

Just a suggestion.

 Nope (See first couple of pages).

I tried it for the first hour but it's just to much of a distraction. I had a B-17 as The Falcon for example. It would work for the dogfight at the end possibly but for a whole film it would be pretty tiresome. The true 'Lost Cut' just had black screens with the words "Cut to space battle" on them, which would make for boring viewing (Another faneditor is trying something along the Toys line but it's top secret).

(Think I've got that aborted V1-rough-cut first-hour around somewhere if anybody wants to see it)

BTW

Listening to lots of Classical music for score inspiration is loads of fun, makes me want to rescore the whole 6-films now ;-)

For example...

John Williams - Duel of the Fates

...equals...

Carl Orff - O Fortuna

(^ That observation isn't much use to this project though)

I've got 20 minutes done now (It's pretty quick work when I've cut this thing 3 times already). I'm making some great new choices I haven't thought of before. e.g. Leia now gives R2 the message in the heat of the battle. I think that's the way it was originally shot, as the material fits together perfectly in my new sequence. So now when R2 and C3PO are running across that dangerous blaster-bolt strewn corridor, they are already on their mission to get to the escape pod, adding nicely to the drama.

altobase said:

Good to know your still working on this. Your new version definitly seems like it will be more interesting to watch, even if further from what the actual lost cut would have been. The intercutting between luke on the ground and the space battle worked surprisingly well, far better than keeping them as separate scenes. I didn't really like that you cut the opening shot in two, but i guess you cant please everybody. Lets just hope theres no v5 and this gets completed one day.

 I had a eureka moment, that we have to cut to Luke first, the second that Stardestroyer rolls over head we don't give a sh*t about his story. This way he's caught right up in the drama because going by the script it's a bit odd that he's looking up and talking about a battle that is basically over. I reckon the opening battle of Tatooine was supposed to be more elaborate and longer which would have fitted that Luke scene better.

I'm about 35 minutes in now. I'm intercutting Luke's story with the Empire's story, so almost every scene of the Empire from the first half of the film will be brought forward to a new position. So hopefully this is gonna add an element of drama and danger to the otherwise peaceful portion of the film where we hangout with Luke on Tatoooine.

For example... instead of a fade-to-black after R2 runs off. We now cut to Vader interrogating Leia and then cut back to the morning with Luke going after R2.

Here is another rough test from the first act.

Rogue-theX was kind enough to send me some battered old film material and I've used a bit of it here. This also shows one of the ways in which I've reordered things (Probably back to the way they were shot) and how I've used some of the alternate footage. Replacement music for this sequence is something I'm still experimenting with, so consider it temporary (It's hard to find the right piece for Vader's entrance).

https://vimeo.com/92478297

(Password: fanedit.org)

45 mins in and just finished recutting and slightly extending the scene in Ben's hut (Again). Added alternate shot, swapped in new establishing shot, reordered dialogue, added extra line and used a final shot of Ben that puts a subtely different spin on his character ;-)



Next I need to do a wipe from that, into the deleted 'Darth Vader Widen's The Search' scene. I'm glad I moved all the imperial footage forward in time, as it's allowed this scene to fit in so much better than it has in my previous attempts at this project. Just the right moment after Tarkin unveils his plan and before Mos Eisley gets locked down.

I found a use for this little Droid guy...



(He's overhearing Bast coming down the corridor bitching about Tarkin to Vader)

Mixing in alternate footage and alternate dialogue in the lead up to Mos Eisley right now (The Cantina extended-mega-cut next!) and I was wondering if anybody has any links to decent-resolution alternate/unfinished/unused Mos Eisley canyon matte shots?

(Note: This is the original, so anything that differs from this image)

I've spent all my spare time in the past week just working on my extended-mega-cut of the Mos Eisley Cantina. As it's the 4th, I thought I'd share my work-in-progress cut of this now 8.5 minute sequence:

https://vimeo.com/93862408

(Password: fanedit.org)

All video is 'cut' as it will appear the finished scene. Footage has been gathered from many sources to create this new version. Including just about every shot from the available 'Cantina Rough Cut' and almost all "unique" footage from the Theatrical Cut (Plus alternate footage and sound that doesn't appear in either). However...

- Colour grading, grain and film stock degradation hasn't been started yet.
- Music track is temporary. I've just added a couple of unmixed pieces just for this demo clip (Both by Benny Goodman).
- SoundFX track is unmixed and incomplete, although most of the major pieces are in place, including a full mix of 'Camp' Greedo's dialogue (From several sources) and a new alternate Lightsaber attack soundmix.

So there is still weeks more work to do on this sequence alone, but I hope you enjoy this rough-cut of a rough-cut and may the 4th be with you!

Excellent!

Will that freeze-frame at the start be animated?

FrankT said:

Excellent!

Will that freeze-frame at the start be animated?

 Thanks and no, not planning on using SE footage for that.

Who says you have to use SE footage though?

FrankT said:

Who says you have to use SE footage though?

 It's a still shot in the GOUT, isn't it?

I've had a check on that shot and the major different versions of ANH are all quite different.

1. GOUT - Still shot with heavy gate-weave, probably giving the illusion of movement

2. Despecialised - Stabalised version of the GOUT still shot.

3. SE BR - Stabalised still shot with a few additions. One of the nice SE changes IMO. The Jawas are still totally still though.

4. Revisited - Still shot with differently applied additions and changes.

Here's a comparison I've done...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNTBK_FW6dE

I might switch to the GOUT version, as I like the effect the gate-weave has and it'll look fine with the other rough footage I'm using. Thanks for that spot FrankT!

Halfway there...

(Again)

Huh! I hadn't noticed it was a still shot until you pointed it out.

Two months later, I'm back on the case (Other fanedits have kept me busy). Couple more test clips...

Here is the medal-ceremony/finale with Tchaikovsky's '1812 Overture' synched up. I had to make one trim to the music to make it fit both ends of the scene, I think it's invisible, if I do say so myself (Hopefully?). I think the 1812 works very nicely...

https://vimeo.com/101853544

(Password: fanedit.org)

- Soundmix and film damage FX, are as always unfinished

The bit I enjoy most about this project, is spotting where two scenes have been cut in half in the finished film and then putting them back together, like they probably would have been in the workprint. There are a few scenes like that that I've just edited and here is one of them involving Vader and Tarkin...

https://vimeo.com/101921704

(Password: fanedit.org)

- Two scenes joined back together (Falcon scenes moved to earlier in the edit)
- Almost every shot in the meeting has been changed in some way
- Soundmix unfinished and score yet to be replaced
- Visual edit complete but film damage filters still to apply
- 2 errors in the original footage fixed with minor FX tweaks (See if you can spot them, or the lack there of )
- Added wipe out of the scene to indicate the passing of a small ammount of time

(It looks simple enough but that ^ 1 minute took me hours to edit)

^ Indeed and I removed the looped freeze frame shot (I'd never noticed it before I edited this scene). I had to split the screen down the middle and play the Vader/Officer half at a different time to Tarkin's side of the screen.

A new test featuring the chase through the Death Star and the Duel, all rearranged and extended with alternate footage...

Death Star chase and Duel Test

(Password: fanedit.org)

I'm really pleased with the way I've recut the Duel and changed it about a bit. As per usual the audio is unmixed, the new score is missing and the film-degrading FX haven't been done yet but you get the idea about the new way the scenes work.

The point where I gave up on V3 of this project was editing together the multiple sources of additional footage for the 'Hanger Shootout' sequence. It was such a nightmare to piece together that it was as good a reason as any to give up. So I'm super excited that today I managed to finish that sequence for V4...

https://vimeo.com/102543969

(Password: fanedit.org)

The audio is a bit of a mess as it's unfinished (as usual) and there are 32 edits in 104 seconds (An edit about every 3 seconds). I'm loving the way Luke now caps the last Stormtropper while he's running out like a badass! So glad to get that bit done and onto the bit I've been waiting to play around with 'The battle of Yavin'.

I also made a teaser poster...

(The "Coming 2015" bit is an aim, not a promise LOL)

Couple more updates...

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Thanks to the always impressive skills of mr Rogue-theX who kindly did the crawl text for me, here is the lastest opening to the edit...

https://vimeo.com/102714773

(Password: fanedit.org)

- The pan down is still a work-in-progress. Animating it so it smoothly pans down in just the right way is waaaay harder than I thought it would be
- Added newly created "The Star Wars" logo
- Replaced the "Far, far away" title
- Includes the two new Tatooine mattes I made
- Reworked the score a little

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I was watching 'Machete Kills' for the first time and was fairly surprised to see that he stages a getaway from Mel Gibson's headquarters in what is more-or-less Luke's Landspeeder!?! Knowing that this edit was missing a shot of Luke arriving at Anchorhead I decided to have a play around and see if I could use the footage.



Turned out the shot of Machete pulling a skid-stop in the "Landspeeder" didn't work out the way I wanted. But an overhead shot of him driving down a dirt road worked quite nicely once I'd matted-out/erased the motorcycles that were chasing him (The B&W also helped by hiding any green colouring to the foliage). While I was at it, I animated a new shot of Luke pulling up to Anchorhead. The new sequence turned out not half bad...

https://vimeo.com/102758754

(Password: fanedit.org)

Still need to do some smoothing of the proverbial edges though.