The white bars are a fun thought/mistake, but the senate scene you put up just before looks so professional with the black bars it is probably best to go that route. Besides, to anyone other than us, it would come off as you not knowing how to control your effect if the bars are white.
Opinions seem to be mixed on the white bars but I think that last point is probably the most convincing.
I’m not sure what to say on when to do your girls’ voice effects, probably morphing to it as they rise up to the senate floor would be best (if the sounds were only during the a-ha visual effect during the senate fight, then I’d say push it forward to when the visual effect starts, but I’m pretty sure they do the vocal effects for everything in the scene, not just light sabers and force lightning; so it should stay scene specific).
At the moment I have their effects scene specific and I don’t want to change that because there are too many parts during the non a-ha portions that I enjoy. I think what I’m going to do is use their effects for the entire battle, including the very first bit in Palpy’s office (basically, everything after YodaGollum says “I’m not listening!”).
Though, honestly, I’m not even sure what the impetus is behind the whole idea of the vocal effects; it is cute and all, but I think hearing your thoughts on it or how the idea came up originally would help me get behind it.
It was pretty random. We were watching one of the movies (ESB I think) and my older daughter randomly did an impression of the TIE fighter noise. I thought “hey that would be fun to put in the movie” and at the same moment I realized I had been stuck for what to do on the Senate fight for a long time…
JEDIT:
I think the idea is it’s funny/cute to have kids making lightsaber sounds.
Well that too.