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Ideas Wanted: for my 'Legend: Expanded Goldsmith Edition (HD)' cut...

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This edit has three goals overall:

-Add to the Director’s Cut, when appropriate, footage that was not included from the American & European theatrical releases. All footage will be sourced from available Blu-Rays.
-Replace as much footage from the DC as possible from the Euro release, as the picture quality is higher.
-And most importantly, place Jerry’s beautiful score in its proper place. This includes removing cues and excerpts thereof that are improperly placed.

The last goal will obviously be the hardest part to do, as, for some scenes, the sound-mix will have to be remade from scratch using isolated vocals and sourced sound fx. Thankfully the TD score was mixed so low on the US release…

Video editing and color correction will be the easy parts as I have a 14 core Xeon workstation w/64gb ram and a Rec709 spec plasma monitor.

I’m going to need assistance in three key areas:

-Sourcing quality sound fx when needed.
-Cleaning up the AC footage due to rampant noise/grain and edge enhancement haloing in the master.
-Some continuity and editing choices.

Here is a first draft of a reinserting Goldsmith’s original cue for a scene that benefits from it tremendously vs the hack-job in the current sound-mix: https://youtu.be/UA3_LhZzhRo

Eager to hear suggestions, advice (especially vis-a-vis de-haloing), and thoughts!

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Think I’ve arrived at a first draft for the video editing; currently clocks in at 116.3 minutes. Not much longer than the DC, but I’ve been able to get most of the important missing material from the AC in to the DC in a way I consider tasteful and unobtrusive.

I’m still waiting for my EC Blu-Ray to arrive so there might be a little more material to put in. I’ve also set up mockups for most of the scenes where Goldsmiths score is to be restored (Freeze, Jack’s “Forgive Me”, Frypan Fight, Following the Goblins/Swamp, Oona following Lilly, Restoring Alicorn), and made sure my edits to scenes with Goldsmiths intact score don’t interfere.

I’ve also tackled a portion of the final battle that has always bothered me vis-a-vis continuity, namely, when Jack shoots an arrow at darkness, causing a large blow, then the next shot is darkness somewhat motionless while the Unicorn runs in to the fire pit… then in the following couple shots, no arrows in darkness’ neck! I think my solution still keeps the energy of the scene while also making a bit more sense. Will upload it when I get time to render.

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Received the EC Blu-Ray the other day. The footage seems to be cleaner than the DC footage, and definitely has much more in the way of shadow detail. Unfortunately, it also has a rather large teal tint through the whole thing, as well as several instances of clipped highlights. As such, I’m overlaying the EC footage on my edit with the intention to remove the teal tint, though I will retain the DC footage for a shot if:
-The shot is too short in the EC
-The EC has crushed blacks and/or clipped highlights.

One nice thing about the EC is that the music is mixed very low in the center channel, which will make harvesting dialog and sfx for the scenes where Goldsmith’s score is to be added much easier.

Will hopefully be able to get some work done on this after finals!

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Small update: https://youtu.be/hzzQ2mdz8os

Shows the score I’m planning on using for the “Dinner Table” scene. It’s an excerpt from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, and I think it fits the tone rather well. I’ve also cut in the AC shots of the apple and the wine glass filling up.

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Doesn’t seem to be many fans of Legend here, eh? ; )

https://youtu.be/V3WJDy7sJRY <- Another update for the dinner scene. Now incorporates a made-from-scratch sound mix. Was mixed in 5.1, so, assuming I can get some surround monitoring equipment, this edit should be in surround to match the footage/soundmix that won’t be edited.

How does the sound fit the scene? Does it flow with the rest of the film?

Also, am inquiring with mastering engineers to see if the two “bootleg” cues (the Frypan Fight, and Hall of Columns) can be restored and remastered to sound at least somewhat comparable to the existing score.

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Does anyone have some ideas vis-a-vis changing the opening monologue by darkness? In it’s current state, not only is it redundant due to being repeated later in the film, but also incorrect due to darkness saying “Tonight, the sun sets forever”. I was thinking about inserting dialog from the AC opening so as to change it up a little and could use some ideas.

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You’ll be retaining the film grain, correct? Hate unneeded DVNR/EE in fan edits, BDs should look as close to the original film as possible, grain, color timing, and all. Hope this’ll be on a BD25 at least or BD50 with AVC coding. If you’re removing the film grain might as well put it on a compressed DVD5. NO WAX ANYTHING!
Only have the USA Universal Director’s Cut BD with all bonus and was going to get the UK 20th Century FOX since it has the EU Theatrical Cut. Will be happy to get this custom Extended Edition.

http://dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=18162#1
http://dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=18162#9

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Just saw this and wanted to toss in an electronic thanks and pat on the back for the work you’re doing. Mia would send her love if she knew! 😺

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Just wanted to update: with the release of the Arrow edition, and the full release of Goldsmith’s score, I’m now working on this project again.

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I actually just recently watched the Arrow release of this for the first time and was reminded of this project. I’m really happy to see you are working on on it again!
Knowing the DC has a pasted together audio track I opted for the US theatrical cut and while the Tangerine Dream score is perfectly fine, that hall of columns clip you posted is fantastic.

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