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Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side (the TM edit) (Released) — Page 57

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I just watched the new clips, and I must say I am so excited for this film. I do think that the garage scene needs a little more work on the ADR to make it work just right though. And I like the new lighting in the ship scene so much.
And I can't wait to hear a Brit Jar Jar. I think that would work amazing well to tie in the OOT, sense everyone had a British accent pretty much.
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I appear to be in the minority when I say this, and Trooperman, please consider this constructive criticism. I am not a troll and definitely appreciate what you're trying to do with your edit.

I actually can't get into the voice. I'm sorry. I find it a bit too jarring and distracting.

I think its the fact, that while the recording is of an excellent quality (I'm thinking you must have a pretty sweet setup there!) I just don't think the voice suits Hayden Christensen.

It also sounds too, 'dubbed' I guess, when compared to the surrounding dialogue (ie Portman's dialogue). The atmosphere/environment of the recording, also doesn't match the scene in which it has been placed. I don't know whether this can be fixed by adding some reverb/other EQ's or something?

Now for the constructive criticism part. I think it may be a little more natural if perhaps the lines were re-recorded by a trained actor. I'm not sure if you've had training in the past, but you might want to put out a call to all budding actors in your local area and conduct auditions for possible candidates (I'm not sure, you may have already considered/done this). I'm pretty certain someone out there, who is training/trained as an actor, could do it for nothing. Heck, you could even post samples of possible candidates on this site and we could vote the one that is the best!

My intention is not diss you or the (otherwise) quality work you're doing mate. I encourage it. I just wanted to give my 2 cents worth. Hope I don't get shot down in flames too much.
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I just finally got a chance to watch one of the posted clips, and I am definitely in the majority. I can't wait to watch the movie with all of Anakin's lines redubbed by you, TM.

Dantha, I don't want to answer for TrooperMan, but if he's shooting for a release by the end of this year (can't really remember what date is expected for release now), don't you think it's a little late in the game to be redubbing his redubs with another actor? I think his dub sounds great and cannot wait for this thing to be in my DVD player!
Light speed too slow??
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Originally posted by: Dantha Fodder
I appear to be in the minority when I say this, and Trooperman, please consider this constructive criticism. I am not a troll and definitely appreciate what you're trying to do with your edit.

I actually can't get into the voice. I'm sorry. I find it a bit too jarring and distracting.

I think its the fact, that while the recording is of an excellent quality (I'm thinking you must have a pretty sweet setup there!) I just don't think the voice suits Hayden Christensen.

It also sounds too, 'dubbed' I guess, when compared to the surrounding dialogue (ie Portman's dialogue). The atmosphere/environment of the recording, also doesn't match the scene in which it has been placed. I don't know whether this can be fixed by adding some reverb/other EQ's or something?

Now for the constructive criticism part. I think it may be a little more natural if perhaps the lines were re-recorded by a trained actor. I'm not sure if you've had training in the past, but you might want to put out a call to all budding actors in your local area and conduct auditions for possible candidates (I'm not sure, you may have already considered/done this). I'm pretty certain someone out there, who is training/trained as an actor, could do it for nothing. Heck, you could even post samples of possible candidates on this site and we could vote the one that is the best!

My intention is not diss you or the (otherwise) quality work you're doing mate. I encourage it. I just wanted to give my 2 cents worth. Hope I don't get shot down in flames too much.

I appreciate your criticism- however, it's too late in the game at this point to have it redone by anyone else. At this point, I just want to get this to a point where it's releasable, and then release it.

Here's the good news- if this thing is a success, there's a possibility that for the dual-layer version, I'll send all of the audio to a professional sound editor who will mix and match all of the dubbed voices and and the original voices, and make the audio quality as similar as possible.

Also, there's certainly enough intricacy to my sound mix to create a 5.1 surround track if people wanted that, so this person would put the audio into surround as well- I just have neither the time nor the ability to do that.

I think it's worth it because even if the dialogue winds up sounding "dubbed" in the final film, in my opinion it's such a relief to be able to enjoy the movie again, that I forget these things really quickly. Almost like watching a movie in B&W or letterbox on a 4x3- after the first 5 minutes, you don't notice it anymore.

But I do acknowledge that the garage scene is messed up somehow, and I'll be recording that whole scene a second time, farther away from the mike this time, and matching mouth movement more closely. But I don't see an issue with the "argument" clip. I guess Anakin's voice could be mixed a little softer, but other than that, I think the acting is good, myself. (I am a little biased, of course) As I've said, if there's ever the opportunity to turn the recordings over to someone that does it for a living, then I might just do that because they could achieve a higher level of perfection mixing the voices.

It also sounds too, 'dubbed' I guess, when compared to the surrounding dialogue (ie Portman's dialogue). The atmosphere/environment of the recording, also doesn't match the scene in which it has been placed. I don't know whether this can be fixed by adding some reverb/other EQ's or something?

It would have been better if Portman was dubbed as well. Too bad about that. If you're talking about the garage scene (as far as EQ and reverb is concerned) then I think everyone recognizes there's a problem with that and it'll be fixed.

And I can't wait to hear a Brit Jar Jar. I think that would work amazing well to tie in the OOT, sense everyone had a British accent pretty much.


Never really thought of it that way! But this comment decides it, I think:

Actually, I was reviewing my Jar Jar recordings and I was just horrified on how they turned out. Could I formally request that they be removed from consideration?


OK, Sluggo! I didn't think the recordings were that bad- it just wasn't the style I was aiming for. I hope you all like "British Jar-Jar", because I'm pretty sure that's what it'll be I'll post a clip soon.

If you are really open for space, you could always tack in alternate audio tracks for him?


That could be. Another thing I was thinking of was playing a sample of each alternate ADR voice track during the future commentary track, for a behind-the-scenes perspective on how I arrived at my final choices.

----------------

I've just been thinking about the Anakin ADR awkwardness issue, and I think the problem is that I screwed up on how I actually physically recorded a lot of the lines- close to the mike. On an actual set, the mike would have been farther away. Now, some scenes are better than others in this regard, but for particularly offensive scenes (like the garage) I'll try to just rerecord the dialogue farther away from the mike, which I think will help a lot.

I don't think a new actor is needed because I don't think the problem is with my acting- if you saw the movie all the way through, I think you'd agree. And the original reason I did it myself was convenience- I know exactly what I want, and when I want to make a dialogue change, I'm able to cut it in instantly and see whether it'll work. The problem in a few scenes is that the voice sounds unnatural (like it was recorded on a soundstage).

I want you all to understand that I could definitely spend a few more months working on this and have plenty of stuff to work on, just trying to get the voice mixed right. But I can't- people have been waiting on this forever. It's time to release it.

So I'll do whatever I can in the less than a month that I have remaining (as far as tweaking the voices and making them fit) but there is a limit and unfortunately I do not do this full-time. Right now, I haven't even finished doing the Clone War or the conference at the beginning of the film. After that, I have to do another pass on the film and eliminate all of the encoding glitches and the pacing problems. After I do that, assemble the movie, and render the video, IF I have time then I'll really get in depth into tweaking the voices.

Thanks everyone,

TM

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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TM, I just want to say that you should take as much damn time with this thing as you please. ESPECIALLY, if it just means the product will be better. This is a free serivice you are giving us and nobody on this thread has a right to demand a specific release date from you. Sure we've been waiting, just like we waited for the original star wars prequels for over a decade. So all I have to say is, if you need to delay this a few months or whatever for redubbing, re-editting, going through different takes or screening to a select few........then my friend you MUST do that. There is no rush, there is no studio deadline or public outcry.......the ball is in your court and I urge you to consider how much time you need to pull off the edit you are aiming for (which is a premium edit). Nothing pisses me off more then movies that come out and suck only because the studio rushed the casting, director, filming and editting to fit a "release date". Not that i'm saying your edit is gonna suck, I think you get point. I mean, we've all waited to see this for over a year, I think I can wait a few months more so that you can finish all the things you want to do for YOUR EDIT. That's right, although we've helped with ideas here and there, it is still your edit. Your doing all the labor.
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Agreed with Preston.

And regarding the whole actor thing in this edit, the original had actual professional actors like Hayden and Portman and we know how that turned out. I'm not worried that TM isn't a classically trained Shakespearian thespian. My only expectations for this edit are:

1. It needs better performances than the original,
2. It needs to be fun.

And all of the clips I have seen have greatly filled my expectations. ROCK ON!!!!
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Ditto on what darthpreston said. It's your project, don't release it until YOU are happy with it. You did this edit for you as much as for anyone else (at least that's what I remember from the very first post of this thread). We've waited this long; even though we're all wet with anticipation I think that we can keep our collective pants on for a few more months, if necessary.

This is YOUR project. You are the only one calling the shots. =)
Light speed too slow??
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I agree with the above three Trooperman. If you have to spend another couple month on it, so be it. That way you can get everything done, make the ADR just right, Do your PCM mix, and maybe have Adywan go that droid scene just the way you want it. Heck maybe you can get someone to do ADR for Padme
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I think any criticism has been constructive, to be honest there hasnt been much...I guess the more feedback TM gets the better the output.

Sometimes you get so involved with something you can lose a little perspective and its good to have people challenge ideas to put you back on track. I doubt trained actors are required, that really is overkill, the voice sounds fine. A little more TLC with the voiceovers to match the scenes in sound quality (i.e. not sounding really dubbed) and matching the voice to the face/lips and IMHO its going to turn out really well.

Still think you share a passing resemblence to Hayden but with a deeper voice, which is a positive in my books as if it didnt, I think it would be too much of a leap for most people to mentally adjust their ears too ...(if you can mentally adjust your ears, but you know what I mean!)
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So all I have to say is, if you need to delay this a few months or whatever for redubbing, re-editting, going through different takes or screening to a select few........then my friend you MUST do that. There is no rush, there is no studio deadline or public outcry.......the ball is in your court and I urge you to consider how much time you need to pull off the edit you are aiming for (which is a premium edit).

This is true, Preston. I really do want it to go out soon, though. There are a couple people that I know REALLY want it to be now. But I've just made a decision.

Rather than rush out an inferior product for Christmas, I do think I might release this in January/February of 2007. I really hope this doesn't create an outcry, but I've had several roadblocks in my life that have prevented me from working on this thing the amount that I would've liked. And for something I've been working on for so long, I really think that a month or two of testing, screening, and tweaking the sound mix would benefit this movie so much.

It was always my intention to do this. I expected to have the movie done by the end of September, and then watch it, tweak it, and make it more perfect so by the time November rolled around, it's be ready to release. But it didn't happen that way. I was out of town quite a bit. My hard drive crashed. I was receving character voices in October and November (which was no fault of the actors- I had been rewriting dialogue and etc). I didn't talk about this much, but I was also running into major glitches with my video software- there are sequences that I had cut to the frame that were screwed up by this. This coincided with the installation of another video program.

But it's getting better and better and better. I know some people don't mind the "Anakin voice" the way it is, but if I had a month or two to play with it, then I'm positive that I could satisfy everybody.

Believe me, I'm POSTIVE this will be released soon. Heck, I already know that I'm going to have a DVD in my player before Christmas, the complete version of SOTDS.

But I guess it comes down to this- hearing the recent comments about Anakin's voice, it would really kill me and make me very sad if I worked on this for two years only to get criticisms about something like the audio mixing after I release it. I think this will be my only contribution to OT.com that I'm completely in charge of, and basically I want it to represent my filmmaking abilities the best that it can. Also, this will hopefully give me a chance to make the stereo mix a “matrixed” one. What that means is that it’s a two-channel stereo track, but when you play it through a home theatre setup, it’s decoded into four-channel surround sound. It’s kind of old technology (Dolby Digital 5.1 is pretty much always used for new movies nowadays), but that fits all the better with the point of the project. I’m reading up on this and seeing if it’s possible to encode a matrixed track without having to buy a $600 piece of software.

I hope that some of you understand, and I'm really sorry. I know that you all want to see this. And my feelings wouldn't be hurt at all if you left this thread and didn't come back until January/February next year. But I want this to blow people out of the water in every way possible, and by golly, that's what's going to happen.

I'm really sorry


In regards to the fun factor....

This thing is unbelievably fun. All the things I've done to the movie are means to an end- to make this movie enjoyable to watch. So if you want to pop in Ep. II, you can watch a well-made film with a main character that doesn't whine his way through the pathetic film like Hayden does. To me, even if the ADR doesn't sound quite natural in a couple places, the viewing experience is so superior to the alternative (listening to Hayden), that it's really, really worth it for me.

I realize that everyone looks at movies in different ways. It's the difference betwen someone that takes in camera angles and lighting, and someone that looks for cameos, or someone who notices continuity errors. I'm trying to fill all of these needs with the film, but a one-man overhaul like this has never really been done before, and it's an incredibly arduous undertaking (which I didn't realize when I jumped in to it, of course). The only person that's come even close to putting this many new elements into a fan edit is MagnoliaFan, but he had the advantage in that he was only using movie audio. I am using English ADR recordings from amateur actors, which are a lot harder to incorporate into the film seamlessly. Throw in a new music soundtrack, new colors, and playing the cinematographer role, and you've got something crazy.

But I think the best part of all this (and the most laughable), is what Sluggo said:

The final recordings I have for each character right now are incredibly good, acting-wise. Honestly. I had no idea there was this much talent on the boards. Actually, this is a good idea I have for a trailer. Do a caption that says, "George Lucas' Actors" and then show footage from AOTC. Then, have a caption that says, "OT.com Volunteer Actors" and show footage from SOTDS.

Honestly, I listen to Lama-Su, or Anakin, or Nute Gunray, the stormtroopers, Jar-Jar, Marcus Fett inside the helmet, and etc. and I'm still amazed at how good the acting is. Nute Gunray actually sounds nasty/dangerous. The two Fetts inside the helmet (Marcus from SOTDS and Boba Fett from the original "Empire") actually sound the same. Uncle Owen sounds a lot like his counterpart Phil Brown in the original SW.

In short, not only does the acting hold up on its own terms, but the people that were tasked specifically with impersonating OT actors did so amazingly well (you guys know who you are). Granted, in some cases it took two, even three auditions to get to that point, but right now, I couldn't be happier with the acting.

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Question:

Does anyone happen to have a high quality version of this 70's rating card:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/Moth3r/Pre-ANH%20Bootleg%20Telecine%20-%20Widescreen%20Version/Clipboard08.jpg

I would love to start out the movie with this because it would set up the whole mood before the movie even started. I read the "70's widescreen bootleg" thread, and apparently this ratings card was on the original theatrical release, so it'd be a neat, authentic thing to include in SOTDS.

Thanks so much!

TM

PS: Since this project is postponed for a couple months, I might as well tell you this: There’s a possibility (*wink*) that the droid analysis sequence might be in the process of being recomposited right now….

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Trooperman, there may be a way to amke the dialogue more natural sounding without having to re-record the whole lot again.

Play the dialogue through a pair of ordinary stereo speakers with minimal bass, but not too much treble to make it sound tinny, in a small to medium sized room. Don't have the volume set too loud, just enough for the mic to be able to pick the dialogue up without creating background hiss. Place a mic about 2 - 6 feet away from the speakers Depends on the room size ect so a bit of trial and error to get the best sound here). Now play the complete dialogue track and record it using the mic (don't forget, like i did once, to have a timecode tone at the beginning so you can sync it with the main dialogue track at a later stage). Once you have the recording finished sync this new track with the original and play about with the mix levels until you get a natural sounding dialogue track. Maybe a slight reduction in the bass frequencies on the original track may eliminate the "too close to the mic" effect that you mentioned. You get a more natural reverb effect this way which could help bring the new ADR more inline with the original studio track.

Its a bit of trial and error with this method but it can help recreate that "on set" sound.

hope this helps

ANH:REVISITED
ESB:REVISITED

DONATIONS TOWARDS MATERIALS FOR THE REVISITED SAGA

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That's a very brilliant idea, Adywan. I wish I had thought of it. This is great because I don't have to redo most of the ADR that I've worked so hard on (acting-wise), but I lose the "fan recorded close to the mike" sound and get that "on-set" sound. I won't use this technique on the Lama-Su dialogue, though, because it sounds great as it is- besides, the whole point of Kamino is to get that clear, pristine sound inside to contrast with all the rain and noise going on outside.

The best part about this is that I might be able to extract Portman's dialogue from the center channel and... use the same process on it. That would REALLY sell the two voices as being in the same space....

I'm excited about this all over again. Using this technique will put this edit on a whole new level. And the great part is that I will have the actual video footage on the film completely finished, encoded and in my DVD player by Christmas. The one or two months after that will be spent reprocessing the ADR recordings in the way Adywan described and mixing them back into the picture.


This was the exact problem, see. I was recording very closely to the microphone, and to compensate I was trying all kinds of things, from lowering the bass, to adding filters, to adding a bunch of artificial reverb to match the surroundings atmosphere. And although I never admitted it to myself, it wasn't working a lot of the time. Using this technique will make it sound like Hayden always had my voice, and as Adywan said, it will add a much more natural reverb to the sound.

Thank you so much, Adywan. I'm kicking myself for not realizing this sooner, but I'm also really, really happy now because:

1. The movie is practically done. My dream of watching a brilliant version of Ep. II is about to be fulfilled, and
2. Now I have a way to make this the way I always wanted to have it- the newly recorded voices will be integrated seamlessly.

-----------

Adding new English voices recorded by fans to a 2002 feature film like "Attack of the Clones" is so difficult- I know why nobody's attempted it before. But it's being done now.

My recommendation now is to just completely forget that this even exists until next year. It'll make the wait less painful. In the meantime, I'll be working on something designed to knock all of your socks off.

But for now, I'll be taking a little break and having Thanksgiving with the family! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

-TM

P.S. Does anyone know anything about where to find that ratings card I posted earlier?

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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This is good advice.

*waves hand*

"You WILL forget about SOTS until next year!"

Only if Adywan or Jambe would give us a nice distraction in the meantime...
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Originally posted by: adywan
Trooperman, there may be a way to amke the dialogue more natural sounding without having to re-record the whole lot again.

Play the dialogue through a pair of ordinary stereo speakers with minimal bass, but not too much treble to make it sound tinny, in a small to medium sized room. Don't have the volume set too loud, just enough for the mic to be able to pick the dialogue up without creating background hiss. Place a mic about 2 - 6 feet away from the speakers Depends on the room size ect so a bit of trial and error to get the best sound here). Now play the complete dialogue track and record it using the mic (don't forget, like i did once, to have a timecode tone at the beginning so you can sync it with the main dialogue track at a later stage). Once you have the recording finished sync this new track with the original and play about with the mix levels until you get a natural sounding dialogue track. Maybe a slight reduction in the bass frequencies on the original track may eliminate the "too close to the mic" effect that you mentioned. You get a more natural reverb effect this way which could help bring the new ADR more inline with the original studio track.

Its a bit of trial and error with this method but it can help recreate that "on set" sound.

hope this helps


As a working audio engineer I have to offer my view on the suggestion above: With all due respect, re-running and re-recording the dialogue tracks through a pair of speakers will, unless the whole signal chain (from A/D/A converters to mics to preamps to monitors, to room) is top-of-the line pro level stuff, spell absolute disaster for all of Troopermans hard dialogue work. Not only will that degrade the signal substantially in quality, it will also introduce alot of unnecessary room artifacts that can spell all sorts of frequency and EQ trouble down the line, come mixdown. Not unless the monitor room where TM would be running the playbacks is treated correctly as far as acoustics go, chances are you will merlely introduce major problems in what are *perfectly workable tracks*.

In my opinion Trooperman's recordings are just fine. The proximity effect introduced by his close recordings only works to his advantage in this case, as it really has improved the overall signal clarity and fullnes of his voice, which only enhances the dark and slightly menacing character of TMs Anakin. A much better solution would be to use a slight highpass on Anakin, with a touch of a medium-size room plate. Make sure to roll off some of the lows on the reverb itself. TM's work is fine, and don't forget; the fact that his voice is so different and much deeper that Hayden's is a *good thing*! I hope TM stays true to his concept, which IMO is totally solid.

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Originally posted by: Trooperman

--------------

Question:

Does anyone happen to have a high quality version of this 70's rating card:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v670/Moth3r/Pre-ANH%20Bootleg%20Telecine%20-%20Widescreen%20Version/Clipboard08.jpg

I would love to start out the movie with this because it would set up the whole mood before the movie even started. I read the "70's widescreen bootleg" thread, and apparently this ratings card was on the original theatrical release, so it'd be a neat, authentic thing to include in SOTDS.

Thanks so much!

TM

PS: Since this project is postponed for a couple months, I might as well tell you this: There’s a possibility (*wink*) that the droid analysis sequence might be in the process of being recomposited right now….



The end of the current DVD release of JAWS has this card at the end of the film after the credits. The quality isn't 100%, but it has that old film look.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my peeps in the States.
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I thought your voiced sounded very dubbed, unfortunately. It didn't seem to have the full range of a voice either, only the bass. It did sound like the pitch was noticeably lower. As for recording it off a mike, it might work. You seem to know what you're doing with sound and obviously must have a pretty good setup. It might give it a more OT feel since a lot of the dialogue in those films seems like it was always somewhat garbled. The 2004 mixes were so bad because they were like the sound eqiuvalent of edge enhancement.
I don't believe this has been asked before. Are there any movies with someone having a voice similar to how you want Anakin to sound?

Take back the trilogy. Execute Order '77

http://www.youtube.com/user/Knightmessenger

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Awesome. Can't wait for the next batch of clips. I had my doubts but after viewing those clips, you seem 100x better than Hayden.
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Thanks so much for that card, Sluggo! It's part of the film now.

Hi folks. I've been reconsidering this whole issue after Bespinsec's comments. My equipment is good, but it's not top of the line, pro-level stuff. Also, I'm doing this at my house, not a studio. After a couple tests, I think that there's too much background noise and there has to be another way. After all, I did go through a lot of pains to get a clear recording; now it seems that it's too clear, so much so that it sounds really "dubbed".

However, I really don't want to have to go back and redo a lot of the ADR- it was a time consuming process and I'm really happy with how the acting itself turned out.

A much better solution would be to use a slight highpass on Anakin, with a touch of a medium-size room plate. Make sure to roll off some of the lows on the reverb itself.

I feel really dumb now, because I had no idea you can do that. Now I'm looked through all the filters, and I found "paragraphic" and "parametric" EQs. I've used this process on several scenes so far.

Things are sounding a LOT better.

My question is- are those of you who feel the voice sounds "dubbed" (myself included), are you listening to the mix through headphones? I listened to the film for the first time recently through a regular set of stereo speakers, and I was surprised at how much better it sounded. I think headphones tend to really reveal and exaggerate defects in the sound- kind of like watching a VHS tape on an HD-TV.

I'll post a new voice clip along with Jar-Jar soon, so that you can tell me if the voice sounds any better using this technique, and if it's "garbled" enough But I really happy with these latest tests- I think I'll be able to pull this off, if I give this much attention to each line of dialogue.


Awesome. Can't wait for the next batch of clips. I had my doubts but after viewing those clips, you seem 100x better than Hayden.

Thanks! I could actually post a comparison clip of Hayden, so that you all have something to compare mine to. That might be a good idea.

Are there any movies with someone having a voice similar to how you want Anakin to sound?

I can't think of any offhand. I don't know- it's that old fashioned, "leading man" type voice you don't hear anymore. Earnest. I can't remember a specific movie with that type of voice, but they're out there, I'm sure.

It might give it a more OT feel since a lot of the dialogue in those films seems like it was always somewhat garbled.

Yes, particularly in the first movie. Interesting to think about. I was always aiming for the highest sound quality possible, but if it makes teh voice stand out too much.....

As I've said, I'm going to be experimenting with lowering the quality, killing different frequencies, and etc. to get the best and most realistic effect.

Clips to follow

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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So is there any chance that we'll be getting this thing any earlier than Jan/Feb, Trooperman?
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Originally posted by: Weezer12
So is there any chance that we'll be getting this thing any earlier than Jan/Feb, Trooperman?


By next month? Unfortunately not, because I had hoped I would have it ready by THIS month. Christmastime always slows things down for me in terms of time I have to work.

I'm not saying that it won't be done to a certain extent in December. I'm just saying that I would love to do more tweaking and remixing of the voices before I'd feel comfortable releasing it. The neat thing is that I'll have the video encoded and locked this year, and the rest of the time can be devoted to tweaking the sound mix.

I'm really sorry, guys! But I'm confident that when this thing actually goes public, you'll forgive the wait and realize that it was worth it. If I had more time to work on this, it would've been done months ago, but I have a very big life outside of this that makes it very difficult, especially with a task so huge. And to be honest, I didn't actually start physically start editing the film in the form it is now until Summer/Autumn 2005. I started a rough cut before that, but had to drop it. Also, as this was a learning process, I later threw out much of the work I did in those first few learning months.

And another thing that slows down the process is that I'm actually doing the editing using a five year old machine. It was very good back then, but now it's quite slow, especially for film editing using multiple hard drives. Occasionally Vegas shuts down because I'm giving it too many commands too quickly. Add to this the fact that I didn't have enough hard drive space to convert all the footage to AVI, which means that I'm editing off of the DVD MPEG files directly (which slows down the process further). Also, when I'm editing and I play through any given section, I'm looking at a very small image, because blowing it up to full resolution means it slows down to about 5-10 fps. So I have to render the whole section to see how it'll play in full resolution. I haven't been rendering the whole film until the last couple of months, so naturally there are some encoding glitches and lip synch issues that have arisen that I'll need to go back and fix before I release the film.

I think you guys get the picture- my working conditions and equipment are not ideal- you have to have a really calm temperament and lots of time to deal with it. This might shed a little light on the reason this is being delayed until next year.

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One neat thing I just rediscovered is the documentary on the Ep. II- "Films are not Released- They Escape". I realized that some of the audio mixing problems I was having are solveable using the isolated chunks of sound effects Mr. Burtt has provided. For instance: The assassin bugs at the beginning of the film. I replaced the music in that scene and recut the scene, but the wriggling/crawling sound effects couldn't be isolated. I couldn't find a solution.

Then, I remembered that the documentary had footage of the recording of the foaley for that particular section (with the plastic tube and the grapefruits), and I was able to recreate the FX track for the bugs.

Another interesting find I made was a very long article about the audio mixing and production of "Attack of the Clones". I don't have the exact quote right now, but at one point, the fellow said that the ADR dialogue for that film (not the on-set recordings) were "worldized" a bit to make it "grittier". Which is exactly what I'm trying to do. Unfortunately they don't go into any details so that I could copy that effect.

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All right- enough talking. Here are basically the same clips of video I posted previously, but containing differently processed voices. How do these compare? Does it sound more like the OT did?

1 (Garage)

I don't usually do this, but here's a couple seconds of Hayden Christiansen for comparison/reference: garage (Hayden)

For those of you with large monitors, notice the too-perfect framing here and the colorful frame (compared to the garage scene in "Star Wars")

And here's the argument clip: 2 (dusk)

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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I just watched those clips, and Anikan's voice sounds much better. I have no idea how you did it, but the ADR sounds more natural now. Good job!


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Ditto. Watching those clips has put a huge smile on my face. Excellence!
Light speed too slow??
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The voice is much better now.

There is something you can add that may help it sound more natural. When Anakin speaks there is a distinct lack of ambient background noise, most noticable in the argument scene. You can here some noise when Padme speaks, mainly her chair creaking, but when Anakins dialogue begins it ends abruptly. If you could add some foley, or something like that, then it sould enhance the dialogue and help the new dialogue blend in with the original track. But you are definately on the right track. Amazing job. I just can't wait to see the final product.

ANH:REVISITED
ESB:REVISITED

DONATIONS TOWARDS MATERIALS FOR THE REVISITED SAGA

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As someone else said earlier (and please bear in mind I haven't watched any of the clips, though I'm itching to):

It's very very easy to lose perspective on a work like this (I know, having been involved in similarly long-term projects), particularly when you've been doing it for a very long time, to the extent that it's going to be impossible to get everything just perfect first time round. IMO the very best thing you can do is get this project out the door as quickly as possible so that everyone can see it and cast a critical eye over it, then LEAVE IT ALONE for at least a couple of months. Play golf, snort crack, do anything but Star Wars, totally take your mind off the complete project, then come back and tweak the bits that need to be tweaked with a fresh, clear pair of eyes.
I am NOT a committee!