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Aalenfae's PREQUEL TRILOGY (Heavily delayed - computer exploded) — Page 28

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Aalenfae, you are so awesome!  That's exactly what we should have seen in the first place!  I know you are busy and it pains me to think of the wait before your PT will come out, but every time you leave an update, I get excited.  Fine work, as always!

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Glad you like it!

I'm still thinking I might change the screen graphics to be a little more different from what we see in ANH. Maybe even more simplistic. I'm not entirely happy with it yet. 

It pains me to have to work so slowly. But it will come! 

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Do as you like, but quite honestly the schematic looks great to me...right where it should be.  If I were to give a slight suggestion, it might be the camera movement during the shot.  It seems a bit too mobile to be natural.  I hate suggesting things when I obviously have no skill to speak of, but I think even more subtle movement would appear more natural.  Thanks for sharing.  It really is awesome!  Hope that doesn't offend :)

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Thanks for the confidence! We'll see what happens to the displays.

Ah, yeah. The camera movement. I think you're right. I'll see what I can do about fine-tuning it.

Thanks for your input! 

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Just amazing again aalenfae.  Your PT videos never cease to amaze me.  I really just can't wait for this.

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What did you use for the schematics, or is that all original?

Your gonna do what your gonna do, but I'd leave it as is because it really does look excellent, it feels like an old school effect (in a good way) and has some charm.

OT-DAWT-COM nieghbour and sometime poster (Remember, Tuesday is Soylent Green day!)

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Nice visuals and sound effects.  I liked hearing that same "computing noise" as R2 accesses the computer terminal :)

“It’s a lot of fun… it’s a lot of fun to watch Star Wars.” – Bill Moyers

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 (Edited)

I've been SUPER busy these days...
But I do have SOME work to share after all this time.

Basically, I'm focusing on something that I've boiled down to being one of the most important big changes I'm doing: using lots of ANH music. 

I love the RotS soundtrack, but it's too much like I and II, and not nearly enough like IV.
Naturally, if the film looks, walks, and talks like a prequel, we'll always group it with the prequels. But I think the Star Wars films ought to be looked at as pairs.

I and II are a pair.
III and IV are a pair.
V and VI are a pair.

You can change the editing style and the visuals all you want, but RotS is not going to feel like A New Hope unless they share similar musical cues. A New Hope has very distinct cues, but most of them are ONLY heard in A New Hope - something that doesn't really happen in the other Star Wars films. All the scores have unique cues, but there is really only one in ANH that persisted. So why does RotS sound more like films that come AFTER ANH, but not like ANH itself? Well - I'd love to fix that.  


http://vimeo.com/64784748
http://vimeo.com/64784747

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How could I not have seen this before ? Amazing videos, watched them all and was sad when they were over - I want to see the entire movie now !

A question - it seems that you've slightly slowed down CGI scenes, am I correct ? I think it looks much better now. Details can be more easily seen and appreciated, and movement has a sense of weight. Computer animator tend t accelerate everything far beyond normal, and it looks fake.

The displays are great ! Also, love your work on the fate of the Invisible Hand. Always hated that in RotS it seemed to be crewed with morons who had no clue what they were doing. Looks like a competent crew now.

As to your special effect.. no words ! Amazing !

One suggestion - have you considered adding film grain ? I know I'm a minority in this but I think film grain adds a lot to a movie when it's not excessive.

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aalenfae said:

I've been SUPER busy these days...
But I do have SOME work to share after all this time.

Basically, I'm focusing on something that I've boiled down to being one of the most important big changes I'm doing: using lots of ANH music. 

I love the RotS soundtrack, but it's too much like I and II, and not nearly enough like IV.
Naturally, if the film looks, walks, and talks like a prequel, we'll always group it with the prequels. But I think the Star Wars films ought to be looked at as pairs.

I and II are a pair.
III and IV are a pair.
V and VI are a pair.

You can change the editing style and the visuals all you want, but RotS is not going to feel like A New Hope unless they share similar musical cues. A New Hope has very distinct cues, but most of them are ONLY heard in A New Hope - something that doesn't really happen in the other Star Wars films. All the scores have unique cues, but there is really only one in ANH that persisted. So why does RotS sound more like films that come AFTER ANH, but not like ANH itself? Well - I'd love to fix that.  


http://vimeo.com/64784748
http://vimeo.com/64784747 

The second video isn't working btw. Loved the cue for the first video. 

I think I know how you did it, but i'll ask anyway... How did you swap the music? I think I hear new sound effects, but just curious if you cracked the code of music removal.

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mrbenja0618 said:

The second video isn't working btw. 

There's a space at the end of the url. Delete that and it works.

Aaaand as expected, those were fantastic. I'm not entirely sure about the Death Star theme at the end of the 2nd one, but it does work.

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

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Burdokva said:

How could I not have seen this before ? Amazing videos, watched them all and was sad when they were over - I want to see the entire movie now !

A question - it seems that you've slightly slowed down CGI scenes, am I correct ? I think it looks much better now. Details can be more easily seen and appreciated, and movement has a sense of weight. Computer animator tend t accelerate everything far beyond normal, and it looks fake.

The displays are great ! Also, love your work on the fate of the Invisible Hand. Always hated that in RotS it seemed to be crewed with morons who had no clue what they were doing. Looks like a competent crew now.

As to your special effect.. no words ! Amazing !

One suggestion - have you considered adding film grain ? I know I'm a minority in this but I think film grain adds a lot to a movie when it's not excessive.

Thanks! I'm glad you like them! I can't wait until I can finally say I'm done, haha.

I may have retimed some of the CGI scenes, as I've entirely reconstructed the shot order of some of the scenes. It gives me a lot more flexibility with stuff like that.

I am considering doing some overarching visual effects once I finish the film, which might be trying to achieve a more film-like appearance. Grain, wobble, and some slight lens distortion are in order.



mrbenja:
Really, to remove music - I have to remove EVERYTHING. Mithrandir got a decent music removal process, but it has low fidelity for sound effects, and certain frequencies of dialogue.

For any music I replace, I have to replace everything. 
The shot at the docks has no music in the original cut, so that was easy.

timdiggerm: 
As for the Death Star cue, I'm not wild about it either. What I would really want, is to get a clever musician to get me that exact cue in a major key.

Though I do think the cue works well after Anakin's darker look at the end of the scene, as well as an indication that things start to get bad from this point on.  

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Aalenfae, I love these changes, especially the music. I was skeptical at first, but you certainly have won me over about the possibility of making 3 feel more like 4.

 

Regarding the diagram on the screen when R2 is locating Palpatine, I think it might be better if the diagram was flipped horizontally, because as far as I can recall, we almost always see exterior shots of the ship from the port (ie. left) side, and yet your diagram shows it from the starboard (right) side.

All I'm saying is, when I look at that diagram the way it is, I get confused at first about where that room is located because my brain is comparing it to a mental image from the left side.

 

It's all just absolutely fantastic, though, and I can't wait to see/hear more.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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chyron8472 said:

Aalenfae, I love these changes, especially the music. I was skeptical at first, but you certainly have won me over about the possibility of making 3 feel more like 4.

 

Regarding the diagram on the screen when R2 is locating Palpatine, I think it might be better if the diagram was flipped horizontally, because as far as I can recall, we almost always see exterior shots of the ship from the port (ie. left) side, and yet your diagram shows it from the starboard (right) side.

All I'm saying is, when I look at that diagram the way it is, I get confused at first about where that room is located because my brain is comparing it to a mental image from the left side.

 

It's all just absolutely fantastic, though, and I can't wait to see/hear more.

Glad you're hopeful! I'll make RotS match ANH if it's the last thing I do!

Yeah, I totally agree with your suggestion for the diagram!
Great suggestion. I plan on redoing the graphics anyways, and I'll remember to flip them around this time!

 

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aalenfae said:

Burdokva said:

How could I not have seen this before ? Amazing videos, watched them all and was sad when they were over - I want to see the entire movie now !

A question - it seems that you've slightly slowed down CGI scenes, am I correct ? I think it looks much better now. Details can be more easily seen and appreciated, and movement has a sense of weight. Computer animator tend t accelerate everything far beyond normal, and it looks fake.

The displays are great ! Also, love your work on the fate of the Invisible Hand. Always hated that in RotS it seemed to be crewed with morons who had no clue what they were doing. Looks like a competent crew now.

As to your special effect.. no words ! Amazing !

One suggestion - have you considered adding film grain ? I know I'm a minority in this but I think film grain adds a lot to a movie when it's not excessive.

Thanks! I'm glad you like them! I can't wait until I can finally say I'm done, haha.

I may have retimed some of the CGI scenes, as I've entirely reconstructed the shot order of some of the scenes. It gives me a lot more flexibility with stuff like that.

I am considering doing some overarching visual effects once I finish the film, which might be trying to achieve a more film-like appearance. Grain, wobble, and some slight lens distortion are in order.



mrbenja:
Really, to remove music - I have to remove EVERYTHING. Mithrandir got a decent music removal process, but it has low fidelity for sound effects, and certain frequencies of dialogue.

For any music I replace, I have to replace everything. 
The shot at the docks has no music in the original cut, so that was easy.

timdiggerm: 
As for the Death Star cue, I'm not wild about it either. What I would really want, is to get a clever musician to get me that exact cue in a major key.

Though I do think the cue works well after Anakin's darker look at the end of the scene, as well as an indication that things start to get bad from this point on.  

This is what we were discussing in another thread. There isn't a 100% effective tool for music removal. In the end you'll always end up replacing everything. What I tried to do is to achieve a way to isolate dialogue, in order to be able to replace longer shots and acted shots.

But if done right (which I didn't) it would be a very long process. Firstly you have to remove most of the music leaving the lines untouched (as possible), then you would have to silence or mute the resulting audio in all the parts that aren't dialogue and haven't been rmoved. Only then you would be getting a more or less decent dialogue track. 

After that, rebuilding all the audio effects (or the new effects from the OT) in the right spots and in dolby 5.1 would be a quite heavy task too. And once you combine those two, dialogue and SFX, only then you start thinking of the music.

No magic tools, as said, so even if doing all that there isn't a guaranty that you'd be getting something with good quality.

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 (Edited)

Forgive my ignorance here - but how do dubbed films work? Like the original music etc is all there but then it's in a foreign language. So presumably at some point there is the musical and sound effect score, separate from the dialogue? Or is that just not released at all to the public?

As always A - great stuff, really looking forward to these when you release them!

"Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation." - Rabindranath Tagore

"Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth." - Kahlil Gibran

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aalenfae said:

timdiggerm: 

As for the Death Star cue, I'm not wild about it either. What I would really want, is to get a clever musician to get me that exact cue in a major key.

Oh now that would be fantastic. And I'm pretty sure it's doable. Have you seen the videos where people autotune various songs to be in major keys? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6KmiIq2-m8 for example (original being http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg). See also NPR's coverage: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/08/173832177/can-you-make-sad-songs-sound-happy-and-vice-versa

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

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 (Edited)

Yeah - they've got a version of the movie that's dialogue-free, and they're keeping it all to themselves! It sucks to know that the resources are out there, but we'll never get them. Unless we break into Skywalker Ranch or something, haha.


Concerning changing the key, it SEEMS doable, but it seems to sound bad with this particular cue. I would need it to be rearranged and all that jazz. Like with real (or at least simulated) instruments. 

On another note, here's a little visual test of the color corrections I've done to the battle of coruscant:
http://vimeo.com/64850327

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I think from now on, I'm going to be releasing brief videos that feature certain aspects of the edit.

Here's a video that features a more extreme scene cut, as well as music changes:
http://vimeo.com/64861962

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I feel like you cut away a little too soon for viewers to get the idea of what's going on there.

Also, although I love the use of ANH music, I worry about overuse? But it's a good idea in terms of linking, for sure.  

ROTJ Storyboard Reconstruction Project

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 (Edited)

aalenfae said:

http://vimeo.com/61159738
Just... gonna leave this here ;P 

I really like what you did there...

It's up to you what you do with these as they are your edits but I am gathering together a few rules on what needs to be removed as a whole from the PT to make the PT feel more like the OT here is a few.

1.No Emperor Holograms until order 66 and no emperor until he says I am a sith

2.No Force Pushes at all

3.Somersaults are ok but no stupid acrobatics this goes for yoda too.

These are the 3 golden rules and the 4th is no Jar Jar of course

What you are doing looks promising and very well done not sure what the main goal is but it's looking good

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timdiggerm:
Yeah, I definitely cut the wheelbike shot too early, at least.
It's hard to tell the timing until I've watched it a few times. But I'll totally fix that before the final cut.

I'm not so worried about music overuse so much as music incongruity. If I use only a little bit of ANH music, it will stand out. But if I use too much ANH music... there's a similar problem. There needs to be a good balance.

Ronster:
I think I totally agree with you, but I would slightly tweak rule #1.

1. Remove as many holograms as possible.
Then color-correct the remaining ones to match the coloring of the OT.




 

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Dangit... I knew I shouldn't have looked for updates in this thread...  I was so happy being busy with other things and totally forgetting about wanting to watch this...  Now it's back near the top of the desire list...

;)