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Andor: The Movie Omnibus (Four Movies; Nothing Removed) [COMPLETE!] - Thanks to NFBisms! — Page 3

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https://youtu.be/zTlw_VrU-wk This video I saw a while ago gave me an idea to use for this edit. As you know each Andor episode intro has slightly different theme. What if each movie intro has theme from the original episodes combined? For example, the intro of the first movie will have the intro theme from episodes 1-3 playing at the same time

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I am watching episode 3 right now, and the immediate cut from Cassian shouting: “Nobody’s listening!” to him calming Kino down to avoid raising suspicion feels odd. I think it needs another scene in between these two, but I don’t have any concrete suggestions.

“Vader! Hologram, now!”

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That said, I’m happy with what I’ve seen so far, up to halfway through movie 3. Got some notes for areas to tweak and polish, but nothing massively jarring yet, so I’m happy overall with these workprints as an initial version for the early adopters. I might play around a little with the timing at the start of movie 3, just to smooth out the early time jump (Andor from Ferrix to Niamos) a little better. I think I can use Syril’s montage and “you’ve been working at the Bureau of Standards less than a month” for this.

I might also move Blevin establishing the Ferrix base back to movie two - it doesn’t add too much value here, and is slightly contradicted by a line of Maarva’s in movie 3 and a line said to Blevin in movie 2.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Finishing a watch of movie 3 (Narkina 5 prison), I’ve had a couple of ideas I could do with an opinion on.

Obviously the main mission statement of this edit is that I don’t want to remove a thing. I’m sticking to that. And I want to adhere as closely as possible to the original intent, which so far has also meant I haven’t reordered scenes which are part of individual plotlines.

However, there might be a value add in doing a little story reordering- if you guys don’t think it’s sacrilegious.

I have three examples: First,there’s a thread about the Public Order Resentencing Directive which I feel could be focused on to add just a little more value. If we were to see the Empire announce it, then Mon debate it in the sebate, then people discuss it at Mon’s party, then the prisoners suffer under it, that could be a little more powerful.

Secondly, Mon’s senate debate leads into Vel’s arrival, and the discussions with Vel’s darker activities could lead nicely into Mon suspecting Luthen, and both together could lead well into Mon telling Tay Kolma how deep she’s going.

(As an aside, front loading the Mon content that way would mean I’d need to shift Syril’s content to the later half, which might help imply more time in prison for Cassian, plus draw out parallels about their imprisonment nicely.)

Thirdly, having Cassian try to recruit Kino to escape a little earlier might help sell his desperation when he’s scratching away at the pipe alone, and give us a bit more value when Kino finally commits.

As before, no plans to cut anything, but I’ll try these if you guys don’t think them too radical.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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I’m just reviewing the Movie 4 workprint now, and very happy with the first 45 minutes. I love how Cassian’s absence hangs over so many plots, and I love the flow of scenes which were originally split through four other episodes - I think they work really well here as escalation as all of the series’ major plots so far start to draw together. There’re a couple of moments with implied timeskips which I might be able to allow to breathe a little more, but the options are limited here. I don’t think that’s a major issue though. And there’ve been a couple of transitions I’d like to improve just a touch, but I’ve found the experience smooth so far.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Just finished movie 4, and I’m very happy with that one too. I definitely think I have the right content in each movie for maximum impact, and I loved how this one played out. To be honest I think I’ll upgrade all of these from workprints to v1.0, because there’s nothing that would stop a viewer enjoying these.

As before, I think there are just a handful of transitions which could be smoother, and a slight reordering to pull a few B-plot scenes earlier might just help fill a few of the implied time jumps, but I don’t think there’s anything critical.

I hope you’ll all agree!

I’m away for the weekend, but I should have some good time next week to work on 1.1 versions across the board with a gentle focus on internal pacing and light transition refinements.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Right, I’m picking these back up for a polish pass, hopefully a final one. I don’t know if anyone’s had time yet to review the current versions but I’d love feedback if anyone’s had the time. I’ll probably edit in order of easiest to hardest - 1,2,4,3.

I’m interested in thoughts on shifting a little of the content in movie 3 (Narkina) around, as per a couple of posts above.

I know I don’t want to remove anything I don’t have to, but I’m thinking of cutting the shot from the very end of the second episode, of Andor walking on Ferrix directly toward camera as dramatic music plays, since that feels very much like a “we’re ending the episode here and it needs to be dramatic” shot, so even rescored it might land in that way and interrupt the smoothness of the transition? That said, I appreciate that it’s very iconic.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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OK, first movie is fully polished. Those two transitions took some reordering to make work, turning them into four transitions, but now they’re all lovely and smooth with nice audio cues. I’ll reissue all four movies when I’m done with the lot, but if anyone wants movie one version 1.1 now, PM me. (NFBisms I know this was one you specifically called out.)

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Something about movie 4 that stood out to me was Vel and Cinta being on Ferrix at the beginning, before Kleya explicitly outlines the assignment. I think it flows really well in the moment, but that later scene where Vel is told about finding and killing Cassian stands out in that context. What are they meant to be doing in the earlier scene if not already looking for him?

I know you’re trying not to cut anything, but maybe removal of Kleya’s “sending messages / loose end” pivot and recapping of who he is, would sell that this is something they were already doing.

“Have you heard from Cinta?”
“She’s doing what she’s told. Cassian Andor. You need to find him.”
“Find him.”
“We can’t have him walking around with Luthen in his head.”
“You mean kill him”

That probably goes against what you’re trying to do here though and honestly maybe it could stay as is for a hypothetical fresh eyes audience, who won’t realize it’s out of order. I just clocked it.

Andor: The Rogue One Arc

not a Jedi apologist or a Jedi hater but a secret third thing

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I’ve just run a polish pass on Movie 2, which I’ll call ‘Declaration’. It’s a synonym of both ‘announcement’ and ‘manifesto’, two subjects of this episode, and of course the action is a Luthen’s declaration of war. (Also this way I don’t steal an existing episode name.) NFBisms said this one was flawless already, but there were a couple of transitions I just wasn’t happy with, so I went back to it. It was suprisingly hard, actually, because the transition which stood out most to me had a big knock-on effect when trying to shift scenes around. I ended up pulling one of the Dedra-Blevin meeting scenes earlier, which actually serves the timeline a lot better, making more time for Blevin to go establish the base on Ferrix (newly re-added), and better aligns with Maarva’s comments in movie 3 that the Empire moved in to Ferrix early. Very happy with this one - it’s rendering now, and it’ll be uploaded shortly after.

NFB, as for your comments on movie 4, that’s a fair point. I think I need to stick with this ordering, because (1) movie 4 needs to open on the Maarva sickness content, (2) having Vel meet Kleya on Coruscant wouldn’t fit before it in movie 4 (with enough implied time passing for her to come to Ferrix), and (3) putting Vel and Kleya in movie 3 would interrupt the end of the prison break and not match the plotlines of that movie. But as you suggest, small dialogue trims in that scene would convey the same context without being a radical ommission. I’ll see.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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And that’s movie 4’s release version rendering now too. I’m very pleased with this set of improvements. What I’ve done with this pass is shifted some of the content around to better pace the opening so time passes more naturally. Anywhere there’s an implied passage of time (such as Bix getting caught the morning after Maarva gets sick, or the Imperials making progress with their plans from scene to scene), or where there are indicators for the time of day changing on Coruscant (like window shots, or Imperials taking off their outdoor jackets), I’ve made sure to pad that with an appropriate scene - usually long Mon Mothma ones. I think this flow really works.

This has had a neutral-to-beneficial effect on Vel’s story, putting her a bit more in focus in what I think is an interesting way:

  1. She’s on Ferrix, implicitly already looking for Cassian but dissatisfied about it.
  2. She goes to talk to Luthen, is annoyed to meet Kleya instead, and is told ‘you’d better get in the game and kill Andor’.
  3. While on Coruscant, she visits Mon, who’s pimping out her daughter. Now, she was already frustrated, and now she’s emotionally compromised. She turns her blame to Luthen.
  4. She goes to Luthen’s shop to confront him - but he’s away again. She doesn’t follow protocol and acts up - though ultimately still concedes that she’ll head back to Ferrix, since Cinta’s told her that Maarva died.
    This is only a slight reordering to Vel’s original story, and it doesn’t fundamentally change anything. I think it just puts her frustration with Luthen in a bit more focus.

NFB, I used exactly your suggested structure for the early Vel-Kleya scene, it gave the best dialogue flow. Not a major change at all, but hopefully my most major change.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Just picking up the last remaining movie for a polish/chronology pass - movie 3. We’ve got the througline of Cassian going to Ferrix, Niamos, and Narkina prison, with a 30-day time skip in the middle of his incarceration, and a few key beats about the Public Order Resentencing Directive in the B-plots that serve it well at key points. There’s a solo Dedra plot about her taking over the Morlana sector from Blevin, a Syril plot of him getting the Standards job, and their overlap plot of Dedra’s interview of Syril (“less than a month” after he starts) and him stalking her (continuing their conversation from “last month”). We have two Mon plots - firstly her escalating rebel activity via Tay Kolma during a party, and secondly her meeting with Vel as they begrudge their situation. So I’m just now trying to work out the best pacing and placement.

The main thing I’d like to gain over the current version is moving more storylines later, to better break up the Narkina plots.

Syril has a key moment - seeing the news announcement about the Aldhani heist (on the day of his interview) - which must come early, but after that we can take a breather on his storyline so I can push that back. The other main imposition is that Mon’s party storyline and meeting with Vel each happen during a short window, so I need to be careful about where they fit around the Narkina timeline so too much time doesn’t pass there while they’re ongoing. The Syril/Dedra conversations will hopefully work in the slots where more time on Narkina needs to pass.

This one’s a bit more work than the other three movies, but I’m on it. Hope to have it to you all soon.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Had some time to check these out (1, 2, 4, at least) and I think a lot of it mostly works out. Ironically movie 4, while having the most moving around, actually has the best technical transitions; there are still a few places in 1 and 2 where I think some of the music transitions could be implemented a little better. (Though I realize these are just some of the limits of fanediting, especially with the purpose of preserving the source as much as possible.)

  • New placement of original “Kassa” ending works well, but I think the music plays too long over the next scene of Syril. Perhaps you could start the track come down earlier and quieter?
  • The “That Would Be Me” into “Reckoning” transition, maybe you could cut some of the empty space before Kassa enters the crashed ship? The visual momentum comes to an immediate halt while the music itself comes down more slowly. I think if you more smoothly connect the scenes’ music tracks in time // have the shots move from action to action, it would play as one transitory sequence. I would even go as far as removing that one shot where he crawls through the hole entirely?
  • “Axe Forgets” ending music bleeds into the first bit of “The Eye” too long IMO. Nemik and Cass get pretty far into their conversation before the fade fully completes.

Narratively though, 1 & 2 work as well as they should. It’s not like you’re really cutting anything out, and these do the job of streamlining the focus really well. Even the few space / time jumps feel in line with what was the show’s language already.

Re: movie 4, I prefer Maarva’s death as revealed originally. The juxtaposition of Cassian finally being free to B2 grappling with what he missed worked jarringly beautifully to that end already. Vel letting Kleya know as that moment doesn’t work nearly as well, particularly since the scene initially feels too tied up with the preceding Vel scenes. It feels like she’s visiting the shop to follow through on the Mothma threads, especially since it takes a bit for Vel to get to the point about Maarva. It works much better after Maarva Is Dead has been well established. I think it could be swapped for Bix being moved and asked about Kreegyr. You could even have the shop scene moved right after Cinta views the party moving Maarva’s body, draw the line clearer between Cinta learning it and Vel reporting it. Otherwise, solid work. Like I said before, the rearrangement all works, even the more implied time jumps.

I’ll continue to keep looking at these, great job so far

Andor: The Rogue One Arc

not a Jedi apologist or a Jedi hater but a secret third thing

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Great feedback buddy, thanks. I agree with you on Maarva’s death- I can’t remember why I flipped the reveal (it’ll have been a technical need) but I’ll see what my options are.

I’ll finish work on movie 3 and give these a little longer for feedback, then see if I can refine them even more. Audio is my weakest skill, but I’m learning…

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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NFBisms feedback is spot on, those were the only nitpicks I had. Otherwise overall I loved the general restructure.

I do want to chime in 2 suggestions about Andor in general:

  1. early in Mon’s story where her husband invited Sly Moore to a party I feel like a follow up scene like in E5 Mon and her husband in the taxi would be better moved there than after the family breakfast scene.

  2. This is a personal opinion but I think E1-3s flashbacks should be moved as 2 full flashback scenes. Cassian’s perspective with his tribe till he sees his reflection in the ship all presented before B2 wakes Andor up in the begining
    And then Marva’s perspective flashback where she finds Cassian in the ship placed in the scene where she looks at Andor’s room.

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I’m making good progress on the third movie. I’ve done a lot of reordering in order to make the timeskips not break B-plot storylines, and am paying a lot of attention to which scenes cover days versus which cover a few scenes in a single day. I’m also paying more attention to the big punchy moments (including their big punchy audio cues) in order to give them room to land.

I’ve merged a couple of scenes into one, and in so doing cut a few shots out, but they’re largely redundant shots of Ulaf struggling when we’ve already been shown that in other shots.

It’s flowing nicely so far…!

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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I’ve really enjoyed your work on this project!

How’s the progress on Film 3? Can’t wait to check out the final version.

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It’s coming along! Just needing to find the time- I might have some meaty time to deep dive it a couple of weekends from now. The third movie is an absolute beast- so much prison content, I need to rebuild a lot of audio transitions. But I’m chipping away.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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EddieDean said:

It’s coming along! Just needing to find the time- I might have some meaty time to deep dive it a couple of weekends from now. The third movie is an absolute beast- so much prison content, I need to rebuild a lot of audio transitions. But I’m chipping away.

I totally understand how it is to try to find the time needed. Thanks for all your work!

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The good, the bad, and the request for help:

The Good:

  • I’ve completed the reordering for Movie 3. It’s far, far better paced now, and time passes consistently in all three plotlines, including around the time jumps, multiple scenes in a single day, and references to the timeline. I’m happy to call this scene ordering ‘final’, as it tells this story nicely - as nicely as the other three movies, at least. Everything gets its due the three plotlines are well balanced throughout.
  • The majority of transitions are very smooth and flow nicely.

The Bad:

  • There’re a few areas where the transitions don’t work - and I just don’t have the skill to fix them. I could pick up this skill, but as you may have noticed from my slowing down recently, I just don’t have the time to learn something all-new right now - specifically that of recreating foley whilst replacing music tracks. I’ve never done this before and wouldn’t know where to start.
  • Much more minor, but I’ve cut two very short scenes to make this all work. One is just yet another scene of the prisoners doing their prison work (originally used to end the first prison episode), and one is a scene of the older prisoner (the one who dies) struggling to come back from dropping off another completed piece - though there’s still plenty of other scenes of him struggling. These removals aren’t ideal, but they are very minor in the scheme of things - I’m barely changing the show’s actual content.

The request for help:

  • Is anyone with foley/music replacement skills able to help just get this last film over the line? I can provide a very high-res file, and full detail on the issue areas and their source content, I just need an experienced SFX partner. Worst case I will eventually be able to learn the skill, but I’d really appreciate the help because I’d like to get this one out to everyone sooner rather than later.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus