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Episode 3 - Editing Back in Progress (* unfinished project *) — Page 15

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Thanks, Rebel Scum! I'm gonna give your suggestions a "go". I've finally found a newsreader, Xnews, which has an interface I like and allows me to view the message headers which have already been downloaded even while the rest are still being downloaded.

Surprisingly, News Rover and Ultrleecher, which the web-based service I'm using (usenet.com) links to had to download the headers FIRST before I could see ANYTHING. I think News Rover was corrupt or something, because, if I went to a different thread for messages, the messages downloaded in the other thread were no longer accessible, and the "stop" button greyed out and was unuseable.

Long story short, thanks again; I'm going to try it your way.
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"But what's it all mean, Basil?"
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/7788/whatsitmeanyr6.jpg

So, my head's rattling around with binary retention, rars, and pars, and I'm downloading Jambe Davdar's Returning to Jedi as a test of this newsgroup, movie-getting technology.

I've tried the a.b.hdtv.x264 group, but I haven't had any luck obtaining the 1080p ESIR version of Episode III; the 1080p-hv version wasn't available in the thread either.

I've also looked in a.b.starwars and a.tv.tech.hdtv. Comcast's retention is supposed to be up to 90 days for binary. I was able to locate the listings for all of the pieces for the "ESIR" file which Adywan was nice enough to point me to, but the NZB found no available files in a.b.hdtx.x264 to download. The movie is only 32 days old according to www.binsearch.info. So far, Comcast and Usenet servers have shown no more than 12 days of content in GrabIt!, and only 15 days via Usenet in Xnews.

Apart from posting my own request to newsgroups, can anyone help me out here? I was hoping to have my edit completed by the end of this month.

Searching for this stuff is taking forever. Thanks.
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Okay, so my download of Returning to Jedi has me feeling a bit more comfortable about the newsgroup thing.

One thing, though: since I don't seem to have great retention available to me for a.b.hdtv.x264 on either Comcast or usenet.com servers, can anyone suggest a server service which would?
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Originally posted by: darkhelmet
So, my head's rattling around with binary retention, rars, and pars, and I'm downloading Jambe Davdar's Returning to Jedi as a test of this newsgroup, movie-getting technology.

Maybe you already know - but just in case you don't, the RAR's are the files which contain the file/s you require - just zipped up. The Par files are used to rebuild any damaged or missing files from the batch. I use Quickpar which can be downloaded from http://www.quickpar.org.uk


Originally posted by: darkhelmet
I've tried the a.b.hdtv.x264 group, but I haven't had any luck obtaining the 1080p ESIR version of Episode III; the 1080p-hv version wasn't available in the thread either.

It's definitely there - again just go to 'advanced search' and search for 'star wars esir', and it should pop up - it's the only one there. 32 days old.


Originally posted by: darkhelmet
I've also looked in a.b.starwars and a.tv.tech.hdtv. Comcast's retention is supposed to be up to 90 days for binary. I was able to locate the listings for all of the pieces for the "ESIR" file which Adywan was nice enough to point me to, but the NZB found no available files in a.b.hdtx.x264 to download. The movie is only 32 days old according to www.binsearch.info. So far, Comcast and Usenet servers have shown no more than 12 days of content in GrabIt!, and only 15 days via Usenet in Xnews.


Yip - 32 days old is the file I've found. 12 days of retention isn't very good I'm afraid if that's all they're offering, you might be better having a look at Astraweb (which has 122+ days retention) or another provider, and pay a minimal amount for a 'Pay As You Go' service...

Again - hope this is helpful.


Originally posted by: darkhelmet
I was hoping to have my edit completed by the end of this month.


The newsgroups are very easy to navigate/use once you get used to it - I never used to use them until about a year ago. Before then it was Bittorrent, and before that eMule and such stuff. I found it a bit weird at the beginning too - but don't worry it will all become clear to you in a very short space of time. All the best for your edit!

Cheers,

Rebel Scum.

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http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3669/thumbsuparniesmallsv8.jpg

Thanks for all of your help, Rebel Scum! Sorry that you had to repeat yourself about Astraweb before it got through to me. I was so overwhelmed yesterday by all things newsgroup.

I've signed up with Astraweb and am using the NZB I found through www.binsearch.info to download the glorious file right now!

Man, I love it when things go right! I can't wait to put this new material to work.
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So, I am now the proud recipient of the ESIR 1080p Episode 3 video! Thanks, Adywan and Rebel Scum!

I'll hopefully have a scene cut soon!
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In the interest of quality comparison to the 1080p ESIR Episode 3 video, I've been attempting to get Wookie Groomer's Episode 3 WMV Hi-Def file but have so far been unable to successfully extract it via the RAR and PAR files I have.

I had tried different NZB files as found on newzleech.com and binsearch.info but none yielded all of the RAR files in one batch, so I pulled some files from newsgroups manually and created a composite RAR/PAR archive to try to extract from to no avail. I just ran SuperNZB's PAR tool on one of the PAR files, and it told me that I needed 1500 more recovery blocks!

I'm a noob at this, but I have been able to successfully get the 1080p ESIR video, Jambe Davdar's "Returning to Jedi", and Adywan's amazing "Episode 4 Revisited".

Do I simply need to post a request for more PARs?

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/8877/wgrarpartroubleas6.jpg

superNZB: i no like the red
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Originally posted by: darkhelmet
In the interest of quality comparison to the 1080p ESIR Episode 3 video, I've been attempting to get Wookie Groomer's Episode 3 WMV Hi-Def file but have so far been unable to successfully extract it via the RAR and PAR files I have.

I had tried different NZB files as found on newzleech.com and binsearch.info but none yielded all of the RAR files in one batch, so I pulled some files from newsgroups manually and created a composite RAR/PAR archive to try to extract from to no avail. I just ran SuperNZB's PAR tool on one of the PAR files, and it told me that I needed 1500 more recovery blocks!

Do I simply need to post a request for more PARs?



I think the issue may be that it's been posted approx 119 days ago - I don't know who you are using just now - is it still Astraweb? They're retention is 120+ days, so it's right on the borderline.

I really don't think more Pars would help, as there's a hell of a lot of blocks missing by the looks of things. What you need is for it to be re-posted, either that or try downloading again via a different usenet provider?

Stevie.

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RS, thanks for the advice on all of those missing blocks. I am using Astraweb, but I may try GigaNews.

mike
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Thanks, Ady. I'm giving that QuickPar thingy-doo a try. I am on GigaNews now, but even my manual download of all of the files has some corruption according to WINRAR (nowhere near as much, though).

Thanks for chiming in even with all the chatter going on over at your thread. I haven't had a chance to take in your entire edit yet, but don't let the criticism get you down. From what I've seen so far, you've done the best work on ANH that I've ever seen, including the official LFL stuff! I'm amazed, actually astounded, at the work done animating the original cantina aliens' facial expressions! That's something Lucas should've done. Not to mention the new Death Star read-out in the Rebel briefing before the attack!

Edit : OOOoooo! This QuickPar thing is cool, but it looks like I might still have a bad file. Recovery's not done though. Will update again soon.

Update : I'm so happy, I could almost cry. QuickPar fixed it all, and SuperNZB extracted the file! I now have Wookie Groomer's WMV Hi-Def version of ROTS! On with the rest of my life (after I check out the file a bit, of course). THNX Rebel Scum, Adywan, and Wookie Groomer!

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/135/tearsojoycroppedub3.jpg

Oh, sweet, sweet, saline tears of joy!
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Update: So sorry that I haven't come through with anything post-Hi-Def-source-secured. The past 3 weeks have been unusually busy at work.

I've done some reframing of shots to the "Anakin and Padme Reunited on Balcony" scene using Wookie Groomer's Hi-Def WMV as my source and will be cutting that together some time this week not matter what may come down the pike.

Also, I have had the ESIR HDTV x264 file available to me but no direct way to import it to After Effects or Adobe Premiere. I really wanted to do an "A to B" comparison of Wookie Groomer's vid VS. the ESIR x264 for optimal source clarity and have finally sucessfully done so via a conversion (River Past Video Cleaner Lite) and reconversion (VirtualDubMod) process to get the stupid file into After Effects.

I have still yet to determine if the ESIR vid will be good for what I would like to do with it (scale it up past 1920x1080 resolution to enable zooming in on a scene closer than WG's vid will allow with reasonable clarity), but preliminarily the ESIR source looks promising as it is noticeably sharper though an interesting frame-rate issue has been introduced that I will be checking into later.
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Also, I have had the ESIR HDTV x264 file available to me but no direct way to import it to After Effects or Adobe Premiere. I really wanted to do an "A to B" comparison of Wookie Groomer's vid VS. the ESIR x264 for optimal source clarity and have finally sucessfully done so via a conversion (River Past Video Cleaner Lite) and reconversion (VirtualDubMod) process to get the stupid file into After Effects.

I have still yet to determine if the ESIR vid will be good for what I would like to do with it (scale it up past 1920x1080 resolution to enable zooming in on a scene closer than WG's vid will allow with reasonable clarity), but preliminarily the ESIR source looks promising as it is noticeably sharper though an interesting frame-rate issue has been introduced that I will be checking into later.


Please do follow up whenever you can. I am very interested in:

1. Your conversion process
2. The results of your comparison and analysis
3. The "interesting" frame-rate issue.

For example, can you elaborate on point #3? There is something dubious (or at least confusing) about WG's WMV files, because he reports the frame rate as 23.976, but the original European fellow who is most reponsible for that material surely captured a PAL broadcast. Are you referring to a similar matter?
Track the Star Wars Prologue fanedit at
Digital Fanedits
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[quote=Anti-Matter]

Please do follow up whenever you can. I am very interested in:

1. Your conversion process
2. The results of your comparison and analysis
3. The "interesting" frame-rate issue.

For example, can you elaborate on point #3? There is something dubious (or at least confusing) about WG's WMV files, because he reports the frame rate as 23.976, but the original European fellow who is most reponsible for that material surely captured a PAL broadcast. Are you referring to a similar matter?


Hello, thread! I FINALLY have something to show using a Hi-Def source! Late (as always) but as promised, the post-massacre balcony scene betweeen Anakin and Padme has been re-edited; it's still a work-in-progress, but the bulk of it is there.

The xvid AVI can be downloaded here: ( http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3RWP9AJW )

The video is a comparison of my re-edit playing above the original DVD movie edit.

All contructive criticisms are welcome as always! If someone hears something horrible in the audio, I may need to start looking for someone to help in that aspect as I don't have the passion to take on learning how to fine-tune the mix; simple patches, not a big deal; remixing, sweetening, extracting frequencies... not my favorite thing.

Anti-Matter:

1. The conversion process involved a few steps: convert the MKV file via River Past Video Cleaner Lite using the Lagarith Lossless AVI codec which Adywan had suggested and using PCM audio (though I didn't really care about that as my audio is the DVD audio; could've been silent for all I care); while Adobe After Effects would accept this converted file, the video was all black (for what possible reason, I don't know); so, I used a bit of Adywan's know-how again and used VirtualDubMod to transcode to another AVI in Lagarith Lossless codec, which After Effects accepted AND displayed (I created an up-rezzed AVI beyond Hi-Def from the HD file in VDM as well but didn't use it for this scene and am not convinced yet that it will gain me anything in getting in closer on other shot reframings). Once the reframing was done for a clip, I encoded the clip to yet more Lagarith Lossless AVIs @ 864x486 frame size (16x9) which Premiere takes in with no problem. Video Cleaner Lite cost me $20.00, and you need some big drives to handle all of these encodings; I'm running 2 300GB externals (1 has my projects on it; the other is my back-up), 1 750GB external (where I store the Hi-Def and Super Hi-Def AVIs I created), and my internal 500GB drive. And, finally, on to your #2 interest...

2. The comparison of the WookieGroomer WMV HD file and the ESIR Matroska file resulted in my use of the ESIR file. The ESIR file was noticeably sharper in its detail and did not have the artifacting I was seeing at some points on scene changes in WG's WMV HD file. And #3...

3. The issue was something along the lines of which you wrote. I can't remember what the WG file frame rate was, but the frame-rate issue with the ESIR file was nothing more than my inexperinece with video files at the PAL frame rate of 25 frames per second versus the NTSC frame rate of 29.97 fps at which I had created my edit project based on the Episode 3 NTSC DVD. Since 25 fps is only 1 frame more than the actual film frame rate of 24 fps, I now wish I had started my project as a PAL project so that I could turn out a native PAL DVD as well as an NTSC DVD when all is said and done. Oh, well. Maybe I'll have the time and energy to recreate my edit in PAL once the NTSC version is complete (and maybe pigs will fly). To compensate for the frame rate difference once I created my reframed shots and imported them into my NTSC Adobe Premiere project, I simply placed them on my timeline and slowed the clips down enough to match the length of the clips from the DVD. And since the ESIR HD file is progressive with no pull-down used, there are no horrible interlacing issues.

Maybe that's more than you wanted to know, AM? :)
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Alright. No replies, huh? With the hits the thread got, I guess that means one of four things:

1. People read the post and didn't care.

2. People read the post, downloaded the scene comparison, watched it and didn't care.

3. People read the post, downloaded the scene, watched it and saw nothing worth writing about.

4. People read the post, downloaded and watched the scene, saw nothing really worth writing about and would like to see MORE PROGRESS!

Well, hang tight! I'm working on a more detailed exhibition of this scene (Padme to look like she's actually REALLY pregnant and a nice bit of continuity by making R2D2 and the ship bob a bit on R2's close-up as Anakin climbs aboard his ship).

And then, onto more of the film where so much detail won't bog me down!
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5. People somehow missed the post and are only checking it out now.

Put me in that category. Dunno how that happened, I've been following this thread with interest. Downloading your clip now...
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Cool. Nice TROPIC THUNDER avatar, BTW. That movie looks like it could be pretty funny.
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Yeah can't wait for Tropic Thunder.

Okay, I watched the clip and it's great. doesn't cut out anything important. You could probably be trimmed further but so far you've done quite a good job on it.

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Cool. Thanks for the feedback, guys.

JR - what would be your suggestions on tightening the edit a bit more?

Adywan - I agree that Padme's line needs some work; gotta see what I can do about that.
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Alright. Sorry. No video to show yet, but I'm making progress on a more pregnant-looking Padme for this scene.

With this tweak and making her look more pregnant when she is rendered unconcious later by Anakin on Mustafar should go a long way to making her pregnancy more believable.

I'll have some video on my next edit update post.
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So, the mesh warp effect in After Effects produced results that were, um... interesting. Padme's arm gets all noodly to begin with, and then it looks like one of the babies has a major Jedi kick.

I'm going with a video composite of a "belly ball" which won't change shape instead. Lesson learned.

The video available here contrasts the warped video to the composite test I did with the ball pretty much matching Padme's movement. It's really brief, so you may want to loop your playback or manually rewind.

If anyone has any tips on the best way to do the composite, I'm all ears (particularly about the simplest and most effective approach to painting the ball to look like Padme's gown).

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do women look that pregnant? i quite like it as it will make her look more vulnerable later on.

i posted this on another thread earlier, but i found this video on youtube that someone had done and thought it made the scene easier to follow, and seems to make anakin look much more sith like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4puaVsdKUuk

solving the lightsaber continuity would seem difficult, but im sure some inserted homemade scenes of perhaps palpatine handing anakin a new lightsaber, and also obi wan taking his but at a separate location could solve this.

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looking sweet. You just need to keep an eye on the buildings behind her. I like where this is going.
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If it weren't for the lightsaber Obi-Wan gives Luke, I would rather Anakin's lightsabers all be red for the whole trilogy. And it's just a color preference. The whole "Sith Red Lightsaber means evil!" never really made sense to me (from a filmmaking perspective, yes, from a storytelling perspective, no). Of course, Obi-Wan could just be lying about it being Luke's father's lightsaber after all. What a head trip! Definately cast a different light on Obi-Wan's motivations, I think. But that's because I like Battlestar Galactica and it's focus on flawed protagonists.

Sorry for spamming your thread, darkhelmet.

I like the new edit.