Ghostbusters (2016) [Re-edit] - Help Wanted

I’ve been a fan of Ghostbusters quite literally as long as I can remember: the oldest memory I believe I have is going to a Toys 'R Us and buying a “Real Ghostbusters” action figure. Personally, I did not think the 2016 remake was that or any other of thousands of childhood, teenage, and adult memories of the series, but I do have issues with quite a bit of the editing, which per director Paul Feig’s own admission was done based on whatever would get him the highest scores in test screenings rather than the integrity of the story. Having viewed the extended cut and the nearly 2.5 hours of additional scenes and footage on the Blu-ray, I think there’s a better movie in the material.

I have wanted to find time to put together a fan edit of the movie since 2016, and have never gotten around to it. Recently, there was a small thing I thought I could edit, so I downloaded an editing program on my old desktop, but I believe it’s just too outdated to run it (my main computer is a Surface tablet, which I mostly use for surfing the web). It might be kind of a long shot (it seems like it), but I figured I’d inquire if there were any other Ghostbusters fans out there who would like to help put a new cut together based on my notes. I can provide the materials off the various discs, including a huge chunk of additional footage that was only released online in America, but which I have on a physical disc. If I could afford to pay an editor, I would, but since this project is basically just for fun, and I don’t have a ton of expendable income, it would have to be a labor of love.

As far as how much work the recut would be, it’s hard for me to say. I do have some older experience editing for a technical class, but it’s been almost a decade since then. I have some notes but the first step if someone was interested would be sitting down and watching/cataloguing the various deleted scenes and outtakes, and then rewatching the movie to try and note where it would be relatively easy to make clean cuts versus scenes where the music and effects would get in the way.

To reiterate: this is just a shot in the dark – if this is a wildly unrealistic request, I admit I would not know. I visited these forums once some 15 years ago, but I have no idea what the “vibe” of the fan edit scene is like, or whether or not this kind of request is common. Just hoping someone else likes the movie and would have fun working on this.

(I’m sure there are forum rules about being polite, but I also have to add, if you don’t like the movie, well, I don’t need to hear about it. Lots of people don’t like the movie!)

I know there are some other fan edits of this one out there, have you had a chance to check any of them out?

I’ve got at least one sat on my laptop atm and will prob give a watch soon, I think it’s certainly a film with unfulfilled potential.

In terms of editing yourself, how old is your desktop? I edit on a 12 year old laptop and although it can’t run the most up to date software, it can handle editing in full HD.

I’d recommend looking into how much it’d cost to upgrade the ram and pop in an SSD, you may find it’s quite affordable.

lyndon85 said:

I know there are some other fan edits of this one out there, have you had a chance to check any of them out?

I’ve got at least one sat on my laptop atm and will prob give a watch soon, I think it’s certainly a film with unfulfilled potential.

In terms of editing yourself, how old is your desktop? I edit on a 12 year old laptop and although it can’t run the most up to date software, it can handle editing in full HD.

I’d recommend looking into how much it’d cost to upgrade the ram and pop in an SSD, you may find it’s quite affordable.

I do already have an SSD in it. I could probably upgrade it. I just figured maybe someone else would like to collaborate.

I haven’t looked at other fan edits. I figure I have pretty specific edits, down to swapping in single outtakes and alternative lines (and even maybe preparing two versions of the edit with some illustrated scene alterations that don’t exist in the cut footage), so I think while I may like some of those other efforts, it would be a little unlikely anyone comes very close to what I’m envisioning, but that’s a guess. The main thing is, I think it’s already a pretty good movie – I’m not looking to transform the tone significantly, and I have a basic worry that what others want is to make it more like the original. That said, if you have a list of existing alternate versions you know of (this forum’s database didn’t list any, unless I read it incorrectly), I’d be interested in hearing about them.

EDIT: I might as well describe one of these scenes that doesn’t even exist for illustrative purposes, just to give a sense of the specificity of the thought I’ve put into this. I’m sure this kind of passion is the norm with fan edits, but it still might be worth mentioning.

In the finished movie, there’s a scene where Erin (Kristen Wiig) is at the college, having learned that Abby (Melissa McCarthy) republished their book without her knowledge, and the dean (Charles Dance) interrupts, so she hides the information on the computer. If I were doing the version where I extended the film with material that isn’t shot, I would alter the scene so that Erin receives an email about a conference about the paranormal, to set up the idea that even though her character is pretending to be a skeptic, she still believes, which would flow better into the following scenes where she reunites with Abby and goes to the museum to investigate their disturbance.

Sounds like you have a very specific vision, not the direction I’d personally go in but I hope you’re able to have a crack at it.

For other fan edits of Ghostbusters 2016 I’d suggest checking the Fanedit Network. If you can’t find them on Google, they have a frequent presence on the Reddit r/fanedits page.