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King Kong: The Spence Edit 2.0 (Released)

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 (Edited)

Hello all. Today, like some of you, i purcahsed the King Kong Extended Edition. Loving this new material (the extended and new scenes, and the deleted scenes that weren’t incorporated into the film) i’d like to re-edit the film again, sort of a second version of my previous edit. It will keep the same ideas, but the edit will be very different. I will not just be adding new scenes to it, certain parts of the edit i want to completely redo. The Venture voyage will especially get some work, and a couple of the new action scenes will go into the island section.

My thoughts thus far:
-though i still dislike the jimmy/hayes story, there is a little more closure to it now thanks to some deleted scenes. I may incorporate some of them. Though I don’t want to focus on it too much, that storyline is unavoidable.
-I may try to get the crew onto the ship even faster. Though I like the New York stuff, the real meat of the film begins with the Venture.
-Englehorn, Hayes, Choy, and Jimmy all have some really great deleted scenes i’d like to incorporate. It adds to their characters and makes you care for them more.
-The stampede might go. Or at least be shortened. This would be to incorporate the swamp sequence and the triceratops scene.
-I’d like to replace Ann’s awkward meeting with Jack with the deleted scenes, where she overhears him talking down on Vaudeville actors. This also tells you she did Vaudeville, making the New York scenes unimportant.

I have some other ideas too that i need to play with a bit more. I’ll gladly take suggestions, too. If you haven’t picked up the Kong Extended Edition you should. It’s a big improvement over the theatrical cut, though it’s still not perfect.

I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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Go Spence!!!

cant wait to see this. i did hold off from seeing your first edit since i'd gussed that you would be doing a new one! what are the quality of the deleted scenes like?

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now that sounds like a good idea. Never understood why you made A king kong fanedit in the first place, when everybody knew an EE was coming out.

Nothing about fanediting is easy.

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Originally posted by: boon23
now that sounds like a good idea. Never understood why you made A king kong fanedit in the first place, when everybody knew an EE was coming out.

So we didn't have to watch that damn Jimmy subplot in the meantime

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i didn't think the extended edition would be much of an improvement, so i made my first edit thinking id never use any of that stuff anyway. but i was wrong.
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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Also, some of the deleted scenes are finished sequences some of them are missing special effects. I'll only be using completed scenes, as i have no way to complete the early version scenes.
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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Interesting. I was just thinking about downloading your first edit earlier.

I love Peter Jackson's King Kong and yet it's so fun to edit! I had dreams of adding in all of the deleted scenes, etc. to make something along the lines of a "KONG: THE COMPLETE EXPERIENCE" but since some of the deleted scenes seem to have incomplete effects or are slightly alternate characterizations, we'll see how that turns out when I pick up the set over the weekend.

Anyway, I haven't seen your original version, but I read some of the changes you made in that. Here are some cuts I made for my personalized edit of Kong. Feel free to use some of them if you think they sound promising.

* It opens with Carl showing his dailes and I also cut the producer's comments on tribal bosoms in that scene.
* The first time you see Ann is the first time Denham see her.
* I cut some of the Ann's introduction to Einglehorn like him warning her about the dangers (Why does she still get on the ship?)
* I removed a lot from the boat ride including Ann & Jack's first meeting (awkward!), Jack living in the animal cages, the Skull Island subplot (Jimmy walking in on Jack's slo-mo typing session and subsequent crew whisperings; the crew is experienced so they can tell something's up), removed the Jimmy & Hayes relationship, removed the turning around the ship subplot, shortened the ship crashing sequence, cut some of the group's journey as they first get to shore, walk around, etc)
* I cut away nearly all closeups of the natives (except for the kid and the old woman). They're now a more mysterious and less disgusting.
* I cut some other scenes down (such as the slo-mo Captain shooting the native & arduous Kong shaking Ann moments that you mentioned in the other thread).
* I cut some of the crew walking around the island & cut down on the Bronto stampede. I think the sequence is a little more plausable now since there's no gag with Bruce and the raptor, no Super Jimmy video game moment. They just run around for a while with quite a few of the shots of all the crewman dodging the brontos removed.
* I removed the cameraman's death scene & subsequent mourning by Denham. I may have also cut the mourning for the sound guy, but I don't quite recall
* Removed some of Kong seeing if Ann is asleep & some of their later scene together (where she does the vaudevill act). He doesn't push her over a billion times now.
* I cut some of the interaction between Hayes & Jimmy and Lumpy & Choy during the log sequence.
* Ann no longer encounters the little dino, run into the log and meet all the gross out bugs. She just runs, and sees the V-Rex eating the other dino.
* I cut down on the pit sequence. Heck, in my second version, it's completely removed and plays out like the original film. When they're rescued, I cut Denham's speech abour cockroaches.
* I cut down on Ann & Kong's weepy expressions when he's captured.
* Shortened the scene with Denham meeting everyone at the premiere. It's now more of a quick montage.
* I cut some of the sampling we get of Jack's play
* I deleted some of Denham's intro at the theater, some of Bruce's dance and shortened Kong's reaction to fake Ann
* I chopped some of the NY sequence. Kong doesn't throw around so many blondes and Jack's chase sequence is a few blocks shorter.
* I cut directly from Ann & Kong's reunion to a firing sound (the implication being that the army is shooting at them). They then run up the ESB. And then I shortened the aerial assault (removed shots of planes doing nothing, and repetitive action, etc.)

Your new version sounds like an interesting take on the material, so good luck and I hope to see it when you're done.
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ShiftyEyes, I'd love to see your version. Perhaps we can work out a trade?
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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Cool Spence! I really enjoyed your first King edit, and look forward to this one. I haven't seen anything from the extended edition.

-T

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Nearly finished with this. I think its far superior to my first edit, as 1. it was the first edit i'd ever done, and 2. some of the new scenes from the dvd really help develop the characters a bit better. Jimmy and Hayes now have a short, nonsucky storyline that makes them likable and sympathetic. Bruce Baxter has a few more amusing moments. Denham gets to be a hero. all around i think i found a good balance. The film is now about 2hrs. 45. mins, still an epic length, but i feel the time is now spent more wisely. I'm very happy with how this has turned out and look forward to sharing it with you all.
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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Oh... Damn it all! I thought the theatrical cut was too long and now an extended edition and an edit of that. Not sure if I want to spend $40 on a DVD I want to watch an edit to. So damn tempting though...
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Sounds like an interesting edit.

I'm still waiting for the extended edition to come out here, in the Netherlands. Not even the DVD stores know if the extended edition will be released here, which is a major bummer :-(

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This is up on demonoid in dvd 9 format. if someone wants to shrink it and repost, feel free.

I'm very happy with this edit, this is my definitive King Kong edit (unless somebody finds some gaping logic hole, in which case i'll fix it)
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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The thing about the extended cut I found interesting is while I loved the new scenes, and I think the film is better with them in, the theatrical version isn't any worse, per-say. The LOTR theatrical cuts are vastly inferior to the extended cuts, but the theatrical version of King Kong isn't neccesairaly a worse film. I think the extended is better and the new scenes add to the film, but its not like the theatrical is bad in comparison. I wish a few more of the Deleted Scenes would have been added, myself, but I think it is easy to say the extended is the definitive.

Spence, you're edit sounds good, though I think I have a different taste in movies than most people here. Personally, I would just leave the extended cut alone, because its pretty near perfect to me. I'd edit down the empire state building scene, but other then that, I love it the way it is. I can easily see how many people would want edits though, and yours sounds very good.
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if anyone here has downloaded the edit, can you let me know what you thought?
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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I'm currently still downloading it. It's got about a day left to go. If it finishes before I leave for home on Sunday morning, I'll be able to watch it over break and give feedback.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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Not gonna lie, overall I enjoyed the first edit a lot better. Basically just what the film needed: less fluff.

This one was a bit weaker due to a number of reasons. I didn't like the way the trip to the island was handled, especially the juxtaposition of the party scene. I also didn't like the way the discovery of the fact that they were going to Skull Island was spread out. When they actually got on the island, I felt that the added scene with the Ferrucutus was misplaced, as I though the Brontosaurus baxteri scene introduced the "pre-historic" nature of the island a lot better. The extended scene with the Piranhadon as well as the part where Jimmy takes Haye's hat, I did like.

Anyways, that's just what I thought. Sorry it wasn't positive for this one, but I greatly enjoyed Version 1 so I think I'll hang on to that.

Just curious, what edits do you have planned next? I've always enjoyed your previous ones, and am looking forward to the next one.

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thanks for the feedback!

I agree that the first version was a lot less fluff, but this new version is more of a straight remake of the original 1933 film to me. The triceratops scene, the raft sequence, things like that were all important features of the original film. So this one is kind of supposed to be more of a straight remake than an actual improvement on the new film (though i still would rather watch spence edit 2.0 to Jackson's version.)

I'm not sure what my next edit will be. I have been looking at working on the spider-man films, possibly miami vice. I haven't decided quit yet. I rewatched the original spider-man and realized how horrible parts of it are. So i'd like to try and fix those up a bit.
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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Originally posted by: Spence101287
I rewatched the original spider-man and realized how horrible parts of it are. So i'd like to try and fix those up a bit.


I'd love to see that Spence. Although it was a fun movie and had a lot of great elements, I agree Spiderman 1 had a bunch of cringe worthy moments.

Working on: Superman: Son of Jorel

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I haven't viewed the EE yet, but I'm wondering if there's enough material available to boil down to a 100-minute version that would approximate the structure of the 1933 film. I'm still bummed that the screen-test scene was cut from the theatrical edition-- seeing it in the trailers was what sold me on the whole thing.
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you could probably cut that down to 100 minutes. there's a lot of stuff in the film that i enjoy, so i kept the film quite long.
I'm always looking to trade my edits, if you don't want to get them from a torrent. PM or e-mail!
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Editing Peter Jackson's King Kong to attempt to match the original is one of the ideas I am working on. I've got the Theatrical and Extended Cut DVD, but the Extended Cut does have better picture quality.
I've got a load of notes that I made when I watched this film with the express intention of mapping out the edit. I've got the script for the original and I think it's quite feasible.
I'm playing around with Womble at the moment, trying to get used to it and I intend to start on it as soon as possible.
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An edit approximating the structure of the original might be interesting. Personally though, if I want to see a cut that mirrors the original, I'll just watch the original. The films are two different beasts and I don't really see the purpose of cutting out story and good scenes to recreate the original. That's not really the point of a remake, is it? But as an experiment, it might prove to be fun. I'd like to see if it could be done.
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I agree ShiftyEyes. Personally, I don't see the point in 90% of the remakes that have been shot. What is the point is remaking what is already a good or excellent film? I'm thinking of the Psycho remake (or reshoot), The Omen, The Italian Job, The Getaway, Never Say Never Again, Get Carter, Around the World in 80 Days, Assault on Precinct 13 and King Kong (1976). I fear for Logan's Run and The Dam Busters, even though I admire most of the directors' work.
Some of the few remakes that I actually enjoy are probably The Thomas Crown Affair, Cape Fear, Always, All Quiet on the Western Front and to some extent, King Kong (2005).
Do you know this website: http://www.movie-remakes.com/
Maybe we should start a new thread discussing remakes, as this could be get wildly off-topic.