Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Edit Suggestions — Page 25

In response to the call for ideas tha tmight help act 3, I just had one.  It's a bit rough and I haven't looked at all the footage it would require, but it sure tightens things up and ramps up the tension.

In a nutshell, here's the idea: Keep the Russians in charge after the ant scene. Make everything Indy does to get inside the temple into something he's doing under pressure from being a captive of the Russians. 

The hard part, obviously, is there isn't enough footage to do it perfect.  But the impression can be easily created by taking the shots of the russians following those blinking light things and incorporate them into the scenes of the same locations where Indy first reaches them.

This means: Don't let Marion drive the duck over the cliff and help them escape.  Cut the waterfalls entirely.  It also means the pressure to solve each puzzle makes more sense and the ending is about Indy going into a situation he thinks is bad, but that he's being forced to face -- rather than sort of waltzing into it and then deciding it was a bad idea after the fact.

Anyway, maybe it's too much.  But it sure gets at the heart of why that part of the movie drags.  The bad guys aren't doing anything and Indy's motivation is vague.  Pressure him into it and the scenes make more sense.

I agree that your idea would add needed motivation and tension, but I simply don't think it's possible given the available footage. I would really love to be proven wrong on this one though.

Keep the ideas coming though. There must be a way to restructure this to add tension...

Looking again, I agree there is not enough footage. 

We're only missing a few shots to make it work though if we capture the heroes after Indy's fist fight at the ants; then climb down the cliffs, integrate the shots of our heros and the Russians at the foot of the falls, send the heroes ahead to solve riddles with the Russians coming up more closely behind (mowing down Indians as incentive to the captives); slim down the puzzles that get us into the Chamber of Gods (or whatever) and bring the Russians in right away.

With just a couple more shots, this would have been possible. 

Alternately, would it be possible to bring the Russians closer-- so that Indy at least knows the Russians are coming?  This would be more about laying in sound effects and manipulating the footage to create the right cause/effect reactions.

Anyway, I'm very interested in this edit because my personal opinion is that this movie feels the closest to being a true sequel to Raiders-- in spite of all its many problems.  I'd love to get it as close as possible to finally see that character from the first movie ride again.

Ok so some good news!

I'm an idiot!

Seems the audio "echo" I was having after I exported out was due to the original 2 audio tracks that I DIDN'T DELETE!! They were hiding!! I never scrolled up high enough to see them since I imported the 6 tracks. So anyway, the problem solved.

The quality and color correction of the exported out vid will get better once I do the real DVD export. So that problem is solved too.

I got about half way through watching the edit and I have one or two small adjustments to certain cuts to make. No big deal.

So that still leaves the climax with Spalko and the Aliens. Man I have no idea how to fix this scene short of digitally taking out the aliens for the most part.

Anyway, the good news is all of the other worries aren't as big a deal now. Now I'm gonna get the wheels turning on figuring out the ending.

That sounds great Sluggo. 

I'm not crazy about KOTCS as the title, but Im gonna keep it as is. My purpose in doing this was to make a seamless edit. Changing the title would constantly remind me that another Indy 4 exists our there and I want to forget all that bad stuff. Not sure if that makes sense or not...

As for the text, as long as it doesn't mention monekys I say keep it as is also. 

Thanks!

Ok a little update here:

I finished going through my edit again. This time I exported with no compression to get a better look at the color correction and I have to say it looks GREAT. This alone makes KOTCS a better movie. In fact there was a small scene that I forgot to color correct and it really let me see just what an improvment it made. 

I had a few mistakes here and there (about 10 total) 1 spot where the audio wasn't matching up and a couple of audio jumps, but nothing major at all. 

Except that damn climax with Spalko. I definitely have to redo the whole thing. Still have NO CLUE how I'm going to tackle it, but I'll think of something. 

I really want to get this edit out to some of you for a look and feedback, but the file was 100GB uncompressed. I at least want the quality to be good enough so you can get a good idea of the color correction though. Can someone who knows Premiere tell me the exact settings they'd recommend for something small enough to post, but high enuogh quality to get an accurate idea?

Thanks!

I'm a bit confused, how many edits are in the works, by who and what are the differences?

I'm thinking this info should be tracked in the first post, or a separate thread used for each edit.

Yeah. I considered doing a new thread, but I know several forums are strict about new threads dealing with the same subject. Plus, I was with this thread from day one and contributed many of the ideas in the first post. As for who else is doing an edit? I don't know. Several people seem to want to, but it seems like real life is getting in the way.

As for posting clips, I think it would just delay the final release. I'm pretty close to being done. I will try to post screen caps though to show the color correction.

Also, I had a couple of ideas I'm thinking of adding to the edit. Both of these occur in the diner scene with Mutt.

1.) I'm thinking of trying (if possible) to make Indy sound as if he is STILL obsessed with finding the skull instead of saying WAS obsessed. Just to add to his motivation.

2.) Also, I'm toying with the idea of cutting Indy saying to Mutt that its just a story. Again this would add to his motviation (much needed) and Indy's seen enough by now to consider the possibility.

I can't imagine Indy obsessed with ANY artifact after the events of Last Crusade.

He's seen where that leads.

Doctor M said:

I can't imagine Indy obsessed with ANY artifact after the events of Last Crusade.

He's seen where that leads.

Is not that the whole point of Indy IV that the only treasure he found on his travels of "fortune and glory" worth having and holding on to Is Marion Ravenwood.

In the end the only thing that matters he discovers is love and family, and all these treasures and hollow pursuits were just distractions.  I can imagine him Hanging up the hat and whip for good unless Marion goes on his next quest with him.  Its more likely he will pass them on to mutt.  Mutt will wear the jacket hat fedora and whip.  Indy Fans don't want a Mutt Jones trilogy but clearly IV was the Last real indy picture.

Yeah film fans wanted Indy to remain an aventurous bachelor forever and be forever youthfull like james bond, to do that Lucas and Ford need to recast the role.

I could have understood a prequel Indy film starring Sean Patrick Flannery as Indiana Jones.  How old is that actor now?

Do you think Instead of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles if River Phoenix did not die it would have been a natural progression for them to make YOUNG INDY prequel films.

Doctor M said:

I can't imagine Indy obsessed with ANY artifact after the events of Last Crusade.

He's seen where that leads.

I think a major problem with this movie is movtivation though. I wish Mutt woud have told Indy that is was Marion Ravenwood who was in trouble just to give Indy extra incentive to go on this quest. He doesn't at all seem interested in the skull itself since he says its just a story. I want to see Indy go inpart because of Ox, AND the treasure. SO just by cutting Indy saying WAS obssesed and "its just a story" I think we can accomplish this. The diner exposistion goes on a bit long anyway. Only to be followed by MORE exposition at Indy's house. 

ImperialFighter, thanks for the kind words. I am REALLY looking forward to your ideas for these two very critical parts of the film! The ending as I have it edited just doesn't work. By cutting the full aliens, the whole scene jsut goes by too fast to be an effective climax. And of course the opening could use a lot of work as well to get the movie off to a proper start. Some of the dialoug between Indy and Spalko is really delivered in an odd way.

skyjedi2005 said:

Doctor M said:

I can't imagine Indy obsessed with ANY artifact after the events of Last Crusade.

He's seen where that leads.

 

Is not that the whole point of Indy IV that the only treasure he found on his travels of "fortune and glory" worth having and holding on to Is Marion Ravenwood.

In the end the only thing that matters he discovers is love and family, and all these treasures and hollow pursuits were just distractions. I can imagine him Hanging up the hat and whip for good unless Marion goes on his next quest with him. Its more likely he will pass them on to mutt. Mutt will wear the jacket hat fedora and whip. Indy Fans don't want a Mutt Jones trilogy but clearly IV was the Last real indy picture.

Yeah film fans wanted Indy to remain an aventurous bachelor forever and be forever youthfull like james bond, to do that Lucas and Ford need to recast the role.

I could have understood a prequel Indy film starring Sean Patrick Flannery as Indiana Jones. How old is that actor now?

Do you think Instead of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles if River Phoenix did not die it would have been a natural progression for them to make YOUNG INDY prequel films.

Perhaps NOT the last real Indy movie.  They've made some noises about a possible #5 & #6 and not the Adventures of Mutt Jones, but Harrison Ford back.

As far as Sean Patrick Flanery, you could have last seen him as Greg Stillson on the Dead Zone TV series.  He's not that Indy looking anymore.

Ok. Last night I made all of the adjustments I needed to based on what I saw from my preview avi. 

Now all that remains is the CLIMAX!

I still have no clue how to fix it properly. I'll play with it and try to firgure it out, but if anyone has any last minute ideas please let me know.

Other than that, it shouldn't be long now before I start sending out preview copies to a few folks to get final feedback.

They start up the spaceship-y thing, a giant fireball engulfs the screen, the end.

No stupid Spalko death, no joyfully running from stupid water trap, no sappy wedding scene and no sequels.

Edit: Speaking of which are you doing something to that cliche riddled wedding?

DocM, I tried my best to do something with the wedding, but I'm at a loss. I really wanted to get rid of the goofy kiss the bride moment, ut there is no fixing it - at least without some hefty digital effects trickery. Maybe slow the kiss down some and cut before Indy's eyes are wide and goofy?

I also hate how Indy rubs Mutt's head - very cheesy. 

Also, on a side note, I cut Indy saying don't know its just a story to mutt in the diner. I also cut one of the falls from the retracting steps (for some reason our heroes fall twice which was weird). Also, I cut Indy asking "the obelisk is the key?", "what are you doing Ox?", and "what are you looking for Ox?". This (and a few other small changes) make Indy look more involved with the obelisk puzzle.

What SUCKS is that I can't cut him saying "you figured this out in your cell didnt you professor?". Ugh. Couldn't we just have Indy solve a damn puzzle.

AND just a heads up that the Koepp script is available for download at http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2009/02/koepps-indy-iv-script.html some good stuff in there taht was cut so I guess I can't JUST blame Lucas and Koepp.

Yeah that's kinda how it plays out as I have it. I also cut Indy's "well done" to Ox after he removes the first stone from the obelisk.