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OT.com fan edit blog: your thoughts please (Update: development underway)

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The new forum software is 99% done. There were times I felt like eating a bullet during its development, but I'm proud of what I'm about to put out there for testing. I hope you'll enjoy the improvements.

It's now time to address the issue of an ever-growing community of fan editors, their many edits, and the difficulty in nailing down the specifics of each edit. I posted months ago about a fan edit gallery of sorts, a place to post screen caps and general descriptions about your fan edits.

I've decided instead to develop a fully-functional blog interface that will allow people to keep track of fan edit efforts in as much detail as they'd like. Descriptions, screen caps, a blog (journal with comments), user ratings/reviews, whatever you want. I'd like to develop an interface that will serve as a definitive resource for fan edits of all kinds--the kind of database that will absolutely kill all future "Which one should I get?" topics.

What specific things would you like to post about your fan edits or see posted about others' fan edits? What kind of stats/info/etc. would be of interest to you? I'm asking for specific examples because I want to build a structured interface with consistent data instead of a big text entry field where people can throw in anything. Think of the interface as a blog to chart your progress and a profile for you and your fan edit that details everything people would want to know about:

- Source material ("Faces" laserdiscs, Definitive Collection, 2004 DVDs, etc.)
- Soundtrack format (DD, PCM, etc.)
- Software used during production
- Known glitches
- Screen caps
- Tips from the creator (things you've learned, things you would/wouldn't do again)
- Fan reviews/ratings
- Whatever the hell else you can think of...

Built into this "blog" will be the capability to select multiple fan edits of the same film and directly compare their stats, hence the need for a comprehensive and uniform structure to the data.

How serious am I about making this a valuable resource? I just registered fanedit.net, fanedits.com, and fanedits.net (fanedit.com is already taken, but apparently only by a squatter). I really want to build something cool.
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All of those stats sound great. I'd also like to see a stastic on popularity. If possible something that would keep track of which discs are the the most often copied, PiF'd, torrented or sold via eBay or comoc-cons.
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Wow, that sounds like a great idea with tons of potential.

if one of its uses will be to compare edits i think you should add in some info on the movie format/specs
ie, how is it available (SL-DVD, DL-DVD, avi, mpg, etc) this should obviously be the release format only because anyone could take an avi and put it to a dvd or vice versa, but it's nice to know how the author originally released it.
also, information on if its PAL or NTSC, Aspect ratio information (Anamorphic/Letterbox/4:3)
if there is official disc/case art available
what extras are available on the discs
running time

im sure there are more, basically im just thinking the kinds of basic questions people ask about the edits/preservations when trying to decide which one they should get

-Darth Simon
Why Anakin really turned to the dark side:
"Anakin, You're father I am" - Yoda
"No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!" - Anakin

0100111001101001011011100110101001100001

*touchy people disclaimer*
some or all of the above comments are partially exaggerated to convey a point, none of the comments are meant as personal attacks on anyone mentioned or reference in the above post
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Sounds like a great way to form another great community Jay. Other than a covers page I can't think of anything to add to that list.
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Sounds GREAT, Jay!


Fanedit.com would just be an incredible thing. There's definitely a need for it!

Let's see... In addition to the ones noted above:

-maybe a place to put what special features are included

-a place to add how your edit differs from other edits that have been done.

-a place to link to a trailer.

-a user rating system would be VERY helpful.

Also, if there's more than one person working on the edit, would all of them have access to enter info in the blog, or would they all have seperate blogs? Maybe have a main "official" blog, with the ability to link to the personal blogs of each individual department. Then, people would be able to click and find out the progress of the writing, the music, the editing, the effects, etc individually. I know a feature like that would be extremely helpful over at our Ranch Edit thread.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. This is all very exciting!


--InfoDroid

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Wow, sounds exciting!

You could include a section of regrets the fan editor had, be them from technical limits or whatever!

I know I’ve made some very poor decisions recently.

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This sounds great!
But is it just for fan-edits, or will it be possible also for documentaries and other stuff?
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This sounds GREAT!

The only thing I can think of, to expand on the covers idea, is to have a place where users can upload covers for the edit, maybe with an option for the author to moderate submissions before they show up.

We love you Jay!
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This sounds great, Jay. Something like this will answer so many questions and organize things not just for the fans, but for the editors as well. I second the idea to include space so that editors can upload trailers of their work. Picture galleries will also be wonderful.

Anyway- this is the best idea that's come up in a long time

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Many great suggestions. All will be noted. I'll compile them all into a list before I begin development.

Originally posted by: Ell the Ewok
Would this conatin fan realises (Casting Auditions, The Science of Star wars etc)?


It certainly could.

Originally posted by: InfoDroid
Also, if there's more than one person working on the edit, would all of them have access to enter info in the blog, or would they all have seperate blogs? Maybe have a main "official" blog, with the ability to link to the personal blogs of each individual department. Then, people would be able to click and find out the progress of the writing, the music, the editing, the effects, etc individually. I know a feature like that would be extremely helpful over at our Ranch Edit thread.

I could center the application around the fan edit and associate multiple users with multiple edits. Shouldn't be a problem. Each could have a space in the fan edit profile with a description of their contribution and their own blog.

Originally posted by: Kaal-Jhyy
This sounds great!

But is it just for fan-edits, or will it be possible also for documentaries and other stuff?


No reason it couldn't work for different types of fan productions.

Originally posted by: Trooperman
I second the idea to include space so that editors can upload trailers of their work. Picture galleries will also be wonderful.


A picture gallery is a given. How large would the typical trailer be? 5 megs? 10?
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Groovy. Where do I sign up?

“I love Darth Editous and I’m not ashamed to admit it.” ~ADigitalMan

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this is a great idea Jay. And it will stop the what should i get threads
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Originally posted by: Jay
A picture gallery is a given. How large would the typical trailer be? 5 megs? 10?


Depends on the quality, but I'd say they could resonably be compressed to a 5-10 mb size.

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Originally posted by: Jay
What kind of stats/info/etc. would be of interest to you?
Here's the information I'd like to see:
- release date
- type of source (VHS, laserdisc, DVD, etc.)
- release format (XviD, DVDR, DVDR-DL)
- creator
- original nfo from creator
- screenshot(s)
- runtime
- video specs (PAL/NTSC, aspect ratio)
- video encode specs (bitrate)
- audio specs (languages, channels)
- audio format (bitates)
- subtitles
- menus/extras/DVD ROM content
- release size
- some sort of file verfication (downloadable SFV?)
- user ratings
- user comments/reviews

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Originally posted by: Moth3r
- some sort of file verfication (downloadable SFV?)


I assume this is to verify a downloaded file is complete and uncorrupted. My only concern with this is that it's a link between ot.com and the file trading community, which is something we're trying to avoid.
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Yes, SFV files are used for verification. It is basically just a text file containing filenames and CRC-32 hashes, e.g.:

VIDEO_TS.IFO D365D6F9
VIDEO_TS.VOB 7840CE50
VIDEO_TS.BUP D365D6F9
VTS_01_0.IFO 59EED0CF
VTS_01_0.VOB 380E1F72
VTS_01_1.VOB 0DCBD3BD
etc...

I don't think it's too contentious, but then again the MPAA lawyers would probably disagree. Sites that provide hash signatures (albeit more complicated than simple CRC32 hashes) that can be used to identify files on P2P networks have been shut down before now.

So probably best to play safe and leave this kind of thing alone.

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The items that Zion and Moth3r mentioned would be great to have - no more repetitive questions (and sometimes incorrect answers) for the specs on all the differing sets.

I remember when there were only the 'Anamorphic' and 'Tr47' OT dvdr sets, and MagnoliaFan was just getting his Ep1 FanEdit out to people - it was a simpler time...


Looking forward to seeing the new look forums - keep up the great work Jay - 'tis most appreciated m8.

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
‘How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com - includes info on how to ask for a fan project and how to search for projects and threads on OT•com.

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

Take your time to look around this site before posting… Do NOT just lazily make yet another ‘link request’ post - or a new thread asking for projects.

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Sounds good Jay, and many good suggestions in this thread. A built in poll would be a good idea, so that all members could rate any edit they had seen out of ten, say, and there would be an averaged score (imdb style). This would avoid the "which is best?" poll immediately followed by "and who'll send it to me?" type thread.
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X0 projects mailout is a nice feature, RSS'ing significant blog entries, or RSS'ng blog entries to the OT.com Fan Edit discussion topic would be useful.

Having people honestly discuss the editing which takes place is a certain way to allevate some of the concerns which movie labels might have. I heard an interview with the Owner/operator of a website which documents female nudity in movies (they charge for membership), and he said that even though, for the most part what they do is just make copies of pieces of movies, since they have a staff of writers to create reviews and such, this is enough for them to have stayed away from legal action.

Maybe, this might be getting adventurous, but having the complete screen play for each movie in the database (activated by scene number), so that Fan Edits to certain scenes can be compared. (at least the written description). In some ways instead of a trailer, i'd like to see the edits (plus a couple seconds on either side). How the editors manipulate or transpose dialog from one scene to another. I guess i'm feeling this way since with most movies, similar decisions on how to make the movie better will be made. For instance de-JarJar'ing the PT. Cross referencing how the editors dealt with the Jar Jar scenes could be done scene by scene. This could be a way to have interaction (between edits), since anyone could describe the edit they would make. even if they don't have the video expertiese to do it. So similar to T'Bone's Cut Scene webpage (http://starwarz.com/tbone/cut_scenes/ep1/), you could select the movie, in this case TPM, then see a list of the scenes which have been acted upon by Fan Editors. then each edited scene would have a page which would call up the descriptions of each editor's action and why they did it, for what purpose, etc. This would make the site less about the physical edits and more about the editing decisions.

none
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Would it be possible to have an optional newsletter for each fan edit that anyone could put there e-mail into and sign up for? It'd be nice for small updates, as well as to announce the release and completion of edits.
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Originally posted by: Knolly
Would it be possible to have an optional newsletter for each fan edit that anyone could put there e-mail into and sign up for? It'd be nice for small updates, as well as to announce the release and completion of edits.


Could be done, though RSS would probably be a better way of tracking such things.
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Bringing this to the top because development of this project is finally starting now.

I'm putting together a basic version of fanedits.com to start so fan editors can begin populating the database with their edits and start blogging. Any additional comments for me to keep in mind while I'm building?
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