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Star Wars A New Hope: DSG Special Edition (V1 NEARING COMPLETION)

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STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE - DSG SPECIAL EDITION

(The “DSG” stands for Dat_SW_Guy)

This is essentially an envisioned “alternate Special Edition” in hopes of being a visually consistent, and cohesive version of the film. This cut leans towards the theatrical version, whilst keeping some SE changes, or fixing dated shots, that will hopefully fit more in line with the aesthetic of the film, being non-intrusive both visually and narratively.

TLDR, its sort of a “What if the CGI and VFX in the 97 SE was more restrained to actually improving shots instead of adding unnecesary things?”

Overall, the goal is to create an immersive and seamless experience without being thrown off by a CGI Ronto walking into frame, while also enjoying the new changes that shaped some of the movie for the better.

The project’s main source is from @oohteedee’s D+77 2.3 (theatrical reconstruction) project, however certain SE changes are retained using his 2019 SE UHD Regrade throughout the edit. A full list of other sources are provided below:

  • 1080p AI upscale of @Adywan’s A New Hope Revisited provided by @Octorox
  • Adywan’s 2018 Regrade of ANH
  • @That guy with no name’s ANH Devastator version
  • elements from @Hal9000’s Custom Special Edition
  • a matte painting from @Aggelw
  • replacement shot for a CGI Ronto error provided by @Adywan
  • Voice over work by @RyanGoldenVO to replace one line from Vader
  • VFX work from Sky_ (138 speeder shot) and from yours truly

The changelog has been revamped to update the sources, however these are subject to change as I might add more in the future.

Sample videos showing some the changes:
Alderaan Explosion - https://streamable.com/ut567t
Mos Eisley Recut - https://vimeo.com/628306487
Death Star Explosion V2 - https://streamable.com/2stju2
Vader One-line Redub - https://streamable.com/zuoraq

OVERALL CHANGES:

  • All spaceship shots now derive from the Special Edition, as the shots are more dynamic, yet the CGI still looks “appropriate” (somewhat like 90’s movies and their CGI, which is basically the SE)

  • Most of the theatrical matte paintings (Starry Sandcrawler sky, Ben’s hut, Falcon in the Death Star Hangar, Rebel Base Hangar, Award Ceremony audience, etc.) are replaced with their SE versions, save for a few which were either despecialized (R2 in the Canyon) or redone by yours truly (revised version of the interior Rebel hangar matte, Mos Eisley cantina matte)

  • All explosions in the film have been recolored to a modern yellowish hue or redone for visual consistency.

  • The usual annoying SE elements are removed, such as the falling Jawa shots, Ronto shots, Greedo shooting first, SE Jabba, etc.

  • The main audio mix of the edit derives from D+77, which itself derives from @hairy_hen’s theatrical reconstruction mix (if I’m not mistaken), however some aspects of the audio are lifted from the SE mix (such as the Ronto sound effects) which are integrated into the main mix.

CHANGES:

  • The crawl is from the SE version to keep in line with the rest of the films, although the opening logos are Theatrical. (From D+77 & 2019 SE Regrade)

  • The escape pod will now appear to go into the planet and burning into the atmosphere. (Inspired from ANH Revisited)

  • The canyon matte from R2-D2 is “despecialized” using a frame from the SE.

  • The wide shot of R2 being loaded in the Sandcrawler is from the SE. (From 2019 SE Regrade)

  • The next shot of the Sandcrawler driving at night and the wipe to the “Look sir, Droids!” scene will retain their SE elements, but has been edited to sync with the theatrical version. (From Hal9000’s Custom Special Edition)

  • The Binary Sunset scene is from the SE (From 2019 SE Regrade)

  • The fly that goes through the following shot is removed (From 2019 SE Regrade)

  • Artoo isn’t hiding behind CGI rocks (From D+77)

  • The Mos Eisley sequences have now been re-cut in the style of Revisited’s version for better pacing.

  • The 138-frame landspeeder shot has been redone to remove fhe hand-drawn shadow underneath while retaining the SE level of quality. (Thanks Sky_ for the edit!)

  • The wide shot of the cantina has now been replaced with an updated mattw akin to Adywan’s version, with the correct time of day. (AggelW’s version + Adywan’s version + Extra stuff)

  • The Jabba scenes are removed using an iris wipe transition instead of the fade used in the theatrical cut to maintain consistent quality within the shots. (From D+77)

  • The Millennium Falcon escape is from the SE version. (From 2019 SE Regrade)

  • Both the Death Star and Alderaan explosions are replaced with new versions to upgrade the outdated explosion effects, however keeping them somewhat in-line to a 90’s aesthetic to match the SE.

  • Retained all SE versions of the Falcon, from the Death Star hangar matte to the flying shots. (From 2019 SE Regrade)

  • The censored scenes of the Imperial officers getting shot are reverted. (From D+77)

  • Vader walking through the hallway has been reverted to the theatrical version, but combining the 35mm and UHD to make it look better. (From the 2019 UHD Regrade + D+77 2.3)

  • The set corridor extension will be the SE version. (From the 2019 SE Regrade)

  • The Dianoga is reverted back to it’s theatrical version. (From D+77)

  • The Aurebesh text on the tractor beam has been replaced with the theatrical version. (From D+77)

  • Vader has a completely new line omitting the mention of the Falcon having “jumped into hyperspace” which causes a continuity error in the scene following it, as previous editors added VFX to make it look like the Falcon is in a hyperspace tunnel. (Huge thanks to RyanGoldenVO for the voice-work!)

  • Rebel Base Hanger matte painting is from the SE (From the 2019 SE Regrade)

  • Biggs and Luke’s reunion is removed like the theatrical cut.

  • To facilitate the removal of Biggs scene, the theatrical matte shot of the Rebel base interior was updated & improved, now combined with elements from the SE digital matte.

  • Adding in Yavin in the pilot’s cockpits during the Battle sequences.

  • The matte painting during the Award Ceremony will be from the Special Edition. (From the 2019 SE Regrade)

AUDIO CHANGES:

  • Aforementioned change of Darth Vader’s new line omitting the mention of the crew “jumping into hyperspace”, which is instead replaced with him saying “they had just escaped our fighters!” (Credit to RyanGoldenVO for the voice-work)

  • Reinstated the CGI Ronto’s sound effects (From 2019 SE Regrade)

  • Distant cantina sounds are heard from the exterior shots of the Mos Eisley cantina (Inspired from Hal9000’s Custom Special Edition)

  • “Blast it Biggs” will now be “Blast it Wedge” (Lifted from Hal9000’s Custom Special Edition)

  • Luke will be heard saying “Biggs, Biggs!” in the radio (Lifted from Hal9000’s Custom Special Edition)

(EDIT AS OF 12/19/23) FUTURE CHANGES:

  • Dantooine removed on the SE shot of the X-Wings approaching the Death Star, as it is clearly within firing range which creates a continuity error. (Inspired from Adywan’s ANH Revisited HD version)

  • Smoothening out the jumpcuts transitions.

  • Making R2-D2’s lights flicker red and blue.

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Do you plan on using Adywan’s version of the Alderaan explosion, as well as some shots from the Obi-Wan vs. Darth Vader remaster (SC 38 Reimagined)?

The unfortunate reality of the Star Wars prequel and Disney trilogies is that they will always be around. Forever. They will never go away. It can never be undone.

I also prefer to be referred to as “TNT”, not “Freezing”.

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Firstly, I wont be using the Alderaan explosion from Adywan’s due to its dated effects.
Same goes for the Darth Vader and Obi Wan sequence, the effects and CGIness of that scene sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the shots

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Sounds like a great cultist. I’m especially interested in your ideas for Mos Eisley.
Just a tip: if you want to use the original Death Star explosion, you may want to do a little effects work on the first few frames of the shot. They redid the model with the same CGI used for the Death Star a couple shots prior, so replacing it manually with the SE model and blending the transition into the original explosion would help it fit in seamlessly.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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UPDATE: This project isn’t dead, however things are going by very slowly as of the moment due to personal matters.

However, I have been slowly developing this and so far have created a very, very rough rough-cut of the final film, using Neverar’s Technicolor Recreation as a base.

I am also doing preliminary VFX work for the infamous “139 frames” scene of the speeder going to the cantina, I might post a snippet of that soon.

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Ok, so heres a small snippet of the new “enhanced” scene of the speeder traveling towards the cantina (directly after the mind-trick scene in the OUT), with a new SE-ish shadow underneath the speeder while retaining the bottom half of the speeder seen in the theatrical.

This scene is still W.I.P. (moreso a proof of concept), and there are tons of things that need fixing (trying to clean up and stabilize the 4k77 source, color-correction) and I am not particularly good in doing such thing (I’m a first-timer) so any VFX help with this scene is greatly appreciated!

https://streamable.com/br7au

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I Ike it! I think it works better as an almost blinding light rather a very clear, properly exposed explosion. I did notice some flickering on the bottom a little.

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RogueLeader said:

I Ike it! I think it works better as an almost blinding light rather a very clear, properly exposed explosion. I did notice some flickering on the bottom a little.

The flickering is from an encoding issue, otherwise, the only thing left is the debris of what remains of Alderaan.

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Dat_SW_Guy said:

Here’s a look at the new Alderaan Destruction scene, without a praxis ring! I tried to keep it somewhat faithful to the SE version of the scene, since the theatrical had two seperate explosions that looked really jarring.

LINK:
https://streamable.com/3m8fb

Actually outstanding. For real, this is the best version I’ve seen of Alderaan’s Destruction.

Reading R + L ≠ J theories

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I like it, but I agree that there’s no visible debris, which would make it better. The fire seems to look like a miniature has been blown up.

Could you break down what elements (original and new) you used? I’m interested in this shot and would like to just see if it could be improved further.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Dat_SW_Guy said:

RogueLeader said:

I Ike it! I think it works better as an almost blinding light rather a very clear, properly exposed explosion. I did notice some flickering on the bottom a little.

The flickering is from an encoding issue, otherwise, the only thing left is the debris of what remains of Alderaan.

I would try some rubble over laying some of the blast, with a glow coming from behind it that will do a light wrap. So we get the effect of rubble coming toward us. If you check out my Prequels Revised Trailer 1 or 2 there is a shot im creating where a building blows up. Its still in production and not done but something akin to that.

Muclunkey!
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Prequel-Trilogy-Revised-Trailer/id/70831

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Dat_SW_Guy, great work with that explosion. I really like it!

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Hal 9000 said:

I like it, but I agree that there’s no visible debris, which would make it better. The fire seems to look like a miniature has been blown up.

Could you break down what elements (original and new) you used? I’m interested in this shot and would like to just see if it could be improved further.

Well the only thing original is the starfield. I added the glow and then the explosion after it. I might have to use Despecialized since the SE has that added glow I couldn’t remove.

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Hello, it has been a year and I finally found time to work on this project again. I thought it would be a good opportunity to do it now as my computer has been upgraded and I can work on VFX on this movie. First and foremost, I plan to re-do the Alderaan explosion scene to add in an extra shot, in which you can see the planet in an orbital view exploding whilst ships try and flee away from the impending doom that is behind them.

I wanted this shot to somewhat look like it was done using optical bluescreen, with the hand-drawn laser beam and the planet being a matte painting, which would fit the aesthetic of the film nicely.

So I made a quick photo on Photoshop and sort-of made it look like it was shot in 77, albeit a very rough concept although I might’ve added too much grain for the record lol.

g

I used an unused matte painting of Tatooine that Ralph McQuarrie made for ANH, some ships I found online, and an intentionally janky looking explosion that resemble those 70% opacity explosions literred around the ships during the Battle of Endor in ROTJ.

In other news, since SkyDude over in the Star Wars Trilogy Forums has done a very good cleanup up of the Mos Eisley drive-by shot by merging in different sources including 4k77, I’ll probably use that and slightly enhance it to make the transition alot more seamless.

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Dat_SW_Guy said:

Hello, it has been a year and I finally found time to work on this project again. I thought it would be a good opportunity to do it now as my computer has been upgraded and I can work on VFX on this movie. First and foremost, I plan to re-do the Alderaan explosion scene to add in an extra shot, in which you can see the planet in an orbital view exploding whilst ships try and flee away from the impending doom that is behind them.

I wanted this shot to somewhat look like it was done using optical bluescreen, with the hand-drawn laser beam and the planet being a matte painting, which would fit the aesthetic of the film nicely.

So I made a quick photo on Photoshop and sort-of made it look like it was shot in 77, albeit a very rough concept although I might’ve added too much grain for the record lol.

g

I used an unused matte painting of Tatooine that Ralph McQuarrie made for ANH, some ships I found online, and an intentionally janky looking explosion that resemble those 70% opacity explosions literred around the ships during the Battle of Endor in ROTJ.

In other news, since SkyDude over in the Star Wars Trilogy Forums has done a very good cleanup up of the Mos Eisley drive-by shot by merging in different sources including 4k77, I’ll probably use that and slightly enhance it to make the transition alot more seamless.

That looks amazing!

Use the Force, Joh Yowza.

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Hello there, I am looking to find a Darth Vader line from any video game, deleted scene, etc. that can be suitable to replace the dialogue that he and Tarkin have after the TIE Fighter attack on their way to the rebel base.

Governor Tarkin:
Are they away?

Darth Vader:
They just made the jump into hyperspace.

Governor Tarkin:
And you’re sure the homing beacon is secure onboard their ship? I’m taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work.

I am removing the “hyperspace” line as it is evident that in the next shot, they can be seen flying in space and not on hyperspace.

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Hmm, that is interesting. However I feel like it would be a better solution overdubbing Vader’s vocals to not anymore imply that they had just made the jump into hyper-space however I am not sure where to find a library of Vader’s lines from different games, TV series, etc. that can help with this, or even straight from ESB, ROTJ, ROTS or RO.

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Hal 9000 said:

ThisIsCreation said:

Wow. I am blown away with this. Is there edit of the movie with this in it?

Yeah, man: mine!

And fair enough, just wanted to make sure you had the option.

Sweet! Going to download it tonight for sure

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Updated first post as the changelog has been completely updated to fit the sources and to add some new art into the mix 😉

I will make a poster to later submit to Fanedit.org (if they approve of it, anyway)

Also, I just might have an idea to fix the Darth Vader hyper-space continuity error in the film, but I wont reveal it until later, so its more of a suprise!

JEDIT: A pending change I’d like to add is the adition of the re-done shots Adywan did for the TIE Fighter attack on the Falcon, but that would require some upscaling to 1080p (though I’m not sure it would look very good). So if anyone out there can lend a hand and upscale that scene for me, then it would be very appreciated!

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