Star Wars: Renascent *** NOW AVAILABLE!!! *** — Page 22

Bingowings said:

Ady sort had a similar problem when he previewed an incomplete section of ESB:R and told everyone that it was incomplete and he only wanted to show it to illustrate a particular point and a he got comments saying how wonderful it was and detractors saying how it didn't look too good (completely missing the point that it was incomplete and not to his high standard but illustrating a particular point during a work in progress).

Whenever you let something out into the wild, it doesn't matter how many disclaimers you attach to it or how much you insist it's not up to your standards, some people will ignore what you say and either praise it to the hilt and incorporate the ideas, even the elements you haven't finished working on into their own work regardless or they will slag it off for not being what you never said it was in the first place.

It's an inevitable consequence of showing your work, George Lucas has to put up with it all the time.

Fan editing is a cannibalistic artform and that extends not just to the original film makers and us but also between ourselves, it helps if we are polite and supportive of each other.

I'd like to see both Reborn and Renascent and with better quality sources becoming available I'd like to see this basic ingenious idea reworked with materials other people have worked on too.

Attribution is the least and possibly the most we can ask for, if an idea comes from someone else it's just good manners to give credit where credit is due and say thanks for the work of others that make other projects possible.

If helping someone doesn't appeal why throw rotten fruit when you can just walk away?

On the whole the people on these boards support each other and openly share ideas and that makes this place a really creative and fun place to visit.

*Applauds* Well put!

Hey A-M, now that Adywan has completed his color-corrected versions of TPM (including a 1080p version), would you consider using them as sources for the TPM scenes? Might help a bit with the quality blendage. They'd be closer in video quality to the rest and lacking the pink tint, too. :p

For TPM flashbacks I'm planning on making it kind of golden so you know it's out of the parallel timeline. Things from the better times are yellow, and things from the darker times are dark red. Did you notice the rots scenes? I also kept the saber's blue while the rest was reddish.

EDIT: So I meant to say that the colour correction wouldn't make a difference with TPM. But I plan on redoing the three in the future in HD once Blu-Ray burners are available.

Yeah, I think the cheapest BD-Rs I've seen were around $15 each on sale. Something like that. Like everything, the price will go down soon enough. (though I must say that the price of regular ol' CD-Rs have seemed to skyrocket in the last year or so! What's with that?)

I meant when they become the norm ;)

Ripplin could you please give your input because the whole point of me sending it was to get your input above all which is why you got the HQ 5.1 copy in the first place. Please let me know because I want to get back to work on the edit!

Yeah, sorry about that. Just been really busy lately. I'll start watching it today after work and take notes as I do.

ChainsawAsh said:

 or B) someone else releases one first that's not ridiculously expensive.  (One exists, but is apparently very buggy and ridiculously expensive.)

wut

Well, after having a lot of trouble finding something to play the .wmv file properly, the newer version of Media Player Classic will. I only have 2.1 audio on my computer, so it still won't be the full experience. :p Anyway, I'll start watching and taking notes soon. I dunno if I'll wait until I'm done the whole thing to put notes up or if I'll put a few notes up at a time. (I know I'll be watching it a bit at a time, at least)

Just to let you know, A-M, I have been watching it. I am around 2:20 into it. I can only watch for so long because my back is bothering me and the chair at the computer is annoying sometimes.

I am taking notes as I watch. I have a fair amount. (around 20 bullet points so far) Once I'm done watching it all, I'm going to post the notes mostly as-is, with some explanation if necessary.

You done with your points Ripplin?

Not yet. Still dealing with my back and such, but I'm nearly done.

Ok, I'm done. The following are just things I wrote down as I was watching. If they have been covered before, well, I was just writing down random thoughts as I was watching anyway. They are in chronological order.

- The Nemoidian voices are good. Where are they from? Subs need to be added for them at times. (I think this has been addressed)
- Nice subtlety and volume mix with most new audio.
- Nice narration by Palpatine, but it feels odd and doesn't last very long. (I know there are limitations to what's available.)
- Why was the 'virgin birth' scene left in? I'd remove it pronto.
- Not sure of the point of having the Obi-Wan/Qui-Gonn vs. Maul fight at the beginning, then showing it again later.
- Good audio cut when Qui-Gonn dies. (could be faded quicker, though)
- Where were the opening shots of Tatooine from?
- Fox and Lucasfilm logos 24 minutes in? Felt weird...
- The Palpatine crony's tongue flapping thing was weird. I guess most editors cut that, because I can't even remember it.
- The Imperial March during Vader's intro in ANH seemed a bit much, and the transition betweem songs was a bit sudden. Maybe just use some low bass string...stuff?
- Music during R2 in canyon didn't fit for me. The woman sounded odd and it makes the Jawas a little...iffy. The music switches between 'are they evil? Whimsical? Evil?'
- Long transitions between movies can be disorienting. (this gets better to a degree later on)
- Music during Ben's hut scene a bit too loud at times.
- Bleed at part where Anakin goes to find his mother.
- I'd remove the sound effect of the laser as Anakin cuts into the hut where his mother is. (this reminds me of my last point, where I'm not sure if it's necessary to have in. Could go both ways, I guess.)
- No electro-needle! :)
- Jumping through time for the sake of parallels between cantina scenes feels odd. I get it, but it didn't feel quite right.
- Didn't like inclusion of extended Alderaan destruction. Sure, it's something different to add, but I still think it doesn't work. It's long and Jar Jar is just standing there doing nothing for what seems like 10 minutes.
- Music during the training remote scene was iffy, and kinda dark at the end. (was the darkness at the end intentional?)
- Natalie Portman sounds like a little girl sometimes. Just sayin'.
- I'd cut the silliness from the droid factory and all that '3PO's head on a battle droid's body' stuff.
- Music during the Obi-Wan/Dooku fight was kinda neat and fit with the PT feel. It blended well when switched back to the original, too.
- Music during Ben's death fit with earlier feel.
- Slow motion departure of Falcon from Death Star looks very, very strange. I know the whole scene is meant to be in slo-mo, but that part just looks weird. :p Works for people, but maybe not so much for what we know is a lightning fast machine. Dunno if I'd leave in the sound effect of the engines either, unless the movie returned to normal speed at that point, which it doesn't.

Anyway, that's all I wrote. Just some honest thoughts that came to mind. The overall feel of the edit was that the prologue felt a bit unnecessary, the opening stuff felt fresh, especially with the narration, but then after that for a long period, it felt like mostly just jumping back and forth between movies for the sake of parallels. This did get better towards the end, as the transitions were a bit quicker and we didn't have to think 'wait, what were they doing last time I saw them?' ;)

I did enjoy it for the most part, but...there's something missing to make it flow a bit better throughout. I'm not sure what I'd do about it, other than more narration (If the narration could follow through the whole thing, that would be a help, but I dunno how much more there is or if it would even fit) or title cards? (that could be weird)

I think I'm cutting the Prologue out and just making it a deleted scene of sorts in the bonus features.

The senate scene was completely cut originally. I inserted that scene so we could avoid the whole kamino thing. I guess that's why the tongue thing was weird. I couldn't cut it without ruining the flow of the music.

The imperial march will fit in better once I rework it.

R2 in canyon scene will be replaced. And I think I might just cut the whole stuff inside of the Jawas' place.

By long transition did you mean the long amount of time between the cuts? Originally I was gonna have it be shorter but I had been talking to ID about it and he said that things could get a little confusing and hard to follow if it was too fast. You raise a valuable point with the "Wait what time is it now? What happened last?" Someone had mentioned earlier that they thought a sepia transition would be needed to make things a little more clear. I'm going to go with the Sepia transition so it'll hopefully make things eaiser to follow.

Music in Ben's hut will be turned down.

I thought the cantina scene was a necessary parallel to draw. This whole edit is mostly for the sake of parallels than to just show everything at once.

The alderaan sequence was something I had a lot of trouble wrestling with. The shortened version is kind of too short I find and the fact that the planet is destroyed in a split second makes it harder to grasp in my opinion. The lengthened sequence also makes it easier to tie into the PT and I think this is VERY important due to the fact that the PT is integrated into the OT with this project.

The new music during the remote sequence was meant to show how the Force is a mystical thing and something that isn't fun and games. The dark music as the end was meant to transition into the scene that follows it. Maybe I can rework that part, I'll look into it.

The Droid factory sequence will be removed and replaced with them just being captured.

Dialogue during the fight scene is hard to hear, I'm gonna fix that.

I'll see what I can do with the Falcon's blast off.

A few questions on my part:

What did you think about the flashbacks to ROTS during the scene of Ben in the hut?

What did you think of the Round Table sequence transitioning to the Jedi Council sequence and the new music in both scenes?

I want to have very fast flashes come to Vader's mind once he says "a presence I've not felt since..."

Also, I want to have a sequence of Anakin and Qui-Gon's talks and Qui-Gon addressing the council come in after Obi-Wan and Anakin talk in the hut. I'm gonna use the PM scenes where Anakin has his trials with the council and the whole "Fear leads to anger" thing come in after a degobah scene and then Obi-Wan's scene with Yoda and then his scene during Qui-Gon's funeral with Anakin come in during the earlier scenes of the last film. I also felt something was missing and I thought it was Anakin's initial training to be contrasted with Luke's training in the OT.

What did you think of the music transition from Obi-Wan's duel to the slow-mo sequence? Also, I feel the start of the music from Luke and Leia talking needs to be delayed as their speech comes in first.

Besides that there's only like three technical errors I need to fix. Should be able to get that done before the end of the summer so I can get to work on the DVD.

Asteroid-Man said:

By long transition did you mean the long amount of time between the cuts? Originally I was gonna have it be shorter but I had been talking to ID about it and he said that things could get a little confusing and hard to follow if it was too fast. You raise a valuable point with the "Wait what time is it now? What happened last?" Someone had mentioned earlier that they thought a sepia transition would be needed to make things a little more clear. I'm going to go with the Sepia transition so it'll hopefully make things eaiser to follow.

Yes, I meant long amount of time. I like the pacing of the parts before the Death Star battle. Not too long, not too short. The sepia could help. Should be interesting.

I thought the cantina scene was a necessary parallel to draw. This whole edit is mostly for the sake of parallels than to just show everything at once.

Oh, I got the point of it. It just felt a bit like the AOTC cantina stuff came out of nowhere, even though the parallel was obvious.

the fact that the planet is destroyed in a split second makes it harder to grasp in my opinion.

Even with Obi-Wan's line afterwards?

The new music during the remote sequence was meant to show how the Force is a mystical thing and something that isn't fun and games. The dark music as the end was meant to transition into the scene that follows it. Maybe I can rework that part, I'll look into it.

Oh, ok. Thanks for explaining that. I figured it was intentional, but wasn't positive. :)

What did you think about the flashbacks to ROTS during the scene of Ben in the hut?

It works, and it's understated, which is nice. A good tie-in.

What did you think of the Round Table sequence transitioning to the Jedi Council sequence and the new music in both scenes?

The music is understated and ominous during the Imperial briefing, which is good. It's gets a tad loud when Vader starts saying "don't be too proud...", though. It's just that particular note, actually. It just happens to be high-pitched when the low-pitched guy starts talking. Haha. Not a big deal, really, just thought it came at a funny time. The music during the Jedi meeting transitions well into the next scene. Somewhat hopeful into somewhat gloomy.

What did you think of the music transition from Obi-Wan's duel to the slow-mo sequence? Also, I feel the start of the music from Luke and Leia talking needs to be delayed as their speech comes in first.

The transition in the Ben's duel/death was well-timed. As for the Luke and Leia talk, I have an idea. As it is, the transition from the end of the Dooku battle to the Luke/Leia talk is a [seemingly] long section of nothing but black. How 'bout waiting a second, then having Luke start saying "I can't believe he's gone" while it's still black? When he's almost done saying that sentence, the picture could be fading in to normal. The transition would be less...empty, for lack of a better word. The music doesn't need to be changed there.

P.S. The other changes you mentioned sound good, too. I especially appreciate that the droid factory goofiness will be removed, or at least toned down. I hope that applies to the battle droid with 3PO's head in the arena, too. ;)

P.S.2. As a general thought for any editors out there: as you know, I hate the noises the creatures in the arena make. It's that warbling nonsense I keep going on about... ;) Well, I have an old sound effects cassette, and you know what creature could make amazing sounds for some of them? Elephants! I couldn't believe some of the fearsome noises they make! :D Actually, as I think about it now, some of the roaring the Rancor does sounds just like some of those elephant noises.