TFA: A Gentle Restructure (Released) — Page 100

Here is a list of unused music by John Williams that could possibly be added back into your edit, Hal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u0sfT-3xvA&list=PLbdLeIe4_RqFk0c-AgJUjGCdO9m76A1Ee&index=4 (The beginning part was cut out, as it’s when Rey is exploring the ship before taking her mask off.)

https://youtu.be/ijxCmIGsesU?list=PLbdLeIe4_RqFk0c-AgJUjGCdO9m76A1Ee&t=69 (This is an extended version of when the First Order officer is giving Kylo Ren a report of the Falcon’s departure from Jakku and Ren’s extreme reaction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir2WG3q6Cik&list=PLbdLeIe4_RqFk0c-AgJUjGCdO9m76A1Ee&index=13 (This is an extended piece that plays when Rey accidentally sets the Rathtars loose.)

Also, this is just me, but since you have the Burning Homestead track playing in your edit of The Rise of Skywalker when the ghosts show up, you could try adding back in the original piece used when Rey catches the saber in the woods so that the nostalgic cue plays appropriately when familiar faces from the past show up on Exegol.

https://youtu.be/ACVE5nYGJxI?list=PLuR0quEHq9iuir7VbT4yq6eSAbU8Bp2p5&t=9

I did try to replace Burning Homestead but just couldn’t make it work. It sounds like it would be easy, but the sync is off and I can’t replace the saber foley with the same specific sounds, which I’d want to do.

Hal 9000 said:

I did try to replace Burning Homestead but just couldn’t make it work. It sounds like it would be easy, but the sync is off and I can’t replace the saber foley with the same specific sounds, which I’d want to do.

It’s okay. I made an attempt at it a while back ago.

https://vimeo.com/470457783
PASSWORD: fanedit

Works pretty well, though!

Hal 9000 said:

Works pretty well, though!

Thanks. There is some slight trimming at the beginning and end of some shots need to be done in order for the timing to be just right, but it is doable.

Everything I’ve done is 1080p. I will PM you.

With the release of NeverarGreat’s masterful ‘Starlight’ project, I find myself prepping another revision of TFA:R. My goal is merely to make use of a few things and ideas that help Restructured with its own goals, and not to just incorporate everything that I like (because we’d pretty much just end up with Starlight).

Here’s what I’m planning to do:

• Undo the dawn effect when Finn wakes up on Jakku, since it should be later the same day as Rey is already at the outpost. Having it be daybreak only works if you restructure the surrounding scenes like Nev does.

• Remove BB8 revealing the location of the base to Rey and Finn. This change is necessary for a change already made to TFA:R to remove the heroes’ motive of finding a “clean ship” when visiting Maz. Now, they see her because she knows where to go.

• Use Nev’s little scene with Poe saying the X-wing squadron must “mop up some of these TIEs” before they can resume bombing the oscillator, replacing 3PO’s line about needing a miracle a little more effectively and explaining why the fighters have strayed so far when we next see them.

• Use a few new shots for the SKB firing sequence to make less use of slowed down footage and remove the reused shot of Leia which sort of ruins her reaction after the planets are destroyed (the pan from laser to operators and Kylo, Rey, and Finn looking up at the red beam)

• Add the shot with the added cloaked binary beacon from TLJ. (How could I resist that?)

Please tell me you are also removing the “cute boyfriend” bit. That still feels VERY out of place in the finished edit.

Fine. (I was on the fence about doing so, and wanted to avoid just importing a ton from Starlight.)

I’m a Starlight adherent, but I’d still agree that “cute boyfriend” is best removed in any version.

Hal 9000 said:

Fine. (I was on the fence about doing so, and wanted to avoid just importing a ton from Starlight.)

Thank the maker! In my opinion, Starlight goes a little too much into the fanedity-ness, but that one line always bothered me. Glad to see it go! 😃

Changes to consider from STARLIGHT: (Error fixes and continuity improvements)

ACT I

• Animate the ladder of Poe’s X-wing to retract as he powers up the vessel.
• Remove the continuity error of Kylo’s saber glow before it is activated to kill Lor-San Tekka.
• Insert an etching of an island behind the pilot doll in Rey’s house to illustrate the content of her dreams.
• Insert a light activating on the Falcon as it powers up, a light which Han deactivates later. This light indicates a tracking device which explains how Han found the Falcon so quickly.

ACT II

• Cut the exchange where BB-8 traitorously divulges the location of the Resistance Base while still including the droid’s thumbs up.
• Remove the ‘Cute boyfriend?’ repetition.
• Restore scene of Han hanging his dice in the Falcon cockpit, as well as color correct shots directly before the scene so that it more accurately blends into the footage. (Further blends TFA with TLJ)
• Remove Rey saying ‘Luke’ to Maz, allowing some more room for interpretation as to whether Maz is referring to Luke or Finn
• Add sound effect of Destroyer exiting Hyperspace to help explain why everyone suddenly notices its presence.
• Insert a new shot of the pirate ship Meson Martinet from Rey’s point of view, indicating that she intends to leave with Finn.
• Rey’s frightened look upon killing Stormtroopers is accompanied by a sinister whispering taken from The Last Jedi.
• Restructure the end of the Maz Castle battle so that Finn begins to run to Rey before it is obvious that he is too late.

ACT III

• Remove the comparison of the Starkiller to the Death Star. (They should be comparing to Death Star II)
• Leia’s ‘…again. Our system is the next target’ is replaced with her saying ‘The Senate is the target’, to which Poe adds ‘The Hosnian System’.
• Intercut deleted scene of Kylo on the Falcon with the prior scenes, altered to include new music and sound effects indicating his happy memories on the ship.
• Remove Poe’s lines reiterating how the sun draining works, in order to more quickly show the TIE interception.
• Move 3PO’s line ‘It would take a miracle to save us now!’ until later, and include unused lines from Poe indicating that they are switching focus to dealing with the TIE fighters before attempting another run on the Oscillator.
• Edit massive gulf that opens between the combatants to become merely a several meter crack in the ground. Remove shot of massive canyon.
• Remove Snoke’s line ‘It is time to complete his training’, replacing it with the lines ‘There has been an awakening.’
• Add shot of canyon forming to Rey collapsed over Finn in order to let the moment land.
• Add the Binary Beacon to Finn’s bedside, implying Rey placed it there for him to find.
• Remove the overly formal ‘my friend’ from Rey saying ‘Thank you, my friend’.

Octorox said:

The scene from Starlight I would most want to see brought in is Han hanging up the dice in the Falcon cockpit.

Honestly I think you could be a little more liberal in borrowing changes and this edit would still have a unique identity and reason for being. Imo Starlight’s biggest swing is changing Rey’s arc from a traditional hero’s journey to a more ominous dark-side adjacent thing. That is a clear change in tone and intent which deviates from what the original film was trying to do. The color grading and voiceover changes also feel more editorial: an attempt to shape the film into something else than what I was. I think if you keep these changes out but bring in moments like Han’s dice, the restructured Starkiller base firing sequence, and Kylo on the Falcon, you could make a definitive edit for those who just want an enhanced cut of the original film, rather than something that radically alters the tone and intent.

Agreed, I listed some of the changes from the Starlight edit that either fix errors in the original film or help to improve continuity for the trilogy. I think these are fair changes that still would keep the goals of Restructured separate from those of Starlight.

Octorox said:

I wouldn’t add the whispers when Rey shoots the Stormtroopers, or remove the reference to the Death Star (I kind of like that bit of lampshading, even if it is a bit too cute by half.)

Personally I also don’t think the thumbs up moment lands as well without BB8 divulging the base location but I could go either way on that.

Otherwise I agree with everything on your list.

I can definitely see your point on those.

The only reasons I would say to include the whispers is that it was done on @Poppasketti’s cut of TLJ. Not sure if Hal added them to his or not. It is just a continuity thing with other fanedits of the sequels. So it could go either way.

I agree with the thumbs up moment as well. It is a cute moment but it kind of feels a little jarring if BB-8 does not give away the location.

As for the Death Star, it would be amazing if that hologram was replaced with Death Star II to show how much BIGGER Starkiller is. Plus removing the comparison would make the tagline of this edit irrelevant: “It’s another Death Star…”

Octorox said:

Honestly I think you could be a little more liberal in borrowing changes and this edit would still have a unique identity and reason for being. Imo Starlight’s biggest swing is changing Rey’s arc from a traditional hero’s journey to a more ominous dark-side adjacent thing. That is a clear change in tone and intent which deviates from what the original film was trying to do. The color grading and voiceover changes also feel more editorial: an attempt to shape the film into something else than what I was. I think if you keep these changes out but bring in moments like Han’s dice, the restructured Starkiller base firing sequence, and Kylo on the Falcon, you could make a definitive edit for those who just want an enhanced cut of the original film, rather than something that radically alters the tone and intent.

Well said.

I’ll reconsider my list of changes, but I really do wish to remain distinct from Starlight and avoid bending too much in its direction, even to include stuff I like. It’s there to be viewed in its own right, after all. One thing that may not be obvious unless you’re thinking about going about editing is that Starlight is sort of a gordian knot and some things about it I like only work alongside more extensive changes.

I don’t plan to use the dice scene or Falcon deleted scene, as much as I enjoy them, for instance. Not wanting a huge revamp, just that there’s a few things Starlight presents that enhance TFA:R’s existing goals.

Octorox said:

Hal 9000 said:

I’ll reconsider my list of changes, but I really do wish to remain distinct from Starlight and avoid bending too much in its direction, even to include stuff I like. It’s there to be viewed in its own right, after all. One thing that may not be obvious unless you’re thinking about going about editing is that Starlight is sort of a gordian knot and some things about it I like only work alongside more extensive changes.

I don’t plan to use the dice scene or Falcon deleted scene, as much as I enjoy them, for instance. Not wanting a huge revamp, just that there’s a few things Starlight presents that enhance TFA:R’s existing goals.

Sounds like I may have to make my own edit that splits the difference between TFA:R and Starlight then 😛

Send a PM when finished!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens [A Starlight’ed Restructuring] 😂

Be great use Starlights approach to the too long CGI Rathtar attack scene, also to not have Finn firing on and killing his just moments ago life long trooper comrades in the hanger during the escape as well as trimming the overly hyper scene “Yeah, did you see that!” shortly after blowing up the ships turrents while escaping…