(The Mandalorian+BoBF) The Way of Mandalore | A New Mandalore Movie Saga (Final Update in Progress) — Page 21

Loved both movies 1 and 2. Both are structured excellently, feel focused and movie-like, and flow well. I especially enjoyed the balance of Boba/Mando in movie 2, and the movement of Sorgan to exclusively book two. I wouldn’t change any of their structure, stories, or trims. And your audio editing has got noticeably smoother. Definitely my mains.

However, you have a major issue with colour in book one. I know you’ve responded to comments here, but it’s a significant deterioration of colour, and more than just saturation, it’s added really strong unnatural shades of teal and orange. Have a look at the difference: https://ibb.co/NK2Gby3. If it’s deliberate recolouring, please reconsider! If not, something is going wrong in your pipeline - either an effect is being applied (and it should be easy to un-apply it), or you’re reading the files in a slightly incorrect colour space that’s maybe being compounded if your later versions are editing the rendered outputs of your earlier versions. This might be related to your crushed blacks issue from before, which also suggests a slightly incorrect colour space is being read. I know I’ve been a bit of a hound about these edits but I feel like they’re such a good idea and so well-executed that I just really want to champion you getting them to that 100% quality.

Other than that:

• Book one is great, as I say. You do still have the duplicated shot of Mando approaching the pirate station though. I think you can trim the second one away no problem.
• In book two, as I mentioned in a previous post, that duplicated scene.
• For me, even though your new book 2 improves the balance and pacing through to the ending, I’d probably still prefer to trim the Mando-Greef conflict and Mando’s head injury being serious, but that’s just me and I get why you’ve done that.

Looking forward to 3!

I could go for that being reinstated too - that section has always been just a little too fast in terms of Mando’s movements.

(…and then I’d argue it makes an even stronger argument for my little trims to speed up the later content 😉)

Darth Sadifous said:

I finished the revised book three recently and I do love what you have done with it! The standout scenes in my opinion is Boba being responsible for the speederbike crash of Din’s when he is carry his armor back to town. I also like the end montage from the introduction of the shadow council scene from season three, to the brief scene borrowed from season three with the mandos amassing their fleet and finally Boba with his “tribe” and Din with his “tribe”. You have done a great job. Cannot wait till the updated book four!

Minor Note: I was a bit concerned about continuity issue as you have moved scenes around from different scenes. The Moff Gideon scene was the biggest concern, especially how close the hologram scene is during the mando heist on the cargo ship and the shadow council scene and the stinger at the end of the moff overlooking his dark troopers (regarding is his facial hair appearing, disappearing and reappearing). However, I think it works as the hologram is not very clear, then you have the shadow council scene, then you have a long shot of him admiring the dark troopers. Only other minor continuity scene I believe I found, but I could be mistaken is moving Boba’s scenes around his cloak is burned by the acid in some earlier scenes now that are moved around before he visits the sarlacc, but overall it is not too noticeable. I do love this series and look forward to seeing how you save the modern day Boba Fett scenes and season three of mando. Keep up the great work and may the force be with you!

Thanks for the review! Book 4 had the least amount of needed updates, so that should definitely be out sometime this coming week.

Regarding the continuity of those scenes, I don’t think there should be any instances of Gideon’s facial hair changing. As you can see in the picture, I had deepfaked his season 3 face onto his scenes in this film to remove his facial hair and color-masked his hair to be black instead of grey in the shadow council scene.

Are there specific timestamps from where you noticed inconsistencies in his appearance? I can touch those up if there is something that jumps out.

For Boba’s robes, I hadn’t ever noticed that before but I can look at the scene order and see if I can maybe mask some of that too if it’s distracting. You said you might be mistaken, but if it stuck out to you, can you see which scenes you were saying the acid burns are there vs not?

EddieDean said:

Loved both movies 1 and 2. Both are structured excellently, feel focused and movie-like, and flow well. I especially enjoyed the balance of Boba/Mando in movie 2, and the movement of Sorgan to exclusively book two. I wouldn’t change any of their structure, stories, or trims. And your audio editing has got noticeably smoother. Definitely my mains.

However, you have a major issue with colour in book one. I know you’ve responded to comments here, but it’s a significant deterioration of colour, and more than just saturation, it’s added really strong unnatural shades of teal and orange. Have a look at the difference: https://ibb.co/NK2Gby3. If it’s deliberate recolouring, please reconsider! If not, something is going wrong in your pipeline - either an effect is being applied (and it should be easy to un-apply it), or you’re reading the files in a slightly incorrect colour space that’s maybe being compounded if your later versions are editing the rendered outputs of your earlier versions. This might be related to your crushed blacks issue from before, which also suggests a slightly incorrect colour space is being read. I know I’ve been a bit of a hound about these edits but I feel like they’re such a good idea and so well-executed that I just really want to champion you getting them to that 100% quality.

Great, then I’m going to do a couple of tiny bug fixes/adjustments on Book 1/2, but overall it sounds like the story is locked on the first 3 and ready to be considered complete!

As far as the color goes, I definitely prefer colorful visuals to the drab washed-out appearance that Disney Star Wars seems to lean toward. I have done color adjustments to every planet uniquely, but the pic you sent looks quite drastic and I suspect I made an adjustment layer on top of the scene in addition to adjusting the scene itself, which would double the intended effect. I will take a peak. As far as the blacks/banding go, I haven’t been able to address it at all. It’s burnt into the source footage on my timeline to begin with and I’d need to remake dozens of hours of work to fix it. I love crystal clear 4k footage as much as anyone, but as I’ve said before this project originated in my basement pre-covid and was my first foray into fan editing. I had very early versions of these films made just for me and my wife to watch back then, years before I even knew this website existed. If I ever hit a total lull in the action on editing, I have mentioned before I’d like to manually go frame by frame to replace all the bad-looking scenes with 4k, but at this point, I’d rather work on the story than spend a couple months solely on a visual update. Trust me, I know as is it knocks a point or two off of the films as far as reviews go, but it’s just a monster task to fix right now.

Other than that:

• Book one is great, as I say. You do still have the duplicated shot of Mando approaching the pirate station though. I think you can trim the second one away no problem.
• In book two, as I mentioned in a previous post, that duplicated scene.
• For me, even though your new book 2 improves the balance and pacing through to the ending, I’d probably still prefer to trim the Mando-Greef conflict and Mando’s head injury being serious, but that’s just me and I get why you’ve done that.

Looking forward to 3!

1. Ah yes, I will fix that one. I recall an old post about that now.
2. Already fixed and new version is up
3. I do believe if the adjustment to the Fennec v Rookie scene is made, then yes absolutely the Greef + injury scenes need to be cut. For anyone who hasn’t seen Eddie’s idea here, refer to this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GJq4g3QRwLhOrpgI2eNySS7UaQkIXHxb/view

How do we feel about extending the Fennec death back to full, and trimming the Act 3 segment on Nevarro like Eddie suggests? I can’t keep all three scenes at full length, the film already drags on a bit too long as is. These are all changes I’ve gone back and forth on a lot so I’m open to a couple yays or nays to push me over the edge here.

Also, thank you to everyone else who has left kind words about the edits. It’s been an incredible experience working on this saga with such caring feedback and suggestions. The brainstorming that has occurred in this thread has been phenomenal. The films have grown so much and really feel like something special due to how many ideas have come from the Star Wars fan community.

I’ve reviewed all the feedback in the thread about Book 4, and the consensus changes I’m tracking are:

• Couple visual/audio transition adjustments
• Add a brief scene in the forest village of the citizens being abused
• Add the tracker scene that was removed from previous film
• Remove Mayfeld’s apparent familiarity with Grogu
• Rescore the “victory” music after the TIE’s save Din and Mayfeld
• Extend the Officer at the cafe conversation a bit more

Maybe a couple of other very minor adjustments Kypo suggested, but this one was close to being good to lock as it was.

As I work on those few updates, I’m also going to deploy the final fixes on Book 1 & 2.

Book 1:

• Extend the blue guy scene on the Razorcrest to not end so abruptly in carbonite. For some reason the line of “Do you guys take off your helmets?” straight into the carbonite was jarring, so I let the conversation play out a little longer before that transition and the timing works a bit better now.
• Remove the duplicated Razorcrest arrival shot on the mercenary space station.

Book 2:

• Extend Fennec-Rookie conversation
• Cut down the head injury scene to the bare minimum
• Cut the whole Greef betrayal plot and nighttime bird attack…? (I’m taking a look at this right now, want to see what these 3 changes to to the total runtime/pacing)

Darth Sadifous said:

Hey Acbagel,

I went back and checked regarding my previous comments in regards to continuity. I believe I was referring to the end of Book Two where Boba is talking to Fennec about how you can only gets so far without a tribe by the fire (2:25). His robs are acid burned, but he does not visit the sarlac pit to retrieve his armor and get the acid burns on his cloak until book three (0:25). Not a big deal, but just wanted to point it out.

Ah gotcha, that’s a good catch on the details, but I don’t think it’s anything worth moving scenes over. Since this is a costume difference in between whole movies I think there are multiple in-universe explanations for why the robes might look more or less tattered over time.

In terms of Moff Giedon’s facial hair I was say I was prepared for it to be jarring since his look is different in season two and season three. I went back and watched the new book three for a second time and I can so those fears are unfounded. You did a great job with the face. I just wasn’t a 100% sure you had tinkered with it since the hologram scene is not 100% clear image of his face and the stinger is a long shot from far away. Also it has been some time since I watched the original presentation of those scenes. Look forward to book four!

Great! Yeah, a lot of the close-ups are now removed anyway with the new tracker scene placement, so his appearance is good to go across the films as it doesn’t ever change within the same movie.

Also, I think I am for extending the Fennec being shot scene and keeping the Greef/ Mando conflict scene. I think it is important to see his change of heart and while I know many do not like the sequels, I think it helps reinforce force heal in the universe as we see both Grogu and Rey use it more than once. I would trim the Mando head injury if one needs to be cut as I feel without the helmet removal included, the scene is not that important and he is back with the gang only like a minute later so that gets my vote for the trim.

I can’t keep those two lengthy scenes in, the film just goes on for too long. And the more I look at it the more I like the total balance of the film to have the longer Act 2 with the Fennec scene and trim down Act 3 with the cuts. That just helps the pacing of Boba’s story in general anyway. Missing Greef’s change of heart over being healed is the toughest part to lose, but they don’t really bring that up ever again in the entire show so it’s sadly unimportant overall. I think we can get away with Greef’s demeanor toward Din and Grogu being a natural result of their shared experiences rather than the whole “I was going to kill you until I got poisoned by a bird and you saved me” explanation. I have completely altered the Rey force healing to not occur like that in my Sequels trilogy anyway as that type of force healing power completely broke Legends lore, so I’m actually glad to be able to cut Grogu doing that as well as I want these edits to feel as Legends friendly as possible. I always thought there’d be some sort of explanation for Grogu’s unique healing power, but then it’s just never addressed at all and then poof Rey was doing it in the theater a couple of months later and I hated it there too. But alas, I think the cuts help the pacing in general as Eddie suggested.

Book 3 seems good to go as is, so I’m still on pace for the Book 4 release this week!

Watching movie 3 now, and just a couple of notes:

• There’s a slightly odd couple of shots on the ice planet as Grogu is eating the spider - one of Grogu from fairly close up, followed immediately by one only slightly zoomed out from that point. In general, a shot transition from a single subject to the same subject should change angle, or switch between close and wide shots. These are just a little too close to each other. There seems to be a lot of other opportunities in this section to pad both with a bit of Mando heading out to find him.
• Both Tattooine and Nevarro seem coloured too much towards orange-teal. Boba looks like an orange with teal shade, and the later Nevarro facility looks dark teal rather than grey. If you want to bring the colours to life a bit more I’d suggest perhaps a 5% contrast enhancement and 5-10% holistic shift to warmer tones, but not so much of a specific shift to orange-teal in this way.

Loving the first quarter so far though- structurally it’s all excellent, and I love that you kept the ice planet in there.

Absolutely LOVED your updated book three. This is a bridging movie with the least plot - “try to find some Mandalorians, I guess” - and knows it, but it uses its position as a middle episode to do a lot. Your ending sequence is EXCELLENT. The Shadow Council scene works much better as a stinger, spinning up the Thrawn, Palpatine, AND Mando S3 storylines deftly, and essentially saying “don’t worry, we are going somewhere fast”. It pays off the cloning stuff on Nevarro from earlier this movie very well. Then, your montage does a lot of great heavy lifting, telling the audience that the Boba, Bo Katan, and Gideon plots are also well in focus. And the darktroopers are now more explicitly the reinforcements, which works well here. You’ve made some excellent choices here. Really well done.

This really affirms your decision to use as much as possible, but in a creative way.

Edit: Oh, and having Boba snipe Mando was perfect. Extremely elegant, relevant, and competently done.

Edit edit: The only thing I sorely miss is the fuller aspect ratio for the Krayt dragon. I’d love to see that reinstated, it was such a spectacular moment.

Oh, and I really like how you start each movie’s audio over the opening credits. It’s become your signature and it’s very cool.

One other thought: Depending on how good your Boba AI voice is, it might be nice to add, during the Boba-Fennec fireside chat in movie 2, something along the lines of “but first I’m going to get my armour back”, explaining the two-movie diversion where he seeks his armour before establishing a house.

Still waiting for an updated book 3 link. Was hoping to watch it tonight so I’ll take it from anyone 😅

EddieDean said:

One other thought: Depending on how good your Boba AI voice is, it might be nice to add, during the Boba-Fennec fireside chat in movie 2, something along the lines of “but first I’m going to get my armour back”, explaining the two-movie diversion where he seeks his armour before establishing a house.

Thanks for the review and all the feedback! I haven’t been able to make any model of unmasked Boba that sounds like him. The voice is so unique, that I can’t get any tech to replicate it well at all. Honestly, Temeura talks like Boba in real life so I looked into just using some interview/video clips, but I didn’t find any lines that would help. I like this idea though.

Kestrel said:

Still waiting for an updated book 3 link. Was hoping to watch it tonight so I’ll take it from anyone 😅

Sorry, I missed you, sent! If I missed anyone else, please feel free to reach out to me again, it’s not a bother!

The updated Book 2 with Fennec scene minus head injury and Greef betrayal now clocks in at 2 hours 26 minutes which I like more, and the Act 2:Act3 ratio is now much closer in length so I think it’s the right call. Uploading the adjusted Books 1 and 2 right now.

On the Boba voice, your other option here is to use a clean voice of Fennec saying “You still have that famous armour of yours?” or “You’ll need your armour first.” Then you only need Boba to say “Not yet” or “Agreed”, or similar.

Wrapped up production today! Finishing the exports and uploads, and links will go out tomorrow.

Book 4: The Way update changelog:

• Extended a couple of shots on Corvus for better scene transitions
• Added more to Mando’s walk through the village so he meets a downtrodden villager

EddieDean said:

Then, in your Book 4, you could introduce “I’ve placed a tracker” and that subplot just after Mando leaves the planet with that ex-Imperial warlord. We know she’s got ties to Thrawn, and thus the Shadow Council, so it’s absolutely feasible that an Imperial spy could be operating there to report back to Gideon. The dialogue there would reinforce that Gideon wants Grogu - and then he’d strike immediately, on the very next planet, where Din finally meets Boba and the Imperials show up to kidnap Grogu.

• As the tracker scene moved out of the last movie, it’s now placed in Book 4 after Din’s “You’re special” talk with Grogu as they leave Corvus.
• Extended scene of Fennec getting surrounded by stormtroopers on Tython before Din saves her (man the choreography is so unfixably bad here, but I made some edits to make it seem more chaotic and it’s tolerable). Previously I had cut too much to cover up the crappy directing but it didn’t give enough context for the viewer to fully process the sequence of events.
• Cut “The little green guy?” back and forth between Mayfeld and Cara. I thought it worked to leave it in because I assumed people would take it as Mayfeld simply repeating what Cara said and not showing familiarity, but there were numerous comments of people saying Mayfeld shouldn’t know about Grogu so obviously something about the tone of his voice was still communicating recognition, so it’s all cut now.
• Rescored the TIE fighter saving Din and Mayfeld scene. Lots of comments from people who didn’t like Disney’s overly happy-sounding score here so I gave it more of a menacing imperial vibe while still trying to communicate the “victorious irony” of them being saved by the people trying to kill them. Hope it communicates a different feeling than the original.
• Took a new approach to the Imperial officer scene this time around. This segment has been the biggest challenge for every version of the film to get right. From the beginning, I have hated Din taking his helmet off here, especially in movie format as it really, really cheapens when he does it for Grogu in the climax. Since I hid the previous face reveal before, having that moment be the first time we see Din’s face is incredible. My wife watched this story for the first time through my edits and it was such a cool moment seeing her reaction, as she didn’t even know who Din’s actor was and his face was not at all what she imagined. She said, “I thought he was going to look like a badass, but he just looks like any average dad,” which I think is a perfect summation of Din’s character arc in general. Anyways, this officer scene is amazingly well directed, one of the best scenes in the whole show. So I’ve always had the struggle of trying save a great face reveal by trying to keep as much as possible of a great scene that ruins the face reveal. My previous attempt was a little janky, and most people noticed there were some unnatural cuts around here. I’ve done my best to extend the scene as much as possible now with some new shots and voice modulation on Din’s lines, an AI line for the imperial officer, and some new scene ordering. I’ve tried to get it to play out so Din is about to be caught (still wearing the helmet) for giving crappy answers, but then Mayfeld jumps in and the Imperial Officer immediately recognizes him and wants to get him a drink. So Din stays at the terminal while Mayfeld and his old commander catch up, leading to the shootout. Hope this one is at least an improvement over the last version! I’ve tried everything here short of hiring a 3d artist to CGI that helmet and put it on Din lol (and I did look online to see if any were already made… no luck). Overall, I do think this update is my best solution yet and that the scene works now.
• Fixed a couple of a/v transitions and added some new sfx throughout the film (better explosions, blaster shots, ship noises, etc)

Trailer!

Poster!

Thanks for watching my edits, Book 4 links tomorrow, and Book 5 next week!

I’ll happily take the link for the updated book 4!