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The Skywalker Legacy (working title) (* unfinished project *)

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 (Edited)

I’ve been hesitant to announce this one, as its a big project for my first major edit, but after some e-mail conversations with ADigitalMan, I figure I can tackle this project and make it work.

The idea is to take the story of Luke from the OT and use PT footage to illustrate the stories of varying truths that Obi-Wan and Yoda told Luke in his training, particularly where it relates to the fate of his father. This will be done with edited footage, in some cases drastically edited footage that will create entirely new scenes. Basically I’m taking the story of Luke, as shown in all three movies from the OT and focusing on him and him only. As he learns more and more about his adversary, Darth Vader, he learns more and more of the truth, so the story in each act will grow a little closer to the truth, in some ways like what was shown in Jet Li’s Hero. It will keep getting closer to reality until going into the final confrontation, he of course has the whole truth, not simply the version that Obi-Wan gave him.

The toughest part of this to show in flashbacks will be the earliest footage.

“Your father was murdered by Darth Vader.”

That’s not the actual line, I know, but I’m betting that all of you can figure out what that means I intend to show in that footage. I’m calling this scene the big migraine maker.

There also will likely be some other, lesser flashbacks used as well. I’ve already planned on showing flashes of Obi-Wan from the PT as a flashback when Luke asks Old Ben if he’s related to an Obi-Wan Kenobi. “That’s a name I haven’t heard for a long time… a long time.” Stuff like that

I’m not putting a deadline on this, but there’s a possibility I can have it done by the end of December, which would give me an outside shot at submitting this project to the Fan Edit contest. There’s a lot of work to be done before I can have that as a reality though. I have two weeks of vacation coming in November, after the release of ROTS, and that will give me a good chunk of time to get some stuff done.

If anyone has any suggestions for techniques or software, I’m open to them. I’d like to make this look as much like an official release as possible, including a crawl of some sort, but I don’t think I have the resources and knowledge to do that. If anyone can help with that, I’d appreciate any help that could be given, as I know that some others here have generated their own crawl.

We’ll see what happens, but I’m optimistic for now.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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This sounds like a very interesting project indeed. I'd given some thought to editing Star Wars in a Godfather-esque way one day, with it remaining Luke's story but the essential prequels story elements told in flashback. Godfather II would be the best comparison. Good luck and keep us updated!
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great idea! keep us posted. would love to see the end product on this, as i'm sure everyone else does.

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This sounds really cool. I like the part in the musical journey dvd where obi says "your father's lightsaber" and they have a flashback to anakin (even though the anakin is from ep2 not ep3, so its not the same lightsaber).
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"Never tell me the odds!"
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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I had been thinking about doing a project of this sort sometime. It sounds like a great idea and I for one will be looking forward to seeing how it comes out. My idea was not to just focus on Luke, but to make a condensed OT and to tell the PT through flash backs. This way only the story of Luke's father would be told. I am not a very big fan of the PT as a whole, but it did have some moments.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Okay now that I've had some coffee and done a little more work on this tonight, I'll give some answers to the questions I've received.

I'd hoped I could contain all of this in one two-hour (roughly) movie but depending on how the final cuts work, it may be spread across three shorter movies. That's what it looks like at the moment as I look through more footage and try to determine what can and can't be cut to have all of this make sense with the way I envisioned it. If I can make it all into one, I'll probably separate the Yavin footage from the Hoth footage with a slow clock-based wipe to imply the passage of time. I intend to really cut down on what's shown in the full OT. This is Luke's story of his journey to becoming a Jedi and his perceptions as he learns both about the Force and about his father.

For example, the movie will (if I can generate a crawl) open as ANH did but instead of the camera staying on Tattooine to show the Tantive IV after it pans down, I'll show Tattooine to establish the orbiting shot, then possibly cut to some sweeping desert footage for a few moments (possibly from a non-SW source?) to confirm the locale, before cutting to the binary sunset shot from ANH, which will be Luke's establishing shot in this project. After he retreats into the Lars homesetead, (and in an admitted re-arrangement of scenes -- I really like the idea of binary sunset as an establishing shot for Luke and his home) the scene will shift to Luke working on 3PO and R2 after they were bought from the Jawas. This scene will be shortened some to remove extraneous footage, as all the scenes used will be.

So far I've managed to cut things down so that from the Binary Sunset opener I mentioned to "That's a name I've not heard in a long time.... a long time." is about seven and a half minutes. That's a lot of cuts, but I might be able to squeeze it even more. I can always re-extend and add things if I wind up having to spread it over three shorter movies.

There are some very important moments that I of course need to touch upon in this project.

Act I
--Luke begins as the innocent farm boy who knows nothing of his true origins
--He meets Obi-Wan who begins his journey and teaches him about the Force and tells him a version of the truth about his father (possible flashbacks include Anakin vs. Vader, Anakin as a pilot)
--Luke meets Leia and rescues her from the Death Star
--Luke loses Obi-Wan to the man who killed his father
--Luke begins to trust the Force and destroys the Death Star

Act II
--Luke receives the vision from Obi-Wan to go to Yoda
--Luke leaves Hoth for Dagobah
--Luke is trained by Yoda (possible flashbacks include Yoda training younglings, battling Dooku, and his arrival on Dagobah)
--Luke leaves to free his friends
--Luke confronts Vader but tries to deny that Vader is his father (possible flashbacks include Obi-Wan vs. Anakin)

Act III
--Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his training
--Luke confronts Obi-Wan about Vader (possible flashbacks include Obi-Wan vs. Anakin; Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Bail Organa's plan to hide the twins; Anakin becoming Vader)
--Luke travels to Endor with the others and reveals his heritage to Leia (possible flashback to show Padme at childbirth?)
--The Emperor tries and fails to convert Luke (possible flashback to Anakin being turned)
--Vader redeems himself, saving Luke and returning to the light

As I said, each act may become its own movie. The biggest hurdles will be the opening crawl(s) and the Migraine Maker. I know I can work out the latter for sure, but time is what it will take.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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Wow, nice to see the update and your thoughts, sounds better and better. If you need help uploading this to a.b.starwars when you are done let me know.
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Originally posted by: segaflip
Wow, nice to see the update and your thoughts, sounds better and better. If you need help uploading this to a.b.starwars when you are done let me know.


I'll definitely keep that in mind, and I would be very appreciative of the upload help, sega. There are some people I definitely want to make sure see copies of this, even if it misses the deadline for the contest, and when it's done, I'll be asking some people here for snailmail addy's to send discs to. Consider yourself on that list if you're willing to help with the upload!

For anyone who's wondering what brought this idea into my convoluted brain, I was inspired by seeing the ROTS teaser and the way it used Obi-Wan's talk to Luke from ANH as the narrative. the combination of old audio and new video really struck a chord with me. The teaser certainly did what it was supposed to do -- it got my attention. After a few ideas of how I wanted to use this concept, I decided to take the "Hero" approach, where each act takes Luke closer to the truth, both in what he's told and what the flashbacks show has been described to him.

As for what progress I have so far, I wanted to make sure I had a bit done before I ever announced this thing. Needed to see if I could deliver the goods before I started talking about it. No sense in getting anyone all revved up for a DVD that I can't make happen.

I'll try to post updates as sections of the project are completed.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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Okay, the opening crawl will be easier than I thought, as I've found several tutorials online. I'm not saying it'll be fun, but still looking to be an easier job than Vader vs. Anakin.

Since I'm on that topic I've started doing a VERY rough cut of the Migraine Maker, using bootleg ROTS footage of the Obi-Wan/Anakin vs. Dooku battle as the basis. The actual cut will, of course, be done using the actual DVD release as source material instead. This will be the longest flashback of Act I, and possibly the longest of the whole project. I can definitely say it will take the longest to complete.

So far I've taken footage from ESB and ROTJ to splice into the existing fight from ROTS, removing Dooku of course. There are a few shots where Dooku is completely in shadow, except for the silhouette of his body with cape and the glow of his red lightsaber. These shots will be used as well. I'm trying to avoid any need to recolor sabers, so I won't be using as much from the ROTJ battle as I might otherwise consider. All of Dooku's dialogue will of course be swapped out for Vader's voice. The nice thing about using Vader is that I have no lips to match up the new lines to! I can pretty much take his lines from any source as a result.

Here are some quick and dirty screenshots from just some of the footage I've chosen to use.

Finding the Chancellor
"Are you alright?"
Vader appears
"You're no match for him; he's a Sith Lord!"
Vader descends
Vader prepares to move in
Vader locked in with Anakin
Reverse viewpoint of the above

These pics aren't an example of final image quality, or even anything remotely complete as a storyboard. There will be a few minutes to this fight, with Vader taunting Anakin and Obi-Wan, as we've come to expect in OT saber battles. The parallels between that ROTS fight for Anakin and Obi-Wan vs. Dooku and the final battle of Luke vs. Vader and Palpatine make using some of the ROTJ footage a natural. I just have to be mindful of the lightsaber colors -- Luke's green saber prevents me from using some footage that I'd like.

Meanwhile, I've inserted brief flashes into Obi-Wan's first meeting with Luke from ANH. When Obi-Wan keeps repeating his name over and over, as though lost in thought as he looks back to when he last went by that name, there will be flashes to his appearance in TPM, then AOTC, and then ROTS, fading back to the present as he says "a long time." This should help establish the evolution of Obi-Wan from Padawan to Jedi Master. The whole sequence has been radically chopped however, just like everything else I have going for this project.

There will be a VERY abbreviated version of the opening space battle scene from ROTS (already layed out in rough form using the aforementioned bootleg footage), which will be inserted when Obi-Wan reminisces about Anakin being "the greatest star pilot in the galaxy and a cunning warrior." I've tried to remove R2 from the scene as much as possible, to help provide a little mystery about things Luke doesn't know. The footage will end during the battle against the battle droids in the hangar on Grievous's ship. No buzz droids... no conversations with clone pilots.... just the rush to Grievous' ship. I think I have the whole thing cut down to a little over a minute. Shows off Anakin's piloting and shooting, as well as his lightsaber skills at Obi-Wan's side, which is what is needed.

Well that's my update for now. Back to work I go...
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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This is a really great idea- I'm looking forward to it!

I had previously thought that it would be interesting to watch the series starting with IV and continuing through the death of Yoda and the conversation with Obi-Wan in VI, after which the entire PT is watched as a flashback, finally resuming with the end of VI. I was thinking this because it brings in the prequels at the point when Luke learns the full truth, and also the fall of Anakin and the rise of the Emperor are still very fresh when Vader redeems himself. But your approach is much cooler, and avoids the full 7 hour flashback!

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Among all the fan edits and transfers, there's finally something really original around here.

I really look forward to this!!!

http://i.imgur.com/7N84TM8.jpg

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This is looking better and better!

Very creative way to show Vader fighting Anakin. Traditionally everyone had thought it was Obi-Wan and Anakin vs. Vader, and the latter two fell into a volcano. Vader would survive though, resulting in his need for the life support suit. A suited Vader fighting them and killing Anakin, while a necessuty for a project of this nature, is something that had never crossed my mind before. Blending the RotS and RotJ duels works wonderfully due to the almost identical locaitons, but if I may suggest your shot of Vader arriving, instead of the one you posted from ESB, a shot from RotJ when he travels up the elevator to see the Emperor.
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"Blending the RotS and RotJ duels works wonderfully due to the almost identical locaitons, but if I may suggest your shot of Vader arriving, instead of the one you posted from ESB, a shot from RotJ when he travels up the elevator to see the Emperor. "


My thoughts exactly, Commander Courage!

Otherwise, DemonHunter, brilliant idea!!! I hope this project comes to fruition.

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Sounds great and interesting . A suggestion: you could include the little cut scene in which a pilot (red leader?) tells Luke on Yavin that he'd known his father and that he'd been a great pilot (then you could show parts of the Coruscant space battle and then blend over to the Yavin battle). Just a suggestion though.
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Great suggestions! Thank you all for your input.

As for specifics, I'll need to re-watch the ROTJ scene, but I'm thinking that it establishes Vader as entering from a lower level than Obi-Wan and Anakin. Since they look up to see Dooku, I might need to stick with the ESB shot, but I'll look at it again to see what's possible.

The ROTJ & ROTS sets are perfect for something like this with all the similarities, I think. It gives me a lot of freedom to play around with different views and vantage points -- I just need to keep the Emperor out of it, of course. It's just begging to be done with all the parallels and similarities, and I'm surprised nobody else thought of doing it before this. Close-ups will be my friend, for sure, since I have no idea how to go about compositing elements from one clip into another. I'm sure as hell no pro at this andI'm learning on the fly.

Now, as for the cut scene, I like the idea a lot, but I don't think I have a clean source for that one. I know that part of that shot was used for the 2004 DVD release, but the full conversation is cut down to remove the line in question. That would be a natural place to show the space battle I mentioned having edited earlier, and would certainly allow the whole talk at Obi-Wan's home to flow more smoothly, I believe. It would also provide a nice bridge to the Yavin battle, I agree. If anyone has footage that's cleaned up to a usable level (I'm using the DVDs as my source material for the editing at the moment), please reply here with a suggestion so I can head in that direction. It doesn't need to be perfect, but it does need to be watchable without being TOO jarring a change in quality.

Thanks again for everyone's interest and input.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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Nope -- I'm staying away from the battle at Naboo as much as possible, unless it directly shows what I need to convey. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Just to clarify, this project is more about what Luke thinks and imagines from all the stories he's told, and he wasn't told about the battle at Naboo or his father's flying as a child. The few exceptions will be when it pertains directly to what Obi-Wan or Yoda is thinking or saying about the story. Basically, I feel like I need to keep a narrow focus on this, or I'll bring in too much of the PT when the emphasis should be on the events of the OT as Luke lives them.

I had considered simply showing flashbacks to any event that had a parallel in the OT-PT relationship, but that's a project for another time.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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Okay time to give an update again.

For audio I'd briefly considered playing with the idea of 5.1 surround, but I'm ultimately enough of a realist to know that tying that learning process into this project will only doom it to purgatory on my hard drive. So I'm going to go with a very basic stereo or mono setup, which will be admittedly crude by comparison to many other projects out there. but it should ensure I can get this done before I apply for social security. Perhaps I once I have this done, I might go back and try to redo the sound after the initial release, whenever that will be, but I'm not going to guarantee it.

In other words, those of you hoping for sound and video so sweepingly incredible as Trooperman's Ep II edit will be sorely disappointed, I'm sure. This is the story I want to tell though, so I'm learning what I need for the presentation I have in mind. It won't be as pretty as some of the editing work I've seen, I'm sure, but I like to think I'll be able to make up for it with creativity and a fresh view of the events. Making The Big-Mig-Maker will be difficult enough without adding in surround sound lessons. Maybe I can revisit the project to remaster the sound later, but once again, please don't count on it as a certainty.

Meanwhile, I've been looking at footage I have laying around from the various DVDs I've been exposed to over the last six months and I'm having trouble locating a complete audio track of Red Leader's talk about Luke's father's skill as a pilot. I really like andij's idea to use that as a bridge to the edited ROTS space battle and then to the Yavin battle. I watched Deleted Magic again this afternoon to see if there was anything there, but it's still missing the completed line, more or less cutting it down almost to the hacked version used in the SE of ANH. I'm guessing that was because of a lack of source material though, as opposed to a cut by OCP.

Does anyone know if audio of this scene was done for the radio dramas perhaps? And if so, does anyone know where I can get a hold of it?

Meanwhile, the basics of the ANH footage are taking shape, and I believe that I'll need to spread this across three separate movies, though none of them should be a full feature-length production in the end.

Once again, thank you all for the feedback and ideas you've given. Your support is greatly appreciated and it definitely gives me added motivation to keep going with this project.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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This scene is in the Radio drama. Sort of. It doesn't mention Luke's father at all. Red Leader merely assignes an X-Wing to Luke and makes him Red 5. Exciting, huh?
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Wow, I'll make sure to ask for a copy, sounds great! I always have flashbacks of the PT when watching the OT, to see this is great!
Will you be doing all 3 films?
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Sluggo: Thanks for clearing that up for me. You saved me a lot of trouble searching this weekend! I suppose I'll have to find another way to slip the ROTS space footage into the project, preferably in the ANH section.

WESHALLPRESERVE: Yes, I'm still planning to do all three. In one of my previous posts, I put up a rough outline of the major points I intend to touch upon. I'll post a new one once I can get a better sense of running time for each Act/Episode.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c35/damonhunter/TDHOpenerMini.jpg
"Luminous beings are we -- not this crude matter." ~~Master Yoda
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." ~~Lord Vader
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It occurs to me you could just plug in the space battle during Obi-Wan's tale to Luke in his house. For example:
"Yes, I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father."
Fade to RotS space battle.
"I wish I'd known him."
"He was the best starpilot in the galaxy."
Anakin doing incredible maneuvers.
They get to the Invisible Hand.
"And a cunning warrior."
Anakin and Obi-Wan destroy battle droids.
"And he was a good friend."
"I sense ___ (have to replace Dooku w/something)." "And I sense a trap." "Next move?" "Spring the trap."
Fade back to present.
"Which reminds me..."

I don't know if that's how you planned on doing the flashbacks, but I think a narration of sorts would make them flow very well, especially in this instance and during Obi-Wan and Luke's talk in RotJ.