vranir said:

Adywan’s version has been my go-to for a few years now, but I like what you’ve done here to build on his work. I’d be interested in seeing this, especially as New Hope is one of my favorite Star Wars films.

It wouldn’t become my go-to version, however, unless it ends up as a larger project that covers the complete trilogy.

Thank you. I have no idea if I am going to do ESB and ROTJ. I suppose it depends on how time consuming all the different edits I am doing will be.

IlFanEditore said:

I LOVE what you did with those video samples.
I’m always down for any attempt at making (especially) ANH more modern, so consider me really interested.

Thank you, FanEditore. ❤️

G&G-Fan said:

Dude this looks great, I’m really excited! I love the color grade and I’m all for blending the originals and the prequels.

So you were probably dreading this question, but are you gonna use SC 38 Reimagined?

Thanks, G&G. Appreciated.

It is a likelihood I will be using parts of it, but I will have to wait and see. It depends on how modern the rest of the film end up feeling and looking. If it feels like a fit, I suspect I will add the most humble parts of it to the edit.

evansj1983 said:

This sounds really interesting. I’m especially intrigued with regards to what you are going to do in terms of pacing.

Thank you, Evans. ❤️

It will only be in the beginning parts of the film, mainly during R2 and 3-P0’s incident with the Jawa’s. Only a few seconds in total. I will also try to add different aliens to The Cantina scene if feasible, instead of the worm-creature and the fly.

STAR WARS - A New Hope [Modernized] [Prequel-OT Bridge]

(Cover Art: ArtIsDead - Fanedit.org)

Sources:

• A New Hope 4k Color Graded Version (Self-graded)
• Upscaled version of Adywan’s A New Hope Revisited (“Dazman” of OT.com)

PROJECT EXPLANATION:

My son inspired this project (first four years ago, and now really). He is nine years old, and when we watched the Prequels and then came over to the OT in preperation for the Kenobi Show he asked me as we came five minutes into A New Hope why “it looked so old”. Then I explained to him that they were made many years ago, and this all seemed very hard to grasp for him. Either way, he got bored after 15 minutes and haven’t talked about watching it since, so I gotta change that.

My son know I edit movies, and we watched for example my Titanic edit recently and he “loved that i had cut away the stuff with the old lady” (haha!). However, this conversation sparked my interest in modernizing A New Hope so that future generations and the ones thus far can have a softer bridge between The Prequels and The Originals. So, having my son in mind, I have tasked this mission upon myself.

CHANGELIST:

• The film is heavily color graded, often scene by scene, to resemble a more digital and crisp look. This is achieved through a re-grade of the 4k version of A New Hope and Adywan’s A New Hope (Upscaled version by “Dazman” of OT.com). Video examples down below.
• Re-scoring of scenes (either to bridge a musical continuity from the Prequels with the OT, or to replace bad compression OST from the 1970’s (Leia’s Theme is a good example; it is often replaced with a 2000+ version of Leia’s Theme to get rid of the bad compression of said soundtrack). This massively helps in removing the “Old school” feel.
• Center Channel has been re-compressed and reverbed, as to sound more modern. This will probably be even further tweaked, but the current result is a mix of modern and old-school. It doesn’t sound like it was recorded yesterday, but it doesn’t sound like it was recorded in the 70’s either.
• A few pacing implementations (I know, if you are a hardcore OT fan, you should know this fanedit is already not for you; but yes, the opening of ANH is a little tad slow-paced for modern children, and I have cut a few seconds here and there. I MIGHT put them back in, if requested - or perhaps have two alternate versions.

… and more.

EXAMPLES:

Alderaan Destruction:

https://streamable.com/n9ry01

Color Grade and Detail Refinement Example:

https://streamable.com/bmfy4n

The older examples:

• MODERN COLOR GRADE EXAMPLE: https://streamable.com/w5ddi7

(Also Tantive IV getting hit less obvious a model)

• LUKE FINDS HIS AUNT AND UNCLE: https://streamable.com/3fzlp3

(Sound and Grading Example - Not finished! (Audio mix is too loud at places etc))

• Audio Mix Example: https://streamable.com/16dee3

(Less old-school, better compression)

• FIXED DESERT: https://streamable.com/o56pu8

(explanation below on page 1 - in short; fixed brightness and contrasts, focus, colors and modernized)

• VFX R2-D2 ZAPPED: https://streamable.com/y9nazb

(explanation below on page 1 of thread)

SUGGESTION?

Always welcome.

Hehe.

RogueLeader said:

Definitely have some ideas regarding the series too, but I’m kind of reluctant to think too hard about it until we see the whole picture. Definitely agree with trying to keep the timeline of Padme’s death kind of vague.

Anjohan, I’m curious what the sound situation is regarding the audio tracks. A lot of the music feels very generic to me, and I’m wondering if it would be a major challenge to try and rescore any of it.

Well, no film production I know of invade the surround AND center channel with music as much as LucasArts/Disney. So sound editing is always harder on a SW film, because you have to replace a lot of the soundmix with new sound effects. Fortunately I have had some great experiences these last years with audio editing having worked on my Game of Thrones edits - constantly replacing and adding sound effects and music and finding the right balance, so hopefully the audio editing will be good - and if not, one can always go back to the original score or try something else.

But still, SW audio editing is always hard because SW fans have so many ideas of what doesn’t fit and what does score-wise in the example of “no, this soundtrack is meant for THIS scene!” and “that was used when Anakin’s mother died and shouldn’t be used anywhere else”. I encountered this a lot when I did The Ancient Lore (TPM fanedit).

GOF has been updated, again. I was just recently informed of a «bug» in the opening, and realized the one I had uploaded was a three-year old version!!! Please re-download if you downloaded GOF the last four months.

PMs sent. Thank you for a lot of positive feedback lately, both in the thread and on PMs. Always keeps a fan editor going.

Remember to own the original films and/or series before watching or downloading.

Hal 9000 said:

Excuse me using this thread to think out loud, but as the only Kenobi fan edit thread so far I think it’s the best place.

I really wish I had time to play around with this show, but I don’t. My daily life is constantly overstuffed and it’s just not feasible.

I suppose you have kids? Got one myself. “Luckily for me” I’m my own boss and sneak fan editing into my evenings like a hungry man sneaks cake out a fridge.

That said, I’ve been thinking about how best to made a one-movie version of this story cohere well with fan edits like mine that have Padme survive ROTS to live on Alderaan. There’d naturally be some sort of acknowledgement that she’d passed on by this point, some line of dialogue about “Well ever since her (birth) mother died…” Or Bail acknowledging that she is his daughter and a true Organa, but that it’s okay to remember her “real” (just using the term Luke did for it) mother as well.

I’m excited to see how the story develops for the show and how relevant Padme will be in it. I suppose her name will come up again when Anakin reunites with Obi.

Seeing as how your edits are the go-to prequel fan edits for most (EP II and III for me), I’d absolutely have no problem adjusting them to fit a “Padme survived a year or two” scenario. It strengthens the story, and fixes a continuity error that bugs many. (And PS: Fanediting is like an itch. They just cannot help it. 😉)) Some day you’ll make your own - you know it, deep down.

vranir said:

While I’m enjoying the show so far, I’d like to see it recut as a single “Star Wars Story” movie, making a type of side-show trilogy with Rogue One and Solo to bridge from the prequels to the original films.

Completely agree. This edit is likely to become a film version, at a maximum of 3 hours, with a clear first, second and third act. And probably some new score additions as well, seeing as the score for the show (so far) is worryingly blend.

Kenobi and Rogue One look to be two great additions to the franchise, and a great bridge between prequel and OT technology, and film tones.

Acbagel said:

Anjohan, if I make make another suggestion to consider, I was also put off a bit by how Obi-wan was acting so depressed that he couldn’t even help Leia if he wanted to. Saying he’s “not that man anymore” type of thing, and then utterly rejecting Bail’s first offer to help her. […]

I agree here. I will wait and assess for more content to get a better understanding of OBI-WAN’s state of mind in this series, but I think I will tone it down just a tad. I found the upright decline a bit confusing.

Sirius said:

Anjohan said:

Softened Leia Introduction

https://streamable.com/nupbaj

Leia Kidnapping:

https://streamable.com/cjvo9r

The Leia kidnapping is great. Really better than the actual scene.

Thank you, Sirius. I might alter it a little upon a release, but yea - it works.

adywan said:
And there will be no HDR/ Dolby Vision colour grade. I see people ask this a lot, along with asking for a Dolby Atmos sound mix. I’m just a guy working on a home PC and not in a fully equipped professional studio. I just don;t have the facilities to be able to do things like this.

I totally understand this, man, I really do. But when is the 3D version coming?

idir_hh said:

Provided the charlatan Jedi doesn’t show up later on in the series I wonder if it could be implied that Reva kills him after invading his mind. Maybe using the sound of her lightsaber screaming through with a flash of Bright crimson flashing the screen - black out to the next scene. Her letting him go just seems very inconsistent with her character at this point.

Agreed. I think that very inconsistency more or less confirm that he will show up again. To be fair, it’s another perfect example of how the writers of this show are all over the place; going against the moral of the very characters they write (most likely just to have a known actor pop up again).

NFBisms said:

Anjohan said:
They should watch all seasons of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, analyze it and realize how good, female characters are written. Even for short appearances.

Ironically, Deborah Chow and Kelley Dixon are BB/BCS alum. The director and editor both contributed to those shows haha

True, but Deborah only directed one episode of BCS (and nothing for BB). I wouldn’t say her limited time with their excellent staff have formed her career or abilities.

As for Kelley Dixon, having been a part of excellent writing for YEARS, just baffles me how she could be a part of this badly-executed Inquisitor storyline. This screams Disney interference to me. You just can’t be a part of well-oiled writing machine for years and years, given awards and praise and totally understanding the depth of character growth, and then go on to a Star Wars project and write some of the worst character interactions seen in that universe.

Kelley should’ve done alterations to the Inquisitor Storyline, and Deborah Chow should’ve done edits to her final cuts upon seeing the bad execution of the two chase sequences. Disney, however, probably wanted things differently - and for all I know they both were ruled out from doing final edits or major changes. Disney sure does have a long history of taking total control, and firing you if you don’t comply. And who doesn’t want that bag of money even if your praise for directing or writing goes out the window for a year or two? I sure would.

However, as I see it, the directing is what let down the first episode the most (The Leia Chase scene) - and that falls on the director, not the writers. It broke tone and believability, and instantly took a dark story and turned it into the realms of a silly cartoon for five minutes.

StarkillerAG said:

You mean as total psychopaths? I’m a big Breaking Bad fan, but female characters are really not Vince Gilligan’s strong suit.

What? I disagree. Kim, Skyler, Kim’s mother (only two cameos and i already want five more episodes with her), Fransesca and to a small degree Marie are all nuanced characters acting according to character traits developed from subtle and not-in-your-face character growth, often from good dialogue.

Otherwise, I agree with your criticisms of Leia. I don’t understand why everyone seems to love her portrayal so much. A bit of precociousness and snark is fine, but having her do complex psycho-analysis of everyone she meets was a big mistake. Maybe it would feel more natural if Leia’s actress looked a bit older, but that’s out of the scope of a fanedit.

Completely agree. One might forgive people for thinking they are watching an episode of Dr. Phil.

Softened Leia Introduction

https://streamable.com/nupbaj

Leia Kidnapping:

https://streamable.com/cjvo9r

Vladius said:

So far the main things I don’t like about it are Reva and the quippy dialogue, mostly around Leia. Generally I don’t like Leia being in it all that much, especially the psychoanalysis “wise beyond her years” stuff.

It’s too on the nose. I hate how (Disney) Star Wars dialogue, and especially on female characters, always try to force personality traits that are not earned through subtle character growth. I think Obi-Wan’s line “How old are you?” is subtle enough to hammer home that Leia is a smart kid. We don’t need three deliveries in the same episode that she is wise.

They should watch all seasons of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, analyze it and realize how good, female characters are written. Even for short appearances.

Other than that I think it’s pretty good. Reva is definitely going to be one of those kids shown at the beginning and that’s how she knows Vader is Anakin, and she might also have some kind of personal connection to Kenobi in some way. It’s not super unreasonable for Kenobi to not know Vader is alive as it seems like he’s not really the public face of the Empire, and he never was in the OT either. Any Jedi who would have run into him would be dead or at least wouldn’t be able to contact Obi Wan.

Definitely.

Sirius said:

For now, this seems to work better as a movie to me, rather than a series.

Agreed.

I don’t know how this series will develop, but for now, it would make a lot more sense to me if it was Vader leading this hunt for Obi-Wan, instead of Reva. Of course she should have a big motivation to hunt him, as it was implied already, but no one would have a stronger motivation than Vader himself.

Agreed here as well. My thoughts here are that it might be totally plausible later on to explain that Vader was the one initiating the hunt. The Inquisitors are just foot workers anyway.

I don’t know if it could work through AI voice lines, but it could be cool to see Vader ordering the inquisitors to hunt down Obi-Wan rather than Reva doing that by herself.

True. We’ll have to see how competent the Inquisitor storyline is handled first, as this has the danger of screaming fanedit if not done extremely well.

And I agree about the opinion to cut the inquisitors completely, if possible. Reva seems hard to cut, since she is the character that is moving the plot, and cutting her entirely would demand too much effort to make the plot work with editing. But, of course, the more the inquisitors are toned down the better, they are too bad unfortunately.

It is a plausibility, and definitely a solution if the Inquisitor plotline is useless and cringeworthy throughout.

I think to make this edit less fanedit-y and more profound, keeping the Inquisitor storyline might be preferable - but we’ll have to see how competent their story is handled in the upcoming episodes.

AS FOR VADER SENSING OBI CLIP;

The thought is that OBI-Wan has been cut off from the force (like Luke in TLJ) and that when OBI-Wan is using the force this is the very moment Anakin (strong af in the force as he is at this point) senses him and his whereabouts.

This could also work to explain why it is NOT Vader initiating the hunt - if we go that original route.

WitchDR said:

After doing rewatch… I wonder if it would be doable to have Reva’s first appearance be as the hologram to “Flea’s” character after they kidnap Leia. This way you could remove all the inquisitor nonsense from the first episode. Have her be a character we don’t know about yet, then properly introduce the inquisitors in the second episode. Depending on what happens with the Grand Inquisitor, I could see this working in a way. We’ll have to see!

Interesting idea. One problem I could see with this is that we lose the scene between Owen and Obi-Wan, and the introduction scene of the inquisitors I actually think is quite lit (up until they find The Jedi).

Acbagel said:

I really like the change to the Inquisitor scene on Tatooine Anjohan. Toning down 3rd Sister helps her character a lot here. I think a lot of the recommended changes are spot on, and currently torn on the Anakin reveal one. I’ll have to see how the dialogue around this plays out throughout the next few episodes before I can take a stance on it.

If you take out the logos intros, recaps, and the 6+ minute credits, these episodes are actually quite short and I am fairly certain you should be able to cut this into a single good film when it’s all said and done.

Happy to hear that, Acbagel.

Yes, the episodes are rather short thus far and a movie format looks like the plausible and rewarding route. However, the obvious is we’ll still have to assess more content to know for sure.

Hal 9000 said:

I could see that clip working in the context of a movie version that doesn’t have dramatic cliffhanger endings.

Yeah, it will be interesting to see what format “Obi-Wan Kenobi” will be the most fitting as.

WitchDR said:

Anjohan said:

Alternate Vader Sensing Kenobi:

https://streamable.com/y62c2j

This is great!

Thank you, friend! I feel it has more of an emotional beat to the reveal when it occurs just as Obi-wan uses the force, saving Leia nonetheless.

NFBisms said:

Obi-Wan realizing Anakin is alive is also one of the only emotional beats that would have made this show worth making anyway, do we really want that to have just happened off screen?

Well, the alternative clip i released could work in fixing it.

RogueLeader said:

I’m curious, do you really think that character is dead? I thought it was surprising but I have no doubt they’re gonna get put in a bacta tank and healed up.

BOOK OF BOBA FETT BACTA FLASHBACKS PTSD ATTACK

leftshoe18 said:
She was probably one of the kids at the temple in the order 66 scene. If she was hidden and saw Anakin being addressed by the clones as Vader then she’d know.

Darth Raditz said:
That’s what I thought too. I rewatched the beginning of Part 1 & the very first person we see is the little black kid we see training before Order 66. I have a feeling the show will end with the Third Sister being that kid and coming briefly back to the light to help Kenobi escape.

Interesting and good theories. That would make sense.

Alternate Vader Sensing Kenobi:

https://streamable.com/y62c2j

Hal 9000 said:

I don’t mind Kenobi not knowing Vader is alive in principle, but it seems hard to square with how he’s depicted as a big deal and well known.

Exactly.

THEORY:

Jar-Jar got a surprising cameo in the Recap section of Episode I, and Ewan McGregor has said in press conferences for Kenobi Show about forty times how much he loved working with Ahmed Best and Liam Neeson in Episode I.

My theory is that Ahmed Best will return in Kenobi to assist Obi-Wan on his quest, and also to redeem the character.

Darth Raditz said:

Anjohan said:

• The Anakin is alive reveal (why the F does she assume Obi-Wan doesn’t know this? They haven’t talked)

Same way Vader sensed Luke’s feeling & found out about Leia being his daughter? The Third Sister prodded an emotional reaction out of Obi-Wan and capitalized it, not sure this is that big a deal.

Still, I’m excited for this edit. I’m more optimistic then I was with Book of Boba, but only time will tell.

1. But only a handful should know that Anakin is Darth Vader, and It feels weird that this random Sith wannabe sits on this type of knowledge.
2. She knows Obi-Wan Kenobi was his best friend, and to scream Anakin is alive to provoke a reaction felt cheap. But your arguement is good because it is a sort-of canon explanation.

Thank you. I am as well.

NFBisms said:

I’m very excited for edits of this and to take a crack at it myself. So far, I’d just tone down the Inquisitors/Mercenaries. Cutting the Leia chase, some of Flea, and a bit of the exposition about the Inquisitors and their methods.

This will be the new “Tone down Jar-Jar Binks” of the Kenobi Show.