Artan42

Animaxx said:

Hello guys. Great news: I’ve just finished the 4K Preview (first 90 seconds of the pilot) in 4K.
The original post at the beginning has been updated accordingly.

Here the link for the Original SD-File from the NTSC-DVD (67,5 MB) so you can compare:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nL19DeM87_kHtksh-XaGyQDPr_nX3F_K/view?usp=sharing

Here the link for the enhanced and upscaled 4K-File (106 MB):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qQrcY66SVMnGMSrIB52MTuzMfV_-IRHH/view?usp=sharing

The 1080p-Version preview is still in the works but should be finished soon, I will also post it here and at the beginning of the topic.

Afterwards the work on the full episode will procede. For the full episode please pm me around the next two days, ok?

Well that’s impressive. It really looks like footage from much later in DS9s run now. If it wasn’t for the black bars preventing widescreen you’d think it was a TNG style remaster.

I defiantly can’t wait for the full pilot.

Edit: the 1080 version looks a little funny in the way it’s enhanced the opening text as it’s cut off the first full stop and some of the letters have a shadowed lines after them. The sharpening on the Cube is also a bit odd in places and I think that’s because it’s made up of a lot of lines which may confuse the AI.
I haven’t noticed these effects on the 4K version.

Animaxx said:

And as far as hdtv broadcasts go: I have noticed a disturbing trend towards “chopping episodes”.

In the past, it was mostly related to the opening and/or end credits, which was ok I guess. But in the last years or so when I stumbled across an episode and thought “I could watch that again” … I don’t know what they are thinking!
They are editing out lines of dialogue, sometimes complete scenes where there really is no need (no offensive language, nudity or violence).
A few days ago I found Voyagers “Year of Hell” and it had several minutes missing and it whoever edited it did such a clumsy job, even someone who didn’t knew the episode would have noticed that some sentences certainly didn’t end where they did.
But just an hour later I saw some show that depicted a guy who got shot with blood splattering and some boobage … I guess that’s ok then ???

So I have become a bit distrustful of tv broadcasts …

I started watching the remastered TNG and Buffy on Sci-Fi when they started re-airing them here in England, however I picked up they basically cut things out at random episode by episode so I gave up and went back to my DVDs.
It’s not even consistent censorship, some episodes you can say ‘bastard’ and in other episodes, in the exact same context, they cut it.

Animaxx said:

Perhaps the project “Star Trek Axanar” rings some bells around here, it was a damn disgrace what they did to those people who merely wanted to bring a new chapter to Trek.

Axanar was shut down for using the Star Trek brand to sell extra material, branded items and so on, which they had no right to do. Star Trek Continues was allowed to continue with CBS’ blessing because they never sold an IP they didn’t own.
They also never even had a working script, lied to donators about how much they actually had filmed (the material for the documentary teaser), and funnelled the donated funds into the main guy’s personal studio.

Your concern is valid but Axanar is a terrible example to use as they effectively shut themselves down due to all the fraud.

TheAlaskanSandman said:

Toying with the grading for the “Battle of the Heroes”. Trying to get rid of a bunch of the red and make it look more natural. Not final yet.

I’m torn. On the one hand I like it and it helps composite the actors into the background better and gets rid of the unnatural hue they’re bathed in and it looks good. However, on the other hand, I almost prefer the vivid red lava and ash as it has a real feeling of Obi Wan being in a physical hell as well as his emotional hell.

This looks really good. It’s always going to make me sad that the best Star Trek series isn’t going to ever get a HD remaster like TOS and TNG did because all the CGI would need rebuilding. Fan made upscales are about all we can hope for.

I’d be interested to see how your process works on large battle scenes like ‘Sacrifice of Angels’.

Google Drive should be an okay place to host them, it seems to be where a lot of fanedit stuff goes.

OutboundFlight said:

I think adding extra color and contrast makes the movie look so much more dynamic and interesting.

Well it certainly makes it very red.

I’ve been able to get around to watching it now and it’s impressive how much the recolouring does for the film. The pacing is good and the removal of the musical numbers helps sell the tension of the Jabba stuff.

Could you PM me a link please?

TK-422 said:

Now that season 7 is out, do you think Padmé’s line to Anakin at the beginning about “there were rumors that you were killed” should be cut? We see them speak to each other while she’s visibly pregnant in the Bad Batch arc, and it’s established that their communication with each other is a regular thing. Rex even knows what to do without being asked, so it’s happened a lot. If they talk to each other that often, why would Padmé not know if he was dead or not? It’s a minor line, so it can be left in without taking anyone out of the movie, I was just wondering if you were planning to cut it.

If it’s when they’re reunited after he reaches the capital it’s more likely she means rumours he was killed in the giant chaotic space battle directly above her head, not that he’s been killed in the Outer Rim Sieges.

CMMAP said:
If it is possible.
then cut “henceworth you should be known as darth vader” — therefore cut palpatine rescues anaking on
mustafar, keeps the mystery of vader intact, audience would assume anakin died on mustafar or at least leaves a
questionsmark. Also i think the surprise in rebels with ashoka and vader would be more powerful. Up to discussion is

Whenever this is done in any PT edit it completely ruins the film. There is not a single life form on this planet of nearly 7 billion people who does not know Vader is Anakin. Not one.

The story of RotS is the fall of Anakin Skywalker. If he doesn’t become Vader at the end then he is not fallen enough. The emotional weight in ESB is Luke finding out who his father is, not the audience. And the tragedy of RotS is watching the hero of the Clone Wars fall as low as he does, not to trick the audience into pretending not to know something they already know.

Same with the Rebels connection. It’s Ahsoka who’s shocked by Vader, not the audience, and it would be impossible to manufacture any scenario whereby you could take the emotional weight out of RotS successfully just to serve as a punchline for a little watched show and a decades old film.

Same with Padmé naming her children. There’s also nobody on the planet who doesn’t already know Luke and Leia are twins, all you’re doing by removing that is removing the flow of the story to pretend to preserve a long dead idea of suspense.

It’s manufactured and pointless and worse, breaks up the flow of RotS.

CMMAP said:
1:55:28 – cut empire scene with vader, palpatine and death star, therefore we got Rogue One
so 1:55:28 end of the movie.>

Maybe mask out the Death Star, but even if it’s not, there’s no need to change this scene. There’s decades of experimentations that need to be done to the Genosion weapon before it reaches the stage seen in Rogue One.

NFBisms said:

Thank you, MuMu!

---

So I revisited the preduel Mustafar scene, but decided to go for every idea for it I felt might be too radical to be accomplished, and here’s the result:

ROUGH (like, more than usual) Anakin/Obi-Wan/Padme on Mustafar Clip

I, uh, don’t think it quite works. But I thought I should share it for the good of furthering the community’s collective thinking about how to edit the film.

Rough or not I think the first half works really well.

Having both Padmé and Obi-Wan from the start is good, it allows for a less hostile start, more trust of Anakin, Obi-Wan letting Padmé have a crack at sorting Anakin out, and a less sudden jump to aggression. The addition of ‘no, Anakin. No’ is perfect.

The second half shows Obi-Wan as more reluctant to attack Anakin than Padmé was, and in return, Anakin talks with Obi-Wan for longer than he did Padmé. I like that.

Obi-Wan is stalling in this version, not to save Anakin, but to put off what ‘he’ has to do.

NFBisms said:

Some more experimentation.

Tried some alternate dialogue instead of silent nodding to replace Yoda’s reused lines in the Windu/Obi/Yoda deleted scene
Not super sure about this but I prefer lines there to nothing. Anything to justify why we saw that minute long piece of a conversation.

Testing an alternate exchange in pre-duel sequence
As sure about this one as I was with “You weren’t there,” which isn’t much (probably more) - but I actually like the context this one creates more than that one - technical stuff aside. ¯\(ツ)/¯ (again, Padme shot credited to the wonderful snooker)

For the first one I think I preferred the nodding. Sometimes words aren’t needed. Both human actors have good enough body language that you can buy their contemplation of the treason they’re suggesting.

For the second one, I’d say it’s near perfect. The volume balancing of the new lines is good, the dialogue flows nicely, and it builds up to a lightsabres drawn fight, rather than starting off with Anakin massively aggressive.

One thing that I have an issue with in the original is Obi-Wan’s line ‘You have allowed this dark lord to twist your mind until now, until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy’. I think the second ‘until now’ is overly theatrical and not really in keeping with how short the other dialogue is. Even in the original, the phrases are short and to the point, but that line is just a bit over the top.

I like all the extra dialogue in the opening scenes (apart from the added laugh when R2 appears during the ray shield trap). Having watched most of TCW very recently the two of them never shut up 😄, it’s constant banter in almost any situation. That fit well when you did your edit of the opening as if it were a TCW episode.

I’m ambivalent towards any of the Kashyyk stuff. If it wasn’t necessary for Yoda I wouldn’t even notice if it was dropped from the film. I’ve always felt it breaks the tone of the film up a bit too much.

By the point Anakin arrives late to the briefing wouldn’t Ahsoka already have captured Maul rather than just having arrived on Mandalore?

Leave out ‘What have I done?’, I think it’s right that the different voice can be interpreted as internal thoughts.

The added dialogue of ‘Luke’s Father Wanted Him To Have This, When He Was Old Enough’ is still quite difficult to hear. I can make most of it out but the transition from ‘how old were you when…’ to ‘I want to have our baby…’ is quite abrupt as the second line is much louder.

You already know my thoughts on Mustafar, any additions or removals you can make to make Padmé a character with agency and her own agenda is welcome.

I don’t know how much you want to be influenced by TCW episodes that never made it to production but series 6 and 7 and deleted arcs involving Yoda and the Bad Batch on Kashyyk so would indicate a Republic presence even before Kai-Adi and MAce agree they need to send an attack group there (maybe add ‘another’ attack group), the other was Padmé returning to Man Cala where she was basically working with the Quarren senator to act against Palpatine, leading into her Rise of the Rebellion’ stuff in your version of RotS. She’s already made her childhood friend Palps into an enemy which puts Anakin, retroactively, being pulled between Palps, Padmé, and the Jedi, meaning both Obi-Wan and Padmé are working off slightly different angles on Mustafar.

On the fence about: Fully removing the scene with Mace/Yoda/Obi-Wan.
I say don’t. The fact Yoda and Mace are happy to create a council within a council is reminiscent of Ahsoka’s trial where it was done with only 5 members and not the full lot, and also they are the main three who are following the whole Sidious and the origins of the clone army plot from TCW series 6.

On the fence about: Leaning towards keeping original “Don’t lecture me Obi-Wan” because I can definitely see how “You weren’t there” doesn’t work seamlessly.
I like both. The former plays into Anakins insecurities about not being a master and being Obi-Wan’s padawan and not his friend, but he latter works towards how isolated Anakin is feeling.

As for the colour grade, RotS has always been one of the best looking SW films that never got damaged as much as it got transferred between mediums. It has some issues where whites look tan and greys look blue and a lot of busy elements in places. I don’t think a full regrade would work for RotS, I think it’d have to be taken scene by scene to sort out. Comparer how blue the interior of the Invisible Hand is in RotS to the CIS ships in TCW and how busy the bridge looks compared to the ones in TCW.

I like all of those recolours. All except the inside of the Bunker, it looks too green and doesn’t match the other Imperial interiors like the Star Destroyer.

NFBisms said:

And with a similar accent to his Obi-Wan lines.

It would be an issue. Most things I’ve seen him in he’s either using his natural Scottish accent or an American one and not the English one he uses for Obi-Wan.

NFBisms said:

Oh and for anyone with the link, the folder will be empty for a few days, as I put up a new revision in light of some really bad audio problems, and maybe whatever new changes I come up with.

Ah that explains where it went earlier.

IlFanEditore said:

And here’s a video with that sun-ish glow (and with new soundtrack).
https://vimeo.com/408857603
password: fanedit

I like that a lot.

It certainly looks more interesting and alien and less like California.

Bobson Dugnutt said:

Did some work on the usable Blu-Ray scenes from Revenge of the Sith and fixed up the Dooku advantage line. They’d be ready to put into the film in this state I’d imagine

(the images are links btw)

Oh gods, that first one. Fantastic work.

NFBisms said:

So just for fun, I edited the first 22 minutes of this into an episode of The Clone Wars:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Nm4JAjyjGJQhY4t1k9nbBUtkgz2MY98/view?usp=sharing

I just very roughly frankenstein’d audio for the “recap” and it’s super compressed for the storage limit, but it’s not a serious thing anyway. Just a fun preview for the rest of the edit. It’ll be interesting if we could watch this seamlessly in between season 7 episode 9 and 10 when they come out.

It’s impressive just how well the whole rescue segment fits as an action packed episode of TCW. All the extra dialogue really fills it out as well. Though the added lines are still a lot quieter than the main dialogue.

Did you remove the section where Obi-Wan talks about Anakin carrying him ‘unconscious on his back’?

NFBisms said:

I also have a new, experimental color graded vers available. PM for a link to that if you don’t have already have a link to the GDrive folder. (which I realized too late was a much more efficient way of storing the edit; about a dozen of you don’t have it)

Can I have a link to the folder please. The previous links I’ve had have been direct to the clips in question not the main folder.

Could I also have a link please?

NFBisms said:

Thanks to everyone who has given me feedback so far in private topics! I think when the new season of TCW ends, I’ll have a final version done. It’s now less about experimenting and doubling down on and polishing the decisions I’ve made that have worked for people.

So far the biggest things to fix:

• “Roger roger” elevator bit. Make the quality drop less noticeable or just remove altogether. There’s enough banter and wit in the rest of the first act now that I don’t need it anymore?
• Mixing audio better overall, but particularly in re-scored/radically edited scenes. Raising levels on Anakin/Padme conversation about lightsaber and timing the audio clips with the shots better.
• Intro Kashyyk scene needs wipe and maybe some extending.
• Reinstate some of Anakin’s attitude. Either in front of the council or only with Obi-Wan, but not in both.
• Use some different shots of Anakin in Anakin confronting Palpatine scene.
• Reinstate some of Palpatine’s orders to Vader, keep shot of him putting on hood.
• Clean up vfx in final Mustafar sequence (Obi-Wan listening to Anakin, Anakin igniting first)
• Re-add Qui Gonn voice.

I’m still open to feedback for the current version!

Firstly, may I have a PM for the latest version please.

Secondly, entirely on you, but it might be worth having two versions in a similar way to Adywan’s ‘purest’ and ‘special’ editions, where one includes the additions from alternate sources (such as the videogame dialogue or the banter in the lift) and another solely uses the film (still with things like the force choke effects from TCW). One will still have the slightly noticeable change in quality but be able to present a much different version of the original film, and the second will be a more traditional modification of the film that will have wider appeal.

I don’t know how much work that’d be considering you’ve already made dozens of versions since you started and what scenes you’ve kept or if you’d even want to. I just know that, for me, I like seeing something entirely new, even if it’s not perfect.

NFBisms said:

As for Padme, I’ve replaced “Stop! stop! Come back! I love you!” with “I don’t know you anymore” to keep her consistent after she backs away… Although, yes now it feels a little like she is way less forgiving of Anakin and for less reason. You just have to remember mass murderer I guess, and through that lens she’d be in the right. Or any lens, really. But we’re all so familiar with her being inexplicably lovestruck with said mass murderer in the theatrical that it feels off.

I actually think it feels [i]less[/i] sudden now. With the reintegrated Rebellion scenes she’s already committed herself to doing what’s right over loyalty to the institution she’s served since she was 14 and to the man who introduced her to politics. She’s already seen the Republic go off the deep end in the War and now it looks like Palpatine has also betrayed her, that’s a lot of loss for a person and now Anakin has shown he’s clearly been with Palpatine since the beginning (or as far as she can see anyway). It actually gives her a chance to show some emotions of he own (namely anger and betrayal) rather than just existing in the orbit of Anakin.

It also helps remove the single worst scene of any SW film (and I include Jar-Jar reacting to the pink horses in TPM) which is the scene in AotC where she forgives him for wiping out an entire village and passes it off as ‘normal’ behaviour.

NFBisms said:

Here’s a newer pass:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P97bR4caigVEJ6Ph_dVRS7qTznH_FvEM/view?usp=sharing

Idk why but the “you werent there” was pitched up on the previous two passes, bringing it back down in this one fits better and to a point that I’m okay with.

I’m not sure how easy or not it would be to add a sound (and possibly a visual) effect of one of the plume eruptions in the background when he says the line. It is undeniably more muffled than the rest but making it look like it was drowned out by the location would help I think. Though the integration is far more natural than it was and It’s too good a line to loose I think.

NFBisms said:

I’m working on a way to make Anakin attack first, but VFX isn’t my strongest suit

Well beyond my skills, but the frames from when Obi-Wan is holding out his hilt should be enough to copy forward to cover over the blade, as long as you add the sound effect of him igniting as the camera is on Anakin flipping then you can avoid having to try and fit it into another part of the scene. It looks like you’ve essentially done that anyway but with a cut.

Also, going back to the point RogueLeader made above, The shots of Padmé boarding her ship are long shots so it [i]might[/i] not be too difficult to have a hooded Obi-Wan walk up the ramp behind her and 3PO to show they’ve agreed to do this together (or at least he thinks he’s there to help Anakin and she thinks he’s there to stop Anakin) as it should just be a matter of taking the existing Obi-Wan and have him follow rather than appearing behind some boxes.
It’s not massively important, you could just not show him at all with the assumption being that he’s already onboard but I agree that seeing him hiding doesn’t fit with Padmé’s new motivations.

NFBisms said:

For the most part, I don’t think it contradicts the chronology of the original too much. Besides, my approach to editing Hayden to be more like Lanter isn’t really in adhering to TCW like gospel, but rather re-introducing him as the same character. You’re never going to get the same mannerisms or overall vibe/demeanor between the two men, but you have to be able to believe that these two interpretations occupy the same space and role within the world. It’s more than removing something Lanter’s Anakin wouldn’t say, it’s editing characters to treat Hayden like Lanter’s Anakin, and giving him things to say and do that Lanter might’ve. The adjusted chronology is a way to establish Hayden in that same role, where the theatrical builds off of Attack of the Clones. Think of it as establishing the character to someone who had never seen TCW, and how they would get who that Anakin was without having seen it themselves. If we see do see the same things again in TCW, it’s retreading for an audience unfamiliar with TCW.

That’s fair enough. So far I’ve followed TCW with your cut of this film and it’s only improved on what is already my favourite SW film. Just, considering how well they mesh at the moment I’d be disappointed if the chronology didn’t work out. Obviously it’s your edit and how it flows for you from a narrative standpoint needs to come first.
The series 7 trailer also has some scenes like Anakin interacting with a pregnant Padmé which makes me think there’s going to be more intercutting with RotS than we first thought (i.e. Order 66).

NFBisms said:

Speaking of which, here’s my take on the lead-up to Mustafar:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1swtkqqDU6pPobxU0fOQVaklmo7sDvD5v/view?usp=sharing

It’s a bit of a switcheroo from the theatrical as far as Obi-Wan and Padme go. Padme admits to bringing Obi-Wan to kill Anakin later obviously, but I think Obi-Wan here doesn’t come off as someone who’s trying to kill anyone. He doesn’t get a mission from Yoda to take out Anakin, and by moving his “Anakin is the father” to before he sits down, it conveys he wants to help him. I mean, that’s not something you say as a reason for someone to bring you to someone you want to kill.

Having him sit back down to talk to her after working it out does two things, firstly it softens him up (as you say, to somebody trying to help Anakin) but it also humanises the characters, he’s known Padmé for as long as he’s known Anakin. Lucas was not a master of directing people when speaking even if the dialogue is fine.

NFBisms said:

For the Mustafar scene itself, I think Obi-Wan being less angry with Anakin at this juncture is essential to the arc. He thinks he can bring him back, and only fights as “what he must.” When he finally forsakes Anakin by the end of an emotional fight, that is truly when Vader is born. I realize the rearrangement of lines may be jarring to those so familiar with the original film, but this is supposed to be a different thing. I really want to get it feeling as natural as possible. I’m juggling with like three different shifted characters motivations so it can be difficult but I think I’m getting close-ish?

The only issue I have there is that Obi-Wan ignites first. That makes sense when he came to kill him but if he’s there to reason with him I don’t think he’d give up until Anakin goes for him.

NFBisms said:

Do you think it’d be impossible for it to ever work?

There’s only two limitations, the availability of footage/dialogue and how much you stick with your vision for it and how much other influence bleeds in.

I have very few issues with RotS as a film and already, by making Anakin’s turn far less jarring, you’ve already solved one.

NFBisms said:

snooker that’s really awesome, I’d love to be able to use it for this! I’m surprised no one has really tried something like this for Padme yet, her lack of agency in RotS is generally accepted as one of its biggest issues. This subtle thing goes a pretty long way in giving it back.

Here’s a list of changes:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZUZSjG8QYeL7foDqdGZBMv0Otmc-40WAd1lCK2CCj5M/edit?usp=sharing

I’ll try to respond to everyone, especially you Rogue, but for now that should give people a clearer idea of what I’m going for.

You might want to hold off moving some scenes until series 7 of TCW has finished as it overlaps with RotS and considering how well this edit joins the two together moving scenes like the ‘I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi’ scene might make the flow a little jankey.

NFBisms said:

Here’s another try at the Mustafar scene using snooker’s new clip and a few audio adjustments/line changes:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C4MQQtYfCKoR4zNnwuvyJeT11dCBBvKR/view?usp=sharing

The addition of Snooker’s Padmé stuff and your additional dialogue really help to make it feel less sudden.
For myself, I’m not overly concerned about the video game dialogue not fitting perfectly (I think the pitch of Anakin’s could be turned up a bit) because I think the lines themselves are possibly better for conveying betrayal better than the original or the stunted, choppy dialogue by cutting but not replacing.

MasterSolo said:

I like the new padme clip. After watching this version several times and thinking about it more I think after “You turned her against me!”, the scene should play the same as the theatrical, except for “Only a sith…”. It cuts too many good lines that I enjoy, like: “you have done that yourself!" and “for democracy!"

I also miss ‘you have done that yourself’, even towards the end of TCW Obi-Wan was still blind to the problems Anakin saw in the Republic and Jedi Order (he voted against Ashoka’s exile but didn’t try prevent the trial in the first place) and he still sees Anakin as making the wrong choice and Padmé as making the right one (though I don’t think he knows about her little loyalist club yet) rather than Anakin’s view just being an extreme reaction to a legitimate concern about the Republic.

MasterSolo said:

Also, sorry if you explained it somewhere and I didn’t see it, but can you explain why you cut the killing younglings reference?

I think the Nightfall scene was cut out making it ambiguous to what Anakin (or Vader) did in the Temple. Also, ‘younglings’ is a silly word which undercuts the drama. I don’t even know why Padmé says it in the official version rather than just saying ‘children’, I think it’s only ever been used by the Jedi. People do tend to quote other people’s words directly, including jargon, close to the event, but it’s been at least hours since that conversation and Padmé should probably have just edited it in her head by now removing Jedi specific words.

I may be wrong and non-Jedi do use it to refer to children but either way, it’s still a silly word.

doubleofive said:

If you need an American to dub over the Brits to keep with tradition, I’m always available!

And if anybody needs an English actor dubbed over with a Scottish guy doing an American accent that turns back to a Scottish one for the next film, I’m always available!