BelloqLugosi

oh duh, I linked you to the channel, not the videos. My bad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv6KDGchqiQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmhNLXxmesk

Have they been taken down, or do you just not get youtube where you are? I can put them somewhere else, I wasn't sure what the best options are.

I'm waiting for a confirmation from the fanedit forums, where I am told there's a more active thread. I'm the definition of a newbie when it comes to this so I want to read that and see what this is all about and where the best video hosting options are, because I know YouTube often pulls stuff like this. For now though, here's the two videos I have up (if they aren't down already!)

First of all let me just say again I am new to this and am not really sure how people feel about what to edit. I look at KOTCS and see a movie that has so much about it that works, and then a few punches to the gut that don't, which seem bigger than they are because of a fairly flabby editing approach. Spielberg seemed to be lightening things up to make it some kind of War of the Roses bickerfest, and also slow things down in order to make an old-fashioned movie, but if I recall Roger Ebert saying that Raiders moved at such a pace that you could almost never go back to the old style of action scene again, and I wanted to up that ante. Normally I don't like modern quick-cut action like the Dark Knight, but I feel that just taking frames out here or there, or a very CG looking reaction shot, or a little gag that isn't funny, etc., can really make a scene that in the theatrical felt awkward and underwhelming suddenly come alive by adding some urgency.

So my edit is going to be a highly subjective attempt at making the Indy movie I wanna see in that spirit: keeping things moving, leaner, less about Indy's age and clumsiness, and more like it came out in 1999 rather than 2008.

Some of the changes are going to be substantial. I am taking out the big moments that bother me (the gopher opening, the tree-as-landing-pad-and-ramp, any character moments which don't work, and in large part, yes, the aliens)

The first is the scene with Indy, Marion and Mutt tied up in the back of the truck, the first part of the "Jungle Chase".

Changes include:

 - Trimming of most of the unnecessary backstory. It felt like a screenwriter's attempt to recap 20 years and it didn't add anything, and I felt added a loud comic tone that was more reminiscent of the worst exchanges between Indy and Willie rather than harkening back to the feisty but sweet bickering of Indy and Marion in Raiders. It also was awkward that Marion was just telling Mutt she lied to him about his parentage all these years. This way, I figure when Mutt says "You're not my father" to start the scene, it's open to interpretation that Mutt always knew his Stepdad was not his biological dad, but that he simply is in disbelief that the biological dad is in fact Indy and making the point that even if he is his "real" dad, he doesn't consider Indy his father.

 - Trimmed the weird "A-OK!" nod Indy gave Mutt after kicking the guard. Just felt a little too Brock Landers/Chest Rockwell to me.

 - Trimmed the truly pointless gag with the knife falling as the guns outside are being loaded up. Is that even the joke? I don't know, and I've seen it ten times, which is why it had to go. This Indy is all business and simply cuts the damn rope like I assume he has many times.

 - Trimmed Marion's Pantene commercial smile as she comes out of the truck. It was cute, but it was too soon after the last shot of her was a big beaming smile, and it just came across strange. Now she simply jumps out and he hands her the wheel, she's an equal of Indy rather than a fawning damsel.

 - Added revving engine sound effect to scene where Mutt jumps out of the truck. In the theater it looked like he was checking his mom out or something, very awkward, but in hindsight I think he's just marveling at seeing his mom driving the truck. But Shia is overacting the moment, so I added the revving engine sound to explain why he looks down at her legs, by indicating that Marion is charging this truck as hard as it can go, which slightly surprises and maybe even worries him, but also makes him proud.

 - Added music cues, like more tense music from the "Basket Chase" Raiders piece as Indy is untying Marion, to give a little history as well as a tonal contrast to the moment where he sweet-talks her before jumping out of the truck. Also added the Indy theme as he pulls out the rocket launcher and generally tossed some tone pieces during the surprising amount of musical lulls.

(Overall I am not going to be shy about using old music from the previous films to give some pop to this edit, because I felt the score, like a lot of John Williams recent material, was safe and bland. And since the movies are pretty openly calling on our old memories to make many of the scenes work, I figure it can stand to flagrantly steal some of the more iconic pieces in the series.)

The second video is the rest of the jungle chase.

Changes include:

 - General tightening of the action and compression of events to eliminate the flaccid, obligitory nature of the original (which screamed "set piece" a little too loud) and turned it into a fast, furious chase scene heavy on action.

 - No Marion commentary during swordfight. This was on the line. I kind of liked that it was a moment of realizing Marion was one of those overbearing moms who has to comment on everything her kid is doing. But I kind of hated it for the same reason. I feel that Marion's presence in the movie is largely supposed to be about feeling her original spirit come along for another adventure, not so much changing her into a cougar pageant mom.

 - No ball shots. Indefensible.

 - No "Dawn of Tarzan" moment. Now Mutt gets stuck in a vine, launched up into a tree, and the chase is trimmed tighter to make it plausible that they simple drove out of the jungle and then circled around to follow the river, and when he sees them drive by through an opening, he grabs a vine and swings in. Still a little silly, but far less "prequelish" than the theatrical.

 - Removed the "Whoa...WHOA!" exchange. To Harrison's credit he delivered well and the idea of it wasn't bad, and if you are into Mutt as a character then its a nice acknowledgement of his first Indy-style heroics. But for me, I wanted this movie to be more about Indy. But I think the result is actually that Mutt is more likeable. He's less preening and whining and more action-oriented, and seeing him less actually makes us want more, I think.

 - Also made Mutt's decision to go to the sword a little more organic. It feels less like, "Oh what a coincidence, Spalko prefers the sword and Mutt happens to be getting his sword out too!" The way they get them out at the same time, but almost as independent actions, feels wrong. Now it's more clear that when Spalko goes to the sword, it is the thing that sparks the idea for Mutt to look for one as well. It's reasonable that he wouldn't think to use his fencing skills until he sees her go to her sword, and when he sees that he thinks to look for one himself, figuring that's one area where maybe he can take her.

 - At the beginning of that scene, I also felt like Indy saying "Stop being a child" was a little too cute (hey, he's your child!) but I did like him telling Mutt to find something to fight with, also gibing some narrative momentum to him looking for something around him to fight with. So now Indy delivers that line alone, and then bolts right into the jeep and starts punching fools, including only punching Mac once and meshing it with later cuts to the jeep to make it all more continuous. Someone needs to tell Lucas and Spielberg to stop intercutting everything.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?edit=1#p/a/u/1/fmhNLXxmesk

I have done some very basic but in some cases radical edits to scenes and wanted some feedback. Is this thread alive? If not, where is the one that is, if any?