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Doctor M

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1-Feb-2005
Last activity
30-Jun-2025
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Post
#195554
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/195554/action/topic#195554
Time
Ok, bad news. I had the xvid encoded and ready to upload but for some reason the vbr audio wouldn't sync. I've NEVER had the problem before.
In the process of hunting the problem down I noticed that the second film is about 1 frame out of sync.
I THINK I fixed it, but I'm not trusting anything right now. Unfortunately I now have to sit through the film again.
Not that the movie sucks, it's just I'm really tired of it.

It LOOKS like the problem is M2 has a slight audio delay. Which means both M2 and M3 needed to be tweaked.

Looks like another marathon for me. Sigh, this project won't die.

It looks like this might end up being an anniversary release after all, sorry guys.
Post
#195423
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/195423/action/topic#195423
Time
I know the intro works w/o the voice over as well. It was added a while after I first cut it.
The problem I realized in my edit Neo does not get a chance to see the Oracle before fighting Smith who quotes "Everything that has a beginning has an end".
Ideally, Neo would be the one hearing her say it, but I just couldn't work it out.
There is of course no mistaking that it's very much the Oracle when you hear Smith say it, but now the audience is better clued in.
I was just hoping it wasn't cheesy.

International people: I think even though I'll be sending out DVDs I'll probably do an Xvid release which should be small enough for even the crappiest of internet speeds. This is largely because it'll meet with a larger audience and give those on the fence a chance to watch it before jumping into the pay it forward thing or getting stuck with a DVD they might not like.

Although the plan WAS to have the torrent out for the 7th Anniversary of the Matrix, it'll probably be up before then. At least you'll all be able to do a marathon to celebrate it or something.

When I see 3 films, a 7th anniverary, 2 suck-fests and two weeks some see providence, I see some random numbers to throw out at you. :-)

Edit: Ok to be clear on this, is anyone actually interested in a compressed (Xvid/mp3) version or are you all pretty much wanting DVD? I was sort of planning on having M2 up tonight. Besides it'd give all downloaders a chance to QC this for me in case I missed something before I send out final DVDs.
Post
#195393
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/195393/action/topic#195393
Time
Link as promised: http://rapidshare.de/files/16337261/M3Intro.avi.html

Interstingly the audio was output in PCM right from MVW, then lame was used to mp3-ify it. You can hear pops at the audio edit points that can't be heard in the DD mix. Yet another reason not to go that route on the release. MVW's downmix protocols may just suck and Azid could be the better way to go. I'm finding most things about MVW kind of suck. I don't think I'll be using it anymore after this project.

Anyway, yes or no to the voice over?
Post
#195374
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/195374/action/topic#195374
Time
Ok I take it back. M3H isn't so bad. It's just I don't think I'll ever be in love with that film no matter what anyone does to it. There's also the problem that I know the original plot too well and I'm watching it in that context. It's better than the original and I think that there is little else for me to do with it.

Just remember when watching it: forget what you know about the film. Characters won't necessarily be talking about what they use to be talking about in a scene.
There are a lot of vague conversations in this film that I've recut to be discussing different things.
Watch what you're seeing in context of what you've just seen. Make new inferences about what's happening.

Recompiling and reauthoring both films now. If the bugs that I've tweaked in M3 are fixed, then it's ready to go.

PM me if you are interested in a copy. The first 5 U.S. address will get copies if you are willing to pay forward. If you aren't one of the first 5 BUT are willing to torrent the movies, you go to the head of the line (even if you aren't in the U.S.). :-)

One last thing... I will post the new opening to M3 here later today. I'd like some opinions about the voice over. It feels a little too much like the movie's trailer or the theatrical Blade Runner or something. On the up side, it's kinda cool where it is and it provides an important line that comes into play later on (as you all will recognize.)
Post
#195365
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/195365/action/topic#195365
Time
Sigh, ok I will reconsider a DVD release.

I watched M2 the other day and here's the interesting thing: I REALLY enjoyed the movie. It was something I hadn't experienced with that film before.

UNfortunately QCing M3 I was a bit disappointed with the experince (be aware I'm a bit of a fussbudget). It has a rough cut feel to it. You sort of have to fill in some gaps in your mind yourself. But of course that's really necessary since there is no footage of Trinity getting Neo's body and bringing him back from Zion, etc. Also there's footage I've cut in after the battle of Zion and of course everyone has no healing cuts or anything which seems odd. We can only assume time has passed and they have good medical care (remember Bane cut himself and didn't get medical treatment for them, so he would have those marks.) I'm sort of considering this 'the movie that could have been'. Sort of a concept fan edit film.

I'm sure EtM has great footage, but I've also been told by others that none of the footage would be very useful. The truth is I don't know and I wouldn't go back and add it at the late of a date. If someone else wants to do a super complete Matrix with deleted scenes and EtM cut in, I'd love to see it, but that is not what I'm doing.

The theme is to eliminate anything that seems jarring in relation to the first film (philosophically or tone-wise). Another name for this could be the happy ending cuts. There are fewer dead and a different mood at the end.

I'm going to see about tweaking M3 since maybe it was just me. When watching it (I had really high expectations after M2 came out so nicely).
Post
#195214
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/195214/action/topic#195214
Time
For all one of you still reading me post to myself:

Matrix Reloaded has been fully QC'd with all bugs I could find squashed.

And then I started editing again

New opening sequence; I'm no longer ripping off the DeZionized intro. It's not LFotF.
It's actually more pertinent to the film than the original I was using. In fact it's referred to twice during the movie. It was so obvious once I had sat through the whole film again that it couldn't open any other way.

I've also decided NOT to distribute this via disc. For now there doesn't seem to be enough people to make PIF a reasonable system.

I'll QC Matrix Revolutions tonight. If all goes well, expect info on an Xvid torrent by this weekend of M2. I considered a DD5.1 audio track, but there were too many complaints on just the single scene for that to be well received. Besides if I keep it with mp3 (abr 128kbps) I can set the video bitrate high enough to be a reasonably good looking 700mb film.
Post
#195142
Topic
The Thief and the Cobbler: Recobbled Director's Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/195142/action/topic#195142
Time
Actually the Doctor Who analogy might not be so far out. If you were to take the sharper image and remove the color (converting it to grey scale), you could then use somethine like avisynth's mergechroma, mergeluma.

I've even used them with different aspect ratio sources before, you just tag on a resize to each clip to match them (with a bit of cropping as needed). It takes a bit of jiggery pokery to get them right, but it does work.

Like I said I don't know if you have anything like that for the mac.
Post
#194849
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/194849/action/topic#194849
Time
First post updated.
Except for deciding between two alternate endings I've built for the final film, it's all over but the QCing.

The problem is this: I'd like to cut Sati out of the end and finish with the Architect's "What do you think I am, human?" line. It's nice and strong.
But then there is no explanation for why there's clean blues in that scene. I've already learned that color tweaking to match Matrix green is damn hard.

If I add Sati back, and get her to fit in with my new plot, the question then is: if she isn't a program, just a gifted kid ala spoon bending baldie, would she be able to color tweak the sunrise?

Trust me this is probably the easiest part. I spent 2 days on 1 1/2 minutes of film at one point. I'm not kidding. Eliminating "zombies" has been the toughest thing. Hopefully you won't find any characters around that shouldn't be now.

Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.
Post
#194809
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/194809/action/topic#194809
Time
Discovered something intersting. Womble has an option enable by default to only re-encode ac3 at crossfades/fade-in/fade-outs. With that anything not altered is direct stream copied.
Sounds cool right? I mean otherwise you re-encode 100% of all audio which can have a negative effect. Someone with really good ears and good headphones can tell the difference.
The problem is it causes artifacts that sound like drop outs between the reencoded and stream copied clips. Someone with a $2.00 headphones and a tin ear can hear that. I wondered why it was doing that.
Looks like 100% audio re-encode for us.
Expect 1 more announcement today.
Post
#194509
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/194509/action/topic#194509
Time
I used like 2 bits of soundtrack so far and would rather have less smooth edits than try it again. There's sfx in the surrounds along with the music, the old music can't be stripped. Which means I only used it to help transition a few cuts where there was no music before so it sounds less abrupt. The problem is I need to be note for note perfect in the transition for soundtrack audio to movie audio. WAY TOO PAINFUL.

I guess a disclaimer should come now. Revolutions will be a little more rough looking/sounding than Reloaded only because of the extreme nature of the cuts (and my lack of talent). It should still be a fun movie.

So cutting the attack on the dock together, I removed all infantry and reload boys. This had the effect of making the battle more intense than before. I was trying to thin some action because I found it overwhelming in theaters.

Now this scene is several minutes of mech vs squid action and non-stop machine gun fire. I don't know if that's good or bad.
Post
#194267
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/194267/action/topic#194267
Time
Man this project was more ambitious than anticipated.

M2 for all intents and purpose is done now (I still need to QC it). I MAY change the beginning to use Last Flight of the Osiris, but I'm not in love with using a CG opener (and it's almost 10 minutes). You could almost explain the 'cartoon like quality' away since it would end with Neo waking. But then it almost looks like a vision, which is one of the things I'm trying to cut.

Then there's M3. The harder edits (in my mind) have turned out to be cake. The ones I thought would be a throw together are not only tedious, but at the moment looking so bad I may scrap my script and start over.
I really want the big Smith fight near the beginning since it explains some stuff later and allows me to move an action scene from the hyperkinetic ending to the plodding beginning (or what would be a plodding beginning in my edit). It's all there, but it's not smooth. There's a plan B but it's much less interesting.

Just thinking out loud, okay back to work.
Edit: Did I mention I started converting tracks from the soundtrack to DD so I can smooth things out? Yup, M3 is MUCH harder to tinker with.
Post
#194118
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/194118/action/topic#194118
Time
It's really hard to explain without giving huge detail and I want you all to have surprises. The plot is reworked, threads are pulled, rewoven and rewritten.
I'm not removing the beginning of the third movie, so much as being REALLY REALLY creative with it.
My goal is to preserve as much that's useful as possible. Too much gutting can really make a movie feel rushed/jerky. So I'm trying to leave all steps that make sense in the progression of the plot.
That means I needed to edit together a plausable explaination on how the crew got from the Neb to the Hammer and survived. I was going to have the Neb blow up and then the Hammer rescues them. But I realized it wouldn't be believable that the squids would toss a bomb, yet leave survivors going it on foot. It may not be the most professional editing job, but it doesn't suck either.

Edit: Oh yeah. The Zion battle. Honestly a lot of that edit is going to be on the fly. I hated most of it. It felt more like a dirty gritty war film, not at all what I wanted to see. I'm going to cut A LOT of it. I do want to keep enough to show that there is a battle, and I want to keep a bunch of the fighting robot things because they are so damn cool.
Post
#194103
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/194103/action/topic#194103
Time
Anyone? I'm still accepting offers on that Oracle clip...

And just so we're clear. We think it's a good idea for Neo to not be able to zap squids?
Ay yi yi, a couple of hours to fix that scene so far with lots of luck and talent... ok all luck.
I never thought about it: they're stranded, being chased by squids... and then they're rescued. But the in between bit?
It doesn't look bad now, but some audio tweaking is needed. There's lots of sfx and music to account for.

Btw, to all concerned, the audio of the Oracle clip has been clean up. I used a noise gate to get the hiss out and a normalize so it sounds like they're speaking at about the same level. Now the video.
If no one can hook me up by tomorrow I'll either have to settle for a PAL clip or a recode with virtualdub (that posted screenshot is going to be pretty close to how that'll look.)
Post
#193966
Topic
.-The Matrix Hacked-..:Completed:.
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/193966/action/topic#193966
Time
Hmm, can anyone point me to a good place to put screenshots. The my website has been down for the last few days. I have a provisional color correction I'd like to show off. I reduced all saturation by 25% and then boosted green (and cyan) 50%.
Edit: Which really translate roughly to just lowering the saturation of all colors except green/cyan by 25%.
Surprisingly the lighting's dynamic range and brightness are almost completely identical to start with.
To my lousy color eye it looks damn close.

Ok in the meantime here is a zip file of the shots: M3's Oracle, M1 Original, and M1 filtered.
Apologies for the method, I'll try to get the pictures posted asap.

http://rapidshare.de/files/15625596/Oracle.zip.html