Eyepainter

CaptainFaraday said:

I like the orange look for Jakku, but the second option looks better for the non-Jakku scenes.

I understand why. I will say again that the blue film look is my favorite, and you can see part of that look in the hybrid grade during the non-Jakku scenes (In fact, I’m going for the blue look on both VIII and IX, but that’s a different topic). I’m just not sure it works well for a movie like TFA, which arguably has the warmest color palette in the sequel trilogy. I also want to honor Artan42’s suggestion on keeping Jakku orange to distinguish it from Tattooine and Geonosis, and I feel like the blue look is getting in the way of making Jakku look right (unless reddish tinted sand counts as orange).

I’m entertaining the idea of lessening the blue look so that the orange look is dominant, but I worry that it might look like an inferior version of the orange look. I suppose I’ll give it a try, but I wouldn’t expect too much from it.

C-3P0: I would much rather have gone with master Luke than stay here with you.
R2-D2: Oh, yeah?
C-3P0: I don’t know what all this trouble is about, but I’m sure it must be your fault.
R2-D2: Well excuse me, Mister Poopyhead!
C-3P0: You watch your language!

Thanks guys! Glad it looks good.

I’m gonna try one last idea before I say the color grading is complete. Here’s the orange film look again:

I wanted to try combining the orange and blue looks together. So, I started by making a node for the orange look using the curves in Resolve. I raised the red levels and lowered the blue levels like so:

Then, I made another node for the blue look. I used the curves again, but did the opposite of the orange look. I raised the blue levels and lowered the red levels like so:

Finally, I added a parallel mixer node to combine the two looks together:

My hope was that the combination would improve on perfection, but honestly, it wasn’t quite the grade of excellence I was hoping for. I suppose the faded red look that you will see in this newer combination might look good on some other movie, but not for TFA. I’m not sure the faded red suits Jakku (especially in comparison with the orange film look), and it seems like the addition of the blue makes the image look more desaturated. Still, I’ll let you be the judge. If I don’t get any responses, I’ll stick with the orange look and leave it be. But if you want to provide a defense for this newer grade, feel free to do so.

As usual, I’ve placed all of the examples under the spoiler tag below. Let me know what you think.

Anakin Starkiller said:

Handman, those are clearly two different people.

Anyway, I wanna bitch about how hard it is to make any social connection irl and get a girlfriend. Dunno what to say about it, but there it is, that’s my bitching.

I don’t know if it’ll make you feel any better, but my first crush died a long slow painful death from a car accident when I was 13. That makes relationships hard for me, because most people, when they go on a date, want to make everything as overly happy as possible and pretend that nothing is wrong. Either that, or they get their dating advice from far too many rom-coms. You may be having a hard time getting a girlfriend, but look at the bright side. The only problem you’re facing in romance is just being alone. You don’t have to deal with both loneliness and trauma like I do on most days.

Foolish, I am, for posting in this thread. Resist posting in it, I cannot.

I found out I was trans last week, and admitting that has helped me a lot these last few days. I’ve been surprisingly optimistic, and I’ve been willing to be more compassionate to both my co-workers and customers when I’m at work because of it. I’ve also been handling the move a little better than I expected. I’m still busy, and I’m still in the process of unpacking, but it’s crazy how well I’m holding up since finding out.

Mrebo said:

Eyepainter said:

Replace John Williams’ score with Charles Trenet’s “Boum!” during the Order 66 montage.

This idea is so good it has been nagging at me so I slapped this together only using Boum for audio (apologies for video quality issues). I made some fast and dirty edits to get the first boum and scene changes lined up a little better, but it was halfway there on its own. The two best moments lined up without any alteration and the camera work goes so well - watch to the end. There is some natural synchronicity between the lyrics and what is on screen. This could really be finessed into something brilliant I think.

https://streamable.com/3hbfoe

Ah, the wonderful things we do in the name of fan editing!

RogueLeader said:

This might not be the right place for this, but I wanted to have a discussion with you guys regarding some thoughts I’ve had that could potentially be used for fan edits.

Something I love about the OT films, especially the very first Star Wars film, is the texture you get from 35mm film and analog music recording from that era that no longer see very much in modern cinema. With Star Wars being a used, lived-in universe, I think the imperfections of film grain and analog saturation really added to that aesthetic. When you go back and watch the films, especially the Project 4K or Puggo Grande versions, it makes the films feel almost like an artifact or a treasure from some bygone era.

It probably makes more sense to simply modernize the OT to fit a more contemporary level of quality, but I think there is something special to that old school look that I think would help make the newer films feel more like Star Wars, strangely enough.

I would really love to explore ways to “age” the other Star Wars films to be more in-line with the Original Trilogy. I could see how a film like Rogue One could benefit from this treatment, with it’s narrative proximity to Star Wars 77. But I’d also be interested in seeing how this would work with the other Saga films.

I believe Nev has made some LUTs that has some film grained added. I might be wrong. I also know snooker had made some tests with some of her prequel trilogy edits that gave them a more grainy film look, plus remixing the audio to sound more analog. She even redid some effects shots to feel more in-line FX wise with the OT. It’s kind of ironic, but I find an appeal to actually making some of the effects worse. Perhaps trying to “age” the newer films would feel inauthentic, but on the other hand, it could be a clever way to make all the films, new and old, feel more cohesive. Would love to get some thoughts on this.

You’re not alone, Rogue. I do a lot of color grading on my own fanedits to reach that angelic 35mm film aesthetic, although sadly, I do not have the ability to throw film grain on the movies (unless I manage to save up $300 on my editing software). I’ve even looked up some 35mm movie trailers on YouTube, got Puggo Grande’s 16mm edits of the OT, and even bought a few film trailers on eBay myself so that I could study and research what a “film look” is supposed to be. It’s been a frustrating experience at times, but if you want to see where my research has gone lately, I posted my latest color grading screencaps on my Episode VII fanedit thread.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Episode-VII-The-Eyepainter-Fanedit-A-WIPChanges-announcedWorkprint-released/id/90298/page/2

I should comment that I only just yesterday found a way to combine both the orange and blue film looks using a parallel mixer in Resolve. I’m not sure the results will be perfect, but I do plan to get some screencaps in when I’ve finished unpacking everything at my new place. So, if this interests you enough, stay tuned for that as well.

CaptainFaraday said:

Hal 9000 said:

Yoda is pretty tall in the prequels until his legs are cut off while dueling the Emperor.

“Mmmmm, lost my legs did I, Obi-Wan! Yours, you must give to me, hrrmmmm!”

Judge me by my size, do you?

Just removed the last three lines from Rey’s conversation with Leia about the Sith Wayfinder. Those lines being:

“Find Exegol. Find the Emperor.”
“No.”
“I don’t want to go without your blessing, but I will. I will. It’s what you would do.”

The main problem I have with it is that it adds an unnecessary subplot to the film that is quickly resolved a scene or two later. I already got rid of the other scene in the past. On top of that, I don’t think there is a need for Rey to have some antagonism with Leia, especially after what happens to Leia in this film. One surprising thing I’ve seen (but have decided to welcome) from the changes I’ve made so far is how much less antagonistic and more supportive and positive the resistance is to each other throughout the trilogy. And I think keeping Rey and Leia’s relationship on a good note before one of them has to leave for Pasaana makes things much more impactful later on.

Replace all uses of The Imperial March with Katrina & The Waves “Walking on Sunshine.”

PM sent! 😃

Anyway, moving on.

So after looking through the Crait battle once again, and seeing the changes I’ve made to the battle, I still found myself feeling like something was off. So I decided to watch the Crait battle again to monitor my emotions during the climax, and I found out that the thing setting off my “Uh-oh” sensors was

Luke’s lightsaber confrontation with Kylo.

I decided to remove a few major lines from that confrontation, and I think my issues have been resolved. I’ll have to look it over again just in case, but I think I’ve done it.

With that in mind, here are the lines I removed from the confrontation:

The first two are “Did you come back to say you forgive me? To save my soul?” and “No.” I’m not sure what it is about these two, but they came across as redundant after all the changes I’ve made. Surprisingly, the removal of those two lines makes the beginning of the fight completely told through visual, which made it more effective. I’m still looking for a concrete reason why it works, but maybe it’ll make more sense after I watch it again.

The next line is “I failed you, Ben.” I have no idea why it took me this long to realize it doesn’t work, but it did. I think I already mentioned in the general changes list that I cut out Luke’s lightsaber bits from the flashbacks, which pretty much means that Rey was right. He didn’t fail Kylo, Kylo failed him. So now, all Luke says to Kylo is “I’m sorry.” which comes with a more plausible feel to the moment.

The last line I’ve cut out is a gigantic one. “The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last jedi.” I had already cut out “The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning.” in the workprint, so I don’t think that requires much of an explanation. However, I want to focus on “And I will not be the last jedi.” This goes back once again to my intention of creating a more ambiguous ending. The cutaway to Rey after that line gives off an implication that either she is “the last jedi”, or that she will bring about a new generation of jedi. This doesn’t work so well for what I have in mind. So, I’ve reduced Luke’s entire speech down to just the part that was foreshadowed during Rey’s training: “Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.” This leads to a reaction shot of Kylo, then cut to Rey. I like this approach. It’s effective for foreshadowing reasons, and it makes the sparkle of hope that Rey will stick with the rebellion not quite as on the nose. I’m fine with offering just a glimmer of hope that she won’t join Kylo. Not a lot, but just enough to tease and foreshadow the next film. Otherwise, lessening the effect of Rey being the last jedi is good for what I want to accomplish.

Mrebo said:

Jedi fight aboard control ship.
A bunch of persnickety changes and one to suit my modified narrative. Let me know what you like, don’t like, and alternate ideas.

Daultay no longer “stunted” only “slime”

Because invasion already underway Palpatine’s line about making it legal has been repurposed in a way that is dismissive and foreshadowing.

Exterior shot of ship blows up few frames in. Lightsaber sounds a couple frames later to better match the action.

Removed “dioxin” shot / Nute telling droid to go in / droid voices. I like idea it is the Jedi who opened the door but it is quite fast. I’ve liked similar edits others have done and will have to consult them further.

Removed Nute’s interruption “what is going on down there” shot.

Trimmed exchange between Nute/Run about having encountered Jedi before.

Removed Obi-Wan’s post-slash posing.

Moved “close the blast doors” shot in a way I think flows better.

https://streamable.com/kdfus5

I think it’s wonderful. The only bit I might suggest removing is the line, “We will not survive this.” But then again, that’s just me. Otherwise, I like it.

Replace John Williams’ score with Charles Trenet’s “Boum!” during the Order 66 montage.

Octorox said:

GLogus said:

I hardly think it’s analogous to a scoop of feces. Poppasketti seems to have done a fine job with it.

I think any fanedit made by someone who hates the film they are editing is destined to fail. The best fanedits are made by those who have the ability to be critical but still have at least some respect and affection for the source material, as well as regard for the filmmaker’s vision.

This is a lot nicer than what I would have said…

As a lover of this movie, I’m going to try not to come from a defensive place. It’s fine that it didn’t work for you. But the reason to “fanfix” a film is because you feel the film has potential, and that its potential can be brought out through editing. It sounds like you don’t have respect or admiration for any aspect of this movie, so you might as well save yourself the time by just not watching it.

Wow, I didn’t expect to come back from the move to address some controversy, but I guess I need to talk about this before it gets worse.

Here’s the thing. I am not a big “fan” of the whole “if you were a real fan you would love it” line of logic. I’m sure it’s well-intentioned, but it suffers too much from the “no true scotsman” fallacy, and it raises too many questions on who or what a fan even is. If I were a Batman fan, for example, does that mean I have to like Batman & Robin in order to fix it? Let’s reverse it. If I liked Batman & Robin, but I didn’t like anything else related to Batman, does that mean I’m a “real” fan and all those other people who love the mythology of Bruce Wayne are not? I personally would say no, but that’s debatable. The point is that there is no clear definition of who does and doesn’t count as a fan, and I think it’s arrogant to assume that you know who does.

I’m not going to pretend that I’m editing TLJ because I have warm and fuzzy feelings for it (although I suppose I was being too harsh on the main topic, so I guess it needs a rewrite), but I am editing the film as a Star Wars fan, and as a fan of cinema. Personally, I think those two criteria are good enough to call this a fanfix, which is what the term means. I’m a fan, and I’m fixing it.

Also, any fanedit made by someone who hates the film they are editing is destined to fail? On what evidence? I don’t know what edits you’re watching, GLogus, but we aren’t watching the same ones, honey. I’ve seen plenty of edits that were made by people who weren’t “in love” with the film itself. The Phantom Editor is one notorious example that comes to mind, and he has stated both in his opening crawl and in his own commentary that he edited Episode I due to his own (and many other fans) disappointment with the film. An attitude that I’m utilizing for this version of Episode VIII.

The first stage of my move begins. I will be starting work on the move tomorrow, where I will be moving to a friend’s place. I’ll try to get my computer back up and running as soon as I possibly can (I hope to get it all ready sometime next week). Then I can worry about what to do next for the move (and keep working on my fan edits when I have the time). So yes, I will be absent on this site for a bit, but I hope to return as soon as I possibly can!

jadenkorr41 said:

lol its your edit, you can do whatever you want to it. I just see fan edits as how far are people going to close the gap between head canon and what is shown to you. Theoretically almost anything can be justified/reasoned. It’s just do you accept it or not? Sounds like you dont accept this line, so since its your edit, be gone with it! haha

Well, it’s a wonderful thing that that’s exactly what I’m doing! 😆

The first stage of my move begins. I will be starting work on the move tomorrow, where I will be moving to a friend’s place. I’ll try to get my computer back up and running as soon as I possibly can (I hope to get it all ready sometime next week). Then I can worry about what to do next for the move (and keep working on my fan edits when I have the time). So yes, I will be absent on this site for a bit, but I hope to return as soon as I possibly can!

The first stage of my move begins. I will be starting work on the move tomorrow, where I will be moving to a friend’s place. I’ll try to get my computer back up and running as soon as I possibly can (I hope to get it all ready sometime next week). Then I can worry about what to do next for the move (and keep working on my fan edits when I have the time). So yes, I will be absent on this site for a bit, but I hope to return as soon as I possibly can!

The first stage of my move begins. I will be starting work on the move tomorrow, where I will be moving to a friend’s place. I’ll try to get my computer back up and running as soon as I possibly can (I hope to get it all ready sometime next week). Then I can worry about what to do next for the move (and keep working on my fan edits when I have the time). So yes, I will be absent on this site for a bit, but I hope to return as soon as I possibly can!

The first stage of my move begins. I will be starting work on the move tomorrow, where I will be moving to a friend’s place. I’ll try to get my computer back up and running as soon as I possibly can (I hope to get it all ready sometime next week). Then I can worry about what to do next for the move (and keep working on my fan edits when I have the time). So yes, I will be absent on this site for a bit, but I hope to return as soon as I possibly can!

The first stage of my move begins. I will be starting work on the move tomorrow, where I will be moving to a friend’s place. I’ll try to get my computer back up and running as soon as I possibly can (I hope to get it all ready sometime next week). Then I can worry about what to do next for the move (and keep working on my fan edits when I have the time). So yes, I will be absent on this site for a bit, but I hope to return as soon as I possibly can!

Why opt for phone numbers when you can opt for the telegram?

CaptainFaraday said:

I love this idea. I imagine there would be heaps of Roger Corman level productions made to cash in on ANH that would just need some lightsaber blades and SW SFX added.

And they would all need to add this song too:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9mSgqMOKJho