I’m not sure what else to say about this 1080p announcement other than this:
That’s not HD.
We’re talking about Adywan’s recent 1080p announcement, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerfherder!
I’m starting to get the hang of it with recording and editing the audio commentary. It’s imperfect, and I still have a long way to go, but I think the really hard stuff is taken care of.
Because of how long this commentary track is taking, I’m thinking that it might be a better idea to just release v2 as is, and when I’ve gotten the audio commentary done, I could simply release an upgraded version and call it v2.1, or something like that. I’ve just about gotten everything else finished for v2, so it seems ridiculous to delay it just for the commentary. I’ll be testing out v2 again tomorrow to check for any other issues that might have slipped past me. However, I have confidence that it’s ready (sans the commentary track).
I’m not sure what else to say about this 1080p announcement other than this:
Cut the endings of all 9 movies in half (for example, just after Darth Vader’s “join me and together we will rule the galaxy…” line from Empire), and replace the end credits with this feline.
On a different note, I want to give a very special thank you to bryantmh for the AI upscaled deleted scenes. I said I was having issues because some of the deleted scenes I got from HAL9000 weren’t upscaled (you can see them in the demo, by the way). Bryantmh’s are upscaled, and I will be replacing the HAL scenes with the bryantmh scenes for this edit. If you want to see what kind of quality to expect, here’s a link to bryantmh’s post, which features a few screenshots:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Info-AI-Upscaling-of-Deleted-Scenes-and-other-content/id/75020
Of the screenshots, the only one that will be in my edit of Episode II is the extended Anakin and Padme conversation scene. I will be using 4 other deleted scenes as well, but there are no screenshots for those. You can rest assured though, that I have looked over them myself and they look marvelous.
Also, if anyone needs versions of the deleted scenes with audio attached, let me know. I’ve figured some things out that precluded me from doing that for the versions currently up.
Since the deleted scenes I have for my episode II fanedit are in pretty sad shape, I’d love to get these upscales. Can I PM you?
Yeah. The audio commentary is taking a lot longer than I expected. Turns out, I’m a moron when it comes to recording audio. I’m still learning about how all the different sound and audio features work in resolve, and I’ve only recorded the first 5 minutes or so. Be patient, folks. I’m still figuring this out. If it makes you happy, the audio commentary is the last thing I need to take care of for v2. Once it’s done, v2 will be ready for release.
Just started work on the sound. Most of it is just simple crossfades around some of the more obvious cuts. I will probably start color grading as soon as I’m done with the crossfades.
As for feedback, I haven’t gotten any responses yet, so I haven’t made any new cuts. I’m beginning to warm up to the idea of announcing the changes I’ve made, but I want to wait a bit and get a reaction or two from the demo before I make that decision. I’d rather compile a final list than an incomplete list. But I am considering releasing the list of changes soon.
Might delete this if I regret posting it
(not my video but this would probably take the cake for the worst edit idea)
Please do not delete it. I’m probably going to hell for watching it, but at least I’m going there laughing.
Honestly, not sure there is a way to make Yarell Poof more visible, the pre existing bloom and low quality of the DVD I use as a source kinda doom him to an eternity of being impossible to make out if I even think about touching the highlights, lol.
I understand. It’s not just DVD quality that is vulnerable to that problem. I used a 1080p transfer for my edit and even with the emmy award winning color grading features of davinci resolve, the shot where the droid army arrives at the Naboo palace was so bright that I was unable to show off the details. I don’t know why that is, but it happens. Maybe I’m just a noob at color grading.
Demo is now online. PM me for the link. For those of you who want more info, read on.
The demo is an MKV file at 2.47GB with a resolution of 1920 x 830 at 23.976fps with a 2.0 AAC stereo track. It’s lossy, but the purpose of this demo is for the plot and the characters. Keep in mind that the crawl hasn’t been done yet, so the opening crawl that you see is the theatrical version, which will be changed. If you need to know what the new opening crawl is supposed to be, here’s a rough draft:
“The republic is divided. Hundreds of solar systems are threatening to leave the republic under the new SEPARATIST MOVEMENT, led by Jedi master COUNT DOOKU.
As more solar systems continue to join the separatists, fears of a galactic war continue to grow. There are already rumors that thousands of solar systems could soon join the separatist movement.
SENATOR PADME AMIDALA, former queen of Naboo, is heading for Coruscant in an attempt to end the conflict and restore peace to the galaxy…”
Another thing I should note. I haven’t gotten into the color grading or sound editing, so yes, the video and audio quality will be flawed. Audio will seem choppy during scene transitions. The contrast will be too low as well. Blacks might look gray, and whites may not be very bright. I’m hoping to start on the color grading soon, but that all depends on the feedback I get. I’m also hoping to take a look at the wipes and transitions again, as it does look like more wipes and transitions are needed looking back at it.
Now, I don’t want to state the obvious, but I feel I need to. This is a demo. This is not the final release. All that you see is subject to change. Thank you for taking your interest in this demo, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on this. As a token of my gratitude, everyone who gives feedback will be added as an advisor to the editing credits at the end of this version of Episode II.
So, after several attempts to export the demo through resolve without getting an overly compressed image, I gave up and decided to go back to my exporting rules for episode I v2. I exported the file in .MOV, but I changed the codec from h.264 to DNxHD and changed the stereo audio track to 16-bit linear PCM. Then, I took that file and went into Handbrake. Since my objective isn’t to make this the highest quality file ever, I set it to most of the default settings. However, I converted the file to MKV instead of MP4, because I’m biased towards MKV. I also converted the linear PCM stereo track to AAC. What I got was a file that is 2.47GB small. It is lossy, but judging from a few scenes I took a peek at, it looks a lot better than the h.264 files I got out of resolve. The deleted scenes haven’t gone through quality control, so they may not look as good as the rest of the edit, but at least it’s reviewable. So, as I’m typing this, the file is being sent out onto the world wide web. It should be 100 percent complete in an hour. You may PM me for the link.
That screenshot looks better, although that poor long-necked jedi in the background still looks like he’s trying his best to exist in the film without getting his head blurred out of existence. (Not that I cared about him in the first place, but I’d rather be able to see all the details clearly, even bad ones. It’s a personal bias on my part.) Still, I like that I can see Coruscant in the background this time around, so it does count as an improvement.
I had some compression issues with the demo, so I will try again and download the demo ASAP. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Neither Han nor Greedo shoots. Instead, Luke comes crashing into the bar with his landspeeder, killing Greedo.
For any of you who don’t get the reference: https://youtu.be/F2bKVEVUOPg?t=483
Ah yes, I see you’re a man of culture as well.
I’ve downloaded the demo through resolve in an .mov file format at 1080p. The file size is standing at 10.9GB as of right now. I will be working on sending the file online either today or tomorrow. PM me and I will send you the link when it’s online.
Thanksgiving is over. I just started work on my commentary. I’m going to fidget around with the sound features to see if I can fix the issues I have with the sound. I was able to increase the gain on my sound bits and it helped the audio sound better. It might take a while, but I have a good feeling about where things are going with the commentary track.
I don’t know if this guy could turn you into an expert on environments, but if you haven’t heard of Blender Guru on YouTube, you might want to check him out. He’s made a series of instructional videos on how to use Blender by making… A donut. Here’s the link to his first lesson:
A little something on my mind. Rewatching the edit so far, we hardly get a taste of the might of the Federation until the final act. I’m wanting to add a scene earlier of the film showing the droid army ravaging the streets of Theed, but there’s one issue: There’s not really much usable footage of their occupation (most have Padme or her entourage in it, which wouldn’t make sense as they’re with the Jedi).
Is there perhaps some footage from some sort of commercial, series, or whatever of Battle Droids roaming the streets of a city that could pass for Theed, blasting people? The closest thing I can think of is The Mandalorian, but those are Super Battle Droids.
The inferiority of the federation has always been a tough one for us faneditors, including myself. I ended up keeping the scene where Nute Gunray threatens the governor in my fanedit. It’s not because it was a good scene, but because it was one of the few scenes that showed the sinister side of Gunray. My logic being that anything that shows this side of Gunray is necessary to understand why the federation is a threat to the Naboo.
One of the biggest and most unavoidable downsides of Episode I is the fact that there is no footage of the actual conflict on Naboo. I ended up having to find ways to work around that problem, and I still have no idea if I succeeded on that front. Just the reality that I tried.
Bottom line, don’t beat yourself up too much over it. It’s always been a tough issue for every fan edit.
I know what I said in my last post, but I gave my edit another look through, and I’m feeling rather insecure about this edit. I’ve never done this before, but I’m going to ask for feedback. I’m hopeful that the edit I have created is well thought out, but I need a second opinion to see if there’s something I missed. Because my brain is tired of trying to think all of this through. I’m gonna work on exporting a demo soon. Feel free to PM me, and I will send you the link when I have downloaded it.
Just finished brightening up the color grading, and it’s pretty close to finished. I’m going to be shifting my attention towards recording the audio commentary track at this stage, which will hopefully be the last thing I need to work on for v2. I will be busy at my day job due to Thanksgiving, so there will be another delay on v2 this week. My apologies.
Just tested the color grading on v2. To my surprise, the new color grade looks too dark. I’m going to head on back to the color grading and see if I can brighten up the image a little more.
I have good news and bad news on the audio commentary. The good news is that I finally got my microphone to work with Resolve. I don’t know how I did it, but it’s working. I’m about to start working on the commentary (although the thanksgiving season might delay me this week due to my job). However, this leads me to the bad news. The audio sounds… Kind of bad. So far, my voice sounds echo-ey and overly digitized. It reminds me of a megaphone, but with a normal voice instead of a loud voice. I’m going to see if I can learn how to make the audio quality sound more professional, but it is a hurdle for now.
Just finished working on the color grading a second time. It’s looking good. I’m going to give the file a test run (most likely tomorrow) and see if any other issues pop up with the color grading. It’s looking like the black levels will still be the same as they are on v1, but the white levels are most likely going to be much higher this time. With any luck, the increase in the white levels will balance out the gray levels more effectively.
Just finished my first attempt to update the color grading. I’m going to look through it a second time to see if there are any inconsistencies with the clips now.
I’m still having trouble with my microphone. I’ll update my status when something happens, but for now, things are still a problem in the sound recording department.