Hal 9000

NeverarGreat said:

Also, I just listened to the commentary and have a question for Hal (and everyone else): When watching Rey tap into the Force and overpower Kylo at the end, do you interpret this as her using the Dark Side, or just harnessing the ‘light’ which has ‘always been there’? I ask this because if Rey were so susceptible to the Dark Side here, that might constitute a very great character flaw and go a long way towards making her a more dynamic lead.

BTW, thanks for the many shout outs in the commentary Hal, you’re really too kind!

V1 was mediocre at best and at that time I just hoped that someone would take the idea and run with it, so you and Ridley deserve all the credit I can give.

To answer your question, I do think Rey tapped into the dark side to come at Kylo so forcefully. I think that’s why the ground opens up between them, so that she has little choice but to flee, rather than being merciful.

timdiggerm said:

Because after his redemption and death he is restored in the Force to the way he ought to be rather than the way he was.

Exactly. His ‘repentance’ was enough. When he died, he was restored, not merely regressed.

“What’s up, fellow kids.”

It looks like its in the ESB cards, no?

As I was preparing for TLJ: Legendary, I supposed that the reason for the caretakers’ existence was for that scene, and that I should either incorporate that scene or remove the caretakers altogether. I went with the latter because I agree with RJ’s commentary, to the effect that without this scene the last time Rey and Luke converse prior to their falling out has a suggestion that Luke might give in to her beckoning. When Luke is approaching her as she ‘touches hands’ with Kylo, it seems like he was just about to come over to her perspective.

I’d be happy to consult, having been interested in this stuff since 2001. It’d be quite a task!

Sir Ridley said:

Thank you, Neverar did a lot of things as well so it could be hard to tell who did what.

Indeed! It may have been me who misspoke, in the commentary itself. 😬

You could certainly do that, and that should be perfectly fine.

Yes, since it’s lossless. The DTS track had to be encoded to that spec. For viewing/listening, the DTS should be good enough for anyone. But if an editor wants to use part of my project’s audio, the lossless file is there as a source equal to what was in my NLE.

Search Reddit for a link to a Google Drive folder. I can’t post it here. All my Star Wars stuff can be found there.

You can find that master link on Reddit also. (Search.)

I’ll send it to .info after they’re all released, but it takes time usually for the admin to update the listings.

Sounds like a nice edit. I might have to check it out next time I feel like viewing the film.

FWIW, I find HelloGreedo insufferably toxic, also. Just toxic about other toxicity. Which is no less unhelpful.

I just posted the BluRay compatible mkv version and the rest will follow as they finish encoding and being verified.

I think you’re right, Mala. And Sir Ridley did indeed deliver a fixed scar for two shots. If I hadn’t added that to the change list I prepped a while back, I’ll do so!

I agree, FWIW. That’s an excellent idea and really reframes a problematic scene.

I just remember watching it in the theatre thinking “what the hell is she doing?!”

Currently encoding the BluRay video stream, with an ETA of completion during the weekend. I’m hoping to be able to begin the distribution process by then, also. But it shouldn’t be too long, now.

Here’s a clip of the opening logo and crawl. I spent some more time tweaking it, maintaining a pretty tight crop around the receding logo and as subtle and gradual of a transition as I could after that point. I think it’s better this way, keeping the flickering of the alternate language crawl to a minimum from the start by keeping a tight crop on the logo. Anyway, I think it passes muster.

https://vimeo.com/311913155
password: fanedit

Another very enjoyable read. Keep it comin’!

Thanks for the thougful posts, Rogue. I find myself on YouTube for at least a little while a day due to my situation and strange aversion to watching actual shows or movies most of the time, and Star Wars stuff comes up a lot. It sometimes sucks me into a more cynical mindset than I’d like, I’ll admit.

I would also like to admit to a certain form of (reverse?) jealousy regarding YouTubers who sell licensed merchandise with trademarked images on them. For one thing, if I were for some reason paid minimum wage for each and every hour I’ve spent working on Star Wars stuff on my computer(s), I could pay off my student loans. I won’t even mention what that would look like in the case of someone like Adywan. Why is it okay for people to sell trash with Star Wars imagery on it? I’ve likened our careful efforts to avoid anything approaching profiting from our work to Star Trek’s prime directive, which exists in part to protect us. It kind of makes me mad to see others wantonly endangering us vicariously by promoting what often seems to me like lazy, loud mouthed channels.

For my part, I very much appreciate our solidarity in refrainin from anything that would even suggest any personal gain from what we do; we build safety rails around the safety rails. I don’t ever want that to change. When other people step out from under that carefully maintained umbrella, we all are put at risk while they make $5.

I admire the Phantom Editor and, at least to my own mind, have tried to approach fan editing Star Wars from a place of love and (spirit of) professionalism.

I suppose the brazen disregard for these principles coupled with the unsavory personal gain I see being derived from it rubs me the wrong way. It’s worse when done with pomp and arrogance, maybe.

All this being said, I love all y’all.

I spent about 2 hours keyframing to try to get the logo to transition into the English crawl as seamlessly as I can. I will upload a clip tomorrow so you can see what you think. I don’t think anyone would have ever noticed anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s good enough.😉

The alternate language starfields flicker, but the regular English one is static. They also aren’t a perfect match of color or brightness. So I overlaid a still frame from the alternate crawl at half opacity and key framed a crop that followed the logo as it recedes. The English crawl creeps up by means of a keyframed crop. All the while, the star field beneath (which fills in any blank frame area from the other cropped clips) is gradually fading from the alternate to the English.

Unfortunately, the alternate language crawls’ starfields are not 100% identical, either in color or placement. I’m currently rendering a test clip to see if the best of what I can do pulls it off well enough. I keyframed feathered cropping and crossfaded underlying starfield footage as gradually as things would allow. It gets a little complicated, but everything is as gradual as I can make it, both crossfading and wiping in order to allow the English crawl to come into frame.

I had to leave the house before I could look at the final clip. If it seems seamless, great. If not, I’m okay with the oddly-speedy opening logo for two reasons:

1. I tried first, and
2. It can be a slight holdover from the 1997 SE which was my first Star Wars experience. It’s a very slight change, anyway.

Could mix and match this edit with a TLJ edit that has Luke survive, and exclaim, “Just this once… EVERYBODY LIVES!”

No, I already have. I used the Despecialized edition, which I understand was NewGuy’s source also. It was very easy, because they’re only a total of three brief shots taken from the same angles as the offending shots, and they matched closely already.

L3 made me hungry when watching Solo because it sounded like the menu numbering scheme at a Long John Silvers/Taco Bell conglomerate that used to be nearby.

I can furnish you with the footage, certainly.
I’d like to think ROTJ could be out in time for a pre-IX viewing, but it’ll depend on a color corrected source becoming available, Adywan most likely.

If you did want to tackle this, I can send you all the relevant shots from both versions, take the results, and sync Hairy Hen’s, the 1997 SE, and the BluRay audio to it in order to hand off a finished sequence ready for use by whomever.