Hal 9000

Wow, that's insane!

This will be a quick and dirty guide of the most basic things to get you ready to edit in Final Cut Pro 7 from a BluRay source. (Final Cut X shouldn't be drastically different, nor should starting with a different source.) 

Big thanks to FE.org user Seciors, who was invaluably helpful in teaching me how to do this. 

Step 1) Ripping the BluRay disc

You'll need the appropriate hardware to let your Mac interface with a BluRay disc, of course. The software I used to rip it was MakeMKV, which at the time allowed for a limited period of use for beta testing. It may or may not still be free to use in the future. Even if it isn't free, it's worth it. Site: http://www.makemkv.com/

The application is pretty easy to use. Mount the disc you want to rip, and select it as the source. You'll have the opportunity to select which title you want to rip, as well as which audio and subtitle streams. It doesn't hurt to rip more than you need. Mash 'go,' and you'll eventually end up with a .mkv file of the source.

If MakeMKV isn't a viable option for whatever reason, Pavtube's BluRay Ripper should be fine, though will cost money. It's also pretty easy to figure out.

Step 2) Convert to ProRes.

Now we need to convert the source file into something Final Cut can work with. While there's more than one way to skin a cat, I've used Pavtube's HD Video Converter. http://www.pavtube.com/hd-video-converter-mac/

It's simple. Select your source, being the mkv you just created. For the format, I'd recommend selecting Apple ProRes 422(LT). Any Apple intermediary codec would be fine, but that's a good one to stick to unless something else compels you. If you select 'settings' next to the format, you'll want to put things at the highest quality and bit rate it allows. For size, it's best to leave it at "original," unless you're upscaling or downscaling to match another source. Bitrate should be "high quality," and frame rate for a BluRay source should be 23.976. 

On the audio side, for some reason it doesn't allow you a great bit rate. Select the highest bit rate it presents you with. If you prefer, you could use any other utility you have to rip the mkv's audio to something lossless (AIFF) and lay it down in Final Cut alongside your new video source. 

Select your destination directory and mash 'go.' 

Step 3) Editing

Now you're ready to begin working in Final Cut Pro 7 or Final Cut X. I can't do much to help you here, though it'd be good if you're new to study up on how to use the program. (I may come back and update this post with a few tips and tricks, but it'll be no substitute for independent study and practice to master the editing suite.) 

Step 4) Exporting 

Exporting the final product can be tricky, and no one seems to be able to give advice properly. So don't listen to them; listen to me!

Your best friend is going to be the "Share" feature. Especially if you've done any effects work on your project, do NOT export a Quicktime master file and then compress it later. Instead, use the Share feature in order to allow the encoder access to the raw pieces of your edit, saving a generational loss. 

Before we export, let's open up the Compressor app and set up the settings we'd like to export to. 

(I'm using Compressor 3, so hopefully more recent versions operate similarly to this.) In the bottom left window, you'll find presets for Compressor to encode to. You'll probably want to design your own, to specify what you want your end result to be. This can be anything from a BluRay-compatible mkv to a DVD5 to a YouTube video. I'll show you how to setup a BluRay-compatible mkv of rather low quality loss from the source. When Compressor launches, it should present you with a few options. Select "Create BluRay disc." You'll see the main window has two output formats, one BluRay video and one DVD audio. To the left there is a place to drop in a file for it to convert to these formats. Ignore that for now. Drag the H.264 for Blu-ray strip down to the 'Settings' window below, creating a new custom template. Select it, and you can edit it on the right. Configure it to suit your needs, and you can find the meanings of all the settings online. Just make sure to select "Multi-pass" for best quality, and select an appropriate bit rate. The "frame controls" tab is only important if your edit contains footage of differing resolutions or framerates. If so, I'd consult someone to decide what settings are best for you. For what it's worth, here's what I use:

Frame Controls: Off; Output Fields: Same as source; Deinterlace: Fast; (Checkmark next to Adaptive Details); Anti-alias: 0; Details Level: 0; Rate Conversion: Fast. 

You should also save the audio preset, configuring it for what is appropriate for you.

So, once your edit is laid out in a Final Cut sequence and is ready to go, navigate to File -> Share. This window will allow you to tap into the Compressor presets you've just created. Click the plus icon to add formats to encode to. Here you can select any of your custom Compressor presets. If you select the BluRay video and audio presets, you can allow Final Cut to encode them in one batch so you won't have to return just to start the encode of the next one. The end result of this step should be a video and audio file that together will form the finished product.

Step 5) Muxing

This step will vary depending on what type of file you want your end product to be. I'll explain how to proceed if you are creating a BluRay-compatible mkv. If not, mux and distribute your edit how you see fit. Compressor has presets for many things, and some may not even need any further work once FCP is finished exporting. 

The app I use for mkv muxing is Mkvtoolnix. http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/16837/mkvtoolnix

It's very easy to figure out. You select your input files, and a destination. It muxes them together for you, creating an mkv file of your finished edit. You can also mux in chapter or subtitle files. (For chapters, create an xml file and attach it under the Global tab -> Chapter File. Hit browse, and you can attach it.) 

That's a very barebones guide, and the hardest part is totally skipped over! But hopefully this will be of some help to get up and running. 

May as well, if you're going to do this anyway. It'd be hit or miss, since not everyone uses AE.

I will abide by the forum's judgement on this, but would this be permissible to pass along the shots in question for him to work on?

So be it. 

I suppose if pumpkinhead can demonstrate that he legally acquired the BluRays, we could reconvene on this. 

Eh, I don't see how it's any different from me proving Hundsdorfex with the Star Destroyer scene so he could rotoscope out the Death Star and share the results. I'd only be lending a handful of isolated shots. But I'll wait for a consensus on this before trodding on our rules.

Nice work. The blue is very pronounced and deep. The blue is more vibrant than the other colors onscreen. Perhaps its unhelpable because you're painting over purple. I wonder if it could be less saturated andor lighter. 

It's been taken down already. Vimeo works well, if you put a password on it.

Yeah, that's what I get for using my phone in a pinch.

From IMDB:

When Ki <chrome_find class="find_in_page findysel" style="overflow: visible !important;">Adi Mundi first draws his lightsaber in the Arena, it is blue. After Yoda and the clones arrive, his lightsaber is green. Seconds later, when he gets on a ship, his lightsaber is blue again.

While you're at it, I understand that as the clone troopers descend to rescue the Jedi in AOTC, there is a continuity error regarding the color of Ki-Adi-Mundi's lightsaber. Perhaps that would be fixable as well.

Depending on when this is available, I'd love to include this in V3 of my PT edits. Thanks for deciding to share it. 

What questions were you secretly hoping to be asked?

Sounds awesome, and I'll look forward to seeing the results. 

TV's Frink said:

I think we need a parroty thread in off topic.

 May the cracker be with you.

There are some cinematic 'Star Wars' moments and elements in TPM, but also some unbearable things. A mixed bag, or like picking the m&ms out of stale trail mix.

AOTC is mostly awful, with a few worthwhile pieces. The accomplishments of fan editing aside, it's taxing to try to sit through, and the action falls flat for me in virtually all instances. Threepio during the action sequences at the end is the low point of Star Wars thus far, if you ask me.

ROTS was bound to be the best prequel due to the subject matter. I'd say it got screwed up about as well as the rest, though it was more interesting to begin with. Better than AOTC, to be sure, though I'm not sure it feels more 'Star Wars' than the best parts of TPM. And what the hell was up with those squeaky battle droid voices?

It was too bad Ewan was unwilling to reprise his role for ANH, though I do appreciate the marked attempt to make the film look 'retro.' The only time you forget it was made post-2005 is when the occasional CGI effect comes through.

ESB takes a much slower pace, and budget costs presumably led to a physical Yoda puppet, which serendipitously blends in with the overall pulpy retro feel. It does feel weird for Luke to kiss his sister, though. 

ROTJ is the most kiddish Star Wars film since the original, TPM. It's nice to harken back to the saga's starting point, though the tone has advanced to be more mature by this point and it feels weird to regress. At least the Ewoks are distinct from one another, which I can't say the same about for the Gunguns. 

I started off pretty well, but veered into lunacy about halfway through.

If I ever do a fan edit of Episode 7, which I sincerely hope there is zero need for, I may try to carry on my tradition of giving an alternate title from an EU novel. Perhaps "The Undying Force"? It might help to see what the story is about!

Based on the Alan Dean Foster novel "Splinter of the Mind's Eye," and later remade as 1999's "Episode I: The Phantom Menace," Star Wars was the hit of the summer in 1977. While the original film has merit, it is a derivative work of the aforementioned novel, and done anew with much better results in the late nineties. 

To quote Lucas, the director of the first film, "Foster just hadn't written the book I would have, and since computer effects have advanced to the point that I could tell the story I wanted to all along, this new remake of Star Wars is more accurate to my imagination of the original novel than the original novel itself." 

While it isn't strictly necessary to have seen the original Star Trek series from the television of the 1960's, it certainly helps, as a lot of the character templates are the same, and the films (especially the 1999 remake) are replete with references to it. 

So get the novel first, if you ask me, THEN see a few key episodes of Star Trek (Trouble with Tribbles, Spock's Brain), and then watch The Phantom Menace. The original film is fun, but I'd wait until after the above to put it in its proper context for enjoyment.

GrandMaster88 said:

I'd love to watch your trilogy!!! How can I get hold of them? :)

 PM sent, though the best answer is fanedit.info.

Nope! OnlyOneKenobi over at FE.org seems to have vanished, and he's the one who put the covers together. The covers also reflect v1, and don't match up 100% to the contents of v2. 

Glad you were able to get it figured out. In case anyone else has the same problem, can you describe how you got it into an AVCHD? 

Yeah, the .44 magnum sound is one of many examples of bits from the mono mix that were reiterated in the '97 SE mix. I'm partial to it and thought it was okay to include because this isn't meant to replace the OOT on one's shelf. 

And I'm glad you enjoyed it overall. Figured it was worth uploading since I was gonna put it together anyway.

Unfortunately I can't help you there. I don't know what goes into making an AVCHD disc, let alone on Mac OS 10.7. I encoded it with the same Compressor preset I used for the 1080p versiona of my prequel edits, save image size and bitrate. Can you put it on a USB drive and hook it up to whatever you're using that way?

Robots hate Spiner and Daniels. Threepio and Data are like blackface to them.

Fair enough. My point is that I don't claim any creativity was involved.

Hal9000's Custom Star Wars: A New Hope Special Edition

First and foremost, I must give credit Harmy for making this endeavor plausible for me. His companion pieces of the Despecialied and Respecialized Editions are so alike visually, that it makes it a no-brainer for someone like me to cobble them together with ease. Credit is also due to dark_jedi and TeamBlu for creating the source material for the Respecialized Edition, and Kk650 for color corrected '11 footage.

Having satiated my restlessness with the Star Wars prequels, I wanted to put together a custom 'Special Edition' of the original trilogy to place on my shelf alongside the original, theatrical versions (currently represented by Harmy's Despecialized Editions). I thought about calling them the "So You've Decided To Watch The Special Edition" version, because they wouldn't be intended as one's sole version of the films. Rather, a companion piece to the original versions, as a Special Edition should be.

I do not consider this a "fan edit," as I am merely hybridizing existing official versions of the film, keeping changes I can appreciate and excluding those I feel hinder the film. Of course, this is highly subjective, and everyone's perfect blend would be slightly different. 

I utilized three primary sources for this project: Harmy's Despecialized Edition 2.5, Harmy's Respecialized Edition, and Kk650's Semi-Specialized Edition. I used Harmy's Respecialized Edition, a recreation of the 1997 SE, as my basis, including audio. Given these sources, and their sources in turn, this project is presented as a 720p BluRay-compatible mkv with 5.1 AC3 audio, which happens to be compact enough to fit onto a DL-DVD.

Here follows a list of changes made to the 1997 SE starting point for this project. 

Video

Used DEed to remove added vaporators to address continuity problem caused by the SE:

Used DEed for Leia's hologram in Luke's garage, to reinstate the "cone of light" missing from R2 in the SE.

Used DEed to remove ghostly Luke in a must-have-been-recomped establishing shot of morning at the Lars homestead.

Used Kk650 to include the '04+ recomped version of Luke's speeder being sniped by Tuskens.

Retooled the Mos Eisley entrance. The 1997 SE version is used for the speeder heading toward the town, followed by the 1997 SE speeder driving past a few troopers (removing the CGI 'helicopter' shot, and swoop bike startling a ronto), followed by the DEed version of the entire conversation with the checkpoint trooper. The 1997 SE establishing shots are used as they head toward the cantina, as well as the CGI dewback outside. Bottom line: minimum of distracting CGI during entrance, removal of foreground ronto in front of camera, removal of CGI droid flying past camera, though keeping a few establishing shots and CGI dewback in front of cantina (partially in order to keep the enhanced establishing shot of the cantina itself).

Used DEed to reinstate the Wolfman.

Used DEed to remove CGI stormtrooper and dewback as Threepio takes note of stormtroopers outside the cantina.

Needless to say, Han shoots first thanks to the DEed.

Used DEed to remove floating CGI droid following troopers around as they search the streets.

Used DEed to remove SE Jabba the Hutt scene.

Used DEed to reinstate censored blaster flashes and flames across the chests of shot Imperial officers.

Used DEed to restore a blinking light in the background of the Death Star elevator scene that was static in the 1997 SE+.

Used Kk650 to include the '04+ fixed set extension painting for the cell bay (including newly melty trash grate as Leia fires at it).

Used Kk650 to include new Aurabesh text on the Death Star tractor beam display, and later on as Tarkin is preparing to fire upon Yavin IV.

Used DEed version of the shot where Han rounds a corner to find troopers lying in wait.

The sabers are as seen in Harmy's Respecialized Edition. Most have had the original compositing restored by Harmy, save Luke's while training aboard the Falcon. (Exception: I used Kk650 for a few shots where Vader's saber turns white after dueling Ben.)

Used Kk650 to use the '11 version of a shot of the Falcon firing upon a TIE that fixed a framing error.

Used Kk650 to use the '04+ version of a shot of three Y-wings descending upon the Death Star that fixed a compositing error.

Did a little work to recreate the original version's final shot. The SE+ freezes the frame a bit later, and catches Leia mid-gesture before wiping to credits. The original freezes frame a few frames earlier. But I retained the 1997 version of the end credits themselves.

Audio

I stuck with the 1997 mix for the most part. It features a great deal of sounds that were previously only present in the mono mix, and its the sound mix that feels right to me, having grown up with it. However, here are the audio changes I remember making, aside from changes to ensure audio matches changes made to the video:

Used hairy_hen's audio to remove the 'whizzing' space debris sounds as the Falcon exits hyperspace near the Death Star.

Used hairy_hen's audio for the shootout in the cell bay to remove excessive glass shattering sounds and anachronistic ESB blaster sounds.

I'm giving this project a soft release on Myspleen only, and I'd prefer not to have it listed at FanEdit.org due to the large dependence it has on the prior work of others. It's just something for my own enjoyment that others may appreciate.

avantdark said:

is it possible to add other audio tracks then english?

 Unfortunately, no because the deleted scenes have no alternate audio. And subtitles would be a royal pain only to arrive at a total mess. English it will have to remain. 

Glad you enjoyed them!