Hal 9000

If you compare the OOT with the SE, you'll hear the music I'm talking about. It's present in both versions, though ends up being gone when trying to edit out the two new shots with SE+ footage. 

On its face, it's not jarring and works well enough. My concern, however, is a conservative desire not to do any harm to ANH. It seems like I have a choice here between interfering and making it worse than the original, or leaving in a somewhat benign SE change. 

Ideally, I'd be able to recreate the timing of the original with newer footage, music and all. 

I can't get on dailymotion.com so I can't see your particular version.

There’ve been a few ANH fan edit projects cropping up lately that are mixing and matching elements from the original version and the various special editions. There are some fantastic sources available for just that, including Harmy’s Despecialized and Respecialized editions. I’m even working on a custom SE of ANH myself.

And one thing I’ve reached an impasse about is the “look, sir, droids” scene. I’ve seen a few projects go the ‘Darth Editous’ route in an attempt to remove the added shots using SE (or '04, or '11) footage. A fresh clock wipe takes us from the new version of the sandcrawler shot into the next scene at approximately the point the original did. Naturally, the running time of the two shots is slightly shorter than the original.

My problem is that this wrecks the music in the transition. Originally, the clock wipe coincides with a brief reprise of the “Imperial” ANH music. In the ‘Darth Editous’ school of thought, this is gone. Using audio from the original doesn’t sync properly with the dialogue or dewback sound, and attempts to sync it have failed because the music gets botched.

Any ideas or examples could be useful for multiple people working on various ANH projects.

I wouldn’t mind just using Despecialized footage, but I prefer the shots of the sandcrawler before and afterward from the SE.

Just wondering if anyone has any breakthrough ideas on this one. My version won’t show any CGI dewbacks outside of this scene, but to me the slight jerk in the audio and pacing of the video in doing a ‘Darth Editous’ style edit of the scene lead me to prefer keeping the SE version wholesale. But it does seem weird to focus on the CGI dewbacks in this scene, never to see any again.

Don't worry about the time factor. I'm complimented that you'd dedicate your time to this for me. Good luck with exams, and I'll wait for the FX shots. I've been playing around with ANH in the meantime.

Yes. 

Sounds good. I've already added you to the end credits of my edit. Looking forward to what you can cook up!

ALLOL (well, not really, but it sounds better than just "lol")

Fantastic. My fan edits wouldn't be anything without the help of the fantastic people here at at FE.org. 

PM sent with link. I included several shots to potentially be used, whichever one seems best.

I will as soon as I get home tonight!

I follow you. I think that's a bang-up idea. And I'm thrilled about the Death Star shot. 

That looks exactly how I'd like it. Goodbye, Death Star, from the prequels. (There'll still be a very slight easter egg cameo of the Death Star as Palpatine glances at the place as Anakin comes in to report that Obi-Wan has engaged Grevious. But that sort of thing is okay.)

Great, man! Twice blessed is help unlooked for.

The last clip includes a bit of the Alderaan scene, but I only included it so as to keep the entire shot with transition from the prior scene. The Taintive IV coming in for landing on Alderaan is totally fine as is and does not need any work. It's only the first shot where it is approaching Naboo that needs to be addressed. 

For my edit, removing Naboo helps the storyline in which Padme survived giving birth on the asteroid world, the group decides what to do after leaving, and eventually drops Obi-Wan off to head to Tatooine (offscreen) and heads to Alderaan with Padme and Leia. The Naboo background was a relic from the original version where her corpse was being dropped off there. (My rationalization for its presence was that perhaps they had to stop there for gathering possessions or saying goodbye to her family. But it would be better if there was no Naboo.)

Nope, a PM send to hunsdorfex with a link to those shots. How exciting for me!

PM sent.

Hey, if we're throwing requests out, I have two. Take the scene at the end of ROTS on the Star Destroyer. I'd love an HD version with the Death Star removed, and replaced with the planet Coruscant.

Also, take the shot of the Taintive IV from ROTS immediately following the "Nooooo" scene, and remove the Naboo background so the ship appears to be streaking through an empty starfield.

Looks very interesting. I'll keep tabs on it.

That last screenshot looks great! That's what I was most hoping for: what the prequels would look like on 35mm. 

I'm still going to hang onto the project files for my prequel edits in the hopes of using this source for an updated version.

FYI, I'm making preparations to use this as my primary source for v2 of my AOTC edit. Hopefully a re-sync and "reconnect media" will suffice. 

The color palette is much more appealing. I remember AOTC being white and overcast. 

I don't plan on giving ROTS the same treatment, because it's only AOTC that felt off with the BR to me personally. And I wouldn't mind AOTC and ROTS being a little more visually distinct from each other.

All this is to say: good work, and I appreciate the resource being made available. You're name will be in the credits. 

Too bad I have to spend two weeks re-encoding AOTC, though. But it was an easy call to make once I saw the results of your project.

EDIT: I'm very sorry, but I need to rescind this proposition. My computer gave me a scare today and I'm flustered into getting this project out the door as soon as possible. I admire this project, however. Sorry for the abrupt turnabout.

Do you happen to know if these sync with the existing DVD versions? I'm downloading AOTC currently, and may be able to use it for version 2 of my Ep2 edit. I prefer the bleak, white-ish look of the DVDs to the saturated green of the BR.

Could you post comparison screencaps? How do the colors compare to the BluRay versions, particularly AOTC and ROTS?

Harmy's work popped up in this YouTube video.

Basketball is a peaceful planet.

It just might work if the film played a Han Solo death for laughs.

I don't cringe when I see the shockwaves, and wouldn't mind them at all if they were part of the film originally. They are unnecessary incursions added for the SE, which I'd prefer weren't there.

But for this project, I want to consider every detail, and have fun in the process. At the end of the day, it's not a big deal if I have to go with the shockwaves. But I'd hate to have missed out on a good source for an alternative because I didn't ask. 

After taking a look at Adywan's version again, I may elect to go with it. It appears to invoke the momentum of the jump cut of the original, though still has a shockwave. Though the scope of my project is limited to variations across the films' various official releases, this is okay by my logic that it's only a tweak on something that was changed in a way that mediates the different versions. 

Ultimately, it comes down to my own preference. But that's my reasoning.

Yeah, the original explosion has a weird jump cut that would make it seem out of place in a Special Edition. And I don't have the VFX skills to do anything with that footage, though I have seen it. I wonder why someone wrote on the film and made it unusable. Perhaps they had no time to do another explosion.