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Hal 9000

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Join date
14-Oct-2003
Last activity
2-Jul-2025
Posts
11,339

Post History

Post
#692189
Topic
Star Wars Episode I: Cloak Of Deception (Released)
Time

darklordoftech said:

Hal, why did you remove Sidious from the movie?

 I didn't. The first workprint removed Sidious, but I backtracked on that once I watched it a bit more and gave it more consideration. The main reason I backtracked was I realized it swerved from my goal of leaving these to function as prequels, rather than as what one would watch first.

Post
#691606
Topic
Star Wars: Episode VII to be directed by J.J. Abrams **NON SPOILER THREAD**
Time

I tend to appreciate it when an author (or filmmaker, or what have you) makes an effort to keep continuity with what came before. I'm the kind of nerd who loved the mini-episode of Doctor Who "Night of the Doctor" because of what I perceived as charitable acknowledgement of the audio dramas that the neglected 8th Doctor has been featured in. 

My tendency would be to look at Star Wars VII and hope that they do their best to situate the story within the established storylines that have filled in the gap for the past 20+ years. Ideally they'd not depend on details from the EU, but just establish their new films in the same continuity. 

In the end, I want them to make the best film they can, though it'll be a little uncomfortable to let go of the continuing narrative that has been contributed to for so long. I think that's because we've come to love the characters and have enjoyed watching their lives unfold. I wouldn't be angry about rebooting the EU, but maybe somewhat melancholy about the past couple of decades' worth of stories that have formed a cohesive continuity. 

I get the impression from the rumors, taken with salt, that the 'story group' likes the EU quite a bit as well and has an interest in preserving it. As a fanboy nerd anal-retentive kind of guy, I would be very appreciative of a frank, clear-cut announcement of, for example: "Everything set after Vector Prime is no longer in continuity. That is all." I'd prefer that over having to parse everything once details about the movies come to light and having to fuse them together with a wholly unrelated EU continuity. 

In the end, any upsetting of continuity is well worth getting more films. I'd throw out all the books and EU stuff if it meant getting one more movie with these characters. But surely one can understand how a fanboy would feel sad about being told, for example, "The Solo children you know never existed." 

Post
#691433
Topic
StarWarsLegacy.com - The Official Thread
Time

I'm glad he posted that. I found it very enlightening. I never really investigated the project, assuming it was DVD or BR sourced and would remain private. In that case, why bother keeping tabs on it? 
BUT, if it's a hardcore 4k remastering done by someone with the means that has a shot at pitching to Lucasfilm, well... that's a bantha of a different color. 

I am not, nor have I ever been, a hater. I've just been uninterested. So I'm glad for the clarification, and hope the project achieves its goal. 

Post
#691325
Topic
(New HD Version in the works) Sharkey's "Lord of the Rings" Purist Editions (Released)
Time

Salvalar, thanks for the interest in ROTK and compliments about the other two. 

I am seeding them right now at a certain "bay." The ROTK DVD should be just as obtainable as the rest. Currently that is the only way they can be gotten. However, once my Star Wars prequel fan edits are 100% wrapped up from every angle, I may be able to throw them onto a file locker. Let me know if the ROTK torrent continues to lay inactive for you.

Post
#689932
Topic
kk650's Star Wars Saga: Regraded and Semi-Specialized (Released)
Time

They look good to me, for what little that's worth. I think as long as you aren't trying to necessarily restore the original, there's less of an objective standard. 

Looking forward to the release. I plan to cannibalize it by making just a few changes and rendering myself a nice version of the film to use to watch when I watch all six in chronological order. 

Post
#689502
Topic
Star Wars Prequels 35mm 4K Filmized Editions by Emanswfan (a WIP)
Time

I think this is the best clip you've posted so far. I didn't notice any aberrations consciously, but it did feel like a classic film. I like the vibe I get from the window in Palpatine's office. 

The only thing I'd question in this clip was Yoda's color. He seems desaturated, though perhaps that's okay. At this point I'm still hoping I can make use of this regraded version in a v2 of my prequel edits once it's ready. I'm gonna hang onto all my project files in the hopes of it.

Post
#688718
Topic
Star Wars Episode I: Cloak Of Deception (Released)
Time

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm glad you enjoyed it. No edit is going to be perfect (for the editor, let alone for others). I'm not sure the ideas you present would be convincing given the footage we have to work with, but I'd certainly encourage you to try it out on your own. I hope better edits than mine are made in the future, and that perhaps the better ideas I put forth are picked up and ran with by others. 

That being said, it's a labor of love, and takes more time and effort than I would have guessed at the start. 

Post
#686639
Topic
Star Wars Episode I: Cloak Of Deception (Released)
Time

EyeShotFirst said:

On Attack of the Clones, will you be adding grain and adjusting the colors?

 Yes, very slightly. The grain will be about the same level as Cloak of Deception, and the color has been slightly tweaked to try to remove the green tint. It's subtle and you probably wouldn't notice it unless you do a direct comparison. 

We are used to seeing TPM with grain, from the older master with little or no DNR. However, seeing grain in AOTC and ROTS takes a little getting used to, but I think it helps it look like it was sourced from film. It's a small thing, but I like it. You can't really tell at DVD resolution, though. Personally I'd recommend watching the 720p version, as there's much more detail yet not so high res to make the deleted scenes stick out too much. 

Post
#686310
Topic
Star Wars Episode I: Cloak Of Deception (Released)
Time

Thanks, Humby, for the very fair review. You might consider leaving a formal review at FanEdit.org. 

I share your reservations about most of the things you described, but included them in the edit anyway. Other than removing the trip to Otah Gungah, I intentionally kept a little bit more of Jar Jar than most editors do. I think I was pretty merciless with things that make him out to be a slapstick clown, and kept pretty much anything else. I wanted to avoid giving the audience the impression that he is being cut down to the degree possible; he's in the film for better or worse and I want this edit to stand on its own two feet as a film. 

I really would have preferred to have had Qui-Gon say something to Obi-Wan before he dies, but unfortunately there's nothing for him to say. Anything I keep would either contradict the OT by having him request Obi-Wan train Anakin, or reference the 'chosen one' stuff. 

Other than the probe droid deleted scene, the deleted scenes I used were not necessary. I grant that. I kept the 'dawn before the race' scene for a few reasons:

  • My Episode I edit is short. It's the shortest of the three, and I wanted to minimize that aspect of it, and keeping this harmless scene served that desire. 
  • Episodes II and III will be making use of several important deleted scenes, so keeping this scene helps the audience adjust to having SD deleted scenes in these movies.
  • I eliminated most of Anakin working on the podracer, including starting it up. Keeping this scene lets us see the pod up close a little bit and gives us a sense of Anakin working tirelessly on it.

The repair droids during the podrace are only in the edit to help the music. I had edited together the podrace with the same musical arrangement back in 2006, though I did not include it in my first edit that came out later for reasons I can't remember. That musical arrangement has stuck with me for years, so I really wanted to keep it the way it was, even if it meant mixing HD and SD footage. The podrace scoring is not perfect, though I think it makes the scene more fun and now the unscored version seems boring to me. (The mkv version contains an alternate soundtrack that is identical except it does not have any added podrace music.)

Can anyone comment on the added film grain? Does it work for you or not? TPM already has a little bit of natural grain, so I don't think it stands out. I'm rendering Episode II right now, and the grain gives it a very different visual feel because AOTC has no native grain. It's not something we are used to for it, but I think it helps things look just a little bit less digital and artificial. It at least looks like it was printed on film before being shown.  

EDIT: For anyone interested, here is my original attempt at adding music to the podrace, from years ago. This is what I was trying to recreate in HD this time around, and the repair droids from the deleted scenes were necessary to do that. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sIHt9JTkJc

Post
#686108
Topic
Star Wars Episode I: Cloak Of Deception (Released)
Time

I'm gratified to see the edit received well so far.

Interesting idea about the plasma, but I prefer to keep the crawl intentionally vague. If I mention something specific, I think it falls flat to never have it referenced or mentioned again in the narrative proper. However, I admit that it's pre-existence as an EU idea makes it a little more intriguing. At the end of the day, I think the crawl works better as it is than throwing ideas into it that aren't expounded upon in the film itself. "Abundant resources" steers clearer of this than "plasma resources" would. 

Post
#685451
Topic
kk650's Star Wars Saga: Regraded and Semi-Specialized (Released)
Time

I'm looking forward to this regraded edition of your semi-specialized versions. I would love to have something that roughly is similar to Harmy's colorization of the OT in order to piece together a customized version to my own liking. 

I wouldn't release such a slightly modified version, but it'd be fun to do and have for myself.