ImperialFighter

Hal 9000 said:

ImperialFighter, your idea works very well and feels very natural. I’m cutting from Finn and Rey turning to start running from the exploding building to the dogfight in space. Cutting back from the shot of the distant oscillator explosion to Finn and Rey again works very well!
I think it’s still better to cut from the saber duel to the X-wings descending toward the trench; cutting back to them in space still talking about the oscillator doesn’t feel right to me.
Thanks for the input!

When I wrote my previous post, I meant to imply that I was INCLUDING the 2 pilot close-ups as they respond to Poe saying “Red Four, Red Six…cover us!”, as well as ALSO including Poe continuing to say “Everybody else, hit the target hard and give it everything you’ve got!” afterwards, before the X-wings then dive downwards - so in case there was any confusion for you and darthrush (or anyone else) about the way I wrote it, I’ve now amended my post.

Glad you liked the ‘distant oscillator explosion’ cut to ‘Finn & Rey’ again - even though I’m not 100% certain how good the music joins together until I try it out sometime.

In the version that you showed, there would be quite a time gap (due to the length of the initial ‘Finn vs Kylo/Rey vs Kylo’ scene which you shortened to keep your clip short) before we resume with the ‘dogfight’ footage in any way.

My reasoning for splitting the ‘dogfight’ footage at the ‘distant oscillator explosion’ shot, before eventually resuming with it again at Poe’s “Red Four, Red Six…cover us!” shot…was because I thought it might better allow for the time it takes for the initial ‘Finn vs Kylo/Rey vs Kylo’ scene to pass…as it might imply that Poe and the other X-wing pilots were STILL having to fight TIEs during that time, and didn’t get a chance to dive downwards immediately, if you see what I mean.

However, the way you’ve split the ‘dogfight’ footage has a nice bit of punch to it…and I may decide to compromise on the ‘time delay’ between your split from Poe’s orders to the X-wings diving down, and end up cutting the scene for myself exactly as you showed! I’ll choose which way I prefer when the time comes, as I’m content to use some ‘cinematic license’ with certain alterations if I think they work well enough.

I thought your clip of the ‘superweapon’ worked really well as it was, but it’s interesting to see that you think it works better without the ‘stardestroyer’ shot.

I’ll be interested to see how your final ‘Snoke’ scenes turn out eventually. Luckily for me, I don’t have to worry about any ‘on/off/on again’ issues concerning Kylo’s mask with trying to get the dialogue/and shots I like. With a little re-structuring, it’s been possible for me to keep enough of the main shots/and dialogue I wanted while keeping Kylo’s face a mystery throughout.

Hal 9000 said:

Here’s a potential bit of restructuring that can help the removal of the cutaway to the Resistance HQ feel more organic.
https://vimeo.com/170889793
After Han is killed and Hosnian Prime is destroyed, Kylo Ren starts to hobble toward Finn and Rey, who begin to run away. Cut to the areal dogfight, and a pilot notes that they now have a chance to infiltrate the oscillator. Cut back to Finn and Rey making for the Falcon and encountering Kylo Ren. After Rey and Kylo begin to fight, cut to the X-wings descending toward the trench.

This would bump the pilots noticing the damaged oscillator up to right after it happens, and cover an otherwise awkward cut.

Also, there’s a quick cutaway during the trench run to Hux being informed the base is almost ready to fire. But, that’s easily removed.

Very nice work once again Hal 9000. This is big improvement over the way 'Noodle_Finger’s edit did things, where he merely just removed the ‘cutaway’ to the brief Resistance HQ scene…leaving the join between the ‘Rey & Finn turning to leave’ shot and the ‘Rey & Finn scrambling into the forest with explosions behind them’ shot looking like too much of a rough ‘jump-ahead-in-time’ edit.

Your notion to split up the ‘X-wing dogfight’ sequence and place part of it in-between those 2 particular ‘Rey & Finn’ shots definately works well, and lets things breathe a lot better now.

I’d settled on something similar, although I have a slightly different structure in mind for myself you might be interested to hear -

It would be the same as you’ve shown in your clip, except that I’m planning cutting at the END of the shot in the ‘dogfight’ when we see the distant explosion on the planet’s surface as Poe’s voice says “Looks like our friends got in”…

…THEN I’m going to the ‘Finn & Rey scrambling into the forest with explosions behind them’ shot at this point, as we continue with Finn getting beaten by Kylo, and then cut as Kylo & Rey clash lightsabres as normal…

…and I’m intending to return to the ‘dogfight’ at this point like yourself, EXCEPT I’m starting with the close-up of Poe saying “Red Four, Red Six…cover us!” instead, as the pilots respond, and he continues saying “Everybody else, hit the target hard and give it everything you’ve got”, before they then go on to dive downwards towards the oscillator trench.

Lord Haseo said:

^ I’m not clicking on that but is there anything to these rumors? If they’re big enough I probably will read/hear about them in the next year so I want to know if there is any validity to them.

At the moment they’re just ‘rumours’. I kinda hope they stay that way and don’t become ‘facts’.

If this particular set of new rumours pan out for the next instalment…then I have a bad feeling about this… (and note: there actually IS a ‘dead’ tree pictured in one of the new sets…)

Potential BIG SPOILERS ahoy, if true…so you have been warned -

www.aintitcool.com/node/75484

and also here - www.comicbookmovie.com/scifi_movies/star_wars/rumour-new-leaked-plot-details-for-star-wars-episode-viii-a142676

Ronster said:

I can confirm that the Great British Summer is here 😃

Well yes…from a certain point of view…

Thanks for that update! - the hangar stuff sounds a nightmare.

'A trailer will be posted closer to the release date and this will reveal the actual release date of ESB:R

It won’t be long now…’

Wonderful news, and my most anticipated trailer this year for sure. 😃
(I can confirm that the U.K. weather has been pretty lousy overall lately, with only a bright day here and there. Hopefully, our summer is yet to come properly!)

Darth Lucas said:

I’ve been saying since the movie came out that it should have ended on the shot of Leia and the resistance standing together as Rey flies away to find Luke. Then her finding Luke could be the beginning of ep8. People around these parts seemed to get very up in arms about that suggestion at the time.

While that would somewhat ‘mirror’ the way both the A NEW HOPE/THE PHANTOM MENACE movies ended in a ‘group’ shot finale (before continuing with their respective ‘trilogy’ sequels), I ruled it out for myself as I’d prefer to include a bit more of the existing TFA end footage and music personally. However, if that’s what you’d choose for yourself Darth Lucas, then it’s as valid an option as any other I reckon.

But did you notice that the ‘group’ shot of everyone ‘waving’ was actually moving BACKWARDS in that clip I showed? Despite some of the people now running backwards(!) in 'Jyndir’s version, I can certainly see where he is coming from concerning the motion of that particular shot (which comes after the Falcon initially takes off) - and I kinda wish that J.J. had ‘zoomed OUT’ during it (just like 'Jyndir’s version shows), instead of having ‘zoomed IN’ during the shot. No biggie in the scheme of things however.

@ littlv87 - it seems that ‘Jyndir’ is intending to do his own fan edit of the whole movie eventually, which will include that ending of his. Perhaps he’ll end up uploading it at some point for others when he does.

@ DominicCobb - I remember that you pretty much loved the existing movie just as it was overall, as did many others of course. And that’s great - I guess it just comes down to individual tastes, as there’s no particular ‘right’ way or ‘wrong’ way for anyone to re-edit certain scenes for their own preference at the end of the day. I mentioned in my previous post that I’m not certain yet if I’m including Luke at the end of my version or not…but I don’t happen to see his exclusion as being any more of an as-yet-unanswered ‘cliffhanger’ than the existing ending gives us already, considering neither Rey or Luke said anything to each other!

Just to clarify, I’m looking on these new ‘Sequel Trilogy’ movies as if they’re the ‘second-half’ of ONE complete storyline, and the ‘conclusion’ of the overall ‘saga’ of Luke Skywalker in particular (whereas the ‘first half’ of the story was comprised of the ‘Original Trilogy’ movies) - and I don’t necessarily need to see Luke’s physical involvement in the first instalment of this ‘second-half’ of the overall story - meaning I’m equally content to have him just ‘mentioned’ in the initial scroll, and only ‘discussed’ by others in this first ‘Sequel Trilogy’ instalment…because we’ll eventually get to see his ongoing storyline played out to it’s conclusion across the next 2 instalments anyway, I presume.

And I’ve described my ideal ‘viewing order’ for how I’d eventually watch this whole storyline (while including re-edited versions of the prequels as a ‘flashback’ storyline MID-WAY through), on this page here recently - www.originaltrilogy.com/topic/What-is-your-personal-canon/id/50203/page/4

One of the noticeable things about THE FORCE AWAKENS movie is that it hasn’t got a satifyingly ‘stand-alone’ storyline for anyone that hasn’t seen the Original Trilogy first. It gives a very different kind of ‘conclusional’ finale to that seen in A NEW HOPE, for instance.

And that’s okay I guess, although the specific way this sequel was structured ended up leaving a lot of questions unanswered about Luke at the very end - especially seeing as we never got to hear him say anything whatsoever, nor even accept/ignite his lightsabre briefly. But since this first chapter of the new ‘sequel trilogy’ left us on a ‘cliffhanger’ ending anyway, there’s a part of me that kinda thinks the makers could just as well have kept the grand entrance of Luke’s appearance until the NEXT movie instead. Sure, I can understand why Mark Hamill (and his character) was included briefly at the end in this relaunch, but we’re just left with a very ‘to-be-continued’ ending either way.

Some have already said they dislike the ‘helicopter’ zoom-around shot of Luke and Rey at the very end before the credits, and I’m not too keen on it either to be honest. There’s actually a few alternative shots that I’m still contemplating about using as the finale of my own version eventually - a couple of options that involve shots of the Falcon flying, as well as a couple of options that involve different close-ups of Luke’s face, and another option that involves the close-up of Rey offering the lightsabre - although I’ll need to try them out properly before I decide, and I may even need to wait to see how the scenes involving Luke and Rey start off in the next instalment, before I can choose properly.

But if I do end up using any of the footage where Rey finds Luke and then offers him the lightsabre, then I reckon I’d ideally keep the score throughout the existing scene as it is…except I’d MOVE the ‘helicopter’ shot of Luke and Rey to just BEFORE I end things with the close-up shot of Luke (or Rey) before the credits instead.

However, I thought some of you may like this short clip which I came across over at Fanedit(.)org the other day, done by a guy called ‘Jyndir’. It uses the awesome ‘trailer’ music that Williams came up with, and shows just how differently the movie could have ended on an alternative ‘cliff-hanger’ to the one we got. I reckon I would have been just as satisfied to lose the reveal of Luke in this particular chapter, if it meant hearing the movie end on these notes before the credits appeared instead! - https://vimeo.com/168168098

Kexikus said:

Yeah, that’s pretty much what I tried earlier (expect for the cut shots in the end) and I think it works way better this way compared to R2s random awakening in the original cut.

While I’m quite content with all the re-structuring I described in my previous post, the one aspect I’m not 100% decided on yet happens to be those final shots of the 2nd scene - because as well as the way I originally outlined how I’d do shots 11, 12, and 13, there’s ALSO a couple of alternative ways that I could use to finish off the very end of the 2nd scene instead.

It’s one of these instances where I’ll decide once I’ve had a chance to edit each of them for comparison, but I’ll describe them for completion’s sake for anyone interested -

1st ALTERNATIVE ending of 2nd scene:

11. …wide shot of C3PO/R2D2/and BB-8 as C3PO says “Come R2…we must go and tell the others at once”…

12. …Leia is mournful with her head bowed in front of a screen, and then turns as C3PO says “General…excuse me, general” (except I’d instead cut the shot HERE once she’s turned, BEFORE we pan across to see R2D2 ‘beeping’ beside C3PO)

(at this point, I’d still TOTALLY DISCARD the shots of C3PO saying “R2D2 may contain some much needed good news”, as Leia then says “Tell me”, and could go directly to the next shot below instead)

13. …wide shot of R2D2 beginning to show his ‘holographic’ map section to everyone, as BB-8 rolls towards it, before getting his ‘chip’ off Poe and then slotting his ‘holographic’ map section into R2D2’s map…

OR…2nd ALTERNATIVE ending of 2nd scene:

11. …wide shot of C3PO/R2D2/and BB-8 as C3PO says “Come R2…we must go and tell the others at once”…

(at this point I’d TOTALLY DISCARD all the shots of Leia with her head bowed as R2D2 & C3PO appear, and C3PO then says “General…excuse me, general…R2D2 may contain some much needed good news”, as Leia then says “Tell me”, and could go directly to the next shot below instead)

12. …wide shot of R2D2 beginning to show his ‘holographic’ map section to everyone, as BB-8 rolls towards it, before getting his ‘chip’ off Poe and then slotting his ‘holographic’ map section into BB-8’s map…

(however, if I don’t end up preferring ANY of these variations once I see them in motion, then I’ll just keep the existing final shots/dialogue of Leia and C3PO as they are - but I reckon I’ll prefer to alter things in one of the 3 ways I’ve described)

Here’s how I’ve decided to tweak both R2D2 scenes for myself now -

1st R2D2 SCENE RE-ARRANGED LIKE THIS:

1. …Han follows Leia saying “I’m only trying to be helpful”, as Leia replies “When did that ever help?..and don’t mention the Death Star!”, as Han sighs…

2. …BB-8 rolls forwards and pulls a ‘tarp’ cover off to reveal an inanimate R2D2… (however, I’m not particularly keen on the fact that he was just covered with an ‘old sheet’ in the first place…and am torn between showing the full shot OR just starting it at the point where BB-8 rolls forwards again AFTER he’s thrown the ‘tarp’ away)

(at this point I’m REMOVING the initial shot of BB-8 ‘beeping’ up at R2D2, as well as the shots of him ‘knocking’ R2D2 twice…as I’m MOVING them elsewhere)

3. …BB-8 ‘beeps’ up at R2D2 and then turns as C3PO appears saying “BB-8…you’re wasting your time”, as BB-8 quizically ‘beeps’ up at him…

(at this point I’m TOTALLY DISCARDING the shots of C3PO saying “It is very doubtful that R2 would have the rest of the map in his backup data”, as BB-8 ‘beeps’ at him, and C3PO replies “I am afraid not…”, and am going directly to the next words below instead)

4. …C3PO says “…R2D2 has been in low power mode ever since Master Luke went away”, as BB-8 turns to look at R2D2, and C3PO continues “Sadly, he may never be his old self again”, as BB-8 drops his head mournfully…

5. …Han says “Listen to me will ya” to Leia…

2nd R2D2 SCENE RE-ARRANGED LIKE THIS:

1. …wide shot of Leia and Rey hugging beside Falcon at base…

2. …Chewie is mournful with head bowed…

(at this point, I’m TOTALLY DISCARDING the shot of R2D2 ‘wakening up’ as BB-8 then rolls towards him ‘beeping’ quizically, and am instead replacing it with the shots below that were REMOVED from the 1st scene)

3. …BB-8 silently looks up at R2D2… (this is a ‘rear-view’ shot of BB-8)

4. …BB-8 briefly silently looks up at R2D2 (this is initially a ‘front-view’ shot of BB-8), as he then ‘knocks’ him twice and rolls back slightly to look up at him…

5. …BB-8 looks up at R2D2 and ‘beeps’ a squeal… (this is now back to a ‘front-view’ shot of BB-8)

6. …BB-8 quizzically ‘beeps’ as R2D2 begins to shake and ‘beep’…

7. …BB-8 ‘beeps’ excitedly up at R2D2, and then turns as C3PO appears saying “R2D2…you’ve come back!”, as R2D2 ‘beeps’ excitedly as he turns towards him…

8. …C3PO says “You’ve found what?”…

(at this point I’m TOTALLY DISCARDING the shots of R2D2 ‘beeping’ sharply at C3PO, as C3PO then says “How dare you call me that!” and lightly slaps R2D2’s head as BB-8 looks round, and am going directly to the next shot below instead)

9. …R2D2 ‘beeps’ excitedly to C3PO…

10. …R2D2 continues ‘beeping’, as C3PO says “Find Master Luke, how?”…

11. …wide shot of C3PO/R2D2/and BB-8 as C3PO says “Come R2…we must go and tell the others at once”…

12. …Leia is mournful with her head bowed in front of a screen, and then turns as C3PO says “General…excuse me, general”, and we pan along to see R2D2 ‘beeping’ beside C3PO…

(at this point, I’m TOTALLY DISCARDING the shots of C3PO saying “R2D2 may contain some much needed good news”, as Leia then says “Tell me”, and am going directly to the next shot below instead)

13. …wide shot of R2D2 beginning to show his ‘holographic’ map section to everyone, as BB-8 rolls towards it, before getting his ‘chip’ off Poe and then slotting his ‘holographic’ map section into R2D2’s map…

(and for anyone that hasn’t read the official reasoning behind R2D2’s current onscreen awakening, here it is - http://www.slashfilm.com/j-j-abrams-explains-role-of-r2-d2-in-the-force-awakens/ - I was never keen on just showing R2D2 randomly ‘awaken’ personally, and while this re-structure is not a whole lot better at explaining his ‘powering up’ at this point, I’d rather see him kinda ‘knocked’ awake by BB-8 instead)

I always find it fascinating to see what others consider to be their own ‘personal canon’ when it comes to certain movie franchises they like.

So just to join in the fun, here’s what my own specific Star Wars ‘canon’ is, as well as the particular ‘viewing order’ I’d go with if I was ever to do a movie ‘marathon’ of it -

1. STAR WARS REVISITED (as someone who was lucky enough to be around for the whole initial ‘STAR WARS’ experience in '77, my ideal ‘viewing order’ will always involve kicking off the saga with the ‘Blockade Runner/Stardestroyer’ opening…but NOT by watching the existing ‘special edition’ of ‘A New Hope’! The eventual HD version by adywan will include a few more tweaks that I like, so it will eventually be my default version. Alternatively, I might watch Harmy’s ‘Despecialized’ version on any days I’m feeling especially nostalgic)

2. EMPIRE STRIKES BACK REVISITED (when it comes out, with Harmy’s ‘Despecialized’ version as a nostalgic alternative)

3. RETURN OF THE JEDI REVISITED (when it comes out, with Harmy’s ‘Despecialized’ version as a nostalgic alternative)

4. My own heavily restructured THE PHANTOM MENACE edit (now that the new ‘sequel trilogy’ ensures that I can eventually resume with the ‘saga’ of Luke Skywalker once again, I’m content to include re-edited versions of the prequels as a ‘middle trilogy’ showing ‘past events’ at this point - however, I’m intending to begin TPM with a short introductory ‘prologue’ using a certain STAR WARS REVISITED scene first…as a way to introduce this next 3-movie ‘flashback to past events’ with some additional gravitas - therefore, I would rightly be REQUIRED to watch the events of STAR WARS REVISITED beforehand to make this ‘viewing order’ work effectively!)

5. My own heavily restructured ATTACK OF THE CLONES edit

6. My own heavily restructured REVENGE OF THE SITH edit

7. My own heavily restructured THE FORCE AWAKENS edit (it’s nice to know that I can eventually catch up with some of the original cast again after getting through the prequels! The new ‘SEQUEL trilogy’ means that it’s now possible for me to incorporate the ‘PREQUEL trilogy’ as a re-edited ‘flashback’ MID-WAY through my overall ‘viewing order’…so that the prequels don’t spoil all the reveals of the Original Trilogy, yet allows for me to CONTINUE with the story of Luke Skywalker as a final conclusion to the overall ‘saga’) - Note: for me, placing the prequel trilogy chapters IN-BETWEEN the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy will also greatly help with the ‘passage of time’ by the time I return to watching the much older characters seen in THE FORCE AWAKENS continuation.

8. The next ‘sequel’ chapter (my own heavily restructured edit, no doubt)

9. The concluding ‘sequel’ chapter (again, my own heavily restructured edit, no doubt)

I’ve sent you that PM now Tomo.

Gah, I’ve now realised there’s a THIRD possible variation which I might have to consider for myself! -

I’m kinda torn between TWO versions at the moment - one that keeps the FULL, existing ‘Hux’s speech/Starkiller weapon firing’ sequence (which ends with Finn saying “Where’s Rey?” to Han) as it is, where it appears approx. half-way through the movie…OR one that moves the ‘Starkiller weapon firing’ scene to immediately AFTER Han’s death (which means losing certain neat ‘Hux’ speech/Stormtroopers/Kylo on bridge’ shots).

However, I now see that I could ALSO keep ALL of the various ‘Hux’ speech/Starkiller firing’ shots that I like where they currently are, after all (while getting rid of the stylised ‘fireworks in sky’ shots)…but STILL retain the ‘Finn boarding the yellow ‘pirate’ ship’ shot I like too.

It would go like this -

1. Rey runs from Maz’s palace into woods…

2. …we then go to the FULL 'Hux’s speech/Stormtroopers sequence as normal, as we continue onwards with the weapon firing right up until we see Kylo on the stardestroyer bridge, then cut after the pan across his mask in close-up (as he watches the laser pass by his Stardestroyer)…

3. …(omitting the shots of ‘Finn starting to look up from the ‘pirate’ ship’ & ‘Finn staring at the sky fireworks’)…we then go directly to the laser beginning to split into 4 beams and starting to hit the ‘Hosnian’ system planets, and continue onwards with it’s panicking people, then cut after the 4 laserbeams hit the planets simultaneously as they blow up in close-up…

4. …(omitting the shots of ‘Han, Chewie, and Maz’s denizens looking upwards’ & ‘laserbeam fireworks in sky’ & 'Finn running towards Han, and eventually asking "Where’s Rey?)…we then go directly to Rey still running through the woods, before coming to rest, and continue onwards with her speaking to BB-8 who’s followed her, as she then sees the ships flying overhead, and she begins to run back…

5. …AT THIS POINT, we then go directly to the particular variation I suggested at the bottom of my 2nd post above, where 'Finn boards the yellow ‘pirate’ ship and turns to look upwards (with ‘shrieking’ in the background)…and we then go directly to the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIEs against the sun…and we then ‘jump-ahead-in-time’ a little, and go directly to the ‘Maz leading Han, Finn, and Chewie to the lightsabre’ scene (ending after Maz’s close-up only says "Those beasts!)…and then go directly to Rey & BB-8 as they finish off running back towards the ‘palace’ to see it’s ongoing destruction…

(this way, I can still have the FULL ‘Hux’/Stormtroopers/Kylo on his Stardestroyer bridge’ sequence in it’s usual place in the movie, WITHOUT the implausable ‘sky fireworks’ shots altogether…whereas I’d have to chop some of that sequence out altogether if I opt for a ‘Starkiller weapon firing AFTER Han’s death’-type edit)

Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

I’ve not had a chance to scrutinise all the ways I want to tweak the FIRST half of the movie yet, but I reckon I’ve settled on the way I want to show ‘R2’s awakening’ during the second half - I’m still going to keep his initial appearances with BB-8 & C3PO over TWO seperate scenes for myself I’ve decided, and will go into how I’m doing it over the next few days.

Tomo said:

ImperialFighter said:
Tomo, after we see and hear the ships overhead, I guess you’re just cutting from Rey turning and starting to run back through the woods with BB-8, directly to the shot of Maz leading Han, Finn, & Chewie to the lightsabre, and then directly to Rey & BB-8 finishing off running through the woods towards the ‘palace’ then?

Yeah that’s how I felt it worked best, given that you already see that the TIEs are advancing when Rey watches them overhead, I didn’t think the shot showed you anything you didn’t already know.

Thanks for the responses.

Just to recap - one of the reasons I’m wanting to include the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot immediately before the ‘Finn, Han, Chewie & Maz in corridor’ scene, is because I’m planning to JOIN TOGETHER the ‘Kylo talking to Vader’s mask’ scene directly in front of the WHOLE ‘Hux’s speech/Starkiller firing on planets/Han, Finn & others looking upwards’ sequence, beforehand.

And so I reckon that after Rey initially sees the ships overhead and begins to run back, that there’s even more time to get away with showing the brief ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIEs still flying, before we then see the ‘Maz/lightsabre’ scene, and then see Rey finish off running back towards the 'palace.

In other words, the extended ‘cut-away’ sequence of ‘Kylo/Vader’s mask’ and the FULL ‘Hux’s speech etc.’ (which ends with Finn asking “Where’s Rey?”) joined together will make it seem as if Rey had a slightly longer time to run through the woods (approx. an additional minute due to the ‘Kylo/Vaders mask’ scene being added) before we cut back to her stopping to rest/talking to BB-8/then seeing the ships overhead, and turning back…and therefore, the ships will seem to have a slightly longer way to travel before they reach the ‘palace’ too! But I won’t know how successful this will look until I eventually cut things together for myself.

And for an alternative version where the ‘Starkiller weapon’ fires AFTER Han’s death, I’m going to try the shortened, ‘stylised’ version I described previously where we’d see Rey turning, and beginning to run back…followed by the ‘Finn looking around as he boards the yellow pirate ship’ shot…followed by the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot, before we then go on to seeing the ‘Maz/lightsabre’ scene - as in this version I will have a different extended 'cut-away sequence before Rey turns back…which will be the ‘Kylo talking to Vader’s mask’ scene JOINED TOGETHER in front of the ‘Hux speech’ section only (ending where all the troopers raise their arms), before cutting to the shots of people at their consoles as we then see the first ‘sun-sucking’ shots.

(By the way, I can PM you a link to 'Noodle_Finger’s TFA edit at some point tomorrow (which is hopefully still avail.), as I’m pushed for time right now)

Tomo said:

Concerning your issue with the jarring nature of the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot, I had similar feelings and tried removing it from that sequence and replacing it in Jakku after the Stormtroopers call in an air strike on Finn and Rey. I was unwilling to lose the shot entirely but didn’t like it’s usage in the original edit, and so I felt both sequences benefited from the change.

Tomo, after we see and hear the ships overhead, I guess you’re just cutting from Rey turning and starting to run back through the woods with BB-8, directly to the shot of Maz leading Han, Finn, & Chewie to the lightsabre, and then directly to Rey & BB-8 finishing off running through the woods towards the ‘palace’ then? - so although you would miss hearing the sound of the approaching TIEs due to losing the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot at the point it currently is, you’d hear them soon enough anyway near the end of the ‘Maz/lightsabre’ scene, before returning to Rey arriving back at the ‘palace’.

That could work fine for anyone that finds the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIEs against the sun TOO jarring, I guess. Although it kinda looks as if it’s more suited to the sun-drenched Jakku setting, the shot shows about 5 TIEs approaching, whereas only 2 TIEs arrive for the ‘air strike’ during that sequence. But if that’s a particular inconsistent ‘compromise’ that you’re happy to ignore, then it sounds fair enough as an idea.

I’m curious to know where you’ve decided to place it though, as the dialogue of the trooper calling in the ‘air strike’ unfortunately overlaps slightly into the current next close-up shot of Rey & Finn continuing to run, so doesn’t seem to fit there without some ‘audio manipulation/tweaking’ to work perfectly. Another place I looked at putting it, was at the point a little after that, where Rey & Finn are inside a tent, and begin to hear the TIEs for the first time. Perhaps you slotted it in just after the point they are listening in close-up…and then after the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot, you then continued as Finn grabs her hand and she tells him to let go of her? Either way, I’m interested to know.

However, I’ve decided I’m going to keep the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot at some point during the my re-edited lead-up to the attack on Maz’s ‘palace’, no matter what. Where exactly will depend on whether I keep the existing ‘Starkiller firing’ scene half-way through the movie as normal, or whether I end up showing it firing AFTER Han’s death scene. I know this ‘stylised’/somewhat jarring shot doesn’t entirely reflect the number and kind of ships that are seen earlier overhead Rey either…but it’s something I’m willing to ‘compromise’ on and accept for my own ideal version.

@ Hal 9000 - over on the ‘THE FORCE AWAKENS FAN EDIT IDEAS’ thead, I’ve now added a slight variation to the idea I described in my 2nd post on page 26 there, which I quite like. 😃

See ‘ADDITIONAL EDIT’ at end of my 2nd post here - originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Force-Awakens-Fan-Edit-Ideas-SPOILERS/id/46843/page/26

Hal 9000 said:

Very good ideas in there. I’ll have to play around and see how it strikes me in finished form.

I don’t currently have the time to edit and upload a clip of the version without the ‘sky fireworks’ shots I described previously. Perhaps you (or someone) may be able to give it a go instead, if you have some time.

However, I forgot to mention in my previous post that the reason I suggested putting the ‘Han & Maz’s denizens looking upwards’ shot BEFORE the ‘Finn looking upwards’ shot (rather than the OTHER way round as they appear in the movie)…is because I reckon the louder background ‘shrieking’ during the ‘Finn’ reaction shot kinda gives the impression that we’re hearing the ‘increasing shrieking’ of some of Maz’s denizens that initially started to look up in the ‘Han & Maz’s denizens’ reaction shot, if they’re placed this way round…and then that ‘shrieking’ background audio is then superceded by the sound of the TIEs when we cut directly to the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot - this is still a very ‘stylised’ way to include these particular shots inbetween Rey starting to run back, and then finishing off running back towards the ‘palace’…and it still involves a ‘jump-ahead-in-time’ to Maz, Han, Finn, and Chewie having regrouped in the lower level of the ‘palace’ of course, but I’m hoping it may work well enough for me.

(by the way, I’m sure it’s possible to actually REMOVE the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the ‘TIEs approaching against the sunset’ if anyone wishes, considering it seems a jarringly ‘stylised’ shot compared to the way the rest of the ‘daylight’ shots look during that whole sequence… But personally, I love it, whether it seems jarring or not, and think the brief ‘cutaway’ to it is ENOUGH to allow for the feeling of a ‘jump-ahead-in-time’ to where Maz, Han, Finn, and Chewie have regrouped)

To be honest, I had high hopes for that short ‘Apocalypse Now’ scene when I saw an early preview of it before the movie…and am still miffed that it only lasted a couple of seconds. I’d originally hoped to see a LOT more footage of the TIEs set against the distant sun like that!

ADDITIONAL EDIT: I’ve had another look at this since I posted the above yesterday, and have now thought of another possibility which involves REMOVING one of the shots I was going to use altogether -

Without actually getting the chance to cut this myself at the moment to see how it looks and sounds, I’m not 100% certain yet if it would work better to have the ‘Han, Chewie, & Maz’s denizens looking upwards’ shot immediately before the ‘Finn looking upwards’ shot (as I suggested in my previous post)…OR the other way round after all…before then seeing the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIEs against the sun, as Maz then leads Han, Finn, & Chewie towards the lightsabre (and ends with her saying “Those beasts!”), before seeing Rey & BB-8 finish off running back through the woods to see the TIEs attacking the ‘palace’.

Because, as it’s mainly the reaction shot of ‘Finn looking upwards from the ‘pirate’ ship’ (not including the ‘sky fireworks’ shot, of course) that I’m keen to include, I’m thinking I might not need to include the ‘Han, Chewie, & Maz’s denizens looking upwards’ shot in this scenario at all. I’m not sure yet as I say, but the whole sequence might end up flowing quite effectively overall if I EXCLUDE that particular shot altogether, so that it now looks like this -

1. …we see Rey begin to stop running through the woods as she turns to see BB-8 has followed her, and she then notices the ships flying overhead, before she starts to run back through the woods again as normal…

2. …we then see Finn starting to board the dirty, yellow ‘pirate’ ship, as he turns to look upwards (and we hear some ‘shrieking’ - which can be imagined to be some denizens from Maz’s ‘palace’ on seeing the ships arrive too)…

3. …we then see the stylised ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIEs against the distant sun…

4. …we then ‘jump-ahead-in’ time a bit to see Maz now leading Han, Finn, & Chewie towards the lightsaber (as the shot ends on Maz only saying “Those beasts!”)…

5. …we then see Rey & BB-8 finish off running back through the woods to witness the ‘palace’ being destroyed by TIEs…

In this version we’re still seeing a ‘jump-ahead-in-time’ to a point where Finn immediately rejoined them inside the ‘palace’, but I kinda like this new juxtaposition of first seeing Rey run back set against the shot of Finn turning and looking upwards, when it’s done like this…as I’m not particular bothered about including that ‘Han & Denizens’ shot to begin with.

Just a thought.

Hal 9000 said:

Absolutely, the TIEs need to be very distant to explain people gawking, as well as giving Han and Finn time to get to the basement before Maz exclaims, “They’re here!”

I described at length some of the changes I’m planning for myself in a couple of posts on page 24 recently - but as it looks like I may also end up doing a 2nd version where the Starkiller planet fires AFTER Han’s death to see if I prefer it, I thought I’d go into how I’d re-structure the various ‘Finn/Han & Chewie looking upwards at the sky fireworks’ shots for myself.

The only TFA fan edit that I’ve watched so far is the early one by ‘Noodle_Finger’ which shows the Starkiller planet firing AFTER Han’s death - but the way he handled things looked like this - we saw Finn leave and exit out Maz’s ‘palace’ doorway with the 2 ‘space pirates’, as Rey then had her ‘bad visions’ in the lower levels, and then ran away from the ‘palace’ into the woods as normal…but the ‘Hux’s speech’ scene was moved to a point LATER ON in his edit (where the initial ‘sun-sucking’ shots were then added directly onto it AFTER the stormtroopers raised their arms), and instead, the scenes of ‘Rey running through the woods’ were JOINED TOGETHER at this point, where she was followed by BB-8, before eventually looking up at the ships overhead, and then began to run back…at which point ‘Noodle_Finger’ then cut back to the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIES approaching in close-up against the sun, before continuing with Maz being followed by Finn, Han, and Chewie in the lower level of her ‘palace’…

While this worked well enough, we just had to ‘assume’ that Finn had not left yet after all when we last saw him exiting the ‘palace’, and things had just ‘jumped-ahead-in-time’ to a point where he had regrouped with Maz, Han, and Chewie as the ships got nearer to them.

However, I have a slightly different re-arrangement of this scene for myself -

It’s been neat to see the recent test shots of Finn and Han looking up at additional FX of ships in the distance, but I’ve always tried to re-edit/re-arrange scenes and shots for myself using only existing, unaltered shots and audio. COMPROMISE is something I’ve had to accept quite a few times when working out certain alterations in this way - for instance, it’s annoying to find that the background score of a certain shot is too jarring when matched to another shot I wanted to join it directly onto…OR for another example, finding that a character’s spoken dialogue annoyingly overlaps briefly onto another shot, again rendering that option of a direct join onto another shot useless to me (J.J. did a LOT of ‘dialogue overlapping’ shots in TFA, by the way), and so there’s been a few times I’ve had to come up with an alternative edit along the way instead due to this.

In this case, I really happen to like the reaction shot of ‘Finn looking around as he’s about to board the ship at Maz’s palace’ (which Noodle_Finger didn’t include), especially as it helps to explain why he didn’t end up leaving after all - so here’s the way I’m planning to include it in the hope that it make’s the shot’s accompanying music blend in okay overall -

We see Rey eventually looking up at the ships overhead, as she then begins to run back as normal…and then cut to Han and Maz’s denizen’s starting to look upwards (missing out the ‘sky fireworks’ shot afterwards)…and then cut directly to the slightly earlier reaction shot of Finn turning around as he loads the ‘pirate’ ship (again, missing out the ‘sky fireworks’ shot afterwards)…and then cut to the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIEs approaching in close-up against the sun, as we then see Maz followed by Finn, Han, and Chewie in the lower level of her ‘palace’…EXCEPT after they feel the explosions she will not say the whole sentance “Those beasts!..they’re here!” at the end of the shot…but instead, the shot will end on her only saying the words “Those beasts!”…and then we continue with Rey finishing off running back through the woods to witness the TIEs attacking it.

In this new sequence, there’s no need for Maz to say the words “…they’re here!” whatsoever, as everyone already knew about the ships arriving due to their ‘looking upwards’ reaction shots beforehand. And while the ‘Apocalypse Now’ shot of the TIEs is very ‘stylized’ compared to the lighting in the shots before and after it, I’m willing to ‘compromise’ on that fact to keep it in…especially as it serves to indicate the ‘jump-ahead-in-time’ between the shots of Finn looking upwards, and the shot of him having rejoined the others.

So for anyone else wishing to edit the Starkiller planet firing AFTER Han’s death, this is a straightforward way to replace the existing ‘fireworks in the sky’ sequence which Finn, Han, Chewie, and the rest are implausibly looking up at…WITHOUT the need for additional SFX of any sort.

shanep2 said:

So where can we follow ady’s revisited work now?

Click on the ‘Wordpress’ and ‘Facebook’ links at the bottom of doubleofive’s post.

You forgot about all the “When will the ROTJ:Revisited edit be finished?” demands that will follow too… 😉

Ive finished off the post above which I started yesterday, but I thought I’d also go into one of the other alterations I’m planning for myself, while I’m here.

As I was working out the scenes mentioned previously, I remembered how the 'supertrooper’s battle with Finn at Maz’s palace bothered me. It’s not something I’ve seen anyone else mention, but I’m not keen on this scene at all - mainly because I really dislike the fact that the trooper’s ‘electro-baton’ seems to be so completely impervious to Finn’s various lightsabre strikes against it!

I had another look at the ‘electro-staffs’ that General Grevious’s mechanical guards use against Obi-wan and Anakin in ROTS, and the lightsabres are not as blatantly useless against them in that movie. At least we get to see the guards satisfyingly despatched by the lightsabres eventually. In this scene with Finn however, he’d have been toast if it wasn’t for Han shooting the ‘supertrooper’, as the lightsabre came across as being so ineffective.

I’m sure there are plenty who love this scene with the lone ‘supertrooper’ and all his moves…but I’ve decided to ditch this particular fight in it’s current form, by rearranging certain shots. There’s 3 ways for me to choose from - I can either shorten the fight by removing certain shots of the lightsabre striking the ‘electro-baton’ overall…or I can just have the final section play out (where the trooper gets shot by Han as he goes to strike Finn on the ground)…or I can totally remove the fight altogether. I’m leaning towards either of the latter 2 options, at the moment.

Thing is, I would have liked to have seen a small team of this ‘riot-trooper’ design sticking it to some of Maz’s denizens with their ‘riot control batons’ and ‘riot shields’…but I think just showing us a SINGLE one was a missed opportunity sadly, making it seem like this random ‘supertrooper’ was overcoming Finn’s lightsabre far too easily. Hell, the Sith could just as easily carry one of these ‘electro-batons’ around with them against the Jedi, judging by this scene!

So I’ll likely just be sticking with Finn impaling the ‘standard’ trooper in a satisfying way, and won’t show him using the lightsabre again until he gets a chance against Kylo.

(by the way, I was very excited by an early preview of the ‘flamethrower-trooper’ design initially, but ended up disappointed by the little screentime J.J. gave us of that particular variation eventually)

ImperialFighter said:

DominicCobb said:

I really have very small interest in TFA fan edits because I know they’ll mostly just cut out stuff I love, but there are some small quibblies that I’ll probably have to sort out for myself at some point.

For instance, and it’s strange no one’s mentioned this, but the Kylo speaks to Vader scene doesn’t really work. I mean, as a scene, by itself, it totally works. But it’s placement within the film just seems… random? It’s right in the middle of the sequence of the heroes at Maz’s castle, but it’s only about a minute long and doesn’t really have anything to do with that. So just a very short and unrelated detour, which sort of ruins the power of the scene a bit.

So I see two options to fix.
A) Make the scene more relevant to Kylo’s storyline. Solution: move the scene right after Snoke’s “We shall see.”
or B) Make the scene more relevant to the heroes storyline. Solution: move the scene right after Han and Leia talk about Kylo.

This sounds like a very good point indeed, considering that I found that substantially re-arranging the position of certain scenes in the prequels for my own cut-lists made them much more impactful for me. I’m definately gonna have a look at this suggestion of yours when I get around to pinning down my own TFA alterations. It’s a great scene, but I agree it’s placement might be more effective if used elsewhere.

I’ve spent a bit more time working out my own ideal version of TFA recently, and thought that some of you might be interested in my conclusion to do with DC’s suggestion above - while I reckon the ‘Stardestroyer/Kylo talking to Vader’s mask’ scene works well enough as a ‘cutaway-setting’ during the initial ‘Maz’s palace’ sequence at that point, I’ve decided I’d prefer to SHIFT it for my own version after all - although to a different spot to either of DC’s suggestions. And I’ve also decided I’d like to move the position of a couple of other major scenes too.

However, I’m currently very torn between whether I’d prefer to keep the FULL ‘Hux speech/Starkiller weapon firing/Finn & Han looking upwards as the Hosnian Republic planets are destroyed’ sequence as it currently stands (due to loving the score heard throughout it, and some of the shots included)…OR whether I’d prefer to CHOP IT UP and show the Starkiller weapon firing and destroying the planets after Han’s death instead (in a somewhat similar manner as the way shown in some edits/clips already - which unfortunately means losing a few ‘Kylo/Hux/First Order troops’ shots I really like, as well as the full melancholy score at this point). At the moment, I’m slightly leaning towards KEEPING the current overall structure just as it is, while changing other things in the movie…but I may end up doing BOTH versions eventually to see which flows best for me overall.

In the meantime, here are some scene rearrangements I’m planning for my version where the FULL existing ‘Hux speech/Starkiller weapon firing/Finn & Han looking upwards as the Hosnian Republic planets are destroyed’ sequence is KEPT just as it is -

To recap, the CURRENT sequence of scenes are arranged like this -

…once the Falcon blasts off at the end of the ‘rathtars’ sequence, we see the 'pirate informer’s close-up as he notifies the First Order that BB-8 is with Han in the Falcon…and then go to seeing 2 TIEs fly towards the Starkiller base as we see the 1st ‘Snoke/Hux/Kylo’ scene (which ends with Snoke saying “We shall see…we shall see”)…and then go to the Falcon in hyperspace/Han and Rey struggling for control/Finn bandaging Chewie/BB-8 showing Han his ‘piece of the map’/Han telling them “this is our stop”…and then go to the Falcon in hyperspace, as it approaches Maz’s planet/our heroes land on Maz’s planet, and enter Maz’s premises/where a droid informs the ‘resistance’ of their whereabouts, followed by a female informing the ‘First Order’ too…and then go to the Stardestroyer where Kylo speaks to Vader’s mask/and continue with Maz discussing things with Han, Rey, and Finn/as Finn tells Rey he’s leaving, and Rey ends up being drawn to Luke’s saber and has bad visions/before she tells Maz she wants nothing to do with it, and runs away into the woods…and then go to the ‘Starkiller planet/Hux’s speech/weapon firing/Kylo watching from stardestroyer bridge/Finn and Han’s reactions/Hosnian people and planets blowing up’ sequence…before eventually returning to Rey running through the woods, who has been followed by BB-8, as she then sees the approaching TIE ships flying overhead, and is eventually captured by Kylo soon after…

However, my own re-arrangement of the above scenes will look like this INSTEAD (with the shifted scenes in CAPITALS) -

…once the Falcon blasts off at the end of the ‘rathtars’ sequence, we see the 'pirate informer’s close-up as he notifies the First Order that BB-8 is with Han in the Falcon…AND THEN GO TO THE FALCON IN HYPERSPACE/HAN AND REY STRUGGLING FOR CONTROL/FINN BANDAGING CHEWIE/BB-8 SHOWING HAN HIS ‘PIECE OF THE MAP’/HAN TELLING THEM “THIS IS OUR STOP”…and then go to seeing 2 TIEs fly towards the starkiller base as we see the 1st ‘Snoke/Hux/Kylo’ scene (which ends with Snoke saying “We shall see…we shall see”)…AND THEN GO TO THE FALCON IN HYPERSPACE AGAIN AT THIS POINT, AS IT APPROACHES MAZ’S PLANET/our heroes land on Maz’s planet, and enter Maz’s premises/where a droid informs the ‘resistance’ of their whereabouts, followed by a female informing the ‘First Order’ too…AND CONTINUE WITH MAZ DISCUSSING THINGS WITH HAN, REY, AND FINN AT THIS POINT/as Finn tells Rey he’s leaving, and Rey ends up being drawn to Luke’s sabre and has bad visions/before she tells Maz she wants nothing to do with it, and runs away into the woods…AND THEN GO TO THE ‘STARDESTROYER WHERE KYLO SPEAKS TO VADER’S MASK’ SCENE…and then go to the FULL ‘Starkiller planet/Hux’s speech/weapon firing/Kylo watching from stardestroyer bridge/Finn and Han’s reactions/Hosnian people and planets blowing’ sequence as it currently stands in the movie…before eventually returning to Rey running through the woods, who had been followed by BB-8, as she then sees the approaching TIE ships flying overhead, and is eventually captured by Kylo soon after…

(Note: I reckon the current placement of the 1st ‘Snoke/Hux/Kylo’ scene certainly works just fine as it is after the ‘rathtar’ sequence ‘pirate informer’ notifies the First Order of BB-8’s whereabouts…and the only reason I’m moving it at all, is that I want to continue on with the Falcon’s interior scenes after it blasts off, and also like the notion of then SPLITTING the Falcon’s journey to Maz’s planet with the ‘Snoke cutaway-setting’ at that point instead…and while DC’s idea to stick the ‘Kylo/Vader’s Mask’ scene to immediately after the 1st ‘Snoke/Hux/Kylo’ scene can work quite effectively as a way to stay with a ‘Kylo cutaway setting’ a little longer, I just slightly prefer staying a little longer with him using a direct join with the ‘Hux speech/weapon firing’ scene instead…ESPECIALLY as the stardestroyer shots tie-in very nicely nearer together)

…and then jumping forward in the movie a little, I’ve also decided to shift the 2nd ‘Snoke/Hux/Kylo’ scene also - however, I’ve decided on a certain change for myself that I know some others aren’t keen on - totally removing the ‘Kylo unmasking/Rey interrogation’ scene, so that I can keep Kylo’s ‘face reveal’ until Han tells him to take his helmet off on the gantry. Thing is, due to the fact that the movie ends up revealing that Kylo is Han’s son early on in the proceedings…along with having the big set-piece of the Starkiller weapon destroying the planets early on too (about half-way through)…then I feel that I’d like to at least keep the ‘reveal/mystery’ of what ‘Ben’ actually looks like, to much later in the movie.

I wasn’t sure if it was possible to do this adequately for myself initially. But on balance I think so, as I can see a way where I can rearrange the footage/dialogue from BOTH of the ‘Snoke/Hux/Kylo’ scenes to still make 2 scenes that are satisfying enough for me…where Kylo keeps his helmet on throughout. And while I like the dialogue between Kylo and Rey in the interrogation scene, I reckon I can live without it for the ‘effect’ of Kylo’s reveal at the point Han catches up with him.

So here’s how I’d now insert the 2nd ‘Snoke/Hux/Kylo’ scene instead -

To recap, the CURRENT sequence of scenes are arranged like this -

…the movie has progressed from where Kylo took Rey away, to the point in the ‘resistance base’ where Leia is telling Han that she wants him to get their son back, and she walks away when told “General, the reconnaissance report on the enemy base has come in”…and then go to 2 TIEs flying over the snowy First Order base/where Rey wakens to her interrogation by Kylo/and the 2nd Snoke scene starts with him yelling “The scavenger resisted you?” at a HELMETLESS Kylo (and ends with Snoke saying “Bring…her…to…me”)/Rey struggles and attempts to make a trooper free her, as Kylo approaches with helmet on/Rey tries again, and succeeds in getting the trooper to free her and drop his weapon/as Kylo returns and smashes up the empty room with his sabre/as 2 troopers turn around and go back the way they came/and Hux on base bridge says "Begin charging the weapon, as we then see the sun sucked towards the planet, and we then return to the ‘resistance’ base as Poe discusses the Starkiller hologram with everyone…

And here’s how my own re-arrangement of the scenes will look INSTEAD (with the shifted scene in CAPITALS) -

…the movie has progressed from where Kylo took Rey away, to the point in the ‘resistance base’ where Leia is telling Han that she wants him to get their son back, as she walks away when told “General, the reconnaissance report on the enemy base has come in”…and then go to 2 TIEs flying over the snowy First Order base…AND THEN GO TO A ‘REARRANGED’ VERSION OF THE 2ND ‘SNOKE/HUX/KYLO’ SCENE WHERE KYLO ‘KEEPS HIS HELMET ON’ (AND ENDS ON SNOKE SAYING “BRING…HER…TO…ME”)…and then go to Rey struggling and attempting to make a trooper free her, as Kylo approaches with helmet on/Rey tries again, and succeeds in getting the trooper to free her and drop his weapon/as Kylo returns and smashes up the empty room with his sabre/as 2 troopers turn around and go back the way they came/and Hux on base bridge says “Begin charging the weapon”, as we then see the sun sucked towards the planet, and we then return to the ‘resistance’ base as Poe discusses the Starkiller hologram with everyone…

So that’s what I’ve got in mind for all that if I KEEP the Starkiller weapon firing where it currently is in the movie. (but of course, certain scenes would be re-arranged a bit differently for my version where it fires AFTER Han’s death)

Bingowings said:

😄

Your ‘smiley’ is only showing as an ‘oblong’ for me, which is a pity as we need more smileys around here.

(I intended to post this yesterday adywan, but got called away by the missus) -

Having checked in on ‘Star Wars Day’ to see if there was anything of interest going on with the site, I was sorry to read of all the recent shenanigans around here. But without quoting any of your recent specific comments, I really hope that you’ll just totally forget about feeling you have to stick to any proposed release date for finishing ‘ESB:Revisited’ you are currently aiming for, if it is just adding to any other day-to-day pressures at the moment.

While I’m one of those who are keenly awaiting it one day, I really hope you don’t continue to feel that you’ve ‘kept everyone waiting too long as it is’, or put more pressure on yourself by thinking that - just try to ignore any worries you may be giving yourself on that issue…as the fact is that it’s taken as long as it’s taken due to the considerable amount of complicated enhancements you’ve achieved…and having been one of the lucky few to have seen a very early, unfinished version (along with certain other shot previews from you), I can only repeat that I believe everyone anticipating this project will be completely blown away when it is properly good and ready - and that an arbitary ‘completion date’ is not an additional pressure you should be giving yourself for the sake of the more impatient out there. Personally, I’ve been amazed that despite the considerable ups-and-downs you’ve had along the way, the enthusiastic, sheer hard work you’ve still managed to maintain on it throughout.

This particular thread has been a constant source of inspiration to a lot of us due to your many generous and thoughtful previews and responses over the years, and has generated some worthy ideas from some, along with plenty of humour (and unintended humour!) from others…and these forums will be far the poorer for losing your regular input around here, if that remains the case - I mean, can you imagine the ‘fun/and disagreements’ we’d all miss out on where some of the ‘ideas/contributions’ offered by some for any future ‘ROTJ:R’ and ‘Prequels:R’ threads are concerned…?

So I hope you’ll feel able to return here at some point in the future when things improve, and just take however long it continues to take to get your project 100% perfect for yourself…no matter the time it might still take to do so.

Anyway, I’d just like to add that I loved the addition of the Blockade Runner to the ‘rebel fleet’ pic you released over on your Facebook page yesterday. Very neat to see it in that shot - https://www.facebook.com/swrevisited

‘May The 4th’ continue to be with us all in the future.

(by the way, it was nice to see the Obamas dancing with R2 and the stormtroopers - if we don’t see and eventual President Clinton/or President Trump(!) doing something similar next year, then impeach them I say)

darthrush said:

I would also maybe try to do the following in line with your plot restructuring:

-Cut together a star being sucked up with Hux’s speech. I overlayed it with the last section of “Anakins Dark Deeds”. If you want a preview clip, I can upload that. Basically Hux now prepares a speech for the star being sucked up. This is cut together pretty well.

This was the same way that ‘Noodle_Finger’ recut his version, and it indeed works well for anyone that wishes to place the ‘superweapn destroying the planets’ scene after Han’s death - he basically ended the ‘Hux speech’ with the shot of all the First Order troopers raising their arms.

TK251, I’ll be interested to see what bits and pieces you’ve chosen to alter for this. I’ve only checked out one completed edit of this movie so far, and that was by a guy called ‘Noodle_Finger’ on reddit which came out recently - (I’ll be sending you the link for it sometime soon, and can give it to anyone else that wishes to see it too, if they want to)

It was the first time I’d seen how things looked where placing the ‘superweapon blowing up the planets’ scene after ‘Han’s death’ scene was concerned. I liked seeing it played out that way…but have decided I’ll be keeping the whole complete scene as it is/where it is in the scheme of things for my own ideal cut-list…as I really like the Williams music that plays during that whole sequence, as well as certain shots of Hux watching the proceedings (which I’d have to discard/chop up otherwise). It remains one of my favourite sequences from the movie, and I’m loathe to dilute it’s impact for me. Still, I’ve managed to work out a few other little tweaks and re-arrangements of my own which will make the movie even more to my liking in other ways.

For instance, I’d already decided to shorten the ‘Rathtar’ scene for myself in a very similar way as your Vimeo clip showed - where Rey holds her mouth at what she’s seeing, before she then begins to run off with Finn…and we then cut to the Falcon seen through the doorway as Han and Chewie are firing, as Rey and Finn then appear again. It was nice to see it play out that way in your clip too, and I think that works really well to shorten the overall sequence for the better.

By the way, I’ve decided to make it look like the two gangs are just one gang for the start of the ‘Rathtar’ scene…and I’ll be shortening the whole exchange between them and Han (with no talk of money) to make it seem that they are purely on a mission to find the BB-8 unit on behalf of the First Order. The whole thing zips along quite nicely at this point now, and I’ve ended up rather liking the ‘Rathtar’ sequence in this form now.

I’ll look forward to see how your own version turns out, however.