logo Sign In

JasonN

User Group
Members
Join date
1-Oct-2007
Last activity
22-Jan-2021
Posts
363

Post History

Post
#456820
Topic
Pandora (Avatar fanedit) - V2 HD & SD releases coming soon (Released)
Time

doubleofive said:

Did you just put the matte on top of the image, because if I recall a lot of the scenes were reframed for the 2.35:1 version. You may want to reframe some shots, especially look at the video log scenes as they were rendered to fit in frame on the 2.35 version.

I'm not sure where exactly you heard that, but from all of my composition tests and video comparisons from the film's scenes and the "scope version" deleted scenes (the ones which used the exact same shots as the 16x9 version), it seems like the filmmakers really did just add a black scope matte over the video for the 2.35:1 version of the movie (Cameron did frame the entire film for both 16x9 and scope ARs while in post, so that makes the most sense to me based on what I've seen and tested).

(also the video log scenes, which you mentioned as being rendered to fit 2.35, in fact don't completely fit the scope frame and cuts off slivers of the top/bottom text graphics - even if you reframed the shot, you'd lose either the top graphics or the majority of the bottom graphics)

Post
#456813
Topic
Pandora (Avatar fanedit) - V2 HD & SD releases coming soon (Released)
Time

The V2 nearly finalized (just have to give it one more editing pass) and I'll be able to start rendering files for the DVD and AVI releases very soon - with both the new scenes from the Extended cut that I'm added back in along with several additional cuts and edits that I've made to the fanedit, the V2 cut now currently runs over 9 minutes longer than my previous version.

I was able to add the "Pandora Rules" and "Breakfast With The Scientists" deleted scenes back into the film and created/rebuilt new 5.1 audio mixes for those scenes (since they were previously in 2.0 stereo); the audio mixes turned out rather well, I think, and the new scenes add more much character to Jake, Quaritch, and the scientists.
(because those two scenes were added, I have also added a 2.35:1 scope matte to the movie, so that all scenes AR match each other)

Additionally, I decided to not include the "Extended Montage With Grace's Story" scene in the fanedit: while I liked how this subplot of Grace's school adds more to her character and history, my main problem with it is how it introduces Neytiri's sister.... aside from this and one other minor scene, NO other character (not Neytiri, not Moat, not Tsu-tey..) ever mentions this character's existence in the story, so it feels like this plot element is appearing out of thin air and never has any future impact to the story.

Post
#455001
Topic
Pandora (Avatar fanedit) - V2 HD & SD releases coming soon (Released)
Time

For those who are remotely curious... yeah, all two of you... I am, in fact, not dead. :P


Now that the Collector's Edition of Avatar has been released and it's various deleted and extended scenes are now available, I am now able to finish the DVD release of Pandora which includes new additions and several cuts that weren't present in the V1 AVI release. New elements for the fanedit's V2 cut currently include:

- uses the alternate "Future Earth" opening, replacing the original theatrical cut's opening (cuts around a third of Jake's internal monologues)

- cuts the scene in the jungle introducing the four-armed lemur/monkeys creatures (no, I don't remember its name)

- adds in the new scene of Jake, Norm, and Grace visiting the abandoned Navi school

- uses the extended "training" montage sequence, along with the new scenes of Grace explaining to Jake what really happened to her Navi school

- adds in the new Sturmbeast hunt scene

- uses the extended love scene between Jake and Neytiri

- adds the new "Drums of War" sequence of Tsu-tey and Navi hunters bombing bulldozers, along with the humans reaction to its destruction

- adds the scene of Grace explaining that the Company destroyed the Navi's sacred site on purpose to provoke a violent response; in addition, I've also cut Jake's "This is how its done" speech (which was way too over the top and preachy, not to mention nonsensical at times).

- adds shots of Tsu-tey falling into the jungle after being shot

- Cuts Quaritch's  "Nothing's over while I'm breathing" line before he fights Jake

- adds in the new "Last Shadow" sequence, where a dying Tsu-tey names Jake as the next leader of the Navi and has him ritually put him out of his misery


Additionally, I will be attempting... but make no promises... to add the deleted scene of "Pandora Rules" (where Quaritch expands on the rules of the Company's instillation on Pandora and belittles Norm for not paying attention) back into the film, along with possibly the "Breakfast With The Scientists" deleted scene. Unlike previous fanedits that I've done, this would be my first attempt at upconverting a 2.0 stereo audio mix into a 5.1 dolby surround mix (although technically it'd be more like building a new audio mix, much like what I did for certain scenes of my Episode 1 edit). If, however, my audio attempts aren't up to my quality standards, then I won't be including those scenes in the V2.
 

Lastly, I will be adding a black "scope overlay" matte over the top and bottom to give the film a 2.35:1 aspect ratio (to better match the video of the deleted scenes, which are in scope AR, with the film's video). Plus (and this is just my personal opinion), I think the movie actually looks better and more, well... "film-like" with a scope AR.

Post
#437698
Topic
Pandora (Avatar fanedit) - V2 HD & SD releases coming soon (Released)
Time

TV's Frink said:

Whose Avatar thread is this again?

;-)

Funny, I was wondering that myself. :P

For the record, I'm still alive and working on the DVD release - in addition to getting bogged down with work, I ended up having TWO hard drives fail over the course of a single day, which had me lose a sh*t-ton of data (yeah, I was pleased as punch that day...  -_- ). Fortunately, the Pandora DVD data was not affected (as it was on a HD that didn't fail), but I've been too busy trying to recover the failed HDs and transfer the data to new ones to work on finishing the DVD. Hopefully, now that most of my data has be recovered onto new HDs, I'll be able to get back around to finishing the DVD release.

 

In regards to the new footage and on doing a Pandora Special Edition release later on, I'll honestly have to see the footage myself before deciding on whether or not I'd want to add in into my fanedit (along with any deleted scenes, if there are any at all, that are released with the SE on DVD/Blu-ray later this year...).

However, these new scenes  that were listed on IMDB do sound a bit promising to me (particularly the highlighted ones): 

- When Jake goes on his first sortie in the Helicopter, theres a scene where the team observes a group of Sturmbeasts. Put back in in order to re-establish the Sturmbeast, as it was completely taken out before

 - The group visits Graces old school for supplies. This was a great scene and should have never been taken out in the first place. It also showed another brand new animal, the Stingbat.

 - Extended scene with Jake, Neytiri and the Fan Lizards. A very nice scene where the characters are having fun. 

- When Jake, Tsu'tey and the other Na'vi travel through the mountains to get to the banshees, Neytiri does a flyover around them and shares a greeting with Jake. I really liked this extension. 

- Sturmbeast hunt. A short, but very awesome action scene, it leads into Jakes voice over about him being a hunter now "death from above." Theres a great moment in this scene where Neytiri copies what Jake says. 

- The Love scene. Jake and Neytiri attaching their queues. I actually think this is a good addition, because the scene is edited much better this time. You could tell before that footage was taken out. 

- The Na'vi, including Tsu'tey, burn down the RDA bulldozers, equipment, and kill the soldiers and workers. We're shown the aftermath with charred bodies, etc. This is a pretty short scene, but its once that really should have been in the movie since day one as it provides a better rationale for Quaritch convincing Selfridge to attack the Hometree 

- Finally, the death of Tsu'Tey. This was a GREAT scene. Great acting, and amazing CGI that perfectly capture the emotions.

Post
#437657
Topic
JasonN's PT FanEdits (Attack of the Federation, Twilight of the Republic, & The Black Knight Rises) (Released) ** Revised V3 Cuts In The Works
Time

For the record, I'm still alive and working on this.

In addition to getting bogged down with work, I ended up having TWO hard drives fail over the course of a single day, which had me lose a sh*t-ton of data including the V2s of TOTR and TBKR (yeah, I was pleased as punch that day...  -_- )

So I've been busy as hell trying to recover the failed HDs and transfer the data to new ones - it's take a while, but about 95% of the data was saved and recovered to the new hard drives. And yes, the V2s of EP2 and EP3 was saved, but the new Dooku rotoscoped shots for EP3 were lost.... which means I'll have to redo them all over again. -_-

Post
#428988
Topic
The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread
Time

SilverKey said:

Nope, not kidding. I think that as an action scene, maybe even as the traditional climactic lightsaber duel, the Yoda/Dooku duel is far more exciting than that hack and slash job (by which I mean the editing) of the Obi-Wan and Anakin vs Dooku fight. It was also a big crowd pleaser.

That doesn't automatically mean that it was right, but I thought it worked way better and was more pleasing to watch.

Eh heh, not my crowd, it wasn't - most of people in the audience with me were laughing their asses off at how ridiculously stupid it was, while a few others were so royally pissed off to the point that they were swearing at the theatre screen.

I, on the other, did all my swearing at that particular moment inside my head. :P

EDIT: And John Stewart for the WIN.

Post
#428900
Topic
The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread
Time

brash_stryker said:

SilverKey said:

As meaningless as it is, I think the Yoda vs Dooku duel is the best we get in AOTC. They put way more thought into that one than in editing the one with Obi-Wan and Anakin. 

You're kidding, right? Lol. Sorry, but whilst the Dooku vs Obi/Anakin duel might be boring and lacking in any emotion, the Yoda duel is freaking terrible.

Aside from looking ridiculous, it completely undermines what Yoda is all about.

Total Agreement. ;)

Post
#427117
Topic
JasonN's PT FanEdits (Attack of the Federation, Twilight of the Republic, & The Black Knight Rises) (Released) ** Revised V3 Cuts In The Works
Time

Well, I was hoping tonight to start rendering the mpv file for the new V2 cut of TBKR, only to find that the video file of the new Dooku scenes have been corrupted.... so, now I have to re-rotoscope Dooku's lightsaber for the new scenes... again. 

For those curious, here's an updated list of the new cuts and edits to The Black Knight Rises V2:

1. Added a few more scenes of the Corusant space battle back into the film's opening sequence

2. Cut Obi-Wan's frantic line of the command ship's shields still being up, along with Anakin's "Sorry Master" line

3. Extended Obi-Wan's and Anakin's infiltration of Grevious's ship - they now locate Palpatine's tracking signal, Obi-Wan senses a trap, and says they'll "spring the trap" when Anakin asks their next move (I cut the shot of Anakin saying that he sensed Count Dooku and the scene after Obi-Wan's "spring the trap" line that involves R2-D2 staying behind with the ship)

4. Extended the Anakin/Dooku duel - it now has back the scene of Dooku telling Anakin that he senses fear, hate, and anger inside of him (I did cut the end of his speech to remove Dooku's last line of "But you don't use them")

5. Removed and edited nearly all of the Anakin/Padme reunion sequence - now they just embrace each other, followed by fading out to Anakin's nightmare

6. Removed the shot of Anakin running up the stairs outside of the "Opera House"

7. Cut the shot of Yoda saying "Quickly and decisively, we should proceed"
(don't know why, but I always felt that that scene had redundant dialog and Yoda looked stupid waving his hand like that)

8. Cut the scene of the clonetrooper telling Yoda that the droids are advancing, followed by Yoda saying "Then now the time is" - the scene now cuts from Yoda walking to oversee the battlefield to the Wookiees preparing for battle

9. Re-edited Obi-Wan's and Anakin's last scene together as friends before Obi-Wan leaves to find Grevious - Anakin now says that he’s disappointed Obi-Wan, that he hasn’t appreciated his master’s training, to which Obi-Wan replies that he’s very proud of Anakin

10. Pitched Mon Mothma's voice slightly higher so that she sounds a bit younger

11. Cut several shots of the "dragon" mount that Obi-Wan rides chirping and shouting at the Federation ship where Grevious is

12. Removed Obi-Wan’s “Hello” to Grevious
(he lands silently and the audience thinks he’s gotten the drop on Grevious, before the droid guards spin around to attack)

13. Lowered the volume of Mace Windu's "No" line to Anakin about coming to arrest Palpatine
(for some reason, Lucasfilm really raised the volume of his line, apparently to make him sound more forceful than how that character was speaking... although honestly, I suspect that this line is in fact an ADR line by Jackson and what he was saying in this scene was actually much different than what's really in the film)

14. Added back in the end of Sidious line "... to save Padme" when he tells Anakin to not hesitate and show no mercy in order to grow strong in the Dark Side

15. Cut Yoda calling the dead Jedi boy a “padawan” when he and Obi-Wan find the slain children in the Temple

16. Removed Obi-Wan's line to Yoda to "send him to kill the Emperor" and slightly re-edited the part where he states that he can not kill Anakin

17. Slightly re-edited the opening of the Obi-Wan/Anakin confrontation where Anakin Force-chokes Padme (to quicken the pacing of the scene and used a different shot of Obi-Wan at the top of the ship stairs when Anakin first sees him)

18. Cut several shots from Anakin burning alive and Obi-Wan watching him
(so it doesn’t seem like Obi-Wan waits around forever watching Anakin burn to a crisp - now he just looks back briefly before he walks away from Anakin staring at him in anger as he burns)

Post
#425893
Topic
JasonN's PT FanEdits (Attack of the Federation, Twilight of the Republic, & The Black Knight Rises) (Released) ** Revised V3 Cuts In The Works
Time

The V2 of Twilight of the Republic is done and I'm burning the DVD-9 right now. The changes to the V2 are, in no particular order:

- lowered Zam's voice when she's speaking to Jango before attempting to kill Padme as she sleeps
(yeah, just shout out that you tried to hit a Senator's ship with a bomb....)

- removed R4's "Wah wah wah" noise after Obi-Wan comments on the activity of Federation ships on Geonisis

- cut Padme's lines of ""See those columns of steam straight ahead?"& "They're exhaust vents of some type" when she and Anakin arrive on Geonosis

- cut the entire sequence of Padme getting trapped in the giant stone cup in the Geonosis droid factory
(yeah, I ended up cutting it just as I did in the preview video I just posted - while true that there's no sort of resolution to her struggling with the Geonosian, I think most viewers will assume that she gets captured by him, plus with the removal of the "R2-D2 flying rescue" sequence this subplot of her getting trapped in a stone cup for molten metal goes nowhere and serves absolutely no purpose at all)

- cut the shot of Padme swinging the chain at the Nexu and the Nexu's reaction shots (now it just climbs up the column and swipes her back)

- added back in several shots of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme on the clone attack carrier firing missiles at the Frederation star ships (just before Yoda arrives at the command center)

- changed a few words to the subtitles of Poggle the Lesser in the Geonosian command center (same meaning, just improving the grammar and readability of his speech)

- after Poggle the Lesser says that Dooku and the other Separatists should flee at once, I added in an altered line of Dooku stating "I will never allow the Republic to get away with such treachery."

Post
#425600
Topic
SW: SHADOWS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC (3-in-1 Prequel Film) ** V2 cut AVI Release Now Available
Time

rcb said:

 sounds like u just destroyed the films. i'm srry, but the Prequels are find as they are. They don't need to be touched! Yes i agree there are inconsistencies and bad acting, but i saw episode one when i was eight and up til now, still think there works of art.

.... I hope this was intended as a joke post.

1. Unless there's a mass of people that are throwing all the film prints, DVDs, videos, and other medias of the SW Prequel films into a massive bonfire of Doom that I am unaware of, I can safely say that me creating a couple of fanedits most certainly does not destroy the original films.

2. Au contraire, mon frere - the Prequels most definitely need to be touched and worked on.  

3. In terms of own personal preference, I do prefer my Prequel edit trilogy over the 3-in-1 SOTOR, but I think some people may find interest in a single film version that serves as a prequel story to the OT.

4. If you want to get technical, ALL films are artistic works.
The level of quality of the artwork, however, is always open to individual interpretation.

Post
#425438
Topic
JasonN's PT FanEdits (Attack of the Federation, Twilight of the Republic, & The Black Knight Rises) (Released) ** Revised V3 Cuts In The Works
Time

Hoping to have the V2 discs fully finalized sometime early next week, btw.

As a sidenote, here's a new cut of the Geonosis droid factory sequence that I'm toying with, which cuts out the entire business of Padme getting trapped in a stone pot and escaping before molten metal pours on her (now she gets caught by the Geonosian who attacks her before the cut sequence):
http://www.vimeo.com/13377478

Post
#425350
Topic
The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread
Time

mrbenja0618 said:

Snips (Ahsoka) drove me crazy at first.... She's less annoying to me now for some reason, but I still don't know why they gave him an apprentice.

It's called "marketability".

i.e., getting young girls interested in the SW franchise by introducing a character into the story in which they can identify with and project themselves as in a form of wish fufillment....

.... thereby fulfilling Lucasfilms' hope of giving millions of young male nerds the opportunity of finding a future soul-mate, who would then give birth to more nerd babies, and creating more nerd consumers to spend more money to buy more SW media, all in the glorious name of transforming George Lucas into a true living God Emperor.

.... or so I've heard.  -_^

Post
#425276
Topic
SW: SHADOWS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC (3-in-1 Prequel Film) ** V2 cut AVI Release Now Available
Time

eksif said:

I'm a big fan of JasonN's prequel trilogy: Attack of the Federation, Twilight of the Republic, and The Dark Knight Rises, so I wanted to give this 3 in 1 condensed version of the PT a shot, even though it received poor reviews on fanedit.  Well, I'm glad I did, because this version (v2) was thoroughly enjoyable.

I think you mean The Black Knight Rises.
(unless Batman somehow made a surprise appearance in my edit that I wasn't aware of, lol)

The mpv and ac3 files themselves have been done for a while, I just really haven't had time to finish the DVD menus and burn a finalized DVD-9.
(maybe next week, when I'm able to finally FINALLY finish the V2s of TOTR and TBKR along with the DVD-9 release of Pandora)

Post
#421606
Topic
STAR WARS: EP V &quot;REVISITED EDITION&quot;<strong>ADYWAN</strong> - <strong>12GB 1080p MP4 VERSION AVAILABLE NOW</strong>
Time

Take care and good luck with your health, Ady.
[and I can also attest that temporary blindness is pretty common with severe migraine headaches - when I get them, usually one (or in the extremely rare instance, both) of my eyes will go blurry and blind for a while before the headache strikes]

Post
#421301
Topic
JasonN's PT FanEdits (Attack of the Federation, Twilight of the Republic, &amp; The Black Knight Rises) (Released) ** Revised V3 Cuts In The Works
Time

eksif said:

so are the links on fanedit.info for the most up to date and color-corrected versions?

Not yet - I'm hoping to get the V2 DVDs of TOTR and TBKR fully finalized sometime next week (after I get back home from vacation).

Also, I only did color correction to the V2 DVD of AOTF (to removed the magenta hue that was present from the DVD release of EP1), but not on my edits of EP2 and EP3 - the V2 DVDs are done to give those edits a bit better video quality and corrected film aspect ratios, along with a few new edits and cuts to EP3.

Post
#420224
Topic
Altering James Earl Jones voice into Dath Vader
Time

Recently picked up an audio copy of James Earl Jones reading the entire Bible in order to find replacement words for my Return of the Jedi fanedit and for the life of me, I can't really seem to figure out what audio processes were used to make his normal voice into the more mechanical-sounding Darth Vader - anybody have any experience doing something like this and if so, what were your solutions?

Post
#418106
Topic
Pandora (Avatar fanedit) - V2 HD &amp; SD releases coming soon (Released)
Time

Timstuff said:

Could you possibly remove some of Quatrich's dumber lines, like "You're not in Kansas anymore" and his George W. Bush quotes when they're preparing to attack the Na'vi? Those lines, for me made him go from being a fairly interesting character to being a goofy scenery eater, and the Bush quotes made it feel way too political.

The "You're not in Kansas anymore" line has been completely removed - not sure about the other "Bush" quotes (the "fight terror with terror"?), but I've tried to trim and tighten up the preattack meeting sequence a bit.

Post
#417545
Topic
Pandora (Avatar fanedit) - V2 HD &amp; SD releases coming soon (Released)
Time

Doctor M said:

Shouldn't you just wait for the missing 40 minutes to make it to disc?  There's a good chance some of the undeveloped characters will be fluffed up.

According to Cameron, the extended cut of Avatar that's being released later this year would only have 6-7 minutes of new footage (not 40 minutes...):
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/04/james-cameron-talks-the-enironment-the-avatar-sequel-and-more.html

 

Personally, I didn't see 6 new minutes, no matter what it's content, as going to add anything really major to the story or allowing me to effectively "re-write" the film's plot (unlike what I could do with Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and it's deleted scenes), so I decided to go ahead and just do an fanedit with what footage that's available.

Post
#414653
Topic
Pandora (Avatar fanedit) - V2 HD &amp; SD releases coming soon (Released)
Time

First of all, just so you know, Unobtainmium IS the official name given to that mineral/ore in the film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film

(and I know full well what unobtainium is supposed to be, by the by....)

 

Second of all, I have no problem with Avatar being both a Hero's Journey and a Parable - the majority of the time, both go hand in hand with each other and work together to tell a narrative -  and I am not "messing" with the themes and message of the film (maybe you're thinking of the other Avatar fanedit thats In the Works). The only real trims to the enviromental theme that I've listed so far is a few of Grace's exchanges to Selfridge. And why is it so terrible to get rid of the 2D (shoulde be 1D) sterotyped, cliched marine soldiers shouting generic phrases like "Fresh meat!", "Bring the heat!", or "Come get some?!"?