JoyOfEditing

Skybatman said:

JoyOfEditing said:

Skybatman said:

u made a lot of changes to revenge of the sith is ur least fav of the 6 haha

Return of the Jedi just told me to hold its beer. . .

what is ur sw ranking?

Man, that’s tricky. . . I’ll give it to you in two lists. First the Vanilla Versions (which assume the Despecialized Editions of the OT), and then my Recuts (which will sound blasphemous, lol!). The consistent “tone” I aimed for in all of the recuts was somewhere between the tones of Vanilla IV and V. If you can hit that “tone” across all 6 episodes (Spoiler Alert. . . You can. . .) then it comes down to what sequences I like best.

VANILLA VERSIONS:

1. IV - A New Hope
2. V - The Empire Strikes Back
3. I - The Phantom Menace
4. VI - Return of the Jedi
5. III - Revenge of the Sith
6. II - Attack of the Clones

RECUT VERSIONS:

1. II - Attack of the Clones
2. VI - Return of the Jedi
3. III - Revenge of the Sith
4. I - The Phantom Menace
5. IV - A New Hope
6. V - The Empire Strikes Back

potty meister said:

This is next level stuff! The Utapau duel really works well with how you’ve done it. Way more engaging. Impressive work on Grievous’ death

Cheers! It actually works even better in terms of the full sequence (From Obi-Wan Landing on Utapau to Order 66). If you wanna see that full section PM me, and I’ll shoot you a link. Throughout the process of recutting the Prequels, I was constantly shocked at how close George was to three masterpieces. All the pieces were on the board, just not in the right order.

Skybatman said:

u made a lot of changes to revenge of the sith is ur least fav of the 6 haha

Return of the Jedi just told me to hold its beer. . .

After a long battle with YouTube’s Copyright Goblins, the next two episodes are now live!

They both cover the recut of the Utapau Duel, and I hope y’all enjoy them!

Part 1: https://youtu.be/foXKzbzaaXc

Part 2: https://youtu.be/DN6BpdJQJ-g

Bingowings said:

I would cut from the tonsil tennis right to planet of the oil rigs. The awkward halt to the music has always been the sad trumbone of the scene.

Bro, this comment is poetry. I’ve never heard snogging called tonsil tennis before, and my life has been poorer for it!

To your point, I almost did exactly that, but I think the scene actually works better with halt (or pause) because there’s a melodic rejoin that follows it to finish the musical phrase.

Hear me out. I need you to go grab the shiniest gold pocket watch you can find and say these words as you swing it in front of your face “Semyhr ti yrteop ekil sti.” Once you’re good and hypnotized, imagine a version of Attack of the Clones where Anakin never whines, bickers, or acts immature and where Padme treats Anakin as an equal in age and ability from scene one. Secondly, imagine a version where Anakin and Padme never talk about their relationship other than the Love Pledge scene right before the Arena Battle. The way I recut their relationship is entirely through action. Anakin says “I love you” when he saves Padme from the Bed Bugs, and I recut the Droid Factory so that Ani not Artoo says Padme from the Lava Vat. Padme says “I love you,” when she puts herself in danger so that Anakin can check on his mom, and when she gives Anakin permission to go rescue his boy Obi-Wan. So basically if you just let the tonsils do the talking, the final look from Padme in the “Sand” Scene mixed with the musical pause could read like Padme thinking, “Well I guess we’re doing this. . .” Rather than the awkward halt of the original.

Hal 9000 said:

I do like this change and it seems to be an improvement over what I’ve been able to do. (I’ll remind you that most of the ideas themselves from my Ep2 edit came from predecessors.)

I’d like the raw footage and audio for this one if I could get it!

No prob! I’m rendering something else at the minute, but I’ll kick that out when it’s done. I’m gonna send you a PM to make sure it’s setup correctly for how you want to use it.

JoyOfEditing said:

littlev87 said:

@JoyOfEditing, your new video was already taken down due to copyright.

I know. I’m working on it. . . YouTube really hates John Williams music, but if the fix I’m doing now works, it should be live again late today.

Okay. I think I finally fixed the problem. . . Fingers crossed. . . I’m gonna re-render the new editing episode with part of the audio muted on the final recut, because I think it’s got just a tiny bit too much unaltered RotS footage in one stretch in particular. . . Once the episode goes live, if you or anyone else wants to see the full un-muted scene PM me, and I’ll be happy to send you a link.

G&G-Fan said:

JoyOfEditing said:

Is this the point where I should tell you I cut ESB down to 90 minutes?

How?! That movie has like perfect pacing! Every scene is the perfect length and every scene is important.

Haha!!! I don’t think I can explain “how” without writing you a novel. But the basic gist is that I cut all six films as if they were 6 chapters of 1 BIG film. The genre of George’s STAR WARS films is technically a Spiritual Epic in the mode of a Medieval Romance, so I recut all 6 films to follow the general rules of those two genres using JRR Tolkien’s editing method (because LotR and STAR WARS are the exact same genre and format (1 SAGA split into 6 books/episodes).

When you use the method Tolkien used to edit LotR, you end up with six roughly 90 minute episodes (except for RotS which clocks in at roughly 75 minutes). Ironically, the “pacing” of these dramatic cuts isn’t actually much quicker than the Vanilla Versions, because I streamlined all the themes to focus on the ones that span the whole SAGA. Empire Strikes Back actually has more diversions from the main themes than any of the other 5 films (because according to George, Kershner didn’t understand the Force, and frankly I agree with him).

A basic example would be reworking Yoda’s character. The ol’ frog is WAY different in the Prequels than he is in the OT. Some aspects of his character are better in the Prequels some aspects are better in the OT. What I did was create a composite Yoda, taking the best of both versions so that he’d stay a consistent character across all 6 films. Most folks that re-edit the Prequels aim to align them with the OT as if it’s the Bible. I just fundamentally don’t think that works. Is the Vanilla OT better than the Vanilla Prequels? OH MY GOODNESS YES!!! But my argument is the best version of the “SAGA” is made by creating a “Third Version” of every single character that works best for the SAGA as a whole. Once you create all those new composite characters, then it quickly becomes obvious what scenes need to stay, and which scenes need to go. Does that make any sense? You’ll be able to see how I cut these composite characters in the third episode the YouTube show which should go up later today (if I can finally appease the copyright gods lol).

Jar Jar Bricks said:

The abruptness of how that scene ends without the reversing of the footage has been a pain point for Hal’s edit of AoTC for a while now.

Yeah, that was actually the exact problem I was trying to solve lol! My cuts are VERY different from the Hal 9000 cuts (I always work from scratch from the Vanilla version), but I did end up coming to the same conclusion Hal did a couple times in each film, cause he’s pretty good at this whole editing thing. 😉

G&G-Fan said:

This is pretty great!

I’m quite interested in both your Prequel and OT edits. For the Prequels, I’m interested in how you approached Anakin’s characterization, turn to the dark side, and the scene with Vader in the suit in ROTS (I hope you made it less cheesy).

I’m very interested in your OT changes from a curiosity standpoint. Most people leave those alone, especially ESB.

Is this the point where I should tell you I cut ESB down to 90 minutes?

littlev87 said:

@JoyOfEditing, your new video was already taken down due to copyright.

I know. I’m working on it. . . YouTube really hates John Williams music, but if the fix I’m doing now works, it should be live again late today.

NotTheDri0ds said:

Oh wow yeah, I think I’ve seen a few takes go for dialogue removal on this scene, but the use of reversing the start of the kiss is actually a pretty effective way of portraying the regret over the kiss without the blunt “I shouldn’t have done that”. Surprised how well Portman’s expression works for that in this context.

I’m just surprised nobody noticed how well the ol’ Sea Monster transition worked. . . lol!

yoshif8tures said:

JoyOfEditing said:

yoshif8tures said:

Looks good. Have you done whole film?

. . . I’ve actually recut all six of George’s films lol!

Let’s see them!

I’m not gonna release the full edits publicly, but I am going through all the major changes I made on my YouTube Channel. If there’s any specific change you want you want to see, PM me and I’ll send you the scene or sequence you’re interested in. I’ve essentially finished all of the Prequels, and I should be done with the OT by the summer at the latest.

Here’s a link to the YouTube Channel. This first two episodes are up, and the third one about the Utapau Duel will release later today: https://www.youtube.com/@JoyofEditing

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Interesting, so you reversed the footage of their kiss in order to remove the whole “I shouldn’t have done that” thing from Padme. Very smart. I don’t think a casual viewer would notice whatsoever.

I can’t believe it worked either. . . Usually the eyes are what give reverse shots away, but Natalie’s eyes look totally natural backwards. . . Ironically, the real thing that sells the effect is the smooch sound effect from when they broke away in the vanilla version. Because the sound is different, your brain tells you it’s a new shot.

After editing all six of George’s movies, I found a 1-3 reverse shots in every film, so I just thought I’d add one more to the tradition lol!

I mean if it worked for the Tusken Raiders. . .

aGreatHumanBeing said:

This is the way.

This is the way.

oojason said:

Very good - I was half expecting…

you’d have Padme say that iconic line for the love of sand… 😉

That would have been hilarious!

yoshif8tures said:

Looks good. Have you done whole film?

. . . I’ve actually recut all six of George’s films lol!

The Sand Scene from Attack of the Clones with 100% less sand: https://youtu.be/WbZWh5QNyEU

aGreatHumanBeing said:

I’m a n00b and will never be able to pull of something like movie editing. I absolutely love to watch them though, even if I never understand how some of the faneditors are able to pull off some of their incredible work.

So this video (I just watched the first one) is so interesting and entertaining. Thanks so much for this! I will surely watch the rest of the show.

Haha! You never know! Film editing is just like everything else, practice, practice, practice!

Dazman said:

Very cool to hear about the thought process behind your editing, very educational for the amateur editor like myself. Looking forward to future scene breakdowns!

Glad you enjoyed it! The whole idea of the show is to make film editing accessible to anybody who’s interested in learning it, and if you ever have any questions about how to use the editing techniques you see in the episodes in your own work, feel free to shoot me a message.

Skybatman said:

JoyOfEditing said:

smudger9 said:

Watched the first two episodes. They are excellent. Very professional.

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it! The next episode (which will hopefully drop next week) is gonna cover the Utapau Duel. Here’s a sneak peak of how it might end: http://youtube.com/post/UgkxU3KJT7SZw0XqkPEB-KIVz1RoNZRfdNIV?si=RXnbrLi32x3JDZmP

i think it look a little abrupt, maybe have the way that the original was without kenobi shooting 2 times

BTW thanks a bunch for that input. I went back through that sequence and found a way to slow down Grievous’ death by a half second, and it’s SO SO MUCH BETTER! Great call! The Grievous Episode is gonna drop next week, so you’ll have to lemme know if that timing change worked.

smudger9 said:

When can we expect episode 3?

End of next week at the latest. I was hoping for this week, but it’s a double episode so it’s taking a bit longer than the first two. (In order to make the Utapau Duel work, we’re gonna have to rewrite all of Episode 3, haha!) My aim is to release an episode every 1-3 weeks depending on the length.

Skybatman said:

i know its entirely up to you but why are you not making full edits ? its just that u dont want or for copyright reasons ?

Yeah, I take copyright pretty seriously. I don’t want the full edits out there for anybody to watch if they don’t own copies of the originals. Policing who does and who doesn’t could quickly become a full time job that I have no interest in, lol!

But with that being said, if you or anyone else has a question about how I recut an individual scene or sequence, PM me, and I’ll send you a render of the section in question.

Also, if you see a clip you like on my YouTube Channel and want a clean render without my color grade to insert into you’re own edits, I’m happy to do that as well.

Cheers!

-JoE

EddieDean said:

Really excellent! Easy subscribe. The thought processes are fascinating. Are you intending to release full movies, or if not, I’m sure this community would love access to your raw scene outputs!

No and Yes, haha! I’m not planning on releasing the full edits, but once I finish the YouTube series all of my major changes should be documented (I altered roughly 80% of all the scenes in George’s 6 films). If you see something you like, feel free to send me a PM, and I’ll shoot you a render of a particular scene when I have time.

Also if you or anybody else has a question on how I fixed a certain scene or sequence that I haven’t yet covered in the YouTube series for your own re-edits, feel free to send me a PM, and I’ll see if I can help.

NotTheDri0ds said:

Amazing videos! I honestly love this breakdown on your approach to editing, the vocabulary used showing WHY cuts can be made.

We will watch your career with great interest.

Cheers! That’s actually why I decided to do the series. I couldn’t find any good practical tutorials that explain the thinking process film editors use make cuts and shape sequences. I had some phenomenal teachers in Film School and professionally, so I thought I’d pass on a bit of what they taught me/I learned the hard way. Once you know how to think about what you’re thinking about, the rest is just fighting a losing battle against Adobe Premiere. . .