NeverarGreat

Here’s a version set to the Jedi Steps:

https://vimeo.com/315905664

Password: fanedit

The more I think about it, the more it seems like the Kylo and Hux bit at the end of the interrogation isn’t necessary. It might be more powerful to cut straight from Poe and the images of the map to BB-8 at Rey’s house. Then have some more voiceover of Rey’s troubles, using a more darkened shot of the wall of days. Ideally there would be some sort of dream imagery related to her years on Jakku before transitioning to the peaceful island, but I don’t know if that’s possible.

Earlier I was planning on having several dream sequences with one before the interrogation, but if this scene is going to be so substantial it might just use up all the available material. Which is fine, since I think a weakness of TFA (and TLJ) is scenes which cut too quickly. So at the moment, the plan is just this scene and the lightsaber visions (with some substantial differences). This one will show the peace of the light side of the Force and an escape from her fear, and the lightsaber visions force her to confront her fears and insecurities while also showing her the map to Luke. Then when she’s in the snow forest and taps into the Force, added audio would start with the peace of her dream but shift to the fear and anger exposed by the lightsaber visions, using this Dark Side power to defeat Kylo.

I was originally going to use the footage from Poe’s Interrogation in the Rey Interrogation scene so the audience could see how much the Starkiller means to Kylo in terms of completing Vader’s legacy or whatnot, but placing it early is probably better to establish the Starkiller threat, and if it’s juxtaposed with the island footage, the entire Rey interrogation would probably work better largely as it is, an exploration and connection of information we already know.

RogueLeader said:

Also, that would be a cool idea for your edit! They fail their mission, but if Rey has “seen” where Luke is, it would also help justify why Rey off all people has to find him.

That’s the biggest benefit alongside R2’s convenient awakening, but the reason I thought of that was to fix the deeper issue of Luke’s exile. In TFA there was some confusion as to whether or not Luke wanted to be found or had a backup plan in case people needed him, but in TLJ he seems genuinely surprised that anyone could find him and is pretty clear that he came to the island for good. R2 having the final piece of map to his location makes no sense in this context, especially since we know Luke didn’t take R2 along as his X-wing is at the bottom of the sea.

So now Rey is given a vision of the map, and I’m planning on taking out any reference to the Empire/R2 having the rest. It just makes no sense that in 30+ years nobody in the Republic would stumble across these Imperial maps and R2 would just download them from the Death Star and then forget he had them. I think it’s much more interesting and realistic to have a religious ascetic piece together a bit of star-chartery that’s practically worthless so that their situation is truly hopeless without Rey.

RogueLeader said:

What if you just cut that briefing scene altogether?

I suppose it could work in some ways - we know from Poe’s later dialogue how the sun charging works. But there’s an awful lot that would remain established. We wouldn’t know Han’s objective, the oscillator will not be introduced until the battle itself, and so forth. Some amount of this is handholding, but I think some of it is genuinely needed.

RogueLeader said:

I mean if you did the Star Forge idea, would you have Phasma lower the shields and give them the map? Or just have no planetary shields?

Like I said, I think making Starkiller a Star Forge alone would still be a worthy idea to try and implement. I would at least see if it is possible to have the third act still focus on the McGuffin if possible too though.

My edit will attempt to have Rey find Luke without a physical map - she will have a vision of it when she touches the lightsaber. So if it is somehow possible to remove the shield idea, Phasma could become a stronger villain by denying Han and Finn everything they want and sounding the alarm.

Rewatching the Resistance briefing scene, every other line mentions either a shield or a weapon of some kind, so for that scene to work Starkiller would need to have at least one of those capabilities.

I think you’ve outdone yourself - this is quite the wall of text 😉

But as to the details, the idea looks feasible enough, though an order of magnitude more difficult than Restructured.

Now to the concept - I quite like the idea of the singleminded focus on the map to Luke, but in taking out all of the Starkiller’s weapon capabilities might diminish that audaciousness people have come to expect from Star Wars, whether it be literal robot armies, millions of clones, turning a Republic into an Empire overnight, A planet destroying superwewapon, ships with literal cities on them, and the batshit insanity of building the same planet destroying superweapon again. Without the Starkiller weapon, it’s a rather standard treasure hunt plot.

The Star Forge idea retains some of this audacity, though many of the logistical problems remain - there are a lot of instances where the Starkiller is referred to as a weapon. The Star Forge idea would require a lot of re-dubbing and some fancy effects work to place destroyers in their proper locations - though this idea would make sense of several weird aspects of TFA such as Snoke’s indifference to the Starkiller’s destruction and to Poe’s astonishment at the shiny new Destroyer.

JEDIT: Now that I think about changing the ‘shield’ dialogue to ‘map’, it’s seeming less and less feasible. Han definitely says ‘shield’ several times during scenes where it’s difficult to impossible to cut away.

I made a version without the Maz voice but got some feedback before I posted it that the montage felt a bit empty. But I see what you mean, the voice feels a bit like it’s not totally personal to Rey. I agree that it should be immersive and peaceful, but also dreamlike and indistinct.

RL, I feel what you mean in that it’s too long to not give something substantial away but too short to effectively separate the two scenes on each side. I’ve considered using bits from the end of TFA and Luke, but I really like the idea that Luke is a bit of a red herring for Rey and that the Jedi Texts are what the Force is ‘intending’ that she acquire before some accident befalls the tree. I really want this scene to be substantial and to act as the definitive awakening that Snoke refers to later, maybe triggered by Rey’s proximity to Kylo and his dark visions. The main reason I didn’t use any of the TFA island footage however is that it is too clear and un-dreamlike, with Rey walking around in an entirely new outfit. I think the misty Jedi Tree really works, if there was more footage like that it would be great.

An early idea for the scene was for it to be entirely without music, just having the sounds of the ocean and island. But that proved to be really difficult since it’s an almost entirely emotional scene and without music feels like limbo. Maybe with a longer scene I could fit the first part of the Jedi Steps.

JEDIT: I think a good way to include Luke while still keeping the focus on the Jedi Tree is simply to use more of the tree scene from TLJ. It could start with the ocean, and maybe put some mist in front of the island at night. Continue the mist shot of the Jedi Tree, and venture inside to see the texts. Rey could make an appearance in her poncho since it could conceivably be covering her TFA costume, and end the scene with the shadowy figure of Luke in the doorway asking who she is. This would solidly link the tree to TFA and keep Luke as the red herring.

Thank you both, Snooker I’m sure you know from experience how time consuming this is 😉

Time to put these elements in a video:

https://vimeo.com/315562483

Password: fanedit

The images aren’t animated yet of course, but I’d welcome critique on the overall concept. The formerly unused music cue from TFA ends a bit abruptly, so I’ll attempt to lengthen the cue in Audacity.

Indeed, excellent work!

The only other angle I could find of the AT-AT interior was this:

So I removed Rey:

And drew the curtains over the door:

Editing a blanketed form onto the hammock shouldn’t be too hard, especially since it’s out of focus.

I just realized that since we only just got this trilogy’s ‘big three’ in the same room at the end of TLJ, Ep9 will finally allow them to go on an adventure together. That fact alone could justify this movie, to say nothing of the Reylo business which I’m sure will be a strong focus.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen TLJ and TFA on opposite sides of a ranking before. I assume it comes down to director, but apart from that are there any reasons for the divide?

DuracellEnergizer said:

NeverarGreat said:

Where other movies have reboots, Star Wars should have evolutions.

And the originals of course.

I’d rather Star Wars be blown up and an abstract mural made from the debris. 😛

Just to be clear, you’re saying that this is not what has actually happened?

RogueLeader said:

I don’t think the Force being dynamic doesn’t mean it is sentient. I think the Force awakening or being diminished can be compared to things like climate change. Even gravity or electricity can act differently when massive or conductive objects come into play. The Force changing doesn’t mean it has a will of its own, necessarily, even though the prequel Jedi seem to think so.

I really like the idea mentioned elsewhere that the Force originally behaved more like a fundamental constant of the universe, but when Jedi started to figure out how to retain their sentience after death they began to guide the Force with much more purpose.

DominicCobb said:

Misrepresentations when it comes to Rey tend to be extremely one sided. The other day someone said Rey’s “only moment of weakness” is when she fails to turn Ben. This is the same Rey that in one scene literally becomes so emotional that she runs crying into a forest to be alone.

Rey’s moments of weakness are too numerous to list, it’s when she’s put in life or death situations that she stands apart from Anakin and Luke.

I hope Episode 9 really delves into the deep psychological wounds of the character, since that’s where the real story is going to be.

I kind of wish that they had finished the 3D versions of the OT (with updated effects) and released them by 2017, because then they would have continued as cultural touchstones for a new generation.

Where other movies have reboots, Star Wars should have evolutions.

And the originals of course.

yotsuya said:

In ANH and TESB, Luke had 1 failure using the force - lifting the X-wing. He did all the others the first time we see him try it (though not always on the first attempt, but that is the same with Rey).

He also failed at the Dagobah tree, and failed to contact Ben under Cloud City, and failed to mind trick Jabba, and failed to foresee the Rancor pit…

Luke stood his ground with Vader and several times drove him back. We didn’t really get to see the finish of Rey and Kylo’s first first fight because the breaking up of the planet separates them.

That’s like saying we don’t get to see the end of Luke’s fight with Vader because a vertical shaft has separated them, but I think it’s clear each time who came out of it unscathed and standing.

The second time, they don’t actually fight, except while trying to grab the lightsaber, which breaks in two. So Rey hasn’t exactly had a string of unqualified successes. If you really watch both films, you can see her many failures. But if you are concentrating on her force use in saying she never failed, then you have to look at Luke and how he rarely ever failed either.

All three of Luke’s final confrontations in the OT would have ended with him dying had it not been for sudden and fortuitous aid. Also, if you consider Qui-gon the main character of TPM, all of the prequels end with the hero being horribly beaten. Rey has held her own in each of her final confrontations and has basically saved herself each time.

At the end of TESB, Luke quickly goes from the horror of the revelation that Vader is his father to acceptance and then he gets a new hand and is smiling with Leia, who seems more upset than he is.

Smiling is a strong term.

At the end of TLJ, Rey, who was briefly elated by the success she and Chewy had in the air over Crait, is feeling dejected and wondering what the next step is.

There’s also the bit where she is all smiles as she reunites with BB-8 and Poe.

Luke is already executing a plan to rescue Han, but Rey has no plan. So yes, please delineate how Rey just has it so easy. I don’t see it that way and I fail to see how you can if you take into account all that we see on screen.

I’m all for viewing the sequel trilogy as drama more than action, so the relative power of the hero to the villain really doesn’t bother me that much. However, I do take exception to a misrepresentation of these movies.

Laserschwert said:

I don’t think they have the ANH Falcon in any of the newer films though.

I guess recreating the SE shots would be a relatively easy task, if they could just salvage any of the camera and object animations of the old data. The shots themselves are much less complicated than what they are used to do today. Were they still using Softimage for the SE?

Anyway, re-rendering with updated models and rendering software would certainly open a can of worms and create just another SE.

Surely they could use the Falcon model used in TLJ, just replace the radar dish.

Mocata said:

Auralnauts Top 10 Definitely Real Things You Didn’t Know About Star Wars

The Imperial Conference is amazing.

That’s correct.

You’ve got some really aggressive sharpening going on, and I think that is causing blotchiness of the image generally.

It’s a nice shot, very slick like the new films. I dig it.

If I were to be creating a shot from scratch here, it would probably make more sense to have the Falcon appear in side view from the right side of the frame, then pan with it as the planet comes into view. That would visually connect with the final cockpit shot, but obviously we work with what we have.

Hal 9000 said:

I’d be open to your idea, but I wasn’t planning on adding or altering any other shots. Vader establishes moments before the scene that the Falcon “has just made the jump into hyperspace,” so I don’t feel like an added establishing shot is necessary. Stylistically, ANH never depicts ships entering or exiting hyperspace in exterior shots, so I don’t have any problem with leaving everything else as is.

Except for when we see the Falcon disappear into Hyperspace in an exterior shot. Or do you mean where we see a ship transition into hyperspace in an exterior shot with the starfield giving way to the tunnel? Has that ever been done?

I’ll take a different direction with this concept, and list the missteps from each installment which were the most inconvenient and/or caused problems for the other movies:

ANH: The Clone Wars, a throwaway reference practically guaranteeing a prequel trilogy filled with faceless cannon-fodder.
ESB: Luke and Leia’s kiss, souring the sibling retcon.
ROTJ: Killing off all the major villains, leaving no substantial threat for future sequels.
TPM: Midichlorians, dissolving much of the mysticism of the Force.
AOTC: The Sandpeople slaughter, ending all sympathy for our protagonist in the middle of the story.
ROTS: The youngling slaughter, turning Anakin from merely unsympathetic to someone that Luke would surely never try to redeem, and by extension poisoning the entire purpose for the prequels.
TFA: Destroying the Republic Capital, ensuring another repeat of Rebels vs Empire.
TLJ: Hyperspace ramming, which in concept is more effective than capital ships, shields, and Death Stars.