NeverarGreat

It was too good/bad to pass up.

DominicCobb said:

This is a fun read: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/how-to-build-an-autocracy/513872/

From the article:
“As for refugees, Nowrasteh writes, Trump’s action ‘is a response to a phantom menace.’”

canofhumdingers said:

Huh, I always called it the tan-TEEV four.

For those who didn’t watch, they pronounce it TAN-ti-vee four, where the middle syllable is a short “i” sound.

So that’s why Mike Verta pronounces it that way. I always thought he was vocalizing the ‘V’ from ‘IV’, even though that doesn’t make sense either.

Well then you’re very welcome 😃

JEDIT: I’ll just leave this idea here to come back to later, since there’s edit specific stuff to do right now:

As it is presented in the film, R2 has been in low power mode ‘since Luke went away’. BB-8 suggests that the map to Luke could be in R2’s backup data, and at the end of the film C-3PO says ‘you’ve found what?’, indicating that R2 has been searching his backup files in low power mode since Luke went away. The problem of course is that it is awfully convenient that he just happens to finish his search when everyone needs a morale boost at the end of the film. The idea that the presence of Rey unlocked the data also strains credulity, in my opinion.

So, my idea is to have R2 awaken some moments after BB-8 hits him but after the others are gone, using the beginning of the shot where his lights come on. He has overheard BB-8’s comment about his backup data, something he had not considered. He then starts to comb through his data, perhaps using a new sound and a flashing light on his body, much like the light of a hard drive reading data. Then, at the end of the film, he can complete his search and announce his discovery as usual.

Excellent. I apologize for continually bombarding you with half-baked ideas, it’s my perfectionist/tinkering nature. You’ll just have to render V2 eventually just to get me to shut up. 😉

He probably remembered Luke throwing the grappling hook twice.

The scene flows better without it (I prefer the scene in V1), but I think it serves the film more to establish the base at this point. Han refers twice to the fact that Finn has worked on the base, so right now it feels like a callback with no origin. It’s a tossup for me, whether to serve the moment or the continuity of the film.

Also, there may be a way to rearrange the scenes in this area of the film for greater effect. If after ‘I need you to tell me all you know’ we cut to Rey’s interrogation, it continues that info-gathering theme. Then, since Kylo’s questions are about Luke’s location, cutting directly back to Leia examining BB-8’s map after Kylo’s temper tantrum continues the Luke theme. The Resistance base scenes continue until ‘The report on the enemy base is coming in’. Having Han and Leia’s talk about Kylo after he has just been unmasked may now have more emotional effect, since we can put a face to their discussion. Then we cut to Hux’s demonstration. The audience learns the capabilities of the weapon just as Leia does, and after this the film progresses as normal.

This has the added benefit of allowing for more time between Finn (presumably) telling Leia the location of the Starkiller and the reconnaissance flight which results in highly detailed scan data.

It could work like that, but I don’t know that one is better than the other. It’s already a short exchange. It was also some work to get Poe’s mouth to look right at that point in the conversation.

flametitan said:

HP. Lovecraft said:

DominicCobb said:

Galen didn’t construct the DS, only the laser.

Then how did he construct a convenient way for the rebels to destroy it???

That’s a common misconception. He didn’t. All he did was make an unstable reactor to set off the chain reaction. That’s why he wanted the rebels to steal the plans, so they could figure out on their own how to set it off. He didn’t have a clue how the rebels would do it. It’s entirely possible he was expecting an espionage mission than a bunch of snub fighters trying to make a one in a million shot.

So it would have been possible for, say, a 4 person crew to infiltrate the Death Star and sabotage the faulty reactor using the Death Star plans carried by R2? It’s a good thing there was never the chance for such a sabotage mission or the Rebellion wouldn’t have needed to give away the position of its base and send almost all of its fighters to their destruction.
😉

Here it is with the truncated line:

https://mega.nz/#!jc0QGAZB!O8P8q_gTpxa5tXwtlk8ypPUEUAc59gUxFrCbpxhwtlc

I gave up trying to turn ‘the weapon’ into ‘their weapon’, so if anyone else wants to take a stab at it, be my guest.

Considering that Leia has some awareness of the First Order’s capabilities, perhaps the crawl needs to more specifically reference a weapon:

Episode VII
THE FORCE AWAKENS

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen in secret from the ashes of the Empire with a weapon of unfathomable power.

Unable to convince the New Republic of this deadly peril, General Leia Organa gathers allies from across the galaxy to form a covert RESISTANCE.

Desperate for her brother’s help, Leia has sent her most trusted pilot on a daring mission to Jakku, where a clue has been discovered to Luke’s whereabouts…

I think it’s somewhat important to let the audience know that they will eventually be dealing with another Death Star-like weapon, so that they can adjust their expectations from the outset. 😉

Perhaps if he says “Finn is familiar with their weapon system, he worked on the base”. It still references a weapon, but we have already seen the Starkiller twice at this point, so most people probably assume it’s some kind of weapon.

Another idea for the edit:
https://mega.nz/#!iN83iIrQ!he9Q9EX-CgV3f3DtSmpboXohXV6NSqytnx2DL8oIx_8

In version 1, the first time we hear about Finn working on the Starkiller Base is in the briefing, and it feels like we’re missing crucial information about both Finn and the base. With this in mind, I’ve changed Poe’s line so that it reads: “Finn’s familiar with a weapon in the Hosnian system, he worked on the base.” This establishes that the Starkiller, not the Republic, is based in the Hosnian system. In giving it a named location, it also presumes reconnaissance by the Resistance.

I think it might work if the sound was finessed a bit more, the biggest issue is one of canonicity, since nobody knows whether the word ‘Hosnian’ will come up again in the Sequel Trilogy. Presumably it will, but then again Alderaan was never brought up again after Star Wars.

JEDIT: Or, since there’s a brief cutaway to Leia, he could say any made-up location at all, as long as it doesn’t sound unnatural.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Earl said:

And just for fun

ITFY

You have clearly not achieved Special Edition George Lucas, since he still has his eyebrows.

Jetrell Fo said:

The state of Indiana recently calculated the cost of illegal immmigration in their state to be $130 million. This makes me think that the estimates for the map may be 4-5 times greater than reality. So $80 billion total cost divided by the low estimate of 4 is $20 billion, which is about the cost of the Trump border wall - a wall which by the way won’t decrease the number of illegal immigrants already in the country.

.

I think the crawl is wonderful, a great improvement of the original.

The Leia scene will entail quite a lot of effects work, starting with the footage itself. I also have a few more ideas about how to integrate it into the scene. 😃

Jetrell Fo said:

This is America at her finest for sure. Sometimes seeing it takes time and a nudge from an unlikely situation.

On a separate note, I’d like to share a post I found from a Native American regarding his thoughts on this recent Executive Order issue. These are not my words nor does he speak for me or anyone else.

Listen, people. Being politically correct is a slow death. Hate is real. Whole countries have hated us since before we existed. Our nation decimated my Indian ancestors. Can’t change or fix that. But feeling bad doesn’t change the fact that there are men in certain countries that would spend big money to do unspeakable things to yours and mine. That being said, let’s be real and understand that not one single person reading this, or otherwise, is gonna change shit!

You can choose to cry, grovel, associate, etc., THESE MOFOS HATE US! They probably should. America sprouted out of nowhere, with a common interest of freedom. Are you really free? We’re all slaves to our jobs, for what? Cool house, car, or whatever bullshit they tell you you need? I say it’s all a farce, and it will never mean shit until people realize that none of us control our destiny. Most let the idiot box do it for them.

Question. Can you fish? Hunt? Build? Fight? THINK? LIVE? Then maybe you’ll make it for the short fucking time you’re allowed to spin through space! Nothing is promised, from the day we were born. Instead of some hateful rebuttal, think about it. What are we here for? What’s really worth getting upset and or dying for? My family and my fellow countrymen is all I have. So if some asshole that wants to subjucate me more than I already am, can’t fly here to kill me or one of my family? I say rot in the sand.

We’ve already seen what trying to make some cultures assimilate does. Cultural marxism is only a failure if we keep trying to accompish it. THEY HATE US! Not the other way around.

Peace!

This is the sort of nihilism that saddens me to my core. The idea that we are mere creatures of filth and circumstance, predestined for a future of meanness and ‘might makes right’, is wholly against everything that the noble spiritual traditions and philosophical movements of this planet stand for. It’s insidious and makes us less than we can be, and I feel more and more that the fight against apathy and nihilism must be my fight.

Thanks, I used the wipes because they tend to soften a quick transition. I’ll try it without and see how it works.

@Kexikus: Originally I thought that the natural place for the scene was after ‘I need your help’, but after putting it there it just didn’t work for me. The problem is that you expect an immediate response to Finn’s line, and cutting to a somewhat arbitrary bit of exposition is too much whiplash. At least with its placement just after Finn’s arrival, he could be taking in the sights. This allows the audience to take a momentary break from his story.

I also cut the entire resistance base section into pieces to try and work it in later, but there’s just no place. As George Lucas once said, if you move just one piece all the rest don’t work.

No worries, I too do that all the time 😃

Last night I played around with Youtube rips of the deleted scenes trying to cobble together a usable mockup of Leia at the Resistance base: https://mega.nz/#!iY83FLZI!U5kMj4Efpv70sttWNIQL507rkKf19JgGn7MUJSmnBm4

It feels somewhat jarring the first time, but after a few watchthroughs I don’t feel the deletion of the Finn material nearly as much.

I liked the ‘return to power’ better, as it is simpler, but I understand that there could be confusion about that. Instead of that third sentence being a veiled allusion to SKB, it would be better if you stated its secret presence outright.

‘Demilitarized New Republic’ is accurate but perhaps too advanced a term for the crawl.

I don’t think you need the word ‘daring’ if you use ‘trusted’ directly before it.

Yeah, I’d let the audience decide whether Poe’s mission is daring or not.

MalàStrana said:

(as far as I’m concerned the ending “helicopter shot” is absolutely hideous. So cheap, so weird - looks like Luke is played by a dummy -, so out of place, so… dumb… I would completely remove it)

I don’t think it’s entirely out of place, but it doesn’t work well at the end. I made a mockup of how this scene might end differently, but it’s definitely outside the scope of this edit:
https://mega.nz/#!HN9U0DbA!Rf6CCKIlVMGYasEtMUv2MDXHRZitSEqaHQMRmjSrqEQ

http://www.theonion.com/article/white-house-staff-reminded-place-lids-firmly-trash-55168

hehehe.

The SKB sequence is complete, as far as I’m concerned, so it’s ready for final render 😃

On another note, the final shot of the film has bothered me since my first viewing, since it weaves and bobs drunkenly. I scaled it 107% and stabilized it: https://vimeo.com/201330286
Password: stable
Full quality:
https://mega.nz/#!bUVzlQ7Y!Sw0THl1J_Wtgtrq_bbTvydGVmAgNLBph959eCgMddVs

What do you think? I know it’s not strictly related to the edit. 😃

DuracellEnergizer said:

Carnosaur (1993)

This movie is the anti-Jurassic Park. Whereas Jurassic Park had innovative special effects, strong direction, great characters, damn good acting, and leaves the viewer in awe of the majesty of dinosaurs and nature herself, Carnosaur has effects which would’ve been laughable in the '70s, direction on auto pilot, paper-thin characters, tepid-to-poor acting, and leaves the viewer wanting to nuke the Earth just to cleanse the universe of the species which made this movie.

2/10

I’d hate to see what sort of cinematic abomination would make you give a movie 1/10.