NeverarGreat

darkspire17 said:

Going to take a gues this is footage from the battle for endor, mixed into ROTJ

Quality sleuthing, Holmes.

RogueLeader said:

Hmm, I think this is a good compromise. Because narratively, it is a good character choice to have Kylo reveal reveal his face to Rey, and I don’t think it is really worth losing for just saving the reveal. While we don’t really get a good look at him here, Rey does at least so it maintains that relationship building technically, while still saving a clearer reveal for the Solo confrontation.

That was my intention, sort of to have the cake and eat it too. Later in the scene, where there are more closeups of Kylo, I’m planning some Force vision stuff which could replace those shots.

EDIT: Also meant to say I did like your village edit too. While I don’t personally mind Poe’s dialogue, since I think it endeared him to the audience immediately, it is a really cool idea displaying Kylo’s mind reading abilities early on in that way. I kinda think Poe shooting Kylo feels a little quick, maybe I’m just used to it, but I get the logic of him trying to go for the kill when he has the chance. I think music-wise I don’t like losing some of the strings immediately when Kylo freezes the laser, which is now overpowered by the fading trumpets.

Glad you liked it! Definitely the most jarring thing with this change is Poe’s immediate attack and Kylo’s sudden lightsaber activation for a single shot. There doesn’t seem to be a way to fix that however, unless I cut to a shot of Tekka being led by the troopers or something. The music was all very rough and spur-of-the-moment in editing, so any ‘official’ edit would attempt to weave the music together more coherently.

The reason I won’t be using this idea in the final movie actually has to do with Finn. In the original edit, the massacre brought the focus of the scene back to Finn and his dilemma, whereas in this edit the focus always stays with Kylo, and Finn becomes more of a background character.

And like I have mentioned on Hal’s TFA thread before, I think it would be nice if you could crop the shot where Kylo pauses right before killing Lor San Tekka, since it seems like his saber is on even before we hear it activate.

That’s a good idea.

I’ve experimented with the lighting of the interrogation scene before, but this time it serves a more practical purpose:

https://vimeo.com/298092270
Password: fanedit

Digmod has attempted to preserve the Kylo reveal by keeping the mask on in this scene, but it might be more simple and effective to have Kylo be in perpetual darkness here with this selective lighting and some cutting around Kylo’s closeups.

LordZerome1080 said:

If they do take a five year break they should get rid of Kathleen, restore majority of the EU, promote Pablo as creative director, redo the prequels and restore and release the OUT. If anyone has a problem with this please pm me instead of derailing the thread.

Why would you think the guy in charge of this should be creative director?

Not trying to be negative, just honestly perplexed as to why people seem to think he’s the new visionary leader of Star Wars.

A restructure of the village scene, a what-if not intended for inclusion in the final edit:

https://vimeo.com/297185306
Password: fanedit

Jumping backwards again, I’ve never been a fan of the glitchy Stormtrooper reveal at the beginning of the movie.

Here’s a look at the opening shot without the Stormtroopers, with the score replaced with ambience and an alternate composition for the scene:

https://vimeo.com/297109785
Password: fanedit

JEDIT: What if there was no music at all until BB-8 rolled into frame?
JEDIT2: Video reuploaded, now with cleaned music track.

It’s funny, I thought that it was supposed to be the same pilot in both films, with Rian just forgetting that he did in fact die in TFA.

I like that idea. His dubbing feels a bit out of place anyway, in the kind of goofy exaggeration that JJ seems to like.

The trench run is definitely unfortunate, but it might be a case of cutting all of it or none, due to how it’s held together with the music. I have some ambitious ideas for this part of the movie right now, but I’m going to see if they are at all feasible before saying anything else…

moviefreakedmind said:

I’ve found that over the last year or two the RedLetterMedia people piss me off more and more. I think it has to do with the disgusting worship that a lot of their fans have for their opinions, but I also think that it has something to do with the way they pretend to be these common folk that aren’t pretentious (which is a quality they claim to hate) but their commentary is some of most pretentious that I’ve ever seen. Just because they put it forth in a vulgar and casual way doesn’t make it less so. And I know I shouldn’t be talking because I think I’m right about everything and I think almost everyone that disagrees with me is wrong and stupid, but I admit it. I say all this as someone that used to be a die-hard RLM fan.

Jay has always been somewhat snobbish, which has only gotten more severe over the years. I don’t know if that is exactly equivalent to pretentiousness though.

Mike however is not at all pretentious IMO. If anything, he comes across to me as self-deprecating. Maybe you will say this is his ‘common folk’ persona hiding his true pretentiousness, but whatever.

With the ability to edit again, I’m jumping around rather haphazardly and playing with a bunch of ideas. One of them is to remove the alien subtitles from the Rathtar scene, since Bala-Tik already says the important bits. Instead, I would like to add subtitles first to the alien pirates in Maz’s castle, but also to Teedo’s scene near the beginning of the movie to help flesh out the world:

https://vimeo.com/296737963
Password: fanedit

Just like with the crawl, I’ve tried to accomplish a lot with a small bit of text. For example, Rey opens with a declarative statement which conforms to the structure of the classic mind trick, which shows that she is well aware of how this power was used. Placing this scene right before Kylo’s interrogation of Poe illustrates how much stronger Kylo is at this point in the movie than Rey. That Rey believes BB-8 is a person due to Jedi legend shows how much Luke Skywalker in particular had to do with reshaping the Jedi image in the past 30 years, and gives his character power and influence right out of the gate. Similarly, Rey so easily falling back on Jedi legend shows her to be sort of a religious devotee, which fits with her superiority and isolation from other people. Finally, Teedo’s denigration of the Jedi as a superstition shows how much Luke as a physical presence is needed in the galaxy.

JEDIT: After giving it some thought, it’s too much too fast. Here’s a stripped down version that just focuses on Rey’s attempt at a mind trick or two, which connects to the Unkar Plutt subplot:

https://vimeo.com/296788907
Password: fanedit

RogueLeader said:

Damn, nice job. Did you take that part of Rey from the other shot. If you do go back and add the footsteps I probably would add the rolling sound of BB-8 entering the room as well since he is suddenly there as well.

Yes, that bit of Rey is from the other shot. She’s passing in front of the green Falcon lights in that one, so the masking isn’t great, but it might be good enough for a brief bit of movement at the end of the shot.

It’s funny your brother said that, because at first I thought it was weird that it went from the shot of Han passing BB-8 to Han already next to Chewie and I wondered if that was a new cut, but that’s how it is in the theatrical version as well!

I am pretty sure that these cuts are due to much of the movie being left on the cutting room floor to make it fit the two hour mark.

And yeah, at the very least I would reinsert Finn breaking eye contact if you could. It’s a subtle clue to Han that he’s lying about something, which at the very least is enough to explain what Han says to Finn later on.

Yep, it’s going to go back in.

It does serve this purpose for sure. Though I think that we could assume Han would see through Finn’s act regardless, and I kind of like that Han might go on nothing more than his instinct rather than on a cartoonish incompetence that is IMO too much a part of Finn’s characterization.

As for Rey simply appearing in scene, I agree that it’s still too abrupt, and actually made a version 3 the other day before calling it quits:

https://vimeo.com/296396694
Password: Fanedit

Rey now appears briefly entering the room. Added footsteps would be a good idea.

I had shown the previous versions to my brother, who doesn’t care for this movie anyway, and he pointed out that the movie feels cut to pieces in this scene even before any edit, so I tried to consolidate and lengthen shots to give it more substance. That is why Finn’s reaction shot is absent, with Han’s shots on either side stitched together. I tend to agree with you that this reaction shot is necessary however, so the deletion will probably remain just a proof of concept.

Wouldn’t it have been interesting if Qui-Gon was revealed to be Anakin’s father in Episode 1 at the end of the movie like this?

It might even be possible with the footage available. Just cut the conversation about Anakin’s parentage with Shmi, Qui-Gon’s bewilderment about the boy, the midichlorian test. Make it so that going to Tatooine is purely Qui-Gon’s idea, and edit the dinner scene to include a meaningful glance or two between Qui-Gon and Shmi.

This would also work going forward. Anakin’s love for Padme is a mirror of his father’s secret relationship with Shmi, as well as his dream of freeing the slaves. That he can suddenly become a Force ghost at the end of ROTJ is similarly explained since his father also discovered the ability on his own and presumably after his death.

Another mockup, this one more complete and aiming to remove the game board distraction from the Falcon:

https://vimeo.com/296208376
Password: fanedit

The biggest issue for me is that Rey sort of comes out of nowhere, so I made another version which attempts to retain some of the comedy they were going for in the scene (and give Rey some sass):

https://vimeo.com/296208409
Password: fanedit

So is the sass worth it?

Collipso made the mistake of thinking that this forum is a democracy. It isn’t, nor should it be.

One thing I worry about is that the toxicity once held in the politics thread could drift into other areas of the forum once somewhat immune. How often have we said ‘Take it to the politics thread’ to preserve the civility of another one? Now the only recourse is to ban members who wish to express political views, or lock any thread which becomes mired in such toxicity. For this reason, I think there’s a place for such a thread.

But bigger picture, what do we want in this forum?

I think everyone who frequents this site comes here because they find something here to enjoy, whether it’s the projects, the other members, Star Wars in general, or even some peculiar interest only served by the Off-Topic section. For me, I try to read every topic in the General and Fan Preservation/Fan Edits sections, and much of the Off-Topic section(s). I love to see people’s creativity and hear their love for movies. I think there is still a lot of this site which feels like it’s from an earlier internet time, when the camaraderie of shared interests overwhelmed any cynicism or division. Or maybe I joined in a time of relative calm, where the Star Wars universe was just six movies forvermore and we all knew how we felt about them, and this is all a case of rose-colored glasses.

The temptation is strong to descend into mean-spirited arguments with other members, to make decisions one later regrets. I’m no stranger to that vice. So I guess my point is that we could all stand to remember what brought us here in the first place, and what we want this site to be.

RogueLeader said:

I like the change! Not a major change but I think it would be effective. Would it be a big challenge to rescore it appropriately?

Probably no more difficult than rescoring the destruction of Starkiller Base. The only dialogue that would have to be moved is Finn shouting ‘No!’.

I just ate some American cheese, which by the way is either the favorite or least favorite of the cheeses I will eat, depending on whether it’s high quality or heavily processed.

Bobson Dugnutt said:

Now armed with ZigZig’s PaNup SDTV source, I’ve updated the timeline to include it at a higher quality. The Palpatine’s office bit now fades in on both ends (Qui-Gon and Anakin/Jar Jar) and hopefully isn’t as noticable as a hard cut.

https://vimeo.com/294771071

I’ve also started on the subtitles, but am taking some creative liberties with them as to make them more eye-pleasing to me as it appears the subtitles are rather squashed, even when scaled back to how it originally should look. It’s now just the 69pt and -30 tracking, which looks better IMO.

Compared to what it would look like if it was closer to the Z Bootleg

Perhaps the ‘squashed’ look would be better for a large screen, so that audiences could more easily read the entire text.

Here’s an attempt at replicating the bootleg subtitles in Photoshop, using Franklin Gothic Demi Condensed, the settings are 63 pt with 109% letter height and a value of zero for tracking. Drop shadow is 150 degrees.
With a bit of blurring (1.8%) to approximate the bootleg, this is what it looks like:

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/W7YGNNNX

I had some gator, crawfish, and frog legs at the fair, which is also how I’d rate them.

The idea to edit Maz’s Castle battle isn’t going to work in the way I envisioned, due to the placement of the music. In short, the sequence
Han and Finn captured
Kylo finding Rey
Resistance arrival
Kylo abducts Rey
suffers from emotional whiplash, which was the opposite of what I was trying to achieve.

However, there is one change that I think could work quite well, and that is changing the abduction so that Finn starts running to Rey before it’s obviously too late:

https://vimeo.com/295908704
Password: fanedit

It’s music only for now, with the version 6 LUT.

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

NeverarGreat said:

snooker said:

Doesn’t R2 have wheels? Or am I going crazy?

I expect that the droids have wheels because the designers literally couldn’t think of another way for them to move around. But I think it’s telling that the wheels are either barely noticeable or covered by panels.

They could have hovered, like every other vehicle in Star Wars ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I meant as a practical solution that wouldn’t require excessive special effects for the budget and era.

snooker said:

Doesn’t R2 have wheels? Or am I going crazy?

I expect that the droids have wheels because the designers literally couldn’t think of another way for them to move around. But I think it’s telling that the wheels are either barely noticeable or covered by panels.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Alright, here’re all my ideas for Return of the Jedi: The David Lynch Cut:

• John Williams’ score is replaced with a discordant Lynchian score.
• Bib Fortuna is replaced with The Mystery Man from Lost Highway.
• Jabba is given large, disgusting pustules, which The Mystery Man constantly lances and drains.
• The Black Lodge inhabitants from Twin Peaks & Fire Walk with Me are among Jabba’s courtiers.
• Oola is given a heart plug, which Jabba pulls out before tossing her to the rancor.
• Leia is forced to perform a striptease for Jabba and his men.
• The Sarlacc is made even more vaginal in appearance.
• Leia strangles Jabba so hard, his entire pustule-ridden body bursts in gory fashion.
• The Death Star II is now a shell encasing a miniature black hole. This black hole is the gateway to Palpatine’s extradimensional throne room. Palpatine’s throne room is now identical to Snoke’s (red walls and all that).
• Palpatine is given white, cataracted eyes, and he speaks “backwards”.
• Force Ghost Obi-Wan is now a living tree with a fleshy mass for a head.
• Madine is now a member of this alien race, and constantly drinks/eats/smokes/etc. through the top of his head.
• Luke & Leia have visibly uncomfortable twincestual sex right before heading off to Endor.
• Michael J. Anderson’s face is superimposed on all the Ewoks.
• The Ewoks eat all of Han’s extremities before Luke performs the floating Threepio trick.
• Leia is forced to carry a limb-less Han on her back throughout the rest of the picture.
• Luke & Vader enter Palpatine’s throne room through a psychedelic 2001-style stargate sequence.
• Instead of firing a green superlaser which blows ships up, the Death Star II fires an inverted violet/black singularity beam which sucks ships down into the miniature black hole, crushing them out of existence.
• Palpatine’s Force lightning looks/works exactly the same way as the Death Star II’s singularity beam, and affects Luke by spaghettifying his body and drawing him into Palpatine’s being.
• After Palpatine is thrown down the reactor shaft and explodes, a giant, ghostly sperm cell rises from the abyss before fading away.
• Sebastian Shaw is replaced with old Mark Hamill.
• The Rebels take out the Death Star II by destroying the miniature black hole.
• “Yub Nub” & “Victory Celebration” are replaced with “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)”.
• Force Ghost Yoda is now a giant.

Many of these ideas are actually good.

Except that Luke already carries the supporting cast on his back for the entire movie.

dahmage said:

ChainsawAsh said:

Guys, the trailer doesn’t have final color grading. It’s mostly to show off the cleanup work that’s been done, which if I’m not mistaken is also not quite done.

If it’s anything like 4K77, it’ll be ready to go in a couple weeks as far as cleanup and stuff goes, then everyone will argue about the color for six more months before it finally is released.

you forgot that we will also argue about the colors for six months after the release as well.

Or for those with uncalibrated monitors and a lack of good sense, forever.

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

NeverarGreat said:

Wheels are a somewhat non-Star Warsy thing.

What are you talking about?

That is an image only a motherboard could love.