Octorox

The scene from Starlight I would most want to see brought in is Han hanging up the dice in the Falcon cockpit.

Honestly I think you could be a little more liberal in borrowing changes and this edit would still have a unique identity and reason for being. Imo Starlight’s biggest swing is changing Rey’s arc from a traditional hero’s journey to a more ominous dark-side adjacent thing. That is a clear change in tone and intent which deviates from what the original film was trying to do. The color grading and voiceover changes also feel more editorial: an attempt to shape the film into something else than what I was. I think if you keep these changes out but bring in moments like Han’s dice, the restructured Starkiller base firing sequence, and Kylo on the Falcon, you could make a definitive edit for those who just want an enhanced cut of the original film, rather than something that radically alters the tone and intent.

Very much agree with all of Sherlock’s criticisms, however I don’t agree about the Sith eyes. I feel like the moment does have an impact and if they were too glowy they would start to look hokey to me, like the sharp teeth in Rise of Skywalker. I’m a little on the fence about Sith eyes as a concept as is, they work with Revenge of the Sith’s operatic maximalism but they almost seem too silly and obvious for a more grounded movie like this one.

Just an idea 😏 : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rst8qcQxH_r1c_e0y8TYtoMxmrNF4_si/view?usp=sharing

So, apparently Tiktok of all places has a C3PO AI text-to-speech voice available to play with, along with a Stormtrooper and Chewbacca voice. Sample:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rv9EcW2TC9fCRJgC9_uYJWkrCp8XYXGZ/view?usp=sharing

If there were a Kylo Ren voice it would have been a great boon to Rey nobody edits, but maybe C3PO could be used for something else? I know some people had hope it were possible to create an edit where C3PO’s memory is not restored.

DominicCobb said:

Octorox said:

Now that Ascendant V2 is out, I made a Google Doc with what are think are the minimum dialogue changes needed to sell Rey Nobody. Most of these changed were inspired by (or copied from) DominicCobb’s workprint: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cPqS3MOUOwC-t1xQu4rbxbzq4laJ996bjQDPIViOmUI/edit?usp=sharing

I’d like to put together a workprint myself with these changes, I just need to figure out a lossless audio workflow.

Have you cobbled together Kylo saying “but you aren’t”? That’s an interesting idea.

It’s not exactly that, but I’ve tried cobbling something together through sentence mixing. I don’t think it quite sounds right but maybe someone better with audio could take a stab at it. Could this be a good use case for AI?https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RkCrYS16oduwY3fCLmUbkxXAKzjgLhAV/view?usp=sharing

It could be cute as a post-credits scene, but I don’t think it belongs in the movie proper.

DominicCobb said:

Octorox said:

Now that Ascendant V2 is out, I made a Google Doc with what are think are the minimum dialogue changes needed to sell Rey Nobody. Most of these changed were inspired by (or copied from) DominicCobb’s workprint: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cPqS3MOUOwC-t1xQu4rbxbzq4laJ996bjQDPIViOmUI/edit?usp=sharing

I’d like to put together a workprint myself with these changes, I just need to figure out a lossless audio workflow.

Have you cobbled together Kylo saying “but you aren’t”? That’s an interesting idea.

Not yet. That one is kind of wishful thinking but I’m going to try.

Hal 9000 said:

I exported a ProRes master file from FCP7 to import into FCPX for color grading. Then exported a ProRes master from FCPX and fed that to Compressor 4 (current version) for multi-pass, max bitrate encoding to a BluRay-compliant format. (Source material was ripped from BluRay, after all.)

Can you give any examples of compression artifacting you noticed? I can compare and see if they’re in the source, or the ProRes master file.

I will say I noticed a lot of compression artifacts in the catacombs scene on Pasaana (watching the 32GB version) It didn’t take away from my enjoyment too much but I thought it was curious they’d appear in such a high bit-rate file.

Now that Ascendant V2 is out, I made a Google Doc with what are think are the minimum dialogue changes needed to sell Rey Nobody. Most of these changed were inspired by (or copied from) DominicCobb’s workprint: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cPqS3MOUOwC-t1xQu4rbxbzq4laJ996bjQDPIViOmUI/edit?usp=sharing

I’d like to put together a workprint myself with these changes, I just need to figure out a lossless audio workflow.

I always compress my edits into zip files before uploading to google drive. It seems to throw off any sort of content ID system that might be in place.

Honestly, I don’t really have problems with the ending as is. On rewatch, the scenes that stuck out to me as dragging things down are the scene where Anakin tells Padme about his dream on the balcony (I kind of agree with Hal that it’s better if Anakin doesn’t share this info with Padme, but I kept it due to wanting to preserve the later apartment scene between the two of them) and the second seeds of the rebellion scene, as it kind of feels like it’s spinning wheels. It’s hard for me to get the idea as a viewer that she might be talking about Obi-Wan because at this point in the movie, they literally haven’t shared a single scene together. I wish the deleted scene between the two of them in Padme’s apartment surfaced, as that really feels like the missing link.

So I know I just released this edit, but I’m already thinking about the possibility of more changes. Quick question: Does anyone feel the second seeds of rebellion scene really adds anything? It’s really unclear whether the Jedi she’s talking about is Anakin or Obi-Wan, and I think the first and third scene would work just fine without the middle one. I’m just trying to find moments where I can speed up the flow of the edit. Any feedback?

Edit: The link should be accessible now.

@sherlockpotter: That’s not correct. I think you’re thinking of a different edit

Here’s a mockup of the hangar scene, using a combination of ideas from DominicCobb’s workprint and my previous mockup. I think “you will kill Palpatine” could sound better, but this was quick and dirty, so I just took it from Dom’s workprint as-is.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Qju_dgRTU7ABPhcyQ3wtIv8mXs6kB-t/view?usp=sharing

There is a workprint, I’ve seen it. Just give Dom some time to get back to you.

Anakin Starkiller said:

Can someone explain to me why the additional shots of Mustafar have been mirrored?

So that screen direction remains consistent.

GLogus said:

This edit is damn near perfect. I’m curious, however, what your reasoning was for cutting down the Obi Wan/Jango Fett fight. Parts of it are ridiculous, to be fair, but other parts are okay. It’s a very small thing that doesn’t detract from my enjoyment of the edit. I really am just curious.

I just felt like a prolonged action scene at that moment slowed down the pace of the movie. I had watched a couple edits that cut it down and felt like they had a better flow.

Thanks for the feedback. I’ll look over the audio cuts again. I didn’t notice anything while watching. Are there any others that stood out to you?

EDIT: I fixed the audio glitch when C3PO is given off to Antilles. If there are any other moments that stood out to you, I’d appreciate timestamps.

I noticed that my previous upload included AAC audio, which made the edit not burnable to a Blu-Ray Disc. I’ve fixed this by replacing the audio with ac3. This edit is also now up on FE.org!

The new version without the droid factory is available now at the usual places (or by PM).

Especially because the character literally doesn’t appear in Hal’s Episode III edit.

I plan to do some toying around with Rey Nobody once V2 is released.

So you all have convinced me to experiment with cutting the Droid Factory again. I made some additional cuts so it seems less like they’re sneaking in, which to me was the primary issue with cutting it in the first place. Let me know what you all think: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12JMzzdD8iNpD0_Bmg45y-JVTjF8ONHE-/view?usp=sharing

This edit is really cool, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Having Rey explicitly tap into the dark side in TFA is not something that would have occurred to me, but it makes so much sense considering where the sequel trilogy ends up going, and it’s pulled off flawlessly. I also appreciated the reintegrated deleted scenes, especially the scene with Han’s dice, since it nicely reminds the audience that they’re a thing and gives some extra emotional resonance to the scene in TLJ where Luke passes them on to Leia.

There were a couple things I was less keen on though. Overlaying Han and Leia’s dialogue before Kylo murders Han felt a little heavy-handed and Un-Star Warsy. The only other example of this kind of thing I can think of is when Anakin is waiting in the council chamber in Episode III and hears Palpatine’s words about saving Padme echoed. I don’t really like it there either and I think the scene works just as well without it.

The other thing that I found a little inconsistent was the color grading. It mostly looked good and was reminiscent of TLJ, but in some scenes the strong golden tint made it feel more like I was watching Lord of the Rings than Star Wars, which usually has pretty neutral colors. I also wasn’t really a fan of the grading in Jakku. I get what you were going for but in one shot the sand can look bright white and then in the next it looks brown. I also felt that it led to unnatural looking skin tones in some shots. The changes may help differentiate Jakku from Tatooine a bit but end up making it look more like Crait, which kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion.

Overall though, I think this is the best edit of The Force Awakens yet! If it weren’t for those couple of things, this would immediately replace Restructured as my go-to. As it is, it’s kind of a toss up for me but I think it will please many others. Well done.

theprion said:

GLogus said:
I think your v2 is the quintessential AotC edit. Well done.

I second this.

As much as I welcome most of the changes though, I’m sticking with V1 solely because of the Droid Factory being absent.

I applaud Octorox’ sensibilities as well and his promptness to improve on his own work while open to feedback.

Well done indeed!

The funny thing is I thought I had left a version of the droid factory in V1 until I rewatched the edit. I think taking it out was a very last minute change. I’m going to leave it for now but if I keep getting the same feedback I’m not opposed to looking at it again.