Cool! So that at least makes it Daisy, Adam and John who for sure wrapped today.
FYI this photo is from way earlier in production. Both Daisy and Adam Driver’s make up artists also posted today about wrapping at Pinewood. So both Daisy and Adam filmed today. It’s possible John Boyega and Oscar Isaac did too, but there is also no indication either way on that I believe.
To add to the Jordan speculation. Honestly a part of me thinks it is a new planet, because the background aliens that we’ve scene in other leaks don’t really match the look of the other planets’ citizens. But since JJ has already done a new desert planet, I like to think he would want to immediately do another new desert planet, and that going to a desert planet in this movie is significant in some way.
If I had to guess between the familiar worlds, I would have to go with Jedha. I mean, it’s the same filming location, the leaked background would fit in as Jedha denizens more than the people on Jakku or Tatooine. And personally I think it would be cool to see a planet that has a chunk blown out of it.
Episode IX: There is No Adequate Way to Thank This Truly Magical Crew and Cast. I’m Forever Indebted to You All.
It’s a beautiful photo. And I’m really digging all their costumes, especially their hair. I love Rey’s buns. Similar to the old one’s but still new. Almost like Leia buns.
Yeah, I agree that the film has a lot to juggle, and because of that maybe the film could’ve bit in a bit more to make certain things a little clearer to more people.
And that’s a good way to explain Finn, Dom! Finn has always been about running away, but now that he believes in the cause, he is almost going overboard, wanting to be a martyr for the cause! But Rose is basically like, “whoa, slow down cowboy”. And last lesson she gives him about what they fight for.
Your first message also made be picture Finn flying into the ram cannon and destroying it, but then the First Order just drops a second one down in front of it. Haha.
I’ve messed around with it too and I just cut all of that out. Because Qi’ra and Han kind of repeat the things they want in the speeder on the way to the spaceport.
So in your version, you have him find Qi’ra in the sewers and then hop on the speeder?
What a great video! Love that guy’s attitude. Thanks for sharing.
I’ll try to touch on how some of his thoughts might could be applied to edits.
A new idea I hadn’t really heard was trying to swap out Han and Qi’ra introduction with the alternate Qi’ra intro deleted scene. I really like his reasoning. I personally was thinking about cutting all of the Lady Proxima stuff, and just have Han hotwiring the speeder at the very beginning of the film be the start of the speeder chase. But, if I were to keep Proxima I think I would like to try that alternative.
He had an interesting thought regarding Dryden, and how it would’ve been interesting if he didn’t necessarily seem like such a bad guy at the beginning of the film. I can understand that, maybe you could cut out Dryden’s intro with him killing the Imperial Moff, maybe trim some of his threats. But I also think having Dryden be threatening is important to make the stakes of their mission feel high. Hmm, interesting decision.
He also mentioned making Maul’s reveal be a little more subdued, but others have already began attempting this. For me it is either a question of making the cameo a little more subtle or cutting it altogether.
Yes, the scene tries to make it clear to the audience that Finn was going to fail. Both Poe and Rose say it’s not going to work. As Finn is making his final approach, he says, “weapons hot”, implying he needs to shoot inside of it in order to possibly destroy it. As he gets close, though, the cannons on his skimmer bend and melt off. Finn gives it a look of acceptance, seems like he has realized he is going to die.
So even though it might seem weird that the door blows up while Rose and Finn kiss, that was inevitable regardless if Finn died or not. But at least Finn didn’t throw his life away, and there’s still a chance he might make it out of this alive.
I’m not disagreeing though that maybe they could have done one extra thing to make that 100% clear, because there are still people who say, “Well maybe Finn crashing inside of it could have been enough to stop it”. The movie implies it won’t work by focusing on the skimmer’s guns. I’ve suggested this over on the fan edit threads, but if an AT-AT locked onto Finn near the last moment, and Rose knocked him out of the way just in time of an oncoming laser blast, I think it would have made it definitively clear for people.
Although this also overlooks the fact that there must be a smaller entryway through the trenches as well, since Poe and the other pilots apparently got back in without opening the door, and the same goes for all of the soldiers who were in the trenches when the First Order showed up. So the First Order getting into the base was inevitable, but defending potentially one small door could buy them more time for rescue than having to defending a massive hole in the wall.
Now, what makes Finn’s attempted sacrifice different from Paige or Holdo’s. The movie sets these sacrifices apart in two ways.
First, Paige and Holdo’s deaths are painted as inevitable. Both Paige and Holdo were going to die regardless of what they did. Paige was on near-destroyed bomber, and Holdo was on a ship running on fumes and “tied to the end of a string”. Finn, on the other hand, could have turned around and tried to survive. It wasn’t his only option.
Another way these sacrifices were differentiated was by mindset. One of the last things we see Paige do before she dies is clutch onto her necklace, implying that saving her sister is what is driving her to do this. She is driven by love.
Before the transports depart the Raddus, Leia and Holdo have a very personal goodbye and hold onto each other’s hands tightly. Holdo loves Leia and the Resistance.
Finn on at least two occasions shows that he isn’t necessarily driven by love or compassion. After the Fathier chase, Finn states, “It was worth it. To tear up that town. Make them hurt.” Which Rose replies by removing the saddle off of the Fathier and send it running off to freedom, then saying, “Now it’s worth it.” This illustrates how Finn and Rose are motivated by two different mindsets. Motivated by hate versus love.
During the Battle of Crait, when Poe orders Finn to retreat with Rose agreeing, Finn retorts with, “No! I won’t let them win!” Finn at this point seems driven by hate for the First Order, and it sort of made him oblivious to his death being unecessary. It also kind of culminates Rose’s story as well. She wasn’t able to save Paige, someone she loved, but she could save Finn, someone she has grown to care for. She doesn’t want Finn to die for something that’s not guaranteed to work, and she doesn’t want him to die for revenge.
The movie is trying to demonstrate a message about how the motivating force that drives our actions in everyday life can have a huge effect on ourselves. Acting out of love and compassion rather than hate and anger can make us more well-rounded people. Sort of like how hate and revenge can just be a viscious cycle, whereas love and forgiveness are better paths to healing.
But within the film, I also personally believe this lesson will have implications into Finn’s storyline in IX, but I won’t go into that here.
There are probably essays that describe this better than I have. Just my two cents.
The Snoke scenes are what I feel to be the most up in the air right now. He’s one of the weakest parts of the movie in my opinion and I’m just not sure how to make it better so it’s a matter of throwing ideas at the wall until one sticks.
Actually, the idea is to have a scene with just Hux and Snoke where Hux first floats the idea of destroying the Republic, but it might be too small a scene to work. It might be better to have Kylo there as well with the only dialogue with Snoke being about the awakening.
Yeah, maybe it would just be better to have the two scenes be as they are. By keeping the earlier Snoke scene, we also get a glimpse of Starkiller in the movie a little sooner, and logically it still works. They lost the trail of the droid, so they fell back to Starkiller and wait for their spies to pick up the scent. But like you said, it might be something just to keep playing around with.
Also, I have been wondering if it would be weird to not get a hint about what Finn and Han do about Phasma, but the more I watch it the more I think it works without mentioning it. I mean, we can just assume they shoved her into a janitor closet or something. Because even by keeping the trash compactor joke, people still wondered how she got out in time and survived Starkiller’s destruction. I also think by having her sound the alarm, it helps create more momentum to the next scene and not feel awkward.
Maybe it feels a little asexual for guys, but I know plenty of girls who are getting a lot out of Rey and Kylo Ren! Haha.
Hmm, that is pretty interesting!
Is it necessary to slow down that one shot of Kylo turning?
Also, I would definitely suggest toning down the music and klaxons a little. It’s kind of hard to hear what Phasma is saying.
A total vfx remastering would be infeasible, I think, unless they did an official Prequel Special Edition. Haha.
Maybe if there were more specific things that were addressed, it would be easier for people to tackle them.
If I had to suggest one thing that needs to be played with vfx-wise, I would go with the first deleted scene of Padmé from AOTC, where she is addressing the Senate. The vfx were clearly not 100% completed, because it looks pretty crappy compared to the Senate scenes in TPM. Even the “Senate chatter” sound effects sound like placeholders or just incomplete.
I think some of those shots just need to be replaced by some Senate shots from TPM, improve the sound effects, and maybe do a few other things to it.
Yeah, I think this could work!
It is a lot to play with though, isn’t it? Watching it I realized all the different ways you could rearrange the scenes. I’ll just mention a few things.
The cut to the interrogation seemed weird at first, but I think with music it won’t feel as weird, so that’s just a rough cut thing probably. I’m guessing you put it there instead of after Han and Leia’s conversation so the transition would make feel like enough time has passed for Snap to recon Starkiller and come back, right? Or maybe one reason.
I kinda liked how in your old versions how you reversed the shot of the Stormtrooper so he would just turn back around after he called Rey “scavenger scum”. Do you feel that didn’t work really well?
One interesting thing that happens by this restructure is that you fix a continuity error with Kylo Ren. When he is marching back to Rey’s interrogation room, he doesn’t have his hood. And then when he enters the room, he has it draped over him. But now, it makes it seem like he put it on when he went outside, and then just left it on when he came back in. Not a big deal but kinda neat.
I kinda think having Kylo put his helmet back on during the Snoke conversation doesn’t work, but maybe if you could somehow have those “putting helmet back on” sounds happen over shots where we don’t see Kylo at all, it could. So either crop the shot that it’s on, or do it over close ups of Hux and/or Snoke.
I’m also not sure if I’m 100% into the way the two scenes are put together in this version, but I do think it could work. I understand why it is this way, though. In your edit, we don’t have an earlier scene with Snoke, right? Because basically the first half of the movie Kylo and Hux are just after BB-8, they don’t go back to Starkiller. I mean that makes more sense to me, so I’m good with trying to make that work.
One thing that seems kinda weird is splitting the “Kylo Searches the Falcon” deleted scene. I wonder if you could push back to after Rey escapes. And also, possibly pushing back the “Han Solo” turn Kylo does to a little later, like maybe after they get back with Rey, or make it the scene after Han deciding to use the explosives to blow a whole in the Oscillator. If that wouldn’t work, maybe just cut the shot of Kylo in the Falcon cockpit turning around dramatically, and just start with the shot of him walking away from the Falcon. As it is now, it feels like Kylo has just been standing there the whole time. By cutting that shot, we could imagine he could’ve been exploring the Falcon some more off-camera.
Were there certain effects you think needed changing? I know some cgi hasn’t aged well, like some shots of Jar Jar look a little noticeable in TPM.
I’ve heard of people wanting to add certain cgi elements to scene, but not necessarily doing them.
That is exactly it! While I do think more people will come around to the film overtime, as people move on and then look back at it in retrospect, I can’t help but wonder if some things had been made a little clearer from the beginning that there wouldn’t be as much criticism.
I’m not saying I’m against radical changes, there are some more radical changes that I like for the prequels, and I would argue TFA: Restructured itself is a pretty big departure from the theatrical, but I don’t think a lot of people understand what TLJ was going for. I think the ideas of the film work, but maybe more people would’ve understood it if the film had spelled some things out just a bit more for the audience. You have to admit that for a two and a half hour film, there is a lot to digest.
And I’m not necessarily saying even certain small changes are necessary to improve the film, but I think they would be at least worth experimenting with to see how people respond to them. If I, or someone else, could make an edit that could make fans come around to TLJ more, then I would be pretty happy with that.
Eh, it is hard to say.
A lot of the common issues people bring up didn’t really bother me when I watched it initially. But over time I’ve read/heard fair arguments for why certain things didn’t work for them. But I think that a lot of those people would’ve been okay with those things if there was bit more clarity or restraint.
But I guess you can say it is in a way trying to please crowds, but a lot of people still might not be pleased with my restrained approach if they have their mind already set on certain things they don’t like about the movie.
One example is Rose saving Finn. I knew from my first screening that a lot of people wouldn’t like it, and I’ll admit it is a little cheesy. There have been a lot of edits that have tried to address this, but I try to go back to the original question of why it didn’t work for people. The most common answer I hear is that it wasn’t clear enough that Finn wouldn’t have stopped the cannon. So, what would be the smallest change that would have the biggest impact on addressing this issue?
That is really what an editor’s job is. Trying to make what is there, work. An editor needs restraint just as much as a director, and understanding their vision can help keep you grounded.
And there is also something satisfying about finding simple/clever solutions to problems rather than having to move mountains in order to address them.
Yeah, arguably one of the biggest themes of the entire saga is redemption. And I think with redemption also comes to question of forgiveness.
Both Darth Vader and Kylo Ren have done terrible things, but I think a big part of Vader’s atonement was his son forgiving him for what he did. Leia struggled with ever being able to forgive her father for what he did, and now she is ironically having to come to terms with that in the form of her own son.
I think an optimistic theme of these films is that it should never be too late for someone to do the right thing. To turn back. Obviously the question of forgiveness has been debated for ages by politicians, philosophers and religious leaders. But I think for Star Wars, it definitely does take the route of even the most evil people are capable of being forgiven for their sins.
And regardless of your own opinions regarding forgiveness, we have to acknowledge that the evil acts committed by those who are later redeemed in these films are sort of exagerrated for drama. Darth Vader murdered countless people, even children, but this is a fairy tale, so we shouldn’t equate his atonement to that of a mass murderer in real life. These horrible acts within the story are meant to be analogous to the common mistakes people make in everyday lives.
I don’t know exactly how they will portray Ben’s redemption, but I definitely see it happening, and I think Rey will play a part of it. It was romantic love in the prequels that tore the galaxy apart. And I think it will be romantic love that puts the galaxy back together.
I disagree with that. It definitely feels like they’ve been setting it up to be endgame. And just because we can’t see how it will come about based off the last two movies doesn’t mean they haven’t come up with a way to make it work that we haven’t considered.
Thanks for the input.
Hmm, that is an interesting thought. You could pull “awaken” from Snoke’s dialogue from TFA. Although I think the whish of Luke’s lightsaber activating probably woke Kylo up.
Thanks. I think this is how I want to approach edits for TLJ. Try to address the issues a lot of people had with the movie without fundamentally changing the director’s vision.
Did you have any thoughts about showing/not showing Han and Leia “dying”?
Another question,
Regarding the third flashback scene in The Last Jedi. If you didn’t change anything about, but added very quick flashes of Ben becoming Kylo Ren and killing people, do you think it would improve that scene or detract from it?
I’ve had some conversations with people who have said they might have understood Luke more if they were shown was look saw. Do you agree or disagree?
If one were to do this, I think very quick, almost subliminal, flashes on the beat of the score would be the most effective way of doing this without covering Mark Hamill’s performance. And as far as the flashes go, what shots would work well with this idea?
Here are some ideas:
I think around 6-8 shots would be enough. 7 might be the sweet spot. Personally, I think showing Han and Leia “dying” might seem weird, especially if Luke foresaw their deaths specifically and still decided to go into hiding know that possible future.
But here is what Luke says during that scene to get an idea of what Luke might’ve saw:
I saw darkness. I sensed it building in him. I’d seen it in moments during his training. But then I looked inside, and it was beyond what I ever imagined. Snoke had already turned his heart. He would bring destruction and pain and death, and the end of everything I love because of what he will become, and for the briefest moment of pure instinct, I thought I could stop it. It passed like a fleeting shadow, and I was left with shame and with consequence. And the last thing I saw were the eyes of a frightened boy whose Master had failed him.
It definitely seems like Luke was getting glimpses of Ben’s future when he looked into his mind. And the line “everything I love” would likely include Han and Leia, but I definitely think that at least includes his Temple and all of his students.
What are your thoughts on this?
I think it would be simply enough to desaturate the wide shots of the sun from space to a near-white, and even the sun already looks pretty white from the surface of Starkiller, so you wouldn’t necessarily have to change it. You could just argue the atmosphere makes the sun appear a little yellower from the surface.
If you’re using Restructured as your basis, you might also want to desaturate the reversed shots of Hux looking at the draining as well maybe?
Hahaha, yeah you have definitely have thought this through more than JJ or Kasdan!
If you made it a white dwarf, would you change the the color of the sun to a whiter color as well?
My guess is that maybe George felt Nute Gunray needed to die onscreen, since he has been a baddy over all three films. But I don’t think most people would have cared. They would have rather seen Anakin kill some Jedi I think!
Yeah, so when Palpatine tells him to go to the temple and then to Mustfar, it cuts to Anakin around when he starts saying to wipe out “Nute Gunray and other seperatists leaders”. You could change that dialogue to something about a Jedi outpost, or you could just have him not mention Mustfar here, and/or keep him saying the remaining Jedi “will be dealt with”.
When Anakin speaks to Padmé, you could trim the dialogue to just say, “The Chancellor has given me a very important mission…on the Mustafar system.” Or add some dialogue about the Jedi if it can fit.
Then if one were to reshoot the Mustafar bits, you could just have one of the Jedi briefly explain why they’re there. I would just say that a group of Jedi regrouped there, and maybe they think Anakin is another survivor. And then Anakin uses the Force to close the doors.
This idea has actually been discussed before. Since Anakin is shrouded in his robes, this is something that could possibly be reshot if some plates were created of the rooms and then actors in costume films in front of a green screen. You would also need to rework some character dialogue to remove mention of the Separatists on Mustafar, and possibly add some to get that info across.
And you could just trim Obi-Wan’s Utupau mission to have Obi-Wan jump down before the Separatist leaders leave. That way we could just assume they get captured by the Clone Army before they can escape.
Is that a shareable link? It says I have to request access.