RogueLeader

Exactly, it’s a point of view. I think it is simple enough to accept what anyone says about the Force the same way people talk about their faith. People are expressing their views on the Force, but that doesn’t mean it is absolute truth.

But I will say that I think it is a misinterpretation to think balance refers to a balance between good and evil.

This is just my personal opinion, but if this is something that interests you, I would recommend reading up on Taoist philosophy and the concept of Yin and Yang. I feel like the Tao and the Force share a lot of similarities, and it might shed some light on what “the will of the Force” means, and how a balance between the dark side and the light doesn’t equate to a balance between good and evil. Again, not saying this interpretation is fact, but it’s the way I’ve chosen to interpret it, because it has given me an understanding of the Force that I think bears some relevance on real life philosophies.

If you start the film with Rey, you could create an interesting chaismus within the opening crawl.
The legend of the Jedi has ignited a spark of rebellion.
The First Order’s fleet dwindles as they struggle to fight this rebellion.
Kylo Ren searches for a new fleet that can destroy the growing rebellion.
Rey prepares to protect the rebellion and continue the Jedi legend.

Maybe something like this:

Hope lives! Ignited by the legendary last stand of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, the fires of rebellion burn across the galaxy.

SUPREME LEADER KYLO REN, desperate to suffocate the growing Resistance, chases rumors of a long abandoned IMPERIAL FLEET that could bolster the armada of the First Order.

Sensing her rival’s dark ambitions, Rey hastens to complete her training, unsure if she will be ready to face her enemy and live up to the legacy of the Jedi…

These are great ideas, Starkiller! I think replacing Dominic’s exposition and replacing it with Palpatine’s speech would be a nice way to reuse that broadcast, if you could get it to work. And it makes more sense to hear that broadcast after Palpatine has already been revealed and is preparing to attack the galaxy, rather than the beginning of the movie.

The conclusion of Hux’s story felt rather anticlimatic to me. If you can’t replace Pryde with Hux in the final act of TROS, it would be cool to introduce Pryde earlier, maybe in TLJ.

One thing that is never explicitly mentioned in the trilogy, but seems to exist, is the divide between the older Imperial veterans and the younger, and more naive, First Order officers. We see this divide between Captain Canady and his inexperienced younger officers, as well as between Hux and his older second-in-command, Captain Peavey, who regularly seems aggravated by Hux’s nepotism.

It would be interesting if Pryde could be one of these officers that sort of looks down on Hux when he is being incompetent. I think the simplest idea would be to give Pryde one or two cameos in TLJ by having him be a commanding officer on one of the other Star Destroyers in TLJ. You could cut to Pryde while he is listening in on Poe’s “prank call” with Hux, to show him being unamused by Hux’s gullibility. Maybe you could fit in another cameo later on in the film too.

Alternatively, a part of me would really like to see Hux survive until the climax of TROS, since he has been with us since the beginning, and just reduce Pryde’s role slightly. You could try and tone down any antagonism between Hux and Pryde throughout the film, then you can cut Hux reporting to Pryde and then Pryde killing him. Later, you could replace Pryde with Hux when Pryde communicates with Palpatine’s hologram. All of those shots are static, making it easier to mask out Pryde and insert appropriate shots of Hux, if you can find them.

Pryde can still bark orders during the battle of Exegol, but presumably as Hux’s second-in-command. We could add shots of Hux on the bridge of the Star Destroyer observing the battle. He could make a random comment, like, “This where we snuff out the Resistance once and for all.” Someone could even refer to him as Supreme Leader off-screen. At the end of the battle, when Finn and Jannah turn the cannons onto the bridge, you could replace the shot of Pryde running toward the bridge windows with a shot of Hux looking exacerbated from the Battle of D’Qar (like his reaction when the Resistance jumps to hyperspace). Then when it cuts to the wide shot of the bridge exploding, we can assume the man standing at the front of the bridge is Hux, rather than Pryde.

Damn. Orange, green, more neutral… there are a lot of good options here!

I do have to say that since the Starkiller battle in TFA is a blue climax, and a lot of reds dominate the climax of TLJ (throne room and Crait), the idea of green Exegol is pretty compelling at least for the sake of it being visually unique from the other films in the trilogy.

I would say that while the environment around Theed looks more like rolling hills and plains, the landscapes associated with the Gungans does look more familiar to Ajan Kloss.

Wow, that was fast! I didn’t notice it at first but that is a nice little detail!

For Elder heads, I had three ideas:

1. Add one behind Leia in her first shot in the film.
2. Add one near the forest edge when Rey is just staring at “Nothing.”
3. Create a new shot to insert one in, maybe using a shot from the BTS doc.

I think Option #2 would be the best moment, since it would allow the audience to reflect a little.

Anything that you’ve seen me post before have been quick and dirty tests just to share what an idea might look like. If I decide to do an edit of the film, or edit certain scenes, I will start from scratch using the BluRay as a source. Right now I’m just working on a high quality edit of one specific scene, unrelated to lightsaber effects.

As far as I’m aware, if you regrade Exegol you’re gonna have to manually adjust the lightsaber effects, regardless.

Honestly, you could achieve Ajan Kloss --> Naboo with minimal changes: Naboo forest sound effects, Naboo regrade, replace Ajan Kloss planet shot with Naboo. Things like adding Elder Heads, N-1 Starfighters and Gungans would just be a plus.

ZkinandBonez shared EC Henry’s newest video over on his video thread.

ZkinandBonez said:

Another fun language analysis video by EC Henry in the same vein as the Learning Ubese video he did a while back.

Learn to Speak Geonosian!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vqsJC4sYig - from the EC Henry YouTube channel (13 mins long).

The blurb:
“Geonosian seems like a strange language with many impossible sounds. But in reality, it’s straightforward and easy to learn. So come and learn so you can understand everything that Poggle the Lesser says!”

In the video, Henry offers some alternative translations based off his analysis of the language. This would be something I would love to implement in a future edit of Attack of the Clones.

According to canon material, Raddus and his crew were the first Mon Calamari to join the Rebel Alliance, and they did so independently from the rest of their species. Most Mon Calamari, like Ackbar, were still focused on protecting their own home world. Also his ship, the Profundity, was a city-ship that was converted into a capital ship.

That’s the canon explanation I think, anyway.

NeverarGreat said:

Mocata said:

You know what I really want? (Well besides Rey having no last name and being at peace with it) But they had the Han Solo scene, which is pretty good. But they scrapped the Chewbacca scene. When instead they should have combine both, and have Leia’s last act of magical power be a vision young Kylo with Luke, Han and herself, like one last look at a happier time or whatever. No need for too much digital trickery. I don’t know, a space cook-out or something. Why is it so hard for them to do what makes sense…

A scene kinda like this?

That’s exactly what I thought of when I read that!

Nice. The text that keeps popping up sort limits how much we can use. Enough for a quick shot I guess.

I agree with you! Have any of the test establishing shots people used been decent enough quality, like 1080 or 4K?

I also think you have to consider the purpose of the establishing shot. If it is just meant to be a buffer for pacing, then you really could use any establishing shot. But if you wanted to make it clear that they’re supposed to be on Mustafar, then reusing a shot might be the simplest way to make that clear to the audience.

It would be preferable to have a brand new shot, but it would require some vfx work if you wanted a new shot, but also add Vader’s castle.

Not trying to argue, really. Just trying to say the pros and cons of the different options.

That’s definitely true, but I also think you can also run into a different set of issues when trying to use footage from outside material too, know what I mean?

If were to reuse that Rogue One shot, we could always regrade it then flip it horizontally to make it feel different. If I ever reuse shots, flipping it is my go to strategy for making it feel different. Haha. 🤷‍♂️

True, true. If we really wanted to see Vader’s castle, I really think the simplest solution would be to use this shot from Rogue One. Mask out Krennic’s shuttle, and regrade this shot (and maybe the TROS shots) to make them match each other as close as possible.

Thanks! And that is a good point. If we try to establish that more planets have been rising up against the First Order between TLJ and TROS, then it might help to place the Resistance on a more well-known planet, showing that they have gained more allies. Technically they would be hiding in forests of Naboo, rather than making their presence there known. And I also like the irony of the Resistance being on Palpatine’s homeworld. Also, the film implies that Luke trained Leia on Ajan Kloss at some point in the past, and I like the idea that we would be recontextualizing it to mean that Luke trained Leia on Naboo, instead. Padme wanted to raise them there, so I like the idea that Naboo may have been Luke and Leia’s home for awhile.

I just like the idea of it being a place we know rather than jungle base planet #3, you know? At the very least, it would be nice to give the planet some distinct feature.

Okay. Well a lot of those shots come from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, so maybe we can find similar types of footage on YouTube somewhere.

EDIT: But maybe it would be best to stick with Star Wars footage and just reuse an establishing shot of Mustafar from Rogue One, and just remove Krennic’s ship.

I think when it comes to making the ST planets more unique, I think about giving them distinct looks or key features that help them stick out in our minds. So as soon as we it, we know what planet that is. I think recoloring planets is hard to make look good, so I think my ideas consist of slight regrades, or adding key visual elements to specific shots to help make those planets stand out.

Jakku: I think Nev’s desaturated look is the perfect way to handle this. It’s like the sepia-Kansas of the Star Wars galaxy. It is a simple change that differentiates it from Tatooine. I think the idea of adding more wrecked Imperial and Rebels ships in the desert, to emphasize Jakku’s key feature as a junkyard planet, would be a cool addition, but would require a bit of vfx and may not be worth the effort.

Takodana: A random idea, but I think it would be interesting to add three or four moons around the planet when the Falcon first approaches it. Then later, when Rey looks across the lake and/or when Finn looks up in the sky, you could see two or three of those moons. This would give Takodana a distinct feature that wouldn’t require major vfx changes to every single shot on the planet, but it still makes the planet feel more alien than Earth.

D’Qar: D’Qar already has a distinct feature, its ring of asteroids, so I think I would just try to make the asteroid ring visible from the planet surface whenever possible.

Ilum (Starkiller Base): I don’t think any visual changes are necessary for Starkiller Base.

Ach-To: I think it would be cool to add a blue nebula in the sky somewhere to parallel it with Exegol, but this isn’t necessary either.

Cantonica (Canto Bight): I would like to add a geometric green spot onto the establishing shot of the planet to imply a section of the planet has been terraformed.

Crait: I think it could be interesting to replace the planet as seen from space with an image of Pluto. Obviously the red and white of Crait is its distinct feature, so it would be cool to see that feature from space.

Mustafar: I think an extra establishing shot like discussed in other threads would be enough. Maybe just reuse a shot from Rogue One.

Exegol: I think it would be interesting to see a regrade of this planet. Either just to tone down the blue, make it more monochromatic, or even push it to be redder.

Ajan Kloss: I think it would be cool recontextualize this planet to be a jungle area of Naboo, sort of like the forests the Gungans hide in during TPM. Replace establishing shots of the planet with Naboo. Regrade it to match Naboo more, maybe add Elder heads into a shot or two. Hell, you could even add a Gungan into the background of one or two Resistance group shots. I like the idea of starting the story there in Episode I, and then ending the story there in Episode IX. It’s also a significant planet for Leia to be on as well.

Pasaana: Another bold idea, but I think it would be cool to recontextualize this planet to be Jedha. For one, it makes a lot of sense for a Jedi hunter to come here, of all places. I think it would also be cool to see what this planet is like after what happened to it in Rogue One. Both Jedha and Pasaana were filmed in Wadi Rum, Jordan, so as far as geography goes they already match perfectly.

Notice the large canyon that runs across the planet surface. We could create a mask inside that canyon, and then insert a lava texture inside it to imply that this is the result of the Death Star laser cracking open the planet’s crust. We also could create a asteroid ring around the planet to show that the debris from the impact now orbits the planet. Later in the film, we see Rey and company hide in in an asteroid field, so it actually would fit in with the film really well.

Then Pasaana could be regraded to better match how it looks in Rogue One. Some people might think Jedha should be more like a nuclear wasteland by this point, but I actually disagree somewhat with that. I think Pasaana/Jedha could be the Star Wars equivalent to Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Places that were once devastated by nuclear weapons, but now people live there once again. I think it would be really fun to rescore the approach to Jedha to make the audience expect to see this wasteland, but then they round the corner and see that there is this massive festival going on. There is something optimistic about that idea that I think also fits in well with TROS’ theme of “healing wounds”.

I also think you could reuse this unused shot from Rogue One, but replace the U-Wing with the Falcon. You can find a high quality version of this shot from sites that have lossless versions of trailers.

Kijimi: We don’t really see Kijimi from space much besides when it is destroyed. Just to make it more visually distinct from space, though, I think it would be interesting to add city lights to the dark side of the planet, to help emphasize that a lot of people live on that planet.

Kef Bir: Simple. Make it Endor. Just reuse the shot of Endor from the TROS finale to restablish Kef Bir as Endor.

I know changing Ajan Kloss to Naboo, Pasaana to Jedha, and Kef Bir to Endor, seems rather drastic, I think it makes a lot of sense to revisit some planets from the past in the final movie of the Saga. Plus, we would still have two new planets in Kijimi and Exegol.

Speaking of more Mustafar establishing shots, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone suggest using stock footage. Adobe Stock has some pretty cool footage of both forests and lava rivers side-by-side. The lava would help the audience mentally connect the planet with Mustafar, as well as establish the burning forest Kylo is in. Here are some good examples of that kind of footage. With proper recoloring it could be made to match the Mustafar scene well.

The big con is that it will cost money to use any of that footage. But I would be willing to help pay for it if Hal or others discovered the perfect shot to use. On the plus side, we won’t have to worry about stealing someone else’s footage off of YouTube, because we paid for it. Also, we can use high quality, 4K footage, rather than a YouTube rip. Might be something to think about.

One of the challenging things about recoloring Exegol is the lightning. So if you recollect Exegol to a red hue, the lightning will presumably have a red hue. Might not be a bad thing but it may look strange.

Pretty cool! I was half expecting to hear Rey start speaking Parseltongue, haha.

If anyone has some free time, I was wondering if someone could do a mock-up of intercutting between the Bespin finale shots from TROS and ROTJ to see if they mesh at all. I’m curious if combining them would actually feel seamless. I think it would be cool to reuse the other two crashing destroyer shots for PT and ST planets, like Coruscant and Canto Bight, but that will require some vfx to splice shots together. You could also replace Jakku with Tatooine, and Endor with Naboo, maybe. I definitely want to see if the Bespin shots even work together, at least.

I definitely think that option could remain open, but I personally like Nev’s approach, where he just desaturated Jakku a lot to differentiate it more from Tatooine. It is a lot simpler, and less potentially confusing, than trying to create new dialogue.

I will say though, Anakin, I think you and I are ripped from the same cloth when it comes to our obsession with making the ST planets more interesting!

I think if they felt Palpatine had to return in some form, I would’ve preferred the conflict would’ve centered around a Sith cult trying to resurrect him, and the protagonists are trying to prevent that, rather than him already returning in the flesh.

Something the movie introduced that I felt they should’ve leaned into more was the idea of Palpatine being some kind of Sith hive-mind. It at least would’ve made Palpatine, as an antagonist, feel different than before. I recall there being speculation about this very idea in the past, because both the Darth Bane and Plagueis novels hint at this idea of spirit possession. So maybe in IX, instead of the villain being “Palpatine”, we get to see this hive-mind in its true form.