Ok, fresh workprints are uploaded. I say “workprint” but they’re more or less completed, barring any major errors anyone notices and maybe some audio tightening. PM me if you want to have a look.
I also have fresh workprints for AOTC and ROTS. They’re about 99% done. Honestly, ROTS is probably closer to done than AOTc. AOTC required so much work. Getting there.
Here’s the ending of ROTS. I’m pretty happy with how this is turning out.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tISqzDEXun1503ES6QOl29_tNIKA0gQJ/view?usp=drive_link
It isn’t something that AI would create 100% though. It’s more like applying a voice filter to the preexisting performance.
Yeah, I just doubt it’d be worth it anyway. The main stumbling block is the cinematography, and there’s nothing to really be done about that. Even if I stabilize the handheld camera, the choice of lenses and shots don’t match.
Hayden’s voice could probably be fixed - it would just take quite a bit of effort.
We’d need to rip the center channel of when he’s speaking from other parts of the film and isolate his voice with AI. Then we use that as source material for a voice clone. And then we input his lines from the Kenobi scene into the new ElevenLab’s feature. His lines would then sound like his younger self and be delivered exactly how they were originally.
But yeah that’s a lot of effort for only one piece to the puzzle. The camera work is always going to be out of place.
I also don’t love the idea of messing with his performance in that way. The face deepfake thing is pretty subtle but replacing his dialogue with something AI created doesn’t sit well with me.
I’ve decided to release two versions of AOTC, exactly the same except one will include the flashback scene from Obi-Wan Kenobi and the other will not. I’ve thought a lot about this, and I personally feel like having the scene is like slotting in a missing piece of the script, something that always should’ve been there. However, I can’t ignore that no matter how much tinkering I do, it will never feel like it’s completely a part of this film, as it was filmed 20+ years later than the rest of it. Some may be more bothered by it’s inclusion than others, and I’ve made a lot of changes beyond that that people may be interested in. So it’s going to be available with the scene (my preferred version, and the one I’ll personally watch) and without it.
Have you done much in making it look worse, so it fits the rest of the film better?
The problem is mostly that the cinematography styles don’t match and the actors are visibly two decades older.
Aren’t you using the deep fake version?
I am, but just like deepfakes in general, it only goes so far. Hayden is built completely differently now, and his voice sounds different.
On top of that, you have the more kinetic directing/editing style, which I’ve worked on but still doesn’t match the film. The lightsaber glow on their faces/surroundings, etc. It just doesn’t quite fit. Nothing will make it fit completely.
But it’s a great, important scene. So I’ll do my very best with it and have available that way for those that want it.
I’ve decided to release two versions of AOTC, exactly the same except one will include the flashback scene from Obi-Wan Kenobi and the other will not. I’ve thought a lot about this, and I personally feel like having the scene is like slotting in a missing piece of the script, something that always should’ve been there. However, I can’t ignore that no matter how much tinkering I do, it will never feel like it’s completely a part of this film, as it was filmed 20+ years later than the rest of it. Some may be more bothered by it’s inclusion than others, and I’ve made a lot of changes beyond that that people may be interested in. So it’s going to be available with the scene (my preferred version, and the one I’ll personally watch) and without it.
Have you done much in making it look worse, so it fits the rest of the film better?
The problem is mostly that the cinematography styles don’t match and the actors are visibly two decades older.
Hi everyone, sorry I disappeared for a bit. Real life got in the way.
I’m back to working on this after satisfying my obligations to another project. AOTC is still getting fine tuned and is almooost there. There’s a lot more going on in this edit as opposed to TPM, with lots of effects shots and reordering, often requiring new music cues.
Currently, I’m trying to get the deleted scenes looking a little closer to the rest of the film, which is tricky since they’re only really available in DVD quality with some fan upscales out there. There’s a good 20 minute section of the movie that’s almost entirely made up of deleted scenes, so the quality drop is more noticeable than it would be in the other films. I’ve been toying with them in Topaz and they’re getting to the point where I’m pretty happy with them.
I’ve decided to release two versions of AOTC, exactly the same except one will include the flashback scene from Obi-Wan Kenobi and the other will not. I’ve thought a lot about this, and I personally feel like having the scene is like slotting in a missing piece of the script, something that always should’ve been there. However, I can’t ignore that no matter how much tinkering I do, it will never feel like it’s completely a part of this film, as it was filmed 20+ years later than the rest of it. Some may be more bothered by it’s inclusion than others, and I’ve made a lot of changes beyond that that people may be interested in. So it’s going to be available with the scene (my preferred version, and the one I’ll personally watch) and without it.
This is really cool! I don’t know that every pilot arriving needs a line of dialogue. It all gets a bit jumbled. Maybe take out a few of them or just show them flying their ships?
There was an audio shadow we noticed from one of the deleted lines during the podracer build; you can just hear C-3PO’s line about Jar Jar being an odd creature. I think the only continuity error I noticed was during the podrace; Anakin does his barrel roll over Teemto Pagalies, but then a few shots later we see Anakin moving up the field to pass him again down the canyon.
I’m having trouble locating this audio shadow, you wouldn’t be able to pinpoint where it is, would you?
Could I get a Link, please? I love your edits
Please don’t request links in the thread itself, just PM me.
Is there any way to use some of the battle shots in the throne room but mask the blaster fire to show the droids breaking down before launching into Padme’s “new treaty” line? It only needs a couple of seconds I think.
I have tried to make this happen so hard, but so far haven’t been able to make it work. It’s something I definitely want to include so I’m going to give it another attempt with fresh eyes. Thanks for the feedback! I’ll also look into that 3PO line bleeding over the surround channels.
I find it kinda ironic that you cut the bongo sequence with the sea monsters because the cool creature stuff is the only reason I’d ever keep the journey to Otoh Gungah at all. Just my preference tho, obviously you can do what you want.
I feel like, without Otoh Gungah, Boss Nass & Co come out of nowhere in the 3rd act
This is the reason I kept it. Not only does it introduce the other Gungans, a very important part of the third act, but it lets us get to know Jar Jar.
So I finally was able to put some time aside to finish watching. Overall, I liked it but I don’t think it’s the Phantom Menace edit for me. There were a few too many little things left in that still grated on me, and missed C-3PO’s presence in the movie more than I thought I would. That said, I do really appreciate some of the choices that were made, particularly the Otoh Gunga sequence and the podrace were really well done.
I did spot C-3PO in the background of one shot during the podrace, although without context he could easily just be another droid. Not sure if that was an oversight or not.
That’s an oversight, do you remember when it was?
I thought the wound tending was absolutely fine- basically all of Tattooine I thought flowed really nicely.
I never had a problem with C-3PO being made by Anakin (though Hal’s middle ground is good too), but didn’t miss it too much. How will your edit eventually have him join the plot? I hope in time for the Clone Wars?
He’s kind of just Padme’s droid in ROTS. No other backstory.
I thought it was really great, the edits were smooth and I didn’t really notice anything missing. The train and coloring really help the cgi to blend better too. Here are some things I would maybe change:
I think a new crawl with the preserved title would be a good change, the current one is bogged down by taxes and trade routes for two paragraphs instead of establishing the Galaxy.
I’d maybe remove the big boss nass blubber, the little one he does before it seems like enough
The midichlorian scene could probably be removed completely, I was kind of confused on what qui gon was doing to Anakin. Did he get burnt or something?
Personally I’d like to see the whole chosen one prophecy removed, I think the three trilogies mesh better without it. Not sure how you’d do it with qui gon and Yoda at the end though.
This may just be my speakers, but I felt like I had to turn the volume up for dialogue and down for the action heavy stuff. Maybe take a look at the mixing?
That’s all I can think of right now, I’ll go back through it and see if anything else sticks out. Can’t wait for AOTC.
I’m definitely open to a new crawl, I just don’t want to change the titles of the movies.
I actually kept the Boss Nass thing due to it being difficult to remove with a good audio edit, but I will take another look at it.
So the scene with Qui-Gon tending to Anakin’s wound was a late addition, I needed a scene like that for pacing reasons as everything was moving a bit too quickly. I also like it because it gives a little bit of character to Anakin, talking about how he wants to be a pilot and see all the planets. What do you think I could do to make the scene fit better?
I actually really do like the chosen one thing, I think it’s more nuanced than people give it credit for, so I’ll be keeping that.
I definitely will do some more passes on the sound mix.
Thanks for the feedback!
The only thing I’d suggest for your consideration is a slight reordering during the final act:
We’re told that the Gungans showing up on the plains is nothing more than a distraction to draw out the droids so that Padme/Qui-Gon etc can infiltrate Theed. We see the Gungans come out, the droids come out to meet them, the opening salvo is fired, and then we cut away to the action in Theed.
But here’s the thing - from then onwards, the plot on the plains, the entire battle, is now completely redundant. It has no jeopardy, because it’s already served its purpose of drawing the droids out of Theed, and whether or not the Gungans win has no impact whatsoever on the battle for Theed palace or the droid control ship. Sure, some Gungans might die, but nobody has any emotional investment in Jar Jar, Boss Nass, or Tarpals, and other than them it’s just faceless CG Gungans versus faceless CG droids.
The only value this sequence has is in showing that the droids are theoretically a threat since they are a functional army that could reasonably threaten Theed, and eventually, the light additional ‘things are going badly’ sense from seeing the Gungans surrendered.
Shifting the Gungan sequence’s conclusion to far earlier during the narrative of the endings would resolve this, and also allow it to serve a further purpose - to emphasise the threat of the droid army and leave it hanging over our main characters, making Anakin’s destruction of the control ship worth a little more.
It’s very achievable too. The closing shot of the first Gungan scene (opening salvo) matches perfectly to the opening shot of the second Gungan scene (closing salvo), and there doesn’t need to be a gap of time here to imply that the salvo went on for a little while - just what we see is plenty, and actually shows that the Gungan shield tech is respectable. The rest of the scenes can be brought forward alongside this change. The only other actual change to this sequence I’d make is that there’s a nice clear shot of droidekas firing off-frame (originally paired with Gungans falling off their horses) with the shot of the shield generator’s exploding (originally with no preceding shot to explain why it explodes).
So from a logic standpoint, I agree with you. But from a pacing/structure standpoint, I don’t personally feel like this would be an improvement. Happy to play around with the idea though!
This is the closest thing I have to a cutlist, but there’s a lot of what I call “micro-edits” throughout that won’t be in this list.
Overall:
Did a color correction on the movie to make it look a little more like a 70’s film stock without overdoing it.
Added further film grain to make it feel more in line with 70’s movies/4K77.
Many instances of sound effects and music have been completely reworked, especially the podrace introduction, which had it’s entire soundscape rebuilt for parts of it.
Added disclaimer and “Spence Fanedits” title card
Opening crawl is unchanged.
Removed “as you know, our blockade is perfectly legal”
Removed “what?! What did you say?”
Cut a few seconds of Qui-Gon receiving his tea.
Cut from “kill them immediately” to the ambassador ship being destroyed.
Cut droid dialogue when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are cornered in the meeting room.
Cut “have you ever encountered a Jedi knight, sir?” “well, no”
Cut “this is impossible!”
Cut “they’re no match for droidekas”
Removed some awkward dialogue between Padme and Nute.
Cut from “can mean only one thing, invasion” straight to the army landing.
Cut Jar-Jar’s interaction to make it seem that Qui-Gon is deliberately tackling him to the ground to save him.
Cut “muy muy, I love you!”
Cut “exsqueeze me”
Cut “yousa follow me now, okey day”
Cut Tarpals’ “yousa in big doodoo this time”
Cut the majority of Nass’ ticks except for the last one.
Cut “symbiote circle” line.
Cut the dramatic delivery of “the planet cooooore”
Jar Jar now just says “A little help here would be hot”
Cut Jar Jar’s dialogue after being freed.
Removed the majority of the Bongo sequence, keeping a little bit of the traveling and Jar-Jar explaining he was banished because he’s clumsy,
Cut some Rick Ollie Captain Obvious-isms when they flee the planet.
Cut “now there are two of them” after Maul is introduced (generally most of these cowardly moments that end Trade Federation/Sidious scenes are removed.
Cut Jar Jar stepping in poop.
Cut most of Jar Jar’s antics in Watto’s shop, with the exception of turning off the pit droid.
Cut Jar Jar juggling a bunch of junk as Qui-Gon enters. This was tricky.
Cut Jar Jar being confused which direction to turn as they exit the shop
Cut Anakin’s “yippee”
Cut a few seconds of Jar-Jar getting up after being attacked by Sebulba.
Cut all scenes involving C-3PO from the film.
Kept the Jar-Jar tongue joke, but removed his reaction after Qui-Gon lets him go.
Removed any midichlorian discussion.
Removed Anakin’s crappy friends being crappy to him. Kittster is the only one still hanging out.
Removed the end of Qui-Gon and Watto’s bet, before Watto talks to Anakin. It goes straight from there to the podrace arena.
Lots of cuts throughout the podrace.
Lots of the pilot introductions are cut
The parade is cut
The piece Sebulba breaks off of Anakin’s podracer is no longer visible in the next scene.
Cut the other pod that stalls out.
Cut anything that makes the scene not feel fast and dangerous.
Lots of tiny cuts throughout to spike the pacing.
Cut Obi-Wan saying “pathetic lifeform” he now just says “another lifeform”
Added the deleted scene of Anakin fighting Greedo, but cut where Greedo was called by name.
Cut another Anakin “yippee” in his house.
Moved the scene of the probe droid searching Mos Espa to right after Anakin leaves home, and added the probe droid deleted scene right after it.
Cut Anakin saying he’s “tired”
Removed Jar Jar saying Padme is hot.
Trimmed the beginning of Padme and Palpatine’s meeting on Coruscant.
Trimmed some dialogue from the Jedi council scene for better pacing.
Anakin’s test now begins with Yoda asking him how he feels, removing the silly view screen guessing game at the beginning.
There’s no more dialogue after Padme says “prepare my ship!” For a stronger exit from the scene.
Mention of Maul joining Nute on Tattooine is removed and he is cut from all scenes until the duel. The idea is to let the audience forget about him until he makes a dramatic return.
The scene with Ollie showing Anakin the ship controls is moved to right after they leave Coruscant, and a lightspeed effect is added to the ship windows so it matches the rest of the sequence.
Some more Boss Nass ticks removed during the forest scene.
Removed the scout and Anakin seeing the soldiers coming.
Trimmed the dialogue in the planning scene to keep it moving faster and remove some questionable acting from Padme.
Some sequences in the third act are re-ordered to stay with certain events a bit longer. I also used the famous L8wrtr structure where Anakin saves the day by blowing up the ship, which allows Padme to capture the Viceroy.
Extended a piece of the fighter cockpit to cover Anakin’s face where I cut some dialogue.
Trims to Jar Jar to make him more heroic, in his own clumsy way. Both he and Anakin do not do anything by accident throughout. They are purposefully heroic.
A lot of Anakin’s reactions, like “uh oh” or “this is not good” are removed.
Sped up the grappling hook sequence and had them enter the hallway from the window a bit faster.
Jar Jar no longer accidentally frees all of the big bombs from the carriage, this is something he does on purpose. He just doesn’t think about the fact that they’re going to roll at him too.
Removed sequence where Jar Jar lands on top of a tank and juggles a bomb. He is now immediately captured after the mount he’s on is hit by a canon.
The movie after Maul’s death is more or less unchanged.
Sent!
Nevermind on the above! I found a better solution.
I am ready to release my edit of TPM into the wild. This is a first version and if errors/suggestions are found that will make it better, I will happily include them. Since this is a 3 part edit, I expect there to be some small evolutions before it’s in its final form, but I don’t think it makes sense to keep them to myself much longer.
So if you’d like to watch TPM, reach out to me. I should have AOTC ready to be sent out in about 2 weeks. ROTS will likely follow in early November. Then we tweak!
I’m looking for a little help!
There’s a shot from Kenobi I want to use in my edit of the Jedi temple, but I’d like to have the children running on the bridge masked out/removed. I’ve tried to do it a few times but it’s beyond my capabilities to make it look right. If anyone is able to assist, I’d appreciate it, and I’ll make sure you are credited.
Here’s the shot:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rjk_kcIDwTwLr57lvFT-CA6MLTpL8kva/view?usp=sharing
SpenceEdit said:
Part of the reason I want to wait that long is I’m using some footage from Mando and the Obi-Wan show to expand on Order 66 (very sparingly, mostly in the Jedi Temple), and there could possibly be some usable footage in Ahsoka. Plus there’s rumors we’re going to see some Anakin flashbacks that could be usable.Now that we’ve presumably seen what Ahsoka has to offer in terms of flashbacks, do you plan on using anything? I’m not sure that anything really fits with ROTS, unless flashes of it are perhaps placed in a dream sequence? I’ve always wished Ahsoka could be subtly mentioned or integrated into ROTS in some way, but it might be weird for audiences who are just watching the movies.
So far, I don’t plan to incorporate anything, but I’m still going to wait till the show is over to finalize ROTS, just in case.
As a general update, TPM is 99% done and will likely be released by the end of the month. AOTC is slightly behind that one but will probably be out next month or early November. So I should have all three released by the end of the year.
I know there’s a lot of great PT edits out there so I don’t expect everyone to rush to check these out, but I’m really glad I took another crack at them. They’re fun to play with, and I definitely worked on and learned some new editing techniques that are very valuable.
Is the reason you’re keeping Anakin’s turn mostly the same is because you think it was executed well originally, or because you can’t really think of any additional changes to make it better?
Well, a little of both, to be honest. I tried to do some other things with it and they never felt right, or felt too "
fanedity". I think trimming down his dialogue helped a great deal, and keeping the scene a bit more dynamic, with more movement, gives it a bit more oomph. My biggest criticism of the scene was always that it happened too quickly, but I found it works better if it’s actually a little quicker. It’s a hectic moment, not a grand one.
The importance being placed on the moment is actually by us, the viewers. For Anakin, it’s a frantic mess of a situation where he has to make a very fast decision to save his wife. He doesn’t know that being named “Darth Vader” is going to be really important in the future. He just wants to save Padme, and he’s been convinced that the Jedi are corrupt (which isn’t 100% wrong.) Probably not a whole lot to mull over as far as which decision to make.
Hi could I have a link please
Send a PM or email spencefanedits(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Hi, could I have a link, please?
Send a PM or email spencefanedits(AT)gmail(DOT)com