SpenceEdit

revel911 said:

SpenceEdit said:

revel911 said:

SpenceEdit said:

revel911 said:

Spence, I couldn’t find in your notes. How are you taking care of the “two kidnappings” issue?

It’s still there, but the focus of the first kidnapping is now more on it being Kenobi’s call to action. Because less emphasis is placed on the first one, the second one can feel like a bigger moment.

I know a lot of edits are cutting the fortress, but in my opinion that takes away too many important things. The fortress has Reva backstory, some great character moments for Leia and Tala, cool world building, and the pivotal moment where Kenobi reconnects with the Force in full. Plus it creates some logic gaps about the ship being tracked. It all doesn’t quite hold together without it, for me anyway.

The ship Being tracked never bothered me … in a new hope we never see a tracking device being put on.

That is the most minor of my issues with removing the fortress. It’s too damaging to the story and character arcs to lose it. Lots of edits are removing it, I would encourage you to seek those out.

I am def excited and hoping your edit proves me wrong. Episode 4 was just so happy hazard that it was hard to enjoy, but hoping your version cleans that up.

It’s much more streamlined in this version.

Alright, the time has come to finally put this bad boy to rest. Version 3, my final version, is done.

Here’s a rundown of what to expect:

• I added a fanedit disclaimer at the beginning.
• Reinstated Leia ripping on her cousin.
• The Leia kidnapping now has none of the chase.
• There is now only one scene of Leia aboard the kidnappers ship.
• The digging up the lightsabers scene has been reinstated. I moved the Reva reveal to before it, then rescored the scene to feel like an appropriately big moment. Kenobi leaving on the transport ship has been removed, as the sabers scene now acts has his “answering the call” moment.
• The beggar clone trooper has been reinstated.
• Removed Reva’s line “Who’s in the gutter now?” as the earlier reference to it has been cut.
• Kenobi no longer sets off an explosion in the spice lab, he just slips by everyone.
• Cropped a weirdly framed shot of the inquisitors when they confront Reva about kidnapping Leia.
• Cut second half of Kenobi’s “you remind me of someone”, ending after “She was stubborn too” “I’m not stubborn!”
• When Kenobi, Leia and Tala arrive at the safehouse, it now appears to be dusk, so the passage of time is a little less wonky.
• Removed the imperial march cue when Vader arrives and reinstated the original music. I used it again later, and I didn’t want to overdo it.
• The conversation with Roken is reinstated, but I removed his speech about his wife.
• Cut one of the Reva/Leia scene, and combined two of them into one scene.
• Added The Force theme in the hallway sequence at the fortress, to emphasize that this is the moment Kenobi got his groove back.
• Cut some Inquisitor bickering when Vader force chokes Reva.
• Cleaned up some audio transitions during the Jabim siege.
• Removed a few silly looking shots from the Reva/Vader fight, where possible.
• Completely reworked the pursuit from Jabim scene for better flow.
• Removed Vader saying he was going to face Kenobi alone. He now just heads straight down there in his shuttle.
• Added subtle Battle of the Heroes motif right before the duel begins.
• Reworked some of the duel editing for better flow and more natural movement into the rocky area.
• Added the Imperial March after Kenobi leaves Vader defeated. Transition to Alderaan is now more natural.
• Added a little bit of Kenobi packing up his house.
• Runtime is 2 hours 25 minutes.

This is going to be the final edit of this. However, if there’s some really cool effects shots that are created down the road that I feel would fit in well and improve the experience, I will reissue the edit with those added in.

Thanks to everyone here who checked it out and provided feedback. I think this turned out really great, and this community had a big hand in making it so.

revel911 said:

SpenceEdit said:

revel911 said:

Spence, I couldn’t find in your notes. How are you taking care of the “two kidnappings” issue?

It’s still there, but the focus of the first kidnapping is now more on it being Kenobi’s call to action. Because less emphasis is placed on the first one, the second one can feel like a bigger moment.

I know a lot of edits are cutting the fortress, but in my opinion that takes away too many important things. The fortress has Reva backstory, some great character moments for Leia and Tala, cool world building, and the pivotal moment where Kenobi reconnects with the Force in full. Plus it creates some logic gaps about the ship being tracked. It all doesn’t quite hold together without it, for me anyway.

The ship Being tracked never bothered me … in a new hope we never see a tracking device being put on.

That is the most minor of my issues with removing the fortress. It’s too damaging to the story and character arcs to lose it. Lots of edits are removing it, I would encourage you to seek those out.

Sirius said:

Hi Spence, this guy made an alternate Tala scene of her escaping the stormstroopers, if you are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JA4mLUzhEk&list=LL&index=61

By the way, you still plan to add PixelJoker’s improvements in your edit, when they are ready?

Yes, when he finishes his new effects, I’ll release a version that includes then.

From what I understand, I don’t think the Patterson guy is really part of this community or Fanedit . Org.

He had it on his website but apparently he got hit with a copyright claim so he took it down.

revel911 said:

Spence, I couldn’t find in your notes. How are you taking care of the “two kidnappings” issue?

It’s still there, but the focus of the first kidnapping is now more on it being Kenobi’s call to action. Because less emphasis is placed on the first one, the second one can feel like a bigger moment.

I know a lot of edits are cutting the fortress, but in my opinion that takes away too many important things. The fortress has Reva backstory, some great character moments for Leia and Tala, cool world building, and the pivotal moment where Kenobi reconnects with the Force in full. Plus it creates some logic gaps about the ship being tracked. It all doesn’t quite hold together without it, for me anyway.

szopman said:

Maaaan, V3 will be a perfect fanedit of this show! Cannot wait!

Not gonna have to wait too long. It’s rendering now, probably have it up tomorrow or Sunday after I do a test watch and upload.

Octorox said:

Yeah I think that works better. And personally I thought the only Imperial March you needed was when we first see Vader in his castle. The other usages felt kind of extraneous to me personally, but I don’t dislike them either.

Funny enough, I cut the one when he arrives at the village. So it’s just the first intro to him at the castle, and the bit at the end after the duel.

So, I think I’ve decided to stick with just the hint at the song. HOWEVER, I will be rendering out a version of the scene with Battle of the Heroes, which will be free for anyone to download and use as they would like.

I have on final test clip I want to show everyone. I’m very happy with it.

Basically, in any story like this, there’s always a moment where the hero “Answers the call”. They are finally convinced to go out on the adventure and propel us into the next act of the story. For Luke, it’s returning to Ben after seeing the farm destroyed. For Obi-Wan, it’s Bail convincing him and going to get his saber.

However, in the show, there’s another answer the call moment right after, where he hesitates before deciding to get on the transport ship. I originally cut the sabers scene so there was just one, but I realize now I cut the wrong one.

So here is a bit of an editing tweak to that “digging up the sabers” scene to make it stand out and feel like the big moment. It needs a bit more audio work, but you get the idea.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JP22u8I75d-sb_w7O-lTcd2g7r8cieFG/view?usp=sharing

Rtiller said:

I like this subtle hint. Leaving the rest of the score intact is good; having new music for a new movie keeps things fresh. The callback themes keep star wars connected.

If possible, I would like to hear Vader’s subtle theme as he exits the ship. Musically, they hinted at it (by using the loud horns) but they didn’t finish the theme. It was a tease that made you finish the notes in your head, but it felt off.

I agree that they hint at it, but I think I’m going to leave that one only because there’s already 3 instances of the imperial march throughout the movie, and I don’t want to overdo it. It also let’s the focus be on the battle of the heroes theme being added.

So, here is the more “subtle” version of including Battle of the Heroes. It’s just the main motif, one time. Then the music goes back to normal.

Personally, I could go either way with this. I like the idea of it being over the whole battle, but I also like the idea of just giving it a nod in the appropriate place. I also feel like the subtle version might match overall with how I’ve handled legacy music throughout the rest of the edit.

I need opinions! This is the last piece of the puzzle. Once this is figured out I can get my final V3 out in the wild.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13l7VZ9-cQb4-RaqQpaT5Uo7ZLTG37iXt/view?usp=sharing

vranir said:

My favorite change by the TikTok guy was that the inquisitors killed the Jedi right at the bar. It tightened that story thread considerably (or made it possible to tighten).

Yeah that was very cool.

krausfadr said:

I pulled the quote below off Patterson’s website today:

[beginning of quote]
“Thank you all for your interest in my cut of Obi-Wan Kenobi. For now, the movie is no longer available online and instead will only be shared to “VIP” guests upon request. I’m sorry if you weren’t able to view it. If anyone has a contact at Disney, let them know that I would 100% let them have the cut for free if they wanted to put it on Disney Plus under some sort of “Legends” tab for Star Wars. I just truly want to share this work with people and I ask for nothing in return. Thank you.”
[end of quote]

Now I have not watched the Patterson cut. The idea that Disney would want someones edit is pretty delusional. Sure it’s happened in the past with some quirky directors but this is Disney. And this is apparently a mediocre edit.

Let the countdown to the cease and desist order begin.

It’s all just self publicizing TikTok BS. I appreciate that he put the effort in but this attempt to capitalize on it is kind of sad.

I will say I thought his change of having the inquisitors show up after Kenobi meets Nari was cool and well handled. I have no interest in copying it, as I think it’s stronger to introduce the villains and the concept of Inquisitors right off the bat, but he did a good job of it.

cjh808 said:

Excited for V3, I like the way you think. That viral tiktok guy cut was… yikes.

He had some cool ideas but he’s acting like he made a masterpiece… He did a video the other day saying he was willing to let Disney put his cut on Disney+.

Broom Kid said:

Obvious cuts, bad audio levels, messy music replacement. I would just hate for my version to feel like that.

I get you. All I’m gonna say is - don’t forget to give yourself some credit.

I’ve found a large preponderance of fan-editors are almost entirely ABOUT giving themselves credit. Like, as in, LITERALLY giving themselves credits. Putting themselves in the credits. It frequently seems like people make edits SOLELY so they can put their names in a credit block, because THAT’S the feeling they want more than anything. The edits are just the means to that thrill.

But what I mean to say is that - just because other people aren’t as good at what they do, doesn’t mean you need to second-guess yourself (or triple-guess yourself) in response. Give yourself some credit for having a good eye and a good ear. Don’t start calling your own senses into question because you see that someone else is getting recognized for subpar work.

I think those three changes were good ones. I think you employed them well. But I also think if you seriously trust your own instincts (aside from whether or not you compare your abilities to that other TikTok cut) and you believe it’s ultimately better to leave it alone… you know what you’re doing.

Sidebar, but honestly I’m kind of pissed that guy is going viral because it puts too many eyes on the rest of us. OT and FE are super careful about piracy and are too niche for Hollywood to care too much about what we are doing. Then this dude comes along and now it’s all eyes on fanedits, even though he isn’t part of our community.

On top of that, his is probably the first fanedit many people are seeing, and it’s not particularly great. We aren’t getting new fans, we are getting more scrutiny, and all this guy is doing is promoting himself on TikTok.

He is, for lack of a better term, a clown.

Broom Kid said:

I appreciate that, but my concern is mainly that I won’t 100% sell it and it’ll feel too “fanedity”

I get that, and again - that’s a thing 99% of all fan-editors DON’T do, so that your concern is there is why your edits work as well as they do, and I wish more (WAY more) folks were willing to apply that level of discernment. But as someone who looks at these things with that eye (and ear) I think you HAVE cleared that bar in this instance.

Honestly, I watched that Patterson cut, and it was like everything I try to avoid. Obvious cuts, bad audio levels, messy music replacement. I would just hate for my version to feel like that. I think it sort of scared me from doing anything too major.

DominicCobb said:

Broom Kid said:

I appreciate that, but my concern is mainly that I won’t 100% sell it and it’ll feel too “fanedity”

I get that, and again - that’s a thing 99% of all fan-editors DON’T do, so that your concern is there is why your edits work as well as they do, and I wish more (WAY more) folks were willing to apply that level of discernment. But as someone who looks at these things with that eye (and ear) I think you HAVE cleared that bar in this instance.

Having done the process of completely redoing SFX a few times, I don’t blame Spence for ditching this idea at all.

I still have nightmares about the lab shootout in Mi-2

Broom Kid said:

I’m leaning toward maybe keeping the quiet bit while they stand off, then pivoting to the original music when Kenobi says “I will do what I must”.

I gotta say, I really like what you have as you’ve posted it. I don’t think the original music works that well there, how you’ve mixed that version of Battle of the Heroes maybe only needs the tiniest of nudges downward at most, and probably not even that. It’s not a subtle piece (it isn’t a subtle fight) and the fact you’ve managed to make it fit this sequence as well as it does is quite a feat.

For what its worth, as a person who REALLY keys into the music choices and music editing, I think you’ve done a good job here with your choices, and how you’re executing them.

I appreciate that, but my concern is mainly that I won’t 100% sell it and it’ll feel too “fanedity” which I desperately try to avoid on all my projects. I always want people to not be able to spot the magic trick.

So if I can’t do it in a way that’s completely seamless and unnoticeable, I try to go down a different path.

BrotherOfSasquatch said:

SPENCE!!! I absolutely love the beginning of that duel scene with the slow version of Battle of the Heroes! That feels like something straight out of a samurai film. Unfortunately, I don’t think the song works when they actually begin to start fighting. Also, I know that you said you fixed the mix on it but I honestly think the music could be even lower. Almost like it’s just playing in the wind, hanging there like a ghost of their past friendship.

Anyways, I think the other music edits you did are fantastic as well (and I really like how you cut the “running away in the tunnel” part of that one clip shorter jkimm!)

Yeah, I was starting to think that too. It’s always going to be a bit compromised, because the center channel isn’t clean. So you’ll either always hear a little bit of the old music, it’ll be too loud, or I’d have to re-do the foley for 90% of it, which I’m not prepared or equipped to do believably. I rescored and foleyed a short action scene for my Mission Impossible 2 edit, and it took weeks. That was a quarter as long and complicated as this would be.

I’m leaning toward maybe keeping the quiet bit while they stand off, then pivoting to the original music when Kenobi says “I will do what I must”.

Honestly, I think I might start from scratch on the whole duel, as I’ve been doing so many little changes to it it feels a bit overwhelming. I might just do a nice, clean start over.

Perusing YouTube.

jkimm said:

Thought I’d experiment with your experiment. I removed Tala yelling “RUN” and the extended shot of the water rushing in. Now it appears that Ben starts running immediately after the glass breaks.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zol6RtmHklbr63iZK51kI0CrWLxlFy6G/view

That works a little smoother. I think I’ll implement that. Thanks!

I just updated the link to the final duel music change. The mix is significantly better.

EddieDean said:

Question: You’re trimming some Reva, but are her motivations (as a padawan who survived the purge) still intact?

Yes! I’m really just cutting the bit where she goes after Luke, her story ends after Vader defeats her. I removed the initial flashback so we don’t get a hint of her story until Kenobi figures it out. I also generally minimized the presence of the other Inquisitors and the competition between them.

I really like Reva as a character.

szopman said:

Love the ideas for v3 So far. The theme you used for the hallway scene fits So great. No one wanted, everyone needed 😄

Yeah, I’d rather have the added music be “oh, cool!” moments as opposed to something that’s prevalent through the whole thing. One reason is because the style is different in this compared to the other films, and the music by Natalie Holt fits it well, but also it’s better if it’s a big moment.

Octorox said:

The hallway clip and the end of the duel are fantastic. Ironically, the only one that doesn’t quite work for me is the Battle of the Heroes one, but I think that might be mostly because of where it sits in the mix. While I like the slower rendition of the theme that you used, It’s mixed a bit too louldy and seems to compete with the existing audio.

Yeah, that one would take some tweaking to get absolutely right. I’m just trying to figure out if it’s worth the effort.