Originally posted by: tweaker1) I think you could stand to hold to a second or two more of the action inside the bus as it's rolling--it looks pretty real, which offsets the kind of unrealistic effect of it being initially thrown.
The shot you see inside the bus as its rolling is a little too short, in my opinion, and I would hold on it if I could. Unfortunately the other shot inside the bus doesn't match it, and the only other relevant shot is of the bottom of the bus, which didn't improved the scene when I had it in. In the end I decided it only slowed down the action. I went back and forth on this a few times though. And I'm not going to say that I won't change my mind at some point, but I think this is the best that can be done for now.
2) When Ursa and Non are lifting up the bus, you see Ursa lifting first, and the bus looks pretty horizontal, then a look elsewhere, then a look at Non, who only then begins to lift up his end of the bus. Could you reedit that a bit so that it looks like they're lifting simultaneously?
When Ursa starts to lift it's at the correct angle, but then as she continues to lift Narn's side of the bus seems to raise too, then we cut inside the bus, and then to Non starting to lift. It is inconsistent, and is exactly the type of thing that I always try to fix. In an earlier edit, I fixed it by cutting away from Ursa when she got to about waist level. That worked fine, but as I was polishing yesterday, I forgot why I did that, and noticed that the cut didn't match with the next shot of the lady in the bus. Looking behind her, out the window she's obviously further off the ground. So I put it back to the way it is here, without thinking about the reason I changed it in the first place. I'm glad you pointed it out. It will be improved in the final cut.
3) When Superman says "No, don't do it! etc..." After he says "No!", he gets this sort of weird half-smirk on his face, as if Reeve feels that the line is kinda corny and can't keep from laughing...is there any way to cut around that?
I never thought of it as a smirk. It always looked to me like a panicked, pained expression, but still, I did think it looked a little goofy. In a previous edit I covered it with the shot of people hanging their arms out of the bus. It's the only relevant shot that is long enough to cover his expression, and it does add to the feeling of danger. Unfortunately it doesn't match up with the shot a split second later of the bus being thrown. There are no arms hanging outside of the bus then. I picked what I thought was the lesser of two evils, but now I can't help but see it as a smirk too and it bothers me. I'm definitely making a note of this and will probably change it back. This is one of several moments in the movie where I wish I had access to the alternate takes...
BTW, what software are you using to your editing and special effects?
Or is there a similar scene and I'm just getting confused? 