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TheCassidy

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Post
#233534
Topic
Info Wanted: anyone doing an AOTC - IMAX Edit (?)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233534/action/topic#233534
Time
Originally posted by: Hal 9000
If there are numerous scene transitions in the IMAX version that weren't in other versions due to scene shuffling, I'm afraid I couldn't pull it off in a realistic way.
It'd be better left to someone else, but I'd be willing to create an edit "in the spirit of" the IMAX version. But that's not nearly as exciting.


Thanks for stepping up to the plate, Hal. From my memory, there was no scene shuffling, just shortened scenes. It's not like the film was drastically restructured to affect the narrative, it was simply "trimming the fat" so to speak.

I have a moderate knowledge of editing techniques with some experience with FCP and Avid systems, and I have no doubts that this edit could be achieved with great success if there were only a reference tape...

I mean, if we can figure out precisely which scenes were excised or shortened, I am confident that upon viewing it would be obvious where a natural cut could occur...not a precise science, but, as you say, in the spirit of it.

Let's keep the interest alive!
Post
#233296
Topic
Info Wanted: anyone doing an AOTC - IMAX Edit (?)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233296/action/topic#233296
Time
Well, the theatrical bootleg would be of value in terms of sourcing original dialogue (ie: Padme's "Uh-huh" or whatever it was originally) if there were no better source. Was AOTC ever released in its' theatrical form on VHS like TPM, or on a Japanese laserdisc?

At the every least, a comprehensive "watch through" of the original theatrical cut would be in order just to see how many things were actually altered for the Official DVD.

Only question is, was the IMAX cut taken from the 35mm version, or the DLP version?
Post
#233161
Topic
Info Wanted: anyone doing an AOTC - IMAX Edit (?)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233161/action/topic#233161
Time
Found this on a message board while searching for some definitive answers on the IMAX cut. While not technical, it does flesh out what was written on IMDB. The poster apparently was fresh from a screening.

***
surprise surprise... the movie. still. rocks.

i'm gonna edit in the gritty details after the four of us venture to a certain east village restaurant to confer. bottom line is that a few of the cuts are heartbreaking (from a certain point of view), but basically, the wince-worthy stuff is gone, and everything you ever wanted to see on a bazillion-story screen is still there. only big. really, really big.


edit #1, 6.20am:
it took a couple hours and involved me choking on my coffee, but The List has arrived. keep in mind that while the four of us are pretty freakin' obsessive about the star wars, everything i'm about to post may not be 100% accurate. but, even when we're wrong, we're thorough about it, and that's more than can be said for previous IMAX edit lists.

anyhoo... i'm going in the scene order of the IMAX edit, not the theatrical (or DVD) release. yes, it does make a difference. thankfully. and on that note...

- the naboo cruiser landing on coruscant and explosion are intact. and big. and loud. and pretty. (hello, recurring theme.)

- the meeting in palpatine's office is completely gone, and with it, the discussion of how dooku isn't a murderer, the designation of jimmy smits as more than an extra, and the scary hands of ki-adi mundi and kit fisto.

- the elevator conversation between obi-wan and anakin is (we think) intact, at least mostly so. there may be a few minor cuts; honestly, the palpy meeting deletion jarred us enough that we weren't paying attention. anyway, basically the same.

- my condolences to asax and all who've adopted the jar jar cheering, because the jar jar greeting when obi-wan and anakin arrive in padme's apartment is totally gone. in fact, that meeting cuts straight to typho's line "the situation is more serious than the senator will admit."

- after that, though, there are no cuts in the meeting, the zam and jango ledge, or the anakin/obi-wan security/political philosophizing scenes.

- when obi-wan and anakin run into padme's bedroom, there are two shots missing: the one of the kouhuns hitting the wall and falling in pieces, and dorme's "you alright, m'lady?"

- happy, happy news: eye candy remains. the coruscant chase, nightclub, council meeting, and palpy's office (with palpy and anakin) scenes are completely untouched. it is worth noting, though, that the x-wing and TIE fighters at the edge of the panned shot of zam's nosedive are cropped out. (trust me, they were there.)

- the floating chair scene in the temple with yoda, mace, and obi-wan is completely gone.

- in the packing in padme's apartment scene... well, we weren't sure. the whole floating ornament thing miiiiight be gone (none of us remembers seeing it, but none remembers specifically not seeing it either). there is a definite cut from anakin's "he's overly critical" to padme's "mentors have a way..."

- the beginning of padme and anakin's departure in the senate transport is missing. the scene begins with obi-wan's "i'll get to the bottom of this plot quickly, m'lady." pretty sure it's unchanged after that.

- dex's diner is intact (complete with annoying extras, twenty-foot facial hair, and kaadu polo shirt insignia). the jedi archives scene is gone (night night, jocasta nu), and anakin and padme's conversation on the refugee ship is unchanged.

- in the younglings scene, yoda's line "truly wonderful the mind of a child is" is gone.

- the millennium falcons in the theed landing scene are pan & scanned out (meaning they got cropped ). the theed walk scene is the same, although the second gungan is also cropped.

- glory be, jamillia gorilla is history. ::cue singing angels::

- the kamino landing sequence is funky. there are no dialogue cuts, but the long shots of lama su, obi-wan, and taun we inside the office have been broken into shots of either lama su or obi-wan and taun we. and, as kfr said, it's pretty ugly - bad edge enhancement and just general grossness.

- the lakeside scene on naboo is another one that sorta puzzled us. there's definitely a cut somewhere there; we think it's from anakin's "soft and smooth" bit directly into the kiss, thereby excising the back fondling action, but we're not 100% sure. (to be honest, the cut in the soundtrack grabbed my attention moreso than the dialogue cut, but that's just how i listen. ::shrug:: ) at any rate, anakin and padme just sorta start going at it out of nowhere.

- the tour of the cloning facility starts with lama su's "we're very proud of our combat training..." line. everything before that went byebye.

- as already reported and celebrated, the meadow/"sound of music" scene is totally gone. as pleasant as that might be, it presents the problem of scene order for the next twenty minutes or so; everything got switched around and given new transitions and it's, generally, really disorienting. instead, the previous scene goes straight into the dinner scene with the flying pear. it's unchanged, including the glaring mistake in the placement of the cut in the pear.

- the fireplace scene still follows immediately, but a lot of the groan-worthy dialogue has been hacked out. for starters, the early dialogue from the first closeup shot is underlaid into the previous master shot; among the missing lines are "the closer i get, the worse it gets," "if you are suffering...", "...can't breathe," and "it wouldn't have to be that way." there may well be more that's gone - those are just the ones we could recall several hours later.

- this then leads (via a new iris transition) into the same old jango/obi-wan meeting. after we hear jango tell boba to "pack his things (we're leaving)," the film skips taun we and obi-wan's goodbye and the shots of obi-wan setting up to chitchat with the old folks' home. instead, it cuts to obi-wan's hologram saying, "they're using a bounty hunter..." to yoda and mace in yoda's meditation chamber.

- then straight to the rain fight. it's almost entirely intact, except for a small cut... somewhere. not sure where. it's a matter of a few seconds, and it's accounted for in the soundtrack by a couple really short, really annoying cuts.

- remember the scene where anakin has a nightmare (or whatever it was you thought was going on)? it's completely gone. instead, the first shot of the sunrise is shortened a bit, and the rest of that scene is unchanged. this leads straight into the tatooine landing and the conversation with watto (both of which are the same). interestingly, the subtitle placement has changed - they're higher up. it's a bit disconcerting at first, but it's a pretty quick adjustment.

- the asteroid belt chase is totally unchanged. not only that - it rocks. the seismic charges literally make your body vibrate when they explode, and the shots are cropped to pretty much include just the explosion. total awesomeness.

- when padme and anakin arrive at the lars homestead, their conversation with threepio is the same. however, the entire introduction to the larses is gone (leaving the question of who these three people are, but it ain't like we don't already know), and the movie picks back up with beru (aka the chick with the wannabe leia hair) pouring juice.

- the shadow hug between anakin and padme is uncut, but it's cropped so that it does indeed look different. same thing for anakin's zooming about and his conversation with the jawas. in other words, when tf.n said that shot was remastered, they were wrong. it happens. ::shrug::

- the separatist committee meeting, death scene/tusken ambush, anakin's return to the homestead and obi-wan sending another message are all unchanged, but they're heavily cropped. the triple moons on tatooine are gone, and you've really gotta be watching to see that wat tambor rolls (not walks).

- the garage scene sorta got hacked up a bit. it cuts from padme's "i brought you something" to her later "sometimes there are things no one can fix," skipping over anakin's bit about being good at fixing things. (i guess the girl is psychic or something.) pretty sure the rest of the scene is intact, but the beginning is nonsensical.

- the funeral is uncut, and the scene where anakin and padme receive obi-wan's transmission almost is - there's a little bit of pre-message static that's gone, but nothing else. but! there's then no debate in palpatine's office - absolutely no lines for bail organa and no jar jar manipulation.

- the beginning of the dooku/obi-wan interrogation is different, too - there's a new establishing shot of the exterior of a geonosian tower, and the first line in the new scene is dooku's "may i ask what a jedi knight..." his last line, "it may be difficult...", is gone too.

- jar jar's speech to the senate is unchanged. (well, one of his hands is cropped out. but who needs jar jar's hand when certain board members would be only too happy to mimic the movements themselves?)

- anakin and padme's landing on geonosis is, we think, about the same. however, a lot of the dialogue between threepio and artoo is gone - the entire first banter session (immediately after anakin and padme leave the ship), and all that remains of the second session is threepio's warnings to artoo.

- a few shortenings in the factory sequence: the second stomper that padme runs under is deleted; when threepio falls, he isn't caught by rob but instead falls directly onto the conveyor belt; the filling-vat fakeout is gone, and cuts straight to artoo shutting down the machinery; and a shot or two of anakin's struggles with the chopper machine may be gone too.

- but after anakin and padme enter the arena, virtually everything's the same. i personally think the entrance into the arena was cut at some point, as the soundtrack seems to sync differently to the visuals (i *think* - not sure yet). the first two shots of the death star plans are so heavily cropped that the plans aren't even visible, thereby making their first appearance (at almost full screen) really pretty sweet. and, interestingly, the last two DVD edits were incorporated into this release - padme's "uh huh" (instead of "yes") when waking up from her fall, and the real shot of anakin and padme holding hands during their wedding (the same one from the digital projection).

- oh, and the credits are full screen and really tiny. we knew that.

so there we have it. IMAX edits, and lots of them. consider yourselves quasi-spoiled.

(end edit #1)
***
Post
#233019
Topic
Info Wanted: anyone doing an AOTC - IMAX Edit (?)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233019/action/topic#233019
Time
That's the thing SKot - everyone knew how critical it would have been to have the theatrical cut of AOTC after the EPI DVD thing...so, it's gotta be out there somewhere, including the IMAX cut.

Very interesting that the Pan & Scan transfer was used as reference - perhaps this would be a useful start? I'm pretty sure that they digitally moved things around...curse Lucas and his infernal tinkering.

The more I think about this, the more I want the IMAX version!

Hmm....

http://www.in70mm.com/news/2002/clones_in/images/screen.jpg
Post
#233004
Topic
Borat Movie
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233004/action/topic#233004
Time
Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
You gotta realize, Borat is going to be the best reality film/documentary this side of F-911. The jokes in the trailer are all setups, but assuming Borat follows the format of the show, the joke is on absolutely everybody he meets in America, 'cause they don't know they're being punked.

Unless I'm completely wrong and this is a mockumentary through and through.

Sacha Baron Cohen is the greatest thing since Ed McMahon and Dick Clark.


You are correct, Sir. It's my understanding that the movie mixes the "reality" comedy bits with scripted events.

My God, I can't wait to see the reaction when Borat changes the words to the Star Spangled Banner at that rodeo...I read one review on AICN, which basically said they have no idea how Sacha Baron Cohen escaped this one alive or wothout bodily harm...Awesome.
Post
#233002
Topic
Info Wanted: anyone doing an AOTC - IMAX Edit (?)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/233002/action/topic#233002
Time
It's possible that ROTS was shown at an IMAX theatre, just not likely it was shown in the full 70mm IMAX DMR format.

I'm not too sure of the technical jargon, but I've seen a half a dozen films projected at IMAX theatres that were not specifically prepared for the format. For example, I saw the original Star Wars & Empire, Raiders, and a couple of others at an IMAX theatre, but they were not necessarily taking advantage of the format - basically the theatre was projecting 35mm prints onto the giant screen.

This is unlike AOTC which was specifically edited and formatted for the IMAX experience (for better or for worse). The cut was tight - real tight. It removed a lot of the things which people found annoying.

Like I said, replicating it would be difficult. I would not even care if it wasn't the correct aspect ratio, as long as the cut and dialog were consistent with the IMAX version.

There just has to be a boot of this somewhere - c'mon, this is Star Wars we're talking about. I can't believe someone out there doesn't have a copy.

There are a few sites which document the alterations, but I couldn't dig up the technical nitty gritty stuff - ie: where the cuts occur exactly at which frame and so on...

I would imagine to do an accurate job you would need three things.

    Official DVD
      Reference copy of IMAX edit
        Original theatrical cut with correct dialog and no digital FX alterations.

        I doubt this will ever happen, but it would be nice...
        Post
        #232778
        Topic
        Info Wanted: anyone doing an AOTC - IMAX Edit (?)
        Link
        https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232778/action/topic#232778
        Time

        Anyone out there consider doing this? Of all of the Official Prequel Edits, this one was the best, in my opinion.

        I believe the film benefited from the limitations of the medium and the original film length.

        Sourcing the footage may be difficult considering the changes that were made the the theatrical cut upon release on DVD, ie: the various digital touch up (Jango’s jet pack sparks) and Padme’s dialog changes.

        I guess what my question is, is there anyone out there who is doing this, thinking of doing this, or knows where someone could source a high-quality version of the original theatrical cut to edit together with the official DVD and achieve the IMAX cut?

        Post
        #232536
        Topic
        Quit Whining
        Link
        https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232536/action/topic#232536
        Time
        Originally posted by: SpecialEditionSaboteur
        I wonder if he even knows who shot first.

        Hey Whiner (appropriate name by the way), who shot first Greedo or Han?


        As has been said, Greedo never even shot at all.

        As for Whiner, I was wondering how long it was going to take for McCallum to register and post here! Welcome aboard, Fat Ass!
        Post
        #232533
        Topic
        ROTS: Baby Scoops?
        Link
        https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232533/action/topic#232533
        Time
        I always wondered where the 2-1B was in that scene. Those CGI-montrosities are complete ass...

        When I took my old man to see EPI, whom I shared a love of the OOT with, he leaned over to me and whispered, "I'm glad I'm not buying you the toys this time around" during the invasion sequence.

        It got me to thinking - how much of the imagery in the Prequels were designed to make product off of? What I'm getting at is, I wonder if the designers and GL were like, "This would make a great toy..." seeing as how there is an action figure for every damn background character in the movies.

        You know, 'cause everyone is clamouring for a damn birthing robot toy, what with it's SNES controller for a face and all.
        Post
        #232525
        Topic
        Original Trilogy DVD Article in Total Film
        Link
        https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232525/action/topic#232525
        Time
        You know...I'm starting to feel like Dorothy, peeking behind the curtain and seeing the Wizard(s) exposed for what they really are.

        What many see as artistic integrity in the LFL camp, I'm beginning to regard as cowardice. Lucas and LFL are always on the defense - anyone else notice this?

        Of course the fansbase is unhappy with LFL. They've catered to the post-1983 crowd for far too long, forgetting that the "old timers" are the reason for Star Wars' endearing (to a fault) popularity thus far.

        I still love Star Wars, but the thrill is gone (cue BB King).
        Post
        #232399
        Topic
        Original Trilogy DVD Article in Total Film
        Link
        https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/232399/action/topic#232399
        Time
        Originally posted by: Mike O
        Lets not insult the man, but with him being one of the higher ups, lets see if we can get his attention.


        Turnabout is fair play, I say. The guy owes his career and fortune to Star Wars, which, let's be honest here - is only profitable because of a fanbase like us.

        To insult said fanbase is calous, ignorant, and indicative of one thing - McCallum doesn't care about us, or Star Wars, just making money off of it.