Vladius

A while ago I said I was working on a Last Jedi edit. I still have the rough cut but nowhere to upload it without it getting taken down immediately, and I don’t feel like springing for a Vimeo account.

However, I can share with you my favorite idea that I had for it. In conjunction with Holdo not existing at all and trying to keep Luke at the stature he deserves, here is Luke (via projection) doing the hyperspace ram, intercut with Rey and Kylo’s struggle over Anakin’s saber. It’s just a proof of concept, so the transitions are still jarring, but you’ll get the idea.

https://vimeo.com/363964146
password: Luke

Feel free to use this idea wherever you like, just mention me.

The politics in The Last Jedi need more subtlety, not less.

I thought the F bombs were a little bit much, but overall I loved the tone and atmosphere you set with those clips. Great work.

ForceGhostRecon said:

natedeug said:

Honestly, I would love to see an edit that’s the exact same film, but with higher brightness and contrast. I’m sure this has been mentioned. But other than the lighting, I don’t have any real problems with the movie to speak of.

This is the first thing I did when I got the digital file. PM me for a link.

I would love this too please

paja said:

“The Silent Attack - Pre-crawl sequence” by Luke Burrage

https://vimeo.com/63656168

This is great!

screams in the void said:

Anakin Starkiller said:

charlesdavid08 said:

remove cgi Grievous and all battle droids and replace a stop motion models

If the idea is to make it look more realistic, then you’ve failed miserably. Stopmotion is not reliable for realistic VFX. It has a certain charm, but realism is not its strong suit. Of course it can do realism on a hollywood budget, but given no one does it anymore, I suspect it’s become a lot more efficient to do with CGI, and the results are usually just as good.

I am sure this person loved hearing that he “failed miserably” at something he tried to express and share . sheesh ,some people around here have the manners of a goat.

Specifically Anakin Starkiller and Frink

stickydixon said:

Vladius said:

Vast improvement. This should be the definitive version from now on.

Ooo, hot damn. Glad you like it!

Oh definitely. I didn’t feel embarrassed to be watching it at any point, which is always what I get from the majority of Geonosis and that duel in particular.

stickydixon said:

How about, in the climax of AotC, Anakin doesn’t act like a child and rush forward into combat, getting his ass handed to him, and causing the fight to be lost?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hu5JmhXxvHHxoSeiE7g68UNBAOjkHvg3

And no Yoda - it’s odd, isn’t it, that he takes a clone ship to the bunker and arrives absent clone support?
Also, I tried to limit movie swordsmanship, ie fewer pirouettes and no “duel wielding”.

In short, no shots of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme in the same gunship, cut, cropped, and painted out Anakin for the first half of the fight, and did the same for Yoda’s appearance, simply cut the center channel to remove Yoda’s grunting.

Vast improvement. This should be the definitive version from now on.

Crosspost from the other thread:
I’ve been working on a fairly major cut of TLJ, either to stand alone as a shorter movie or as an extra part of a really long TFA. (I love TFA as it is, or with the Hal 9000 restructure.) I don’t have the expertise to get the audio and music transitions and everything to go smoothly, and it’s choppy in places, but it reflects what I want.

Basically I have two main issues with TLJ. They’re not very original and many people have had the same issues.

1. The characters of Rose and Holdo and their subplots.
2. Disrespect and revision of existing original trilogy characters: Luke, Han, Leia, Yoda, and the Jedi.

I cut almost every scene with Rose and every scene with Holdo, which means Finn is also conspicuously absent, but it can’t be helped. No Poe subplot either, no Canto Bight, no DJ. Rose is now just a member of the Resistance who participates in the final battle, her “meet cute” with Finn is when they both crash during the battle (no kiss or dialogue) and Rey looks on approvingly at Finn giving her the blanket on the Falcon.

Leia isn’t ever wounded; Kylo Ren’s choice not to kill her actually matters. Her maternal love for him and her connection with the Force are manifest in that way, instead of a goofy space flight.

The First Order figures out how to shoot at the obvious transport ships on their own. The hyperspace ram is pulled off by Luke, repurposing the scene of him straining to contact the unconscious Leia (and Yoda’s lightning bolt. Yoda is not in the movie.) We only see the chair from the back and can figure out later that it was his projection in the chair. This gives Luke’s role more punch and justifies the map subplot a lot more in TFA. I prefer Luke not dying at the end (since it means Kylo Ren “killed” him anyway,) but he can.

Luke and Rey’s interactions are carefully arranged so that Luke is still grumpy, but he wants to teach her. He mourns Han in the Falcon as soon as he finds out. Luke doesn’t hate the Jedi or criticize them. The audience can infer (since Han already told us in TFA, and there are scenes where Luke says this in TLJ) that he felt guilty and like he failed as a teacher. He doesn’t want to take on new students because he doesn’t feel like he can be trusted with them, and he’s worried about them turning to the dark side - he almost gives up training Rey when she starts looking into the dark side cave. Luke’s interpretation of his confrontation with Ben is the correct one and an alternate is never presented. Rey’s anger at Luke is just about him not thinking Ben can be saved, and trying to leave, not that she thinks he’s a murderer.

PM me if you want to see the rough cut.

I would probably wait to see what happens in 9 first.

With that said I’ve been personally working on a fairly major cut of TLJ, either to stand alone as a shorter movie or as an extra part of a really long TFA. (I love TFA as it is, or with the Hal 9000 restructure.) I don’t have the expertise to get the audio and music transitions and everything to go smoothly, and it’s choppy in places, but it reflects what I want.

Basically I have two main issues with TLJ. They’re not very original and many people have had the same issues.

1. The characters of Rose and Holdo and their subplots.
2. Disrespect and revision of existing original trilogy characters: Luke, Han, Leia, Yoda, and the Jedi.

I cut almost every scene with Rose and every scene with Holdo, which means Finn is also conspicuously absent, but it can’t be helped. No Poe subplot either, no Canto Bight, no DJ. Rose is now just a member of the Resistance who participates in the final battle, her “meet cute” with Finn is when they both crash during the battle (no kiss or dialogue) and Rey looks on approvingly at Finn giving her the blanket on the Falcon.

Leia isn’t ever wounded; Kylo Ren’s choice not to kill her actually matters. Her maternal love for him and her connection with the Force are manifest in that way, instead of a goofy space flight.

The First Order figures out how to shoot at the obvious transport ships on their own. The hyperspace ram is pulled off by Luke, repurposing the scene of him straining to contact the unconscious Leia (and Yoda’s lightning bolt. Yoda is not in the movie.) We only see the chair from the back and can figure out later that it was his projection in the chair. This gives Luke’s role more punch and justifies the map subplot a lot more in TFA. I prefer Luke not dying at the end (since it means Kylo Ren “killed” him anyway,) but he can.

Luke and Rey’s interactions are carefully arranged so that Luke is still grumpy, but he wants to teach her. He mourns Han in the Falcon as soon as he finds out. Luke doesn’t hate the Jedi or criticize them. The audience can infer (since Han already told us in TFA, and there are scenes where Luke says this in TLJ) that he felt guilty and like he failed as a teacher. He doesn’t want to take on new students because he doesn’t feel like he can be trusted with them, and he’s worried about them turning to the dark side - he almost gives up training Rey when she starts looking into the dark side cave. Luke’s interpretation of his confrontation with Ben is the correct one and an alternate is never presented. Rey’s anger at Luke is just about him not thinking Ben can be saved, and trying to leave, not that she thinks he’s a murderer.

PM me if you want to see the rough cut.

IlFanEditore said:

I would like to get some suggestions about the opening text.

Right now there is written:

"The GALACTIC REPUBLIC has guaranteed peace
in the galaxy for thousands of years.

The Jedi Order serves the Galactic Senate,
led by the Supreme Chancellor.

While a group of systems fights for independence in the CLONE WARS,
the Sith, ancient enemies of the Jedi, return.

The Sith Lord Darth Sidious secretly takes control of
the Separatist Alliance to weaken the Jedi".

Is it good?
Or… how would you change it?

I like it. Maybe add something like,
the Sith, ancient enemies of the Jedi, return from the shadows.

I agree that the Solo style of opening text creates a wealth of possibilities.

I think in its current form it makes it seem like Darth Maul is a Jedi Knight. Also be careful with introducing so many concepts, and don’t go too crazy with the all caps words. I think faneditors do that a little too much, personally. If you look at the crawls in the movies, they all caps maybe two or three words at most.

The cave scene was one of the few genuine “unique” moments of the movie. Dark side caves should be weird.

My personal interpretation:
It’s a representation of two things,

1. How alone Rey is and how she feels, just stuck by herself.
2. How the Force can appear deterministic because it allows you to see the past and the future. Her copies make a decision behind the “real” her and then she is forced to act it out because it’s something she chose behind, then each copy in front of her has to do the same thing (snapping, waving her hand.) The future is always in motion but actions always have consequences. She moves up in sequence, trying to see the future/past to figure out who’s there, but she’s left with emptiness and just herself. The dark side can’t really help you in the end and it makes you self-centered.

I blame the Lucasfilm Story Group for being a bunch of hacks

DominicCobb said:

Easiest fan edit ever: cut the Maul scene entirely. You’ve just made the film ten times better!

This. The only part of the whole movie I really did not like.

Looks really good!

It’s very cliche to do this in a 3-in-1 edit, but I hope the Qui Gon/Obi Wan vs Darth Maul duel is kept somehow, even if just in flashback.

I like it, but I’ve always liked that Anakin is Obi Wan’s apprentice. It’s what I always imagined when Obi Wan said Darth Vader “was a pupil of mine.” People rag on him for lying about Vader and Anakin being two different people, but he at least wasn’t lying when he said he taught him.

Had some more thoughts after watching an edit:

• Going in to TLJ I felt that guilt over Kylo Ren was sufficient motivation for Luke to self-exile. That was how Han explained it, and there wasn’t really any need for more. He doesn’t need to hate the Jedi or think that they should end, he could just think that he’s not a good enough teacher and that further pupils would turn to the dark side. The basic structure of this is already in the movie with him being concerned about Rey (“you didn’t even stop yourself,” Rey hanging out with Kylo, Rey going to the dark side hole, Rey lacking restraint with the saber) Rey saying “Kylo failed you, I won’t,” and Yoda telling him about failure. No late night attacks, lying, or book burning required either.

• The deleted scene with the “raid”/party in the caretaker village could be re-purposed to teach the complete opposite lesson; instead of teaching Rey that the Jedi suck because they stop you from making interventions, he could just be giving her the straightforward lesson the Jedi intended, but in a sarcastic mocking trickster way like Yoda. Or, maybe it’s a metaphor to show Rey why he stays on the planet and doesn’t intervene in the war.

• Aside from the part when he actually goes with torch in hand, Luke is genuinely concerned with actually keeping the Jedi traditions alive: he carefully folds his robes, describes himself as part of the religion, and speaks with reverence about the ancient Jedi texts. It’s possible that his motivation for exile could be to simply protect and watch over these teachings and make sure that the First Order doesn’t destroy them. He’d like to get away and all, but he’s just one man… he slips into the complacency that he had when he was younger (“it’s all so far away from here.”) Han being killed and Leia being threatened could easily rouse him out of it without Rey having to follow him all over the island and pester him. The projection could be a way for him to stay on the island and watch over it while still helping.

• Since any of these changes would cut out a substantial chunk of TLJ they’d probably be best implemented in a 2-in-1 edit.

• Maybe he genuinely didn’t know that the situation with the First Order was so serious and figured that the Republic could handle it. He could be willing to help from the start and just require a messenger. This way he could be the MacGuffin that TFA makes him out to be, only for a 2-in-1 edit where he blows up the First Order fleet. Or, in a longer edit, he might want to teach Rey first so that she learns the lesson of restraint before he makes such a huge act. Or maybe he’s convinced that Rey is already lost by trying to save/join Kylo Ren on Snoke’s ship and he’s trying to take out them both! who knows, just spitballing ideas.

I’d like to see this as well.

I really like it, with the exception of the music choices. I guess I’m not familiar enough with Tarantino’s style (I’ve only seen Django and parts of Pulp Fiction) or maybe it’s just not my thing.

Sounds great. I’ll have to check it out.

English_Beans said:

Vladius said:

I like it!
My opinion:
The jump cut of Anakin landing on Zam’s speeder would be funny and appropriate I think, but it would be better to give some visual continuity on the Obi Wan-Grievous fight since it’s later in the movie at a more serious time.
I would keep Dooku as a Sith or at least a fallen Jedi for the sake of convenience. This would just mean leaving in his part in ROTS.

How will you handle the time transition between AOTC and ROTS?

Yes, as I said the transition in the Grievous fight is pretty jarring, but it’s kind of tricky, because showing the whole fight would take the focus away from the Coruscant plot for a longer period than I’d like. Therefore I figured I’d cut at “Hello there” as a sort of cliffhanger, but maybe it would be better to at least show the Clones arriving to help. Dooku is still a fallen Jedi. I’ve kept the scene where he talks to Obi Wan while he’s captive. Part of the reason for not making him a Sith was honestly that I don’t like either of the fights he’s involved in.
The AotC portion will end with Palpatine gettin his powers and declaring war. Obi Wan is about to executed in the arena when the clones and the Jedi arrive (I’ve edited this sequence as a montage and I’m pretty happy with it). Anakin has his big rant. Yoda lamments the war. We then cut to the battle above Coruscant, maybe with a three years later subtitle. Probably the most basic transition possible but I don’t have any better ideas.

Hello there and then bam, clones would be really cool and work well I think. Maybe when you cut back, have a brief shot of Obi Wan jumping on the bike with Grievous, then both of them falling off leading straight into the fist fight. Just something to “carry” them away from the rest of the battle and explain why it’s just them all of a sudden.

Oh okay, I understand your feelings on Dooku a little better now. I think it’ll be confusing having Palpatine on Grievous’s ship without mentioning that he’s been kidnapped. Is there a way to just not have the chancellor be present and have Obi Wan and Anakin’s mission be to infiltrate and bring down the ship on purpose?

The montage sounds great!

I like it!
My opinion:
The jump cut of Anakin landing on Zam’s speeder would be funny and appropriate I think, but it would be better to give some visual continuity on the Obi Wan-Grievous fight since it’s later in the movie at a more serious time.
I would keep Dooku as a Sith or at least a fallen Jedi for the sake of convenience. This would just mean leaving in his part in ROTS.

How will you handle the time transition between AOTC and ROTS?

OutboundFlight said:

EvenSteven said:

OutboundFlight said:
How about cutting Finn and Rose (almost) entirely from the movie? Move Finn waking up shortly after Holdo assumes command. Finn’s “where’s Rey?” cuts to Rey arriving on the Supremacy. Canto Bight and the Hyperspace tracker, all gone. Besides just cutting a poor subplot, it also simplifies the story considerably by letting us focus in on the arcs of Rey, Kylo, and Poe.

I know it sounds great to cut out that entire B-plot, but there’s a few problems with it. Like Handman mentioned, DJ needs to betray the Resistance to the First Order. Second, there’s Leia’s tracker that Finn picks up so Rey can fly to Snoke’s Star Destroyer. Third, Finn and Rose have to fly back to Crait in the used First Order ship. So, having them just appear in the final battle without the Canto Bight plot would be jarring from a viewer’s perspective.

I haven’t seen TLJ in over a month now but from what I remember:

1. The first order could of seen through the resistance’s plan on its own, which would help bring up Hux, or someone could it make seem like Snoke/Kylo sensed it.
2. Leia has the tracker in the beginning, cutting Finn picking up the tracker would imply it was still with her.
3. Cut out Finn and Rose arriving on Canto Bight, they could of been on the pods too. It’s not perfect but it could work.

Maybe cut Finn’s kamikazee rub entirely with everyone turning back when Poe says so, but that may turn him into a background character.

My reasoning for cutting the entire subplot is that movie is so crowded. It has four subplots (Rey, Kylo, Finn, Poe) each with their own sets of characters. Compare that to the OT with 3 the max. Once of the subplots needs to be axed, and the Hyperspace Tracker is the least interesting or important of them. It’s only around to give Finn something to do, so why not let him take a backseat and stay asleep for the first half?

I really like your ideas. Someone do this.