brash_stryker

It's possible to animate a mouth using meshwarp in AfterEffects, however if he's not already puppeteered opening and closing his mouth in the correct way, I don't think it will look convincing. Perhaps if there's a shot of him which happens to match up with what's being said (or can be made to match up by masking in the mouth from different shots) it could provide a good base for then applying the same techniques as he's used already.

Of course, by ROTJ, it's possible Ady will have progressed to using a full CG mouth replacement depending on what he wants to accomplish.

nightstalkerpoet said:

I've been wondering this too. The difficulty is how to get the dialogue in without the footage. I think that when they get to full restoration mode on the LD there might be a chance they can fix the footage enough for just a few shots.

Also, if footage is used from the LD, I would hope that a way can be found to include the Luke/Lightsaber footage. I understand the desire for best possible picture quality, but that isn't always possible, and Harmy's Despecialized should be a good indicator that people can still be extremely satisfied, despite the varying quality of source material.

I highly doubt the footage itself could ever be in a suitable condition to be used.

The dialogue, on the other hand, stood out to me as an excellent opportunity for use during cutaways or when Yoda's back is turned. 

I still can't believe they didn't use that line about Yoda not letting Ben tell Luke. It changes everything and makes him seem far less of a lying bastard!

I agree and simply don't understand why some people (not referring to anyone in previous comments before offence is caused) seem to think that only one version deserves to be preserved for future generations. This isn't Highlander FFS! The beauty of Fan Edits is giving us choice, rather than forcing a particular version on us as the 'Definitive', which is what George is trying to do and is the whole reason this site exists!

I'd be delighted if numerous different versions would be catalogued and preserved in 100 years, even the SE as even though it's an inferior misstep, it's still part of the history of the franchise. 

With the dedication that the community have put into it, Revisited is as much a part of this history as any other release, surely? I mean, it's a community the original releases gave rise to, after all.

The real issue is that it's far more of a danger that the SE will be the only version left in 100 years, and that's a sad possibility.

greedo said:

brash_stryker said:

OT:R should be viewed 100 years from now. 

Assuming it's finished by then.

Harmy said:

That I would consider a tragedy. Revisited is great but I really don't think that it should be the version that is viewed a 100 years from now, just as the SE shouldn't be.

There are those that care about film heritage and preservation, and there are those that care about visual continuity (not having a Palpatine that's a woman with monkey eyes in Empire). Me, I care about both. Both the OUT and OT:R should be viewed 100 years from now. 

What we can ALL agree on is that it shouldn't be George's SE, which is what he himself wants to happen.

I was going to PM this, but thought i'd reiterate a few things for everyone. The files no longer exist as all the files together unsorted with lots of duplicates was too chaotic to work with. When I do pick up the project again, I'll be ripping from all games from scratch (as well as having a back up drive!) As the archive stood in its first release, it was just the Official Star Wars Soundboards plus sounds I ripped from the sound module of the Sounds Of Star Wars book. I MAY have those files somewhere from when I originally ripped them, but as for the Soundboards, they're still there on the official star wars site. You can download them from the website using browser plugins for downloading media. Those are pretty much the only sounds I'd compiled before my HDD crash. There are so many sounds out there in different media projects and so many duplicates that need sorting that I just don't have the time to start from scratch at the moment. I will get it done, but you certainly would have my blessing to do your own in the meantime.

As well  as the aforementioned resources, I was using every star wars game I could find as well as a few sounds from the entertainment utility released by lucasarts in the 90s along with a few sound effects websites.

Hopefully all this clarifies a few things. I didn't have much released to begin with (though a few people have found those helpful in their projects and kindly credited me). To carry on with anything involves ripping and finding everything from scratch.

Brash

Jango's Bongo said:

I agree with everybody's points here... except possibly my own.

 

Oh hey now, I've got a question which is on-topic. Remember those matte boxes around tie fighters which can be seen when they pass over a star destroyer (for example) that Ady's doing his best to remove - how is that done? Because if the tie's box is just rotoscoped out and the clean tie placed back on the star destroyer then the box will still be there, right? So is the shot left unrotoscoperized and the area on the star destroyer altered or what?

 

Hmm, yeah I'm pretty sure that question didn't make sense but I'm too feeble minded to try to rephrase it. If anyone actually understood it then my hat is raised to you and if you not only understood it but can answer it then by gosh I'll shake your hand too.

I'm pretty sure that as well as rotoing out the foreground element in question (in this case the Tie Fighter without the black box), a clean background plate/element is created so that doesn't have the box on it either. This might be done by combining different frames - if the box doesn't remain in the same place through all the frames, then that means you can create a 'boxless' complete SD by combining sections from different frames, either via split screen effects or similar in Aftereffects or by using Photoshop.

TV's Frink said:

Put yourself in adywan's shoes.  Would you be willing to risk it?  I certainly wouldn't.

Having chatted to Ady earlier about it, I now know edits would potentially stand in a more precarious place legally than fanfilms do as they make use of the existing material rather than making their own.

I feel pretty stupid not to have considered that it's not just the issue of intellectual property, but rather the intention to distribute the original material, altered or not (potentially to people who haven't paid for the official releases).

So no, I wouldn't risk it - though when I posted what I did, I'd wrongly deduced that there wasn't any risk with non-profit projects. I just hadn't considered all the facts, that's all, so I retract what I said :)

asterisk8 said:

 

I finished playing a fan-made mod of the first-person shooter Half-Life recently, and I thought of Revisited more than once during my playthrough. Black Mesa: Source took 8 years to make with a team of developers and programmers and mappers working almost around-the-clock. 

That is actually an excellent comparison. I followed BM:S from its inception in 2004ish and after a few years, all the haters and whiners were out in force shouting "Vaporware". But now look at it. That game is a fucking MASTERPIECE. 

Revisited is suffering from exactly the same sort of entitled whining from people who refuse to just be patient. Don't they realise that the longer they wait, the better it's getting?

Matticon said:

On another note, maybe for ROTJ:R and ANH:HD you could do a kickstarter campaign?

 

I guess the only issue is that you can't make a profit? Well the easy solution to that is... spend ALL the money!

Matticon.

I think the usual response about funding something like Revisited through Kickstarter has been that it's a bad idea due to the matter of intellectual property.

I, however, completely disagree. Due to it being non profit, I believe it would be allowed, provided the bonuses you provide via each donation tier do not include the actual edit (as this might open a legal can of worms)

A donation of £10 or more, for instance, might get you a Revisited keyring or badge to show your support. Or even just an entry into the prize draw donators already get.

A mid range donation might get you a Tshirt

A mid to high range donation might get you a canvas print of Ady's custom painted cover art.

The highest range donation tier (in the tens of thousands) could consist of a particular prop from the production e.g. The Han in Carbonite plus an 'Executive Producer' credit in the final edit.

These are, of course, only examples, and the amount of tiers/rewards are only limited by the imagination.

As long as you make it emphatically clear it's a not for profit project, I see no reason why you couldn't fund each and every film in the Revisited saga through a single campaign - Revisited has become pretty high profile now. I think after ESB:R is released would be the time for a campaign. 

There have been a few fanfilms funded through Kickstarter, 2 examples of which are below. Neither of these projects were shut down and successfully reached their funding goals:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/125377036/star-trek-continues-webseries?ref=live

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1144130879/star-wars-the-old-republic-revan-fan-film-0?ref=live

adywan said:

Apology accepted

Is this like a Captain Needa "apology accepted"? ;)

Possessed said:

Well that was supposed to happen in 2009 and 2013 is already almost over.  A strong part of me thinks it's never coming out.  He's just going to keep tweaking and tweaking and tweaking stuff that is *almost* noticeable until the day he dies.

 

No offense, Adywan does great work, but this is just excessive and unnecessary in my opinion.  Maybe when it comes out I will share it with my grandchildren.

Beginning a sentence with 'no offence' doesn't somehow give you licence to then be offensive, nor does it magically diminish the offensiveness of what comes after.

Ady is fixing as much as he possibly can so he only has to release this thing once. I think it's obvious from what he's already posted that he's now onto the final stretch. Not that you'd have the right to pass judgement even if it wasn't.

He's not making it for you or your "grandchildren". It's a personal project that he happens to be sharing. It's a labour of love and if it takes a long time to finish, then that's just a testament to how much work the Revisited team are putting into it - something Lucasfilm with its vast budget, staff and resources failed to do satisfactorily.  

Possessed said:

 

I was polite and stated his work is great, because it's true and I really believe that.  So because I hold the opinion that this is gone on long enough (NOT the opinion that it's shitty work or any such nonsense) I shouldn't be allowed to post my opinion huh?  I have to have the same feelings about it as everybody else to be able to voice it?

Adywan asserts "it will be released when it's done". (see thread title)
You presume to tell him "it's gone on long enough", so basically saying "give it to us unfinished because your idea of finished is stupid and unnecessary".

Ronster said:

There is a really nice scene in that second link where Mark Hamill is talking about Empire Strikes Back and says he "Thinks this is the one that will go down in History"

I have to say that I really liked that clip amongst other stuff in it but that one especially

I also was watching the old teaser with vivaldi music...

without trying to come across as having a stupid radical idea but I really like the colouring of the Blue star wars logo... I would love to see an opening crawl of this nature.

 

I think it would be interesting to see a change in colour to the title fonts for each film... But yes I know the classic yellow is great just a thought of what it would be like?

Rotj would be in Red I guess as it was teased ub Red as revenge of the Jedi.

It was planned to be in Blue originally I believe but over a Hoth landscape I just would not mind seeing it on a star field.

What would be better perhaps is to see some inspiration from the teaser used at the very end of the end credits perhaps. and to include the logo for the film which is never seen within the footage.

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Star-Wars-The-Trilogy-PROJECT-STALLED-DUE-TO-HARD-DRIVE-FAILURE/topic/10122/

A pretty exciting Facebook update posted by Ady in the early hours today:

Sojourn said:

 

adywan said:

The edit will be closer to the purist version in it's editing apart from the Obi-Wan hut scene, which will be the re-arranged version. 

 

Will the extended TIE attack during the Battle of Yavin still be there? I remember that being taken out for the Purist edition, but I do love that sequence. Really adds to the intensity of that moment in the battle. 

^ This.

The extended TIE Attack was the best thing about ANH:R and unlike changes like the music additions (which continues to divide a lot of people) the extended battle just felt like it belonged there.

lt also made perfect sense - why would there only be a handful of TIEs available?

If Ady is determined to keep the same cuts as 1977, I assume he'll add in the extra TIEs without any rearranging - but it would still be a nice touch to have the original Revisited version (lovingly recreated with Ady's greatly improved skill level) available via special features or even a branching disk.

I'm sure your workprint has inspired many changes in subsequent edits.....it certainly did in mine......which is also......unreleased.

I'll get there eventually.....and I'm sure you will too if you get your passion back for the project at some point.

muddyknees2000 said:

.Mac. said:

@muddy, That would indeed be a great way to end ROTJ. That reminds me of aalenfae's amazing job depicting an alternative way for seeing Anakin's ghost http://vimeo.com/36883170 It looks great and it's effectively emotional seeing his ghost appear amongst the flames in that way, imo (even if it was Hayden used). It'd be interesting to see this concept in an edit, but just not sure if it'd be right for Revisited.

Wow.....aalenfae....went through a bunch of your videos. You seem to really understand what would make the PT better. You've made some very subtle changes that make a world of difference. Very impressive.

Wow +1. I can't believe I never saw that until now. If Hayden's performance could ever be redeemed in the prequels (though my preference would be an entirely new actor in the prequels - I can dream can't I?!) then I'd love to see this as an option in revisited via a branching disk!

corellian77 said:

When will then be now?

Soon.

I always assumed that Slave 1 was not visibly cloaked, but rather jamming the Falcon's sensors so Han wouldn't know there was another ship in the vicinity as the Falcon wouldn't detect one.

It's not like the Falcon has a rear-view mirror.

emanswfan said:

Aalenfae posted this on vimeo a few days ago, not sure why he didn't post it here yet.

https://vimeo.com/72232095

I've battled with that mess of a scene for so long and have come to a very similar conclusion to you, Aalenfae. Great job!

It's really difficult (or impossible) to make them seem like friends in this scene so the best we can do it seems is use the elevator scene for that and make him assertive in this one. 

I've had some radical editing ideas in the past (some of which have still not been removed from my youtube) so I'd be happy if you borrowed some and I'd be delighted to run some of my ideas by you.

Bester said:

I find it hard to believe anyone would want to do a fan edit of ANH, after seeing ANH:R and knowing an HD version is in the works. If it was one of the other movies (excluding ESB), I would understand it. Fan edits of ANH are extremely rare and ANH:R is pretty much THE definitive version.

Fan edits are very subjective works. What's 'definitive' for one might be awful for another - whether they feel it goes too far, doesn't go far enough, or could have changed things in a different way.

I know Angel in particular had a visual style of doing things which was pretty different to Ady's. Revisited is more "purist" in its goals (retaining the 70's look whilst still fixing things) but other editors want to update and change more than Ady is, and that's fair enough if that's what they feel is an improvement. That's the beauty of fan edits - they cater for yourself and those like you.

Wasn't bobgarcia doing some vfx tests for anh at one point? It could be his maybe. I know angel was helping him out with his ROTS edit.

No problem. Even though I wrote motion-control instead of stop-motion by accident :p

darth_ender said:

Believe me guys, I'm all about real models over CGI and I love that the new SW films will supposedly take that into account, but in this very project are AT-STs, and they happen to look very good.  They also happen to be pure CGI.  And while I agree that in many cases CGI doesn't quite look good enough, it seems a metal chest isn't particularly hard to create when compared to the other CGI capabilities Ady has demonstrated.  Again, of course I prefer models.  No need to be anti-CGI just on principle, when it is quite capable of many things.  His reasons are his own, and either way, it looks pretty darn fantastic.  If it's the way Adywan wanted it done, I'm cool with that.  Just asking a reasonable question.

I think because the AT-ST's had to be in motion (which would necessitate motion control photography if Ady had made models), plus the fact they're fairly far away so you don't need so much realism, that's why it was more practical to go the CGI route.

Now Han in Carbonite is a completely static item, perhaps necessitating a motion track for certain shots and it's seen close up. Plus the CGI shirt would have to blend in with the real prop - easier to spot a fake in that instance I think.

I think I speak for everyone here when I say this.

Wow.