brash_stryker

It'd be amazing if Ady'd upload his after effects project/preset (or whatever) for each prequel film so that anyone can have a colour corrected version to work with without having to rip from his AVCHD (which would result in a loss of quality when it comes to reediting I assume)

I'm planning to do a more radical colour correction in places, but it would be great to have a film to work with that's not tinted mauve throughout.

It's not that i'm too lazy to colour correct myself. I just don't know where to start.

Avatar said:

what ever happened to...Cade Skywalker and his fantastic color corrections

I second this. His colour corrections were amazing. I'd love to know exactly what he did so I can do the same in my edit. I'm going to be starting from scratch in another program soon, so doing a global colour correction first before getting stuck in seems like a good idea.

Again, it's something I don't understand enough about though. I need an idiot's guide!

I'm using CS4.

Well for one thing, the export quality seems to suck. In the opening shot which I've rotated so it pans down instead of up, the bottom of the screen is really pixellated and i don't know why. I don't know what I'm missing.

I've been having some problems with quality of output in Premiere, as well as certain things not being as straightforward as they should be (such as there being no feathered edge option for wipes)

I'm therefore considering moving to Final Cut on a Hackintosh partition. I don't mind starting from scratch with my editing as it will give me an opportunity to learn Final Cut properly (I want a job in editing). And it's not like I have to come up with everything from scratch again. I can export my Premiere project to a video file and use that as reference.

Any thoughts?

TheTome said:

and I'm currently matting Jango's helmet on top of his head so we never once see his face.

 

I've considered doing this but I always assumed it would be impossible to do in motion.

I don't know about TheTome, but "Boba" won't be seen on Geonosis in my edit. He leads Obi Wan there (under Sidious' orders) but has nothing to do with Dooku. Them being associated makes the Jedi look stupid and also is incompatible with an edit where Dooku is a good person.

Haha. Replied in the wrong thread, ESF? ;)

Very nice! I did something very similar in my edit, where he just says "a bounty hunter called Fett"

If I can find a way, I'll be removing the name altogether. We only ever hear his name in that fan service moment in ROTJ anyway, when Han goes "boba fett? where?"

He's more of a mystery man if we never get a name and he's only ever referred to as "bounty hunter".

shanerjedi said:

Another great thing about your edit is that it also turns the jedi into detectives who suspect something is up and they're going to Kamino to find out about it.

By moving up the emergency powers act, you've also kept the momentum going because the assassination attempts just happened. In the existing film, they were presented so late and so far after the assassination attempts it just seemed to languish.

Are Padme and Anakin already gone to Naboo in your edit brash?

Yeah. Immediately after Anakin and Padme take off for Naboo, we get the tweaked senate scene and then the scene of the two of them aboard the ship on its way to Naboo.

TheTome said:

Sounds good.  I'm using a mac with Final Cut, but most of the concepts are the same.  My personal advice would be to get a rough cut of the movie made so you can test pacing, plausibility, etc.  then, once you have that, work with sfx problems you know can be solved (ie. seen it done before) and find out how they were done.  You may learn enough from that to figure out what can be done in later scenes.  Basically, the more focused you are on a single problem, the more likely you are to get the exact help you need.

Well the rough cut is already done. I just need to add wipes and such (and I don't yet know how to do so with the same feathered edge as seen in the rest of the movie) then there's the sound to sort out, and I wouldn't know where to begin with creating a 5.1 mix. I've only worked with the centre audio channel so far (I'd assumed it would be easy to duplicate the cuts for the different channels down the line).

After that, it's all After Effects for the crawl, compositing, deleting, recolouring. Again I'm a bit lost with how to do any of this. If anyone can point me to some useful tutorials, that'd be great.

JasonN said:

brash_stryker: It took me a little over a month of "on-again, off-again" editing to recolor Dooku's lightsaber in EP2. I had previously tried using masks and compositing in both Vegas and After Effects to change the saber's color, but the results were never exactly what I wanted. Ultimately, I selected to recolor the saber by hand, frame-by-frame using a graphics tablet and the software Mirage (the predecessor of TVPaint) - it was definitely time-consuming, but it gave me the best results for my edit.

Having said that, I'd never choose to recolor ALL the Jedi lightsabers blue: all that work would probably drive me up the f***ing wall....  O_O

Do you happen to know how Ady changed the colours of the lightsabers in ANH (like Luke's inexplicable green saber aboard the falcon). I know he rerotoscoped, but he must have done some kind of colour change on the surrounding haze of the blade as well.

TheTome said:

Agreed, one thing at a time.  I've done a crazy amount to my edit, but I focused on one thing at a time.  If a sfx trick was needed to complete an edit then  I would teach myself, otherwise I avoided that stuff like the plague, and yet now I'm color correcting.  You'll get there.  That said, if you are actually looking for help, the real question is what are you using right now?  PC, Mac, software, etc.

I'm using a PC with Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I think I got it in the scene where Yoda is in his hoverchair. Where he says "the council is confident in its decision Obi Wan".

I'm honoured that people think my idea is good enough to use in their own edits :)

As I've said before, my edit is more of a proof of concept than a definitive cut (because there are far more accomplished editors out there who can do a more ambitious edit *cough* Adywan *cough*)

vaderios said:

Where is my temple matte ? :(

Haha, that scene is on the cutting room floor I'm afraid. I know it's no great consolation, but I'll use it for a DVD Menu (if I ever get to that stage). It would require me knowing how to edit and reassemble a 5.1 surround mix first.

SomethingStarWarsRelated said:

I'm very excited for your edit! I don't know where I can really help you in this...mostly ideas, I guess! :D

Well it was actually you that gave me the idea of moving the senate scene earlier in the film, so keep em coming! :D

I was hoping Ady, JasonN or mrbenja could point me in the right direction.

JasonN did some saber recolours in his edit, as well as removing Yoda in a scene near the end.

mrbenja. If I recall correctly, it was you that made a video of Dooku with a green saber? It was a truly exquisite recolour!

The ambitious side of me wants to recolour all the green sabers blue. The lazy side of me just wants to recolour Dooku's saber :p

Not sure what colour. Yellow, Orange, Purple, Green. So long as it's unorthodox compared to the rest of the Jedi.

As for removing characters. I want to remove Jango from the podium shots on Geonosis, Boba from the doorway of Slave 1 (very brief) Yoda from the aforementioned shot that JasonN also did, and possibly threepio from being in as many shots on tatooine.

Oh, I'm going to be redubbing threepio with an alien voice so that he's a different droid. Will also be redubbing the analysis droids in the deleted scene (possibly in my own modulated voice - Star Wars needs some Welsh accents! :p)

Cuts wise, the editing is almost completed. There's still some to go but as you can see from my timeline, I'm having a good stab at cutting the film to shreds!

Once I smooth out the sound (tips appreciated), it'll be time to start learning after effects. I need to do some armour recolours, character removals, superimpose a sidious hologram onto Jango Fett's screen, recolour Sabers and lasers.

And what's more, I don't know how the hell I'm going to do any of it!

HELP!

Thanks! Didn't expect that positive a response.

Cuts wise, the editing is almost completed. Once I smooth out the sound (tips appreciated), it'll be time to start learning after effects. I need to do some armour recolours, character removals, superimpose a sidious hologram onto Jango Fett's screen, recolour Sabers and lasers.

And what's more, I don't know how the hell I'm going to do any of it!

HELP!

Also posted in my own thread:

One change I've implemented already is to move the Senate scene of Palpatine getting his emergency powers to immediately after Padme and Anakin leave Coruscant. He doesn't say anything about creating an Army because in my crawl, it will explain the army is common knowledge already. At the end of this scene, Mace doesn't say anything about going to Geonosis to help Obi Wan, and I've tweaked Yoda's line:

Mace: It is done then
Yoda: Hmmmmmm
*pause*
Yoda: Visit, Obi wan will, the cloners on Kamino.......and see this army they have created for the republic.

Obviously the reason being to track down the bounty hunter, under the ruse of 'inspecting' the army.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49L3xzkZ3Pc

It's still VERY rough. I've done no work yet to smooth it out or add background music to Yoda's tweaked line. It's just in place ready for when I get to the audio stage.

Well JasonN distorted the voice to the extent that you can't tell who it is anyway, so a good imitation of his voice would be sufficient iny my opinion.

One change I've implemented already is to move the Senate scene of Palpatine getting his emergency powers to immediately after Padme and Anakin leave Coruscant. He doesn't say anything about creating an Army because in my crawl, it will explain the army is common knowledge already. At the end of this scene, Mace doesn't say anything about going to Geonosis to help Obi Wan, and I've tweaked Yoda's line:

Mace: It is done then
Yoda: Hmmmmmm
*pause*
Yoda: Visit, Obi wan will, the cloners on Kamino.......and see this army they have created for the republic.

Obviously the reason being to track down the bounty hunter, under the ruse of 'inspecting' the army.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49L3xzkZ3Pc

It's still VERY rough. I've done no work yet to smooth it out or add background music to Yoda's tweaked line. It's just in place ready for when I get to the audio stage.

SSWR, how would your idea be accomplished? And what narration do you mean? I'm definitely interested :)

Ah...that makes sense seeing as they're ripped from tv. D'oh!

Here's a rough mockup of the idea I discussed of Jango/Boba getting a transmission from Palps, telling him to lead the Jedi to the seperatists. The screen would dissolve from the above display into the other.

Here's a mockup of a possible hologram for my idea. The screen would dissolve from the above display into the other.

I'm unsure if this has been covered before, but will you be making a version available without the hardcoded subtitles? I don't know the first thing about colour correction, and a HD version of AOTC already colour corrected but without the hardcoded subtitles would be a godsend for me and anyone else working on their own edits where they may want to change the meaning of the alien dialogue.

I'd be forever in your debt if you uploaded such a video for other people to use as a base in their own edits (obviously giving you credit where it's due)

Well after a night of heavy drinking, I always have bizarre dreams, and amongst the usual Michael Bay worthy fodder, I had one dream that I really really hope wasn't prophetic.

Ady got a cease and desist letter from Lucasfilm.

Noooooooooooooooooooo!

shanerjedi said:

That's not a bad idea. I wonder if there's some footage from the asteroid chase for Jango's reaction to the hologram. He wouldn't have to say anything. It would all be Siddy. And there just might be a way to put together some dialogue that is spread throughout the prequels where Sidious says: "Geonosis. War. Lead." etc. Or maybe just dubbing in someone else's voice would be more appropriate?

But good idea overall.

Well in my edit, we don't see Jango without his helmet, so I'd need a helmeted shot of him if at all. I really like the idea of inserting the Jason Wingreen "As you Wish" line from ESB after Palpatine gives him the order.

Sidious' face will be blanked out and the voice will be warped (like someone did in a phantom menace edit) so either a cut and paste of Palpatine's dialogue, or someone doing an impersonation will both work fine, I think.