hedgesmfg

And the cuts are live. 7 film cuts just as promised. 2 more teaser clips below in 4K HDR.

Ahsoka flees the Clones at the end of Season 5:
https://youtu.be/GogPZIwBdH8
Darth Sidious Arrives on Mandalore, Season 5:
https://youtu.be/r_SzaRlY3g4

Again, you can email sheevsenate0505@gmail.com for a list of links, or DM me directly here (though it will take longer for me to get back to you directly).

I’m not saying that the episodes I don’t include aren’t canon or anything silly like that, just that they all translate into the best cliff’s notes of events with the series for those who want to see a condensed version of some of its best material.

And what else I do in the future depends on how these are received. I can always make more if people like these enough and demand them. For now, I am sticking with these 7.

For now, have another preview:

The Father Tests Anakin on Mortis in 4K HDR
https://youtu.be/Im0Iqgm7lYQ

And as for Son of Dathomir, Star Wars AudioComics did an excellent motion comic adaptation at least with very good voice casts. I’ve even considered editing that as a bonus “Episode”. We’ll see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWAkCt4q3o0&list=PLuKnjVUhJLzHLVWQRIebrSOOs9LCNTAQ8

Hello again,

I’m continuing the trend here with plans to do a 4K upscale and attempt to create 7 different cinematic cuts of the Clone Wars TV episodes as films.

These edits will cover 29 episodes released as 7 different “Feature Length” (at least an hour) films, released in 4K HDR like the rest of my projects…

4K HDR Teaser Trailer: (Inspired by the Season 3 2011 Trailer)
https://youtu.be/DC62naTm3Zs

After many, many PMs and requests, I’ve decided to tackle a select limited number of arcs in the Clone Wars TV series, editing them into feature length films and upscaling them to 4K HDR like I did the previous 2D series and 3D Clone Wars film edit. This is a lengthy process that I have been working on non-stop for the past several days, involving not only the editing, color grading and subtitling of 29 episodes worth of content, but also a massive amount of effort to encode these 7 cuts. This is still an ongoing process and I don’t have a set date to release these yet, but you’ll know when it happens.

Why make this? Are you adding deleted scenes?

Some, but there are very few fully animated ones to use. The Season 2 Mandalore Arc can be extended by about 2 minutes between 5 bit scenes, and the Season 5 episode where Savage finds maul has one deleted scene that’s usable, but the goal here is more to cut these arcs into the feature length films they were kind of always meant to be. I saw the Nightsisters arc in an early screening back in late 2010, and I’ve wanted to watch THAT version of the arc again ever since. This is my attempt to recreate it. Of course, my usual HDR treatment for all of my projects will apply here, using the highest quality 1080p video source I can obtain as a base (each file is initially 10kbps encodes or about 1.7GB per episode before I upscale them already), then further enhancing them from there. It turns out with some very minor adjustments, an absolutely incredible amount of HDR color data surges into these episodes, and the show’s textures upscale very, very well. Given that it’s unlikely Disney will itself ever upscale the show, this may be the best that we ever get. If you’ve seen my 4K Clone Wars Microseries release, or the bits included in the 4.5 hour ROTS cut, you know what to expect.

If not, log in to your smart TV app or use a 10-bit HDR 4K monitor and watch these video files on either Chrome or Edge for the full HDR effect. Firefox doesn’t show off the colors quite as properly, but they look amazing on the right hardware.

Why these 7 (technically 8) arcs)?

Because collectively, they form the best bridging narrative between Episodes II and III while also being the show’s most cinematic works. 2 parters don’t benefit much here, and single episodes don’t really need it, so 3-4+ episode arcs were the best. It’s a combination of technical merit, and story relevance. If you’ve NEVER seen the show, watching these 7 arcs along with the TCW filmcut and the ROTS/Siege edit will give you a pretty comprehensive overview of the War, Anakin, Rex, Ventress, Maul, and Ahsoka’s story. Of course, I am also releasing these cuts in 1080P SDR as well so everyone can enjoy them.

The 7 Feature Length Cuts will cover…

The Mandalore Plot - Season 2 (3 Episodes Cut into 1 film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YxTwTXXbc4

Nightsisters Arc - Season 3 (3 Episodes Cut into 1 film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDx2Vo_qJxY

The Mortis Arc - Season 3 (3 Episodes Cut into 1 film)
https://youtu.be/Im0Iqgm7lYQ

The Battle of Umbara Arc - Season 4 (4 Episodes Cut into 1 film)
https://youtu.be/qwsM26UE3O0

The Return of Darth Maul - Seasons 4-5 (8 Episodes Cut into 1 film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmxBk5zTGfk

The Wrong Jedi Arc - Season 5 (4 Episodes Cut into 1 film)(No Clip yet, coming soon)

The Yoda Arc - Season 6 (4 Episodes Cut into 1 Film
https://youtu.be/yi7FmZrwzfg

The longest and most interesting cut will be the Return of Darth Maul cut, as it’s nearly 3 hours, but is also based on an OFFICIAL film cut Filoni’s team released on DVD as a Target exclusive back in 2012. I used that edit as an outline for the first 4 episodes, including some of its original elements like audio and transitions, while also restoring the scenes it removed from the TV episodes back into the edit, and even restoring one small scene that was deleted entirely. The episodes then lead into the Season 5 arc, as one long continuous story covering Ventress, Kenobi, Savage, Maul, and Mandalore. If you want Maul’s Clone Wars story (before Season 7) in one cut, here it is.

Enjoy these previews. I don’t have a release date set yet, as I’m putting a lot of work into testing/encoding/proofing these, but I’ll let you know the moment they’re available.

I’m just going to add my voice to the “Don’t mess with the original canon lore too much” crowd, as I’d actually like to show this cut to future fans who will ultimately be more satisfied with it as a valid alternative. It’s pretty darn good as it is right now. I’m already sad about the loss of the Episode III line, but I understand why you cut it. Changing the vats of Snoke Clones to Sheev clones is harmless enough as one would expect to see failed Sheev bodies in the same lab somewhere anyway.

Changing Kef Bir to the forest moon is also a small stretch, but I understand why you did it too and it’s easy enough for the casual viewer to overlook. No one who wants to nitpick will care about the color of Leia’s saber, and the purple looks pretty neat.

Outside of those changes, there’s a lot I like about this cut so far. Preserve the lore where you can so I can share it among others without big canon-debates, while only fixing the film’s real problems.

John_SWFan said:

Hey Numeral, first: your Version and your cutting Skills are amazing! Even if I would prefer to get the restored Project 4k77 Version in the Mash Up (to dont have some (for me) stupid new CGI Scenes from the Blu Ray), but the Rest is rly rly incredible.

One thing: VLC Player could not show your own created Sub (btw: thanks for that!) the Player showed these just in a Black Color (which is unreadable). The Blu Ray Player however, has no problems with it and shows them in correct white colour with black shadows. DO you have an idea where the problem is here for the VLC?

I’ve heard a few mentions of this glitch, but have yet to see it on any device I’ve used (And I’ve played my files on a desktop, 2 laptops, A Smart TV, A Chromebook, an Android phone, and others). As best I can figure, it has to do with the subtitle configuration that is the setup in some versions of ffmpeg.

Easiest way to fix it that I know of is to update all of your codecs to the latest version, of say, the K-Lite Codec Pack.

https://codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_standard.htm

Beyond that, I’m not too sure. The subtitle files are uploaded separately for each project if someone wishes to tweak the font manually if need be, or certain devices allow you to manually customize their appearance (SmartTV software often allows this). These are the best suggestions I can give for the moment.

I mean, I’ve got all my projects up and available with multiple download methods. I just can’t post any links here directly. How to get them is described in the thread, and I’m backed by the mods so that should help confirm it’s legitimate.

By the canon of this cut, she heard Anakin’s voice and felt a connection with him during the fight against Palpatine, so I think it’s something you could get away with if done tastefully.

Plus, he literally endorses her in a sort of psuedo-chosen one way, so as controversial as it is, his connections to her keeps the prophesy more relevant while still letting fans decide for themselves who precisely the chosen one could be (as there are still different interpretations out there, when it could be argued that the chosen one is the entire family line from him onwards, of which Rey is adopted into).

I’m new to the process of the edits in this specific community, so I’ll ask.

Will this only be released in 1080p, or is a 4K version planned as well?

jarbear said:

Hal 9000 said:

Yeah, if there’s an appropriate sounding “come on,” that would work. Leads into his, “We just landed, okay?”

I don’t have the original cut of the movie at the office, but Finn does say “come on” during the last briefing that was cut since he refuted the 1 in a million shot.

EDIT: The only issue is there is music in the scene and it overlaps with the line. The tone and delivery is good for this idea though. Dang.

Couldn’t you open the multi-track audio file and extract just the dialogue, or at least the dialogue with as little music as possible (if the dialogue track is itself not isolated)?

With the right mixing, it doesn’t seem like it’d be too hard if you know the timestamp. I just did this for the narration of the introduction in my Clone Wars movie edit.

oojason said:

That is quite an array of intriguing projects - as well as some BTS and other useful info too 👍
 

Yes, it was your message that made me decide to post this, so I appreciate you reaching out.

Hello friends,

I have been a lurker in this community for years, and a dedicated theforce.net forum poster (particularly in the television and Literature boards) for even longer, dating back to lurking PT leaks and spoilers in the late 90s. In short, I’ve been in the online Star Wars fandom for almost as long as the modern internet has been around, though I myself am still just an older Mid 80s-born Millennial fan. I’ve long since admired the work of members like Adywan, Hal9000, the project 4k77 editors, and other long time vets of this community. Even if my vision and take on the material is different, the talent and dedication many of you here have is truly a testament to some of the incredible work Star Wars fans are capable of at their best.

I posted mostly in the Fall of the Republic thread for the Clone Wars/ROTS edit project, as that was at the time the only project which I had intended to do. Then I ended up posting my work on reddit and youtube and was met with surprise when it rapidly exploded in popularity and demand. I learned from people here and preceded to combine that with my own oldschool Prequel Era enthusiast lore knowledge.

One thing led to another. I did one project, and that gave me the infrastructure needed to move on to the next, and the next. I’ve now done edits of 7 different Star Wars films, a lot of the Clone Wars TV series, and some other bonus projects throughout 2020.

Technical Info…
 

EDITING SOFTWARE/HARDWARE

My software isn’t terribly complicated. I have two versions of Adobe in my possession, one which is continuously given the latest updates, and an older copy of 2019 that allows for MKV files to be read instantly before they dropped MKV support again late last year. Most of my editing for these projects is done on the 2019 version. I do separate audio-track editing in a combination of Audacity and Sony SoundForge, and create my english Subtitles primarily with Aegisub. I don’t tend to do a lot of FX/Graphics work, so this setup typically meets my needs without too much issue. Handbrake is always helpful if I need to re-encode in a lossless format, and both TarTube and 4K Video Downloader let me get any footage I need intact from a digital source. I also sometimes (though rarely) do 4K ScreenCaptures with ShadowPlay, as I’ve found you can capture some footage in very clever ways if you prepare for it correctly. All of that, along with a few ffmpeg tricks, accomplishes most of what I need to do. For legal reasons, I won’t discuss any software that breaks DRM and obtains the original film footage from either physical or digital sources that are protected.

I do my primary video Editing on a 43" ACER 10-Bit Monitor I received at a discount from my last job, combined with an overclocked i7-8700k/GTX 1080 TI Editing/32GB DDR4/Gaming Rig combo. HDR video is then repeatedly tested/color graded between this screen, a 65" Samsung 4K Smart TV, and a 4K Microsoft Surface to determine the most ideal results, often exporting short 10 second clips and repeatedly testing them over and over again against screencaps from the original source until I feel I’ve gotten the result I was aiming for.
 

VIDEO

Each film project I’ve released is encoded in HEVC/x265 and released as an MKV file. I edit each film as a 4K HDR film first, using the latest 4K footage available wherever possible, then export/downsize it to 1080P from that original source, attempting to preserve as much quality as the encoder allows while still going for filesize efficiency. I’ve found that a minimum bitrate of 15000kbps and a max of 45000 usually yields an ideal filesize for 4K that still looks phenomenal on my 65" Samsung 10-Bit 4K TV with HDR metadata intact, while a minimum bitrate of 7000kbps for 1080p with a max of around 35000 works well for the 1080P SDR releases. A 2.5 hour 1080P file ends up at 8GB, while a 4K version of that same film comes out to about 16-17GB with this method. Large, but still more efficiently encoded than many releases, and reasonably small for 4K.

I color correct scenes myself with Adobe Premiere Pro’s Coloring tools, encoding for 10-Bit HDR metadata first and comparing the results continuously between 3 different 4K screens until I find what I believe to be the best balance. My work will NOT be perfect, but I’ve still tried to tweak it and make it overall look as good as possible on high quality screens, and in many cases I keep the original HDR-metadata intact if it translates into Adobe correctly (such as the S7 Clone Wars Episodes did). SDR conform is then used to tweak and downscale this data to the 1080P release, producing a nice, vibrant, but not overly saturated image that pops where possible. I don’t have the capability to extensively correct the brightness of individual objects as well as a professional would, but, again, I do my best. If you watch the videos I put up on my youtube channel with the right screen, they all have the same HDR data intact (Chrome and Edge are best for windows setups, or a Smart TV. Firefox does NOT do true HDR on youtube, but only converts the data into a kind of fake HDR. If the colors of the clips look a bit off to you on Firefox, this is why).
 

AUDIO AND SUBTITLES

I edit and retime the English subtitle tracks for all of my film edits, in some cases even creating new subs from scratch if necessary for a scene. Since all projects have a 6 channel 5.1 surround track, I typically export both a 5.1 audio track and a stereo track. Some have more extensive 7.1 surround tracks, but it has been difficult to get them to properly decode, so I’ve stuck with 5.1 for simplicity since the differences in the mixes are often not extensive. The only projects missing subtitles right now are the Holiday Special and 2D Clone Wars Recut Edit.
 

DISTRIBUTION

This has been the interesting one. You can’t just go to most public trackers and stick a torrent on there anymore. For the protection of the sites, and the safety of the general public (so people won’t upload virus infected torrents), most stuff has gone private. A major Star Wars Discord leader helped collaborate with me to get a network setup for distribution. I won’t go into details, other than to say the most clever idea ended up being a single redditor’s suggestion of setting up a gmail account with a vacation email setting to send out links automatically to anyone who requests it. (sheevsenate0505@gmail.com is the email address I use, BTW. Send it a message with a throwaway account you feel safe with. It works.) That, in tandem with google docs, lets me easily keep a database of links running without much effort. For obvious reasons, I can’t post those links here directly.

MY EDITING BACKGROUND

I’m a late 2000s media production graduate who entered the working world during the last major recession, only to find that the industry had shifting mostly to gig work. I have professional training and the degree for newscast editing, and have privately done a number of freelance projects over the years. Obviously, I can’t and won’t share specific details of that here. However, since 2019 I’ve finally taken to youtube to begin sharing new fan projects/AMVs/Passion Projects I did on the side for various convention panels throughout the country over the years. The Channel is here:

https://www.youtube.com/MechaSalesman

A Playlist of some of my AMV Work can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyoLVIGNBIY&list=PLEh8pd-FJc5PRRAyULkbcPX0PhtSK8KJR

I am often inspired by the works of well known game directors/storytellers like Hideo Kojima, veteran Anime Directors like Yoshiyuki Tomino, Shoji Kawamori, and Noboru Ishuguro (all of whom I’ve met in person at least once) and of course, the likes of Star Wars veterans like George, Dave Filoni, Marcia Lucas, among others. I’ve studied their styles fairly closely, both in the PT, the OT, and the TV shows, and tried to bring those sensibilities to my own work within the limitations of what my resources allow me to do. I hope that reflects in the editing/storytelling choices I’ve tried to bring to my edits.

My STAR WARS EDITING PHILOSOPHY

Most fan edits I’ve seen tend to aim at either cutting out content, or altering the nature of the film’s story, altering it to be more what many fans believe it should be. I respect and even admire the work that has gone into these takes. Again, this is where some of the most incredible talent in the fandom is on show producing amazing results.

My approach is much simpler. I want to create edits that are purely addative, taking the existing material, and giving us the widest look into the Star Wars universe that’s possible. I try to avoid adding scenes without complete FX unless they are hard to notice, or I have workarounds (See Solo, or 1-2 Episode II scenes), but my goal is to simply take the existing films and give us 4K edits of Star Wars that are as long as can reasonably be without overtly contradicting the current canon in any major ways. I tend not to rescore the films if I can avoid it (even if that means the audio transitions won’t be perfect), and only alter tiny visual bits in non-canon scenes. I tend to cut out very minimal amounts of material, and add far, far more to it wherever I can. Does my approach work? Do you prefer another editor’s take? That’s cool and totally understandable. I just ask that you respect the goal I’m trying to accomplish with these edits.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about Star Wars Edits themselves.

First, let me start again by immediately crediting Hal9000 and DrDre for their excellent work at upscaling the PT deleted scenes to 1080P. Their high quality work further scaled to 4K with little issue in my software, and also was easy to Color-Grade in HDR, giving us decent looking 4K versions of many of these scenes for my projects. While I did attempt to obtain the scenes through alternate means myself (and had to do so for 2 very small bits in Episode I, as they were not finished in Hal’s collection), his versions remained by far the best source available anywhere in the world, so again full praise should be given to these two for the gift they gave us editors. Dropping his video files into my Episode III edit was like night and day compared to the other versions I was using.
 

STAR WARS EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE - EXTENDED EDITION

An extended edit of TPM with 7 different deleted scenes restored, available in 4K HDR and 1080p. Meant to be paired with my releases of Episodes II and III for a new extended experience for the entire PT. 2 Hours and 23ish minutes. Updated to a brand new v2.0 release in late September 2021.

New Teaser Trailer for Episodes I & II Extended
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGFLVHhxsOY

STAR WARS EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES - EXTENDED EDITION

An extended edit of AOTC with 10 different deleted scenes restored, available in 4K HDR and 1080p. Meant to be paired with my releases of Episodes I and III for a new extended experience for the entire PT. 2 Hours and 35ish minutes. Updated to a brand new v2.0 release in late September 2021.

New Teaser Trailer for Episodes I & II Extended
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGFLVHhxsOY

10 Minute Episode II 4K HDR sample from the edit (featuring 5 restored scenes!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRzjyqh-akY

STAR WARS EPISODE III - REVENGE OF THE SITH - THE SIEGE OF MANDALORE CUT (v2.0)

This is a 4.5 hour cut of Revenge of the Sith, merged with the 4 episodes from the Siege of Mandalore Clone Wars Finale, 21 minutes of the battle of Coruscant from the 2005 Clone Wars Microseries, and 5 deleted scenes, all put together into one massive chronological canon-friendly super edit. Available in both 1080p and 4K HDR. The gag dub of “backstroke of the west” (google it) is also included in the files as a 3rd Audio Track that can be heard during all the live Revenge of the Sith segments. The Original edit was released on May 5th, but as of 12/15/2020, we are now up to a v3.0 release of the cut, with improved visual and audio transitions, and a more natural opening sequence. See the 3 minute preview below for the update.

4K Project Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85FPQ4AZQn8
4K HDR - ROTS Supercut The First 3 Minutes (v3.0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1B-yAzEm58
4K HDR 3 Minute Sample Clip (The transition in this video is old and outdated):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z42kVyFpvE4
(Spoiler) Test Clip from Anakin’s Fall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynjy0gIrzGs
All Deleted Scenes Added to the cut (5 total):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZzr7AgQ7wM

Clone Wars Tribute AMV (Bonus):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsDJ4As_4MA

STAR WARS 2003 Clone Wars Microseries 4K HDR (And 1080P) RE-CUT

The 2003 Clone Wars Microseries, upscaled to Cinematic Aspect Ratio 4K to match the films and Clone Wars quality, and recut into 4 episodes that can fit in a canon viewing order. Scenes are selectively cropped to minimize the amount of objects/faces that get cut off. The series is recut into 4 Episodes which occur over different points in the Clone Wars timeline, and it is now compatible with a Canon Clone Wars Viewing order as a result of this edit (see the next 2 projects below). The 4th Episode is the Battle of Coruscant, so if you already have the Episode III Supercut, you don’t need to watch it twice. The 3rd episode of this set leads into it. The first 2 take place before the Clone Wars film, and after AOTC. I may upsale a full 16:9 unedited version at a later date, but have not yet done so as of today.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS FILM - EXTENDED EDITION CUT

A 2.5 Hour Cut of the 2008 Clone Wars Film, upscaled to 4K HDR (and also released in 1080P), with 10 minutes of restored Deleted Scenes, and re-adding the 2 related TV prequel Episodes, Cat and Mouse (S2E16) and The Hidden Enemy (S1E16) to make one big coherent story arc. This is my newest project, released the same day as I made this post. Having recently wrapped up the entire 4K HDR series project, I am now including a new v2 release of this cut with the larger project down below, matching the video quality of the rest of the series.

Every Change and Transition in the cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebVlcI8EWys

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS TV CINEMATIC FILM CUTS PROJECT

After about 6 months of work and multiple releases, I’ve now adapted 38 Arcs of the Clone Wars TV series into 36 different feature length film edits so these stories all flow seamlessly as films now, also upscaling them into 4K HDR based off of a very high quality 10kbps rip from the Blu Ray Source. I also upscaled 9 uncut episodes that and left them in their regular timeline order. These cuts cover every episode of the show and put many out of order episodes back into a chronological order that’s much easier to digest and understand. 2 additional episodes were added into the above Clone Wars 2008 Film edit, which is now included in the main batch of releases for the full TCW series. For the first time ever, fans can watch seasons 1-6 in a gorgeously crisp 4K HDR upscale to match the quality of Season 7’s gorgeous official 4K transfer as closely as reasonably possible (also available in 1080p SDR cuts too).

A Series of Clips for the entire project, starting with 4 Teaser Trailers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e04uCUnTdIM&list=PLEh8pd-FJc5OL6PCLu1B9WKDbrcLudDr7&index=1

Full Series 4K HDR Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e04uCUnTdIM
Teaser Trailer 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC62naTm3Zs
Teaser Trailer 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibg49qLBLIg
Teaser Trailer 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCq9suiKgBI

Perhaps the most notable edit in the single batch is the 3 hour “The Return of Darth Maul” supercut. The Return of Darth Maul Arc uses the 2012 official Target Exclusive DVD film cut as a base (which shared the same name), and then expands it from there, using exclusive clips of audio and even a few transitions from that cut, while then restoring scenes that it removed and then adding the Season 5 Maul Arc into its second half, creating the longest Supercut at a bit under 3 hours. Watch the above clips on a proper 4K HDR capable screen if you can to see how well the material can upscale. So far, I’m quite pleased with it.

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY - EXTENDED EDITION

A new Extended cut of Solo, restoring 8-9 minutes of deleted content across 6 scenes back into the cut of the film, extending it a bit under 2.5 hours.

Teaser Trailer (Feat. Kinect Solo Song):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjmRqZQbWlc

A Partial Sample of Restored Deleted Scenes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ86RgRs2OM

STAR WARS EPISODE IV A NEW HOPE - THE ROGUE CUT (ANH/ROGUE ONE MASHUP w/Extras)

A supercut that puts Rogue One and A New Hope together as one film with a new crawl, adds the Biggs Darklighter deleted scenes into ANH, as well as incorporates the SC38 Vader/Kenobi fight. The 4K D+/4K Blu Ray/MaClunkey Version of ANH is used as the basis for the edit. Total runtime is a little under 4.5 hours.

Every Change and Transition in the EpIV/R1 Cut:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJmYAEM3u-s

THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL - 4K HDR REMASTER (with 1978 Commercials)

A 4K upscale of the infamous Holiday Special from a 2nd hand broadcast master that was released some time back, I believe here in this community (I had found a torrent ‘years’ ago), by a group known as EditDroid. This cut includes ‘all’ commercials and bumpers pulled from a secondary source, and edited back into place. I then go and replace all original ANH footage with updated 4K FX shots, attempting to match them frame for frame, cropped into 4:3 from the official 4K ANH release. The animated Boba Fett cartoon is pulled from a Blu Ray source and then upscaled with unique settings before being inserted back into the source.

Finally, a word of warning… if you want to watch the 4K versions, you MUST have a compatible 4K HDR display with 10-bit color data output, and a video card which supports it. Most Smart TVs, Smart Phones, and NEWER tablets will support this, but many high end Gaming Monitors won’t do this. Instead, what happens is that extra HDR color data doesn’t display and you get flat and dull colors at 4K because the extra data literally will not show up. The PC world has been slow to adapt to the new standard. If you can’t get it to work right, watch the 1080P SDR version instead, or try putting the files on your smart TV or tablet directly to get them to display properly.

The same also applies if you’re watching youtube clips in the wrong browser without the right monitor settings. Youtube takes that HDR data and converts it into an SDR friendly version, which will look better, but not quite correct. Be aware of this when you watch the clips on my channel. Even on the right display, they may still look a bit off if you don’t use the right browser.

I just wanted to bump this thread again to let people know that I produced a mildly revised version of the ROTS/Siege edit I discussed here, tweaking both visual and audio transitions in minor ways, while still dealing with the limits of the source material (limited visual frames or cross audio between sources for some transitions, ect ect).

I’ve already shared release info for this on numerous reddits, and I have to confess, this project blew up so much that it’s led me to be involved in several more projects, ranging from extended 4K Episode I and II cuts, to an Extended Solo cut, to even an experimental attempt to upscale the Holiday Special (using 4K ANH FX shots and the EditDroid Broadcast tape master from a few years back).

I’ll still give out links via either an automated email reply (sheevsenate0505@gmail.com), or just share the google doc directly via PM with those who want it and message me. Again, this v2 is released in both 1080P SDR and 4K HDR, and used Hal/DrDre’s deleted scene footage, a 4K HDR upscale/recut of the 2005 Battle of Coruscant, and all native 4K HDR footage from the D+ releases of both the film and Siege itself.

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions. These projects have been a wild ride these past few months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXUasAUNNEI&feature=youtu.be

A few months back, I made a trailer using the lost dialgoue, since it was implied by the novel and crawl to be some sort of Pre-film event heard throughout the Galaxy that prompted the rest of the film’s events. At this time, this is how I interpreted it.

Having said that, this new scene’s explanation/edit is a fantastic way to incorporate it. It fits very naturally, allows at least some of it to be heard, and fits with the idea that it’s still part of the larger plot as described in the novelization.

If you’re listening to community ideas, I think you really need to keep and use a cut like that somehow.

So my 4K HDR Edit is also in the wild now and circulating. The final file is 28GB.

As a fun bonus, I’ve recut the infamous Backstroke of the West Dub and added it into the relevant RoTS bits as a 3rd Audio Track. The first 2 are 5.1 Surround and Stereo respectively. Subtitles are also included in the muxed MKV file.

Again, if you email sheevsenate0505@gmail.com, you’ll get info for the relevant links. Thank you guys for your support on this project, and best of luck again with your own takes.

Yes, you’re right. I’ll be sure to namedrop him as well.

So my version is now avaliable and in the wild in 1080p, with a 4K cut hitting sometime tomorrow.

Easiest way to get more info is to PM me here directly, or email Sheevsenate0505@gmail.com.

Again, thank you Hal for your incredible DVD deleted scenes upscale. Working with that material was like a dream come true and I can’t believe how incredible it looks in both the SDR and even the 4K HDR edits I have tested so far. I’ve namedropped you at any opportunity when asked.

And thank you everyone else for helping me understand the timeline of the film so well. It really helped this version come together. I wish you all the best on your own edits, as I’m sure there’s more than one wonderful way to play around with this material.

So my edit is more or less ready and in the middle of rendering, 1080p first, 4K later. Subtitles will be recut after the fact, and I can only do English for now, but I’ve got them partly ready based on earlier incomplete edits. I’ve taken a few extra steps like changing out Microseries Grievous’ voice lines with Battlefront 2 quotes (some of which were redubs of lines from the actual show too) to fix that little iffy-bit of continuity.

Again, my 4K HDR upscale of the 2003 microseries is ready and I will share links with anyone who wants them. My cut of the film itself (simply to be titled “Revenge of the Sith - The Siege of Mandalore Cut” will be up by no later than “Revenge of the Fifth” tomorrow.

I’m sure my cut will only be one of many, and that’s fine.

I’m sure people will have many ideas on where scenes should fit, some different from mine. That’s also fine. I’ve tried to mimmick Lucas’ A-B-C plot pacing in this trilogy as much as I could (Anakin kills the Separatist Council while Kenobi is investigating the temple, and while the Chancellor makes his Declaration of a new Order. All 3 events can’t possible occur in realtime, but the story is stronger for them all being seen together. One of the film’s stronger moments, for sure. The battles in the final series arc is handled in a somewhat similar manner in my edit.)

Many of you here have been doing this for years and I’m grateful for what help I’ve already been given for this massive project. Most people also won’t have the patience for an extra fanservicey 4+ hour cut, so I’m sure shorter versions will be popular too.

Regardless, I’m excited to see this all come together. Both the TV show(s) and the film are something I love dearly, warts and all.

Also, as one last technical point, I’ve tried to use Lucas-style “Hollywood wipes” to match his editing feel as much as reasonably possible, but I also use several hard cuts and a few soft transitions based on the style used in Siege of Mandalore itself. It’s going to be a blend of all of that. I have extensive experience as an AMV artist of over 15 years, so I’ve experimented with every transition to create the best sounding and looking version I could, with some footage clipped between both versions of some scenes being a limiting factor (Can’t wipe between scenes easily if you can see the other wipes I’m trying to hide).

I’ve already got a plan for it.

Most of this episode should fit before the final RoTS duels. There are still enough breaks in the action that you can integrate some of the slower post Order 66 RoTS bits in with this while the action ramps up in the episode itself. As the action from this episode builds, it will only add to the intensity of what’s happening in RoTS itself. The pacing doesn’t have to be perfect, it can be a gradual climb to the intensity of the finale with peaks and drops in intensity. The Episode itself also makes no reference to any other RoTS events at all (though most of it is obviously before Anakin is put in the suit), so it can fit wherever the pacing/art best dictates it. This gives plenty of room for careful experimentation.

I also have a plan for the episode epilogue as well.

I’m not going to say what happens here so as not to spoil those who haven’t seen it yet, but I should be able to wrap up the main jist of my edit tomorrow morning once I return to my editing rig.

I’ve already put up a clip on youtube about how this arc fits with one of RoTS most crucial scenes.

So I’ve got the latest episode intercut into my timeline already.

I can provide a link to a clip online from a crucial moment via PM, but I don’t want to post the clip here publicly just yet.

1. I kept the original RoTS music intact during Anakin’s fall, and cut in shots of Maul and Ashoka during those scenes while keeping the original timing, fitting broken up shots of their reactions before, during and after Mace’s death.

2. Ashoka’s conversation with Rex starts right as Anakin leaves the council chambers, with the music from RoTS stayin there to transition with the shot of her looking outward, then Rex starts speaking. This ties her longing look into the scene where Anakin thinks of Padme without interrupting it. The shot of 3PO walking to her has been replaced with Ashoka.

3. Because the conversation about the “plot to destroy the Jedi” happens twice, I’m keeping the film version, but hard cut to Ashoka entering the room immediately after Yoda speaks in RoTS, so the transition happens in real time.

4. Rex’s Order 66 segment starts right after Bail leaves the temple. Rex chases off Ashoka, Kenobi escapes capture, then we cut back to the rest of the episode uninterrupted, ending right when Bail takes off and leaves Coruscant.

5. I did bump up the start of the battle of Utupau to earlier than my last edit so as to better show the transition from Day 3 to Day 4 (where everything bad happens). Kenobi’s arrival on Utapau is now cut between Maul’s call to arms in episode 2. The end of episode 2 leads into the deleted scene with the senators in the chancellor’s office. This isn’t the script order of that scene anymore, but it is the best place to fit it for story/timeline of events flow.

I’m also testing my Upscale on a 4KHDR version of the rest of the 2003 CW microseries, split into 3 episodes covering the Battle of Muunilinst, the Jedi Campaigns (Kit, Mace, Luminara/Yoda, First Grievous battle, Anakin’s Knighting and growth), and the Battle of Nelvaan (Shield World Footage up to Dooku dueling Grievous as a lead in for the Siege/ROTS/Release).

The episodes keep the original titlecards, are cropped to cinematic aspect ratio to match TCW/The PT (with a few scenes manually adjusted), and can be watched before the start of the 2008 series (Episodes 1 and 2) and before the Siege of Mandalore/Coruscant Battle respectively (Episode 3). I’m also adding 2008 styled quotes and title music to the start of each respective episode, though they will be longer than normal episodes.

My encode should be done by end of day, and I can share this along with my edit itself upon release for those who wish it.

Most of the Star Wars films are structured with A Plots and B plots happening simultaneously, switching back and forth between one another, even if the events shown in such aren’t completely chronological. That was how the microseries was also structured, but now the battle of Nelvaan is removed entirely (in the EU it took place about a week before Coruscant originally), so splicing scenes together in such a way makes sense and fits the pacing Lucas’ Star Wars films tended to have.

I also consider the earlier parts of the battle of Coruscant to be vital to the canon, and am honestly surprised none of it was animated in TCW, but since it was endorsed by Filoni/George through dialogue, I can’t not use the 2003 series on some level, despite the stylistic differences.

I tried playing around a bit with scene ordering, but ultimately decided to stick with what I’ve got. I’ve been working on this nearly nonstop since last Friday morning.

For now, my early edit is up-to-speed. A 1080p proto has been rendered for testing/subtitle timing (the 4K HDR version will take my 8700k/1080 TI Combo nearly a full day to render in x265 since it’s over 210 minutes long, maybe more), and I’ve got the best versions of the deleted scenes I could find inserted in and upscaled.

I’ll see about sharing a clip at some point this weekend. I’ve got full 4kHDR test renders of the first 15 minutes and several shorter clips ready to go.

sade1212 said:

Hedgesmfg, will you be releasing it in HDR, or are you just using the 10bitHDR source material to produce a better quality 8bitSDR final render?

Perhaps we should have a thread - some kind of TCW Radical Redux - for these mashups and other edits of the series, since it seems like there will be at least three similar edits of this arc and ROTS.

Regarding sharing, you can’t post direct links in your thread, but you can do whatever you like via PM, so that tends to be how edits are shared.

Both. The 4K version will be HDR, while the 1080P version will be SDR based on the HDR source.

I’ve got an edit in the works right now using 4K HDR footage, currently at 3 hours and 37ish minutes.

1. Start with the Siege of Mandalore retro Lucasarts Logo
2. New Opening Crawl, merging the original RoTS crawl with text that summarizes Maul’s rescue in Son of Dathomir and Skywalker and Kenobi’s campaign on Yerbana, essentially keeping it as close to the context of the original Revenge of the Sith crawl as possible while simultaneously re-contextualizing when the film starts, then resuming with the normal episode’s opening. While having a narrator “and” a crawl is repetitive, I’m trying not to cut any footage out of RoTS or TCW itself in this edit, so I’m keeping it anyway. The episode continues until after Ashoka calls, followed by…
3. I’m including all 2003 microseries Coruscant bits, save the scene where Mace crushes Grievous’ chest. The edit starts immediately with Yoda noticing the attack. The rest of the first Siege of Mandalore Episode up to Ashoka’s departure is also intercut with these scenes, including a break between Anakin offering her a surprise, and the reveal of the Ashoka 501st troopers.
4. The scene where Mace contacts Anakin to tell him the Chancellor has been kidnapped is still included. My intention is that this is now the second time Mace contacts them, but the scene’s trimmed down so that it cuts straight to the call, Mace only mentions the Chancellor being kidnapped and not Coruscant being under Siege (they already know this, per TCW), the conversation about the vision on Nelvaan is gone, as is him repairing his arm, and recolors his scar back to the normal color as best I can.
5. The Siege of Mandalore’s opening battle is intercut with the opening RoTS Chancellor’s rescue. Maul encounters Ashoka and escapes the first time by the time Anakin and Kenobi reach Dooku/Palpatine.
6. Most of RoTS will be the canon 4K HDR version, save the inclusion of 4 (maybe 5) deleted scenes…

• The Extended Constitutional Amendment/Office Scene (Captured through D+ 4K screen recording)
• The 3 rebellion plotline scenes, including the 2 at Padme’s apartment, and the one in the Chancellor’s Office. All 3 scenes are placed directly where the original script specified they would be.
• I may add the Degobah scene, but that honestly depends on how the arc ends. There are too many unknowns about the last 2 episodes right now. All 4 of these latter scenes use the Hal9000 upscales as a base with further processing to match the 4K HDR footage in both the film’s main color tone and quality as much as I reasonably can, while mostly preserving their original look.

7. The scene with Kenobi contacting Ashoka is right after the start of the battle of Kasshyyk, taking place in the same spot where Kenobi originally met with padme in the script’s deleted scene, the second Padme office apartment scene now follows this.
8. Maul capturing Jessie and interrogating Jessie up to his speech to his recruits is intercut with the start and middle of the Battle of Utapau ‘after’ Kenobi’s arrival.
9. The Petition of Two-Thousand Office scene follows Kenobi dropping his blade, as specified in the script, which is then followed by the rest of the 2nd Mandalore episode, ending Day 3 and starting Day 4. Because the trailer shows us remade footage of the “plot to destroy the Jedi” dialogue, I end the battle just before this scene, as it will likely be early in the 3rd episode, forcing the rest of the episode’s events to happen after this scene. While there is a bit of a chronology issue with just how ‘long’ Grievous was being chased by Kenobi, I think this order of scenes flows the best in the sense that it divides up multiple subplots in a way that feels cinematic, rather than just having a TV episode slapped in the middle of a movie, so this is what I’m sticking with as of now.

I’m pretty happy with what I have so far. I’ve played around with the non 4K/HDR footage enough to give it at least a light HDR touchup so that it all looks as reasonably decent as possible. Other goals with the last few episode include better intercutting the coming events with the current film Order 66 (if there are new scenes), and also trying to merge the end of the film and the end of the arc as closely as possible (again, if the ending events of the show allow it to fit with the film).

However, if scenes are depicted twice in TCW and in RoTS, I will likely cut the TCW bits so that the live action versions take priority, unless there is some clever way they can be spun together without being disruptive. Again, depends on how the last 2 episodes play out.

I’m hoping to share this next week and am considering posting a thread about it, but as I’m new, I’m not entirely sure how far I should/can go to share this.