jonathan7

Bingowings said:

I  thought the freezer trick was a myth (like the urethra trick only less uncomfortable).

Nah, it works, as I understand it, because freezing makes the hard-disk go back to it's original form and strengthens it so if it has become bent or warped, it will fix it for as long as it's frozen. But as it thaws, the hard disk becomes less stable, this can mean you have to freeze it a couple of times to rescue all the data.

As I said earlier, two drives I had been unable to do anything with, I managed to retrieve all the data after freezing, one was only small 60 GB so managed to get all the data off in one, the other took three goes.

What's the urethra trick? Can't say I've heard of that.

On a related note, I have to say get a hybrid hard-drive (it has a small solid state cached drive, and a much larger standard drive). I've found them to both be far more reliable (than both solid state and normal), quieter and use less power than standard drives; none of the hybrid's I've installed have I yet to see fail.

Harmy said:

Relax guys. I clearly remember Ady saying that after he'd gone through a similar situation on ANH:R he started backing everything up very regularly. I thing he even said he backs it all up twice, but don't quote me on that.

Yeah, that was the reason I though it would be a April Fools, would of thought someone as meticulous as Ady would of backed up...

Bingowings said:

We had quite a few outages during the gales either side of Christmas and in the cold snap the year before.

Unplugging the backup drives after use is a another good bit of stable door management.

To your earlier post, I love the USB boot sticks; it often saves the day. I've had Linux happily install on systems where Windows (XP, Vista and 7) insist there is not a HD, and Ubuntu will happily install fine and get everything working, and can then install Windows along side.

I have to say I've been impressed with just how tough hard-drives can be.... If you buy the right hard-drive, I wouldn't recommend cutting corners with computer hardware you get what you pay for. My entire laptop has survived a power outage, hard-drive was partly damaged, carried on working however, though slowly failed over time, until I replaced it. (Had to get a new transformer though, it took the brunt).

I have to recommend backing everything up. Personally I just clone my HD every month. Works beautifully, was seemless for me, just put the clone onto my new hard-drive and viola computer was exactly the same. Though was disappointed I couldn't get my external hard-drive to work though while I waited for the replacement. Power was cut to the USB ports during start up for some reason, which obviously then caused Windows start up to fail.

Seagate are who I recommend, ridiculously long guarantee's; I'd predict most people will of got a new computer before the guarantee runs out.

Hopefully and that was my initial reaction but it's well past 12pm now in the UK (the cut off point for April Fool's jokes).

Initially I thought it was an April fools over on facebook but has Ady actually had his hard-drive crash? Or is it an April fools?

Link; http://www.facebook.com/swrevisited - Latest update

Ady if you are reading, (and I do realise you are highly proficient on computers)  part of my job is as aIT technician for a charity and have had to recover hard-drives before. Often, I've found you can recover everything from a failed drive (regardless of cause)...

There are a couple of options;

Firstly, which is the easiest and cheapest, is to download a USB linux installation and create a linux install USB, which you can run from the Bios and it will run off the USB. DO NOT INSTALL - but see if you can access the the problem hard-drive from the Ubuntu flash disk and move files onto say an external hard-disk. Link here; http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

If that does not work or, it can't do what you want to there are a couple of other options;

If you have another windows computer you can install the failed hard drive to, as a secondary drive to that. (You can also purchase multiple plug and plag hard-drive readers - I have a high performance lap-top I use when fixing hard-drives, which means I need the USB hard-drive reader). Here would be an example of one after a quick google; http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/NewerTech/Voyager/Hard_Drive_Dock

There are various hard-drive restore programmes you can use from here which range from free to paid for varieties. Here is a good example of a freeware program that I have found to be good;

http://www.pcinspector.de/default.htm?language=1

It has a couple of options, you will I suspect either need "find lost drive" or "recover lost data". There are paid for variations but in all honesty I've never needed them.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/ - Also has lists of freeware you may find useful, it reviews the different products in an area.

Related Drive Recovery and file undelete;

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-drive-imaging-program.htm

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-data-recovery-file-undelete-utility.htm

Strangely if all else fails, I have managed to get two hard-drives that I could not do anything with to be recoverable after I put them in the freezer.

Hope that helps, if you have any further questions please let me know.

Johannus said:

I like your suggestions about showing the rebel ships being destroyed, and the way the battle turns.  Could we maybe make it seem like the imperials success is hinged on a few large ships like the Executor, and obviously the Death Star, so if those can be taken out it is believable the rebels can win?

I think this could possibly also solve the issue of how the inferior rebel fleet beats the much larger one. So for example; lets you have three command "ships", Death Star, Eclipse and Executor, when all three are destroyed who's in charge? With all three taken down, the imperial organisation falls apart.

This is also why earlier I had suggested seeing imperial ships firing on each other. (Others didn't like the idea, which I'm fine with) as different commanders try to assume control of the Empire, with so many of it's overall leaders dead.

If that makes sense?

Johannus said:

I agree with this.  As I said I already made changes to scenes based on how I thought it worked best, in some cases disregarding the vote.  But with the battle in particular I find it very hard to know where to start.  I had the idea before of trying to extend existing shots then add some of the new ships in there (like my B-Wing test video), but that didn't seem to go down that well, which suggests either adding new shots with the new ships, in which case they could go anywhere and do anything, again a very wide scope and I think the biggest thing to keep in mind in that case would be how the film flows.  Or alternatively the ships could just be added in the backgrounds of existing shots, which though possibly easier to do, might lead to them becoming barely noticable to anyone who isn't told they are there.  This would fulfill the subtlety I think we wanted, but it would also seem a bit of a shame after spending the necessary time rotoscoping.

Do you think it could be worth making a rough storyboard of the battle so we can have a better idea of how people think the new shots would work or would that be unnecessary?  Am I the only one that finds this sequence hard to imagine properly?

I think a story board would be a good idea... I can offer a couple of suggestions for you to think about; it would seem to me to crank up the tension we could see quite a few rebel ships destroyed. (Possibly add the additional fighters cock-pit shots). Generally I think the more subtle approach may be easier...

However I would also suggest it would also make sense for the battle not to turn until the Emperor is killed... At that point things turn around. I'd also suggest a more fitting end for the Executor; perhaps have one of the Mon-Calamari ships ram the whole bridge section?

I'd still be a huge fan of having the Emporer arrive on a Super-star destroyer... I did like what Spence's idea (though not seen it) with having The Emporer, Vader and Luke there instead of on the Death Star.

Anyways, a few thoughts ;-)

If I may offer a quick two cents; it seems to me the projects became too ambition interlaced with too many idea's, which may or may not be possible. It perhaps needs one person to go through, with a few others with the skills needed and they decide what to do;

I think a good rule of thumb would perhaps be if someone is working on a scene it's upto them what they do. So for example Johannus, what extra ships would you like to add? The only caviate to that is if an idea effects the plot elsewhere in the film...

My 2 cents...

I have the same request as darnbirch, does anyone have a copy they can send me? Possibly via my dropbox, or know of any active downloads?

@muddyknees,

I had been setting up a paypal account to donate to Ady's side ESB:R, but as that's already achieved it's target, I can send my donation your way if you want? Nothing huge as I'm only a charity worker, but can send it none the less.

Sparktank, thanks so much for your reply! =) It has been extremely helpful, and I'm sure will continue to be very helpful as I continue with putting together my edit! Hopefully will have something to show relatively soon, thanks to your post!

I have noticed that sometimes when importing an MP4 into Sony Vegas that it has set up6 audio channels already; although one slight issue I've had with MP4's is video and audio being out of sync; I'm presuming it's a pretty simple fix in properties tab of one of them to get them back synced, but google and youtube has yet to reveal an answer.

Out of interest has anyone got a copy of Spence's final cut edit? I'd love to download it, but also think possibly a combination of that and Dan's father son edit, would be the way to see this project forward...

Thanks a lot for the quick response Davnes007,I appreciate it.

I'm self taught in Photoshop, but Womble, Sony Vegas, GK etc is a lot to take in at once so trying to find out what I should use each programme for. I have been just diving in, but there is a lot of talent and experience here too; and I'm just starting out.

Do overlays in Vegas work in a similar way to photoshop? Let say I wanted to add a charachter to a shot, would editing frames be the most efficient way of doing that? Or is there a better technique?

Hmmm, shame about the sfx, was hoping to keep the sound of the storm troppers marching and adding the imperial march.

Hey, I've had a scout around the forum, and tried using the search function, but couldn't find what I was looking for. My apologies if there is already a thread, if so could I be pointed in it's direction. I'm also sorry that these are very noob questions, of if the answer is staring me in the face. I have followed Adigitalmans very helpful tutorial on using DVD-Decrypt, Gordionknot, Womble etc for editing but had some additional questions;

Firstly, if I wanted to fo example add some explosions to a scene, say the two rockets fired at Obi-Wan in the opening of RotS how would I go about doing that? Next if I wanted to manually take out frames, and edit them in photo-shop, is that possible and how do you then place them back in the movie?

Lastly; with regards music tracks, is it possible to change music but keep existing effects in place? So for example if I wanted to change the standard droid tune to the Imperial March when Anakin sacks the Jedi Temple, how would I do that?

Thanks in advance for any help, and apologies if these questions have already been answered.

Hey, yeah I entirely understand that its an unreleased version, was just commenting on it as, it's one of the few things that detracted from my viewing of it.

Yeah, I think the father/son conflict worked very well; it was well done. And gave much more emphasis between Luke and Vader (who the film should really of been about, opposed to cute fricking Ewoks). Nothing I'd really suggest for changes to that; though I wouldn't cut to a picture of Leia during the duel; but obviously the problem is conveying who Luke is thinking about without the sister side plot.

Hey Dan,

Just finished downloading and watching your edit. Thanks for all your hard workI really enjoyed it, I thought it was a very bold edit with lots of interesting ideas. I do prefer it to the theatrical version. Will give you my few thoughts, I do agree with Bester on a few points;

Firstly the lack of a ship in the opening credits, I think is a real miss. I can think of two solutions; a re-arrange the opening crawl, so that the beginning starts as normal (swapping the death star sentence, and the Luke on Dagobah sentence) or perhaps as foreshadowing and not sure where you could get it from, but have a derelict partially destroyed Star Destroyer be the ship in the foreground just floating around Dagobah.

I liked Luke being on Dagobah, think it makes a lot more sense. I know you don't like the whole Luke and Leia sister thing, but I wonder if too much is lost from cutting it? I certainly missed the Obi-Wan conversation on Dagobah about Leia and Vader.

Jabba's palace I think flows much better; rancor scene is much tighter, though I wonder if it could be cut even tighter, and just have Luke run through the rancors legs and kill it quickly? Would give even more impression of how powerful he has become.

Really liked what you had done on the sail barge, hated Boba's death in the original; he either shouldn't of been there, or killed by Luke. The slapstic in RotJ is stupid, and sadly Lucas does it a lot in the prequels.

With regards the sandstorm scene, a suggestion I had made in another thread was either Vader or the Emperor could be watching it on a view screen (presumably from a probe droid) explaining the poor quality (or perhaps adding vision. Dream like ripples do it. Would add an extra dimension, either Vader is tracking Luke and holding it back from the Emperor. Or the Emperor is really aware of much of what is going on in the galaxy.

Not sure about cutting some of the briefing room stuff such as Leia saying "a general", "count me in" etc; but maybe I just need to get used to it.

I liked Vader partially and the stopping strangling Jerjerrod, but I'd move it till after the Emperor orders Vader to his command ship and then Vader comes back. I think it would make more sense then and gives more impression that Jerjerrod is just following orders, and could also explain the Emperors irritation with Vader coming back.

"I love the new shot of the Tydirium entering Endor.  It really adds to the feeling of the rebels sneaking into the lion’s den (so to speak)."

- Couldn't agree more, think its a wonderful set of shots, great work!

One observation, was the source types weren't the same, so I did notice Vader going very fat at some points, due to the difference perhaps between NSTC and PAL or full-screen and wide-screen?

Ewoks are well trimmed, think it's a lot better now; could the scene of wicket and Leia gone on a little longer? Perhaps as long as they seem a threat?

I really liked what you have done with the battle on Endor; one thought I had with added video footage of Stormtroopers vs Rebels, was you could of put a display monitor around it, to give even more of the impression that was the feed on the monitor, to explain the difference in footage.

Finally, I'd suggest using Harmy's RotJ for the Vader vs Luke lightsaber fight, his lightsabers look much better than Vaders pink one in the DVD's.

Overall I liked the edit, good work.

Hope that helps!

Looks great Aalenfae, only suggestion, which I couldn't hear, but personally I'd say keep the "let him go line" from one of the Storm troopers. I liked the nod to the OT music as well. Though I'd say in the whole movie probably blend between the two; with the OT being used to show the coming of the Empire... If you haven't I would definitely suggest using the Imperial march for Vader's assault on the Temple.

Bingowings said:

A rogue asteroid bounced the signal across the universe where it was picked up by the Nostromo a long time later.

[TANGENT] I'd love to see Aliens in the Star Wars universe...

Jedi vs Aliens; trying to save an infected colony; Lightsaber seems like an ideal weapon against them due to cauterizing stopping the Acid [/TANGENT]

As ever Aalenfae, looks great, always look forward to your update. Only criticism, that you may not be able to do anything about; seems a bit jumpy when Obi-Wan is only the shuttle and jumps from far to close. Though I think the whole seen works much better than the original cut.

Bingowings said:

Leaving out Yoda from the PT is more of a problem, not unless he is replaced by an actor playing another Jedi and the references to him are somehow diverted.

I can't see how it could be made to work convincingly.

I think removing him from most of TPM would work quite well though...  First time we see him would be him speaking to Obi-Wan in the throne room (or where-ever it was).

For fan edits, not sure it's possible to cut the complex battles effectively, I also like keeping the Space battle, with Anakin deliberately taking down the droid control ship personally; I think given the material to work with it's a necessity for Anakins charachter due to real lack of seeing his ace pilot skills.

My 2 cents; if possible having Maul carry over to Episode 2 would work really well. Not sure if it would be at all possible. Especially as Obi-Wan freaking changes hair so much between E1-3... But Maul could sneak off realising defeat in Naboo is inevitable, instead of staying to fight Obi-Wan. Or maybe just leave Obi-Wan dangling on the edge of the pit.

This would mean having have a duel between Obi-Wan and Maul at some stage in AotC (maybe Genosis) prior to the Dooku duel; Obi-Wan could possibly best him really quickly, to show how far he has come in his training. This could also work well in terms of them thinking Dooku is Maul's master, due to the whole 'rule of two' thing. Given Grevious doesn't have a voice, re-dubbing him isn't problematic, so could even have Maul as him for Episode 3 as they face off for a last time.

I'd be more up for just scrapping the main musical number totally, and just have them playing in the background... Maybe some sort of Jazz number, I actually forget but what was originally there?

OK... I just voted in the survey. But had a couple of additional suggestions. I heard in one commentary one of the issues with RotJ is how when Vader dies it breaks the tension by having to show the Vader's last chat with Luke before the Death Star blows up. Could that be solved by putingt the Emporer, Vader and Luke on the Eclipse instead of the Death Star? Perhaps have the Eclipse located close to the Death Star so it was inside the Death Star's force field. The Eclipse could then be badly damaged when the Death Star explodes, explaining why Luke has to suddenly escape. Obviously not sure if special effects are possible).

Second suggestion, was could we have a much larger Rebel ship, perhaps one of the Mon-Calamari capital ships, Kamikaze into the Executor, both to show the sacrifice of the Rebels, and also to give the Executor a much better ending than a fricking fighter taking it down.

I agree with Bingowings about the Falcon having a fire. I'm a bit torn over Lando, I think seeing one of the main goody characters die would improve matters. However, not sure I want that to be the only black man in the Star Wars universe ;-). Think it would create more tension if someone was badly injured or killed on Endor... Maybe Chewy, Leia or the droids? (Personally I'm for Han surviving, if he was going to die, should of been in ESB).

Just had an idea for the sand storm deleted scene, could  it be an Imperial probe droid which is spying on them as they escape and then have Vader watching it on a screen... The scene would need to be cut, and have an establishing shot of the droid, but with it up on a screen it would establish why the quality wasn't as good perhap?

Reshoot the Imperials vs Rebels Endor land battle, and Replace the Ewoks with Wookies....

Sluggo said:

jonathan7 said:

I apologies for having not been around much, and also if this has been mentioned put in action (the thread is now 234 pages long...) But a quick query about Imperial forces that has always bothered me... The Empire has the superior forces so even after the Death Start destruction they should win, would it be possible to show them turning on each other after the Emporer's death? I.e. different commanders trying to assume control and then engaging each other?

Only if you call it Episode VII.

To qualify I was only meaning the fleet around Endor, not the entire Empire... So not sure showing some Star Destroyers firing on each other needs to be an entirely new Episode?