kewlfish

Hey all, I know I’ve been inactive e for a good minute but I wanted to provide an update. I am still working on the crackling saber, progress has been slowed a little, I’ve recently had a cancer diagnosis in someone very close to me, so I’ve been doing some casework. Things have taken a turn for the better recently. I’ve still been chugging along when I can with work in after effects and will post content when it looks good lol

But I am alive and still very much working om this project!

Movies Remastered said:

Kewlfish, I’m trying to catch up but I think some people are requesting the central wave Saber effect that you accidently did when Finn was holding the Saber in the cave on the last few frames?

I really like the original. The alternative seems a little more pixilated rather than the actual crackle effect. (Am viewing on a phone).

I agree with adding the Saber splitting clip in a flashback.

Yeah the alternative one has a bit of generation loss compared to the original used in the clip so there are probably some pixalation issues. I can look into replicating what I did with Finn in those last few clips on distance shots.

Here is an alternate take on the crackle saber… it’s kind of subtle but I tried to increase the randomness of the crackles and make it a bit different from Kylos

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bXwmLVPmKayTAIjCx9fS1qxlwMYvWJPU/view?usp=sharing

Axios said:

Crackle saber is looking good! but small changes:

I hate to be overly picky and critical but well I guess thats why were here

0:36 I know this may be alot to ask but is there a way to make the blade less obviously uniform?

0:44 In this shot the blade looks too thick. The angle doesnt, help but the original clip survives this problem.

1:27 the end of the blade has very obvious “half opacity” spikes jutting out from the blade’s tip (I’d say be careful of just removing them alone without tweaking the sides, cause it might cause the rest of the blade to become to thick and not long enough).

1:53 there are spikes jutting out way to far from the blade at a distance.

I truly appreciate all the work you’ve put into this!

I wouldn’t be opposed to another “differently cracked” concept for the skywalker blade either, especially if its less uniform of an effect. I do like this effect too! Another option would just be interesting.

Thank you for the praise and time stamps! I think you are talking about the Kijimi sequence I just put up, it is definitely super rough (still not finished but almost done at this point) and I will go through and fix a lot of these issues. I appreciate the pickiness! I am a perfectionist and I find myself missing out on the smaller details after watching the clip so many times.

I will also put out a test on the alternate version soon!

Broom Kid said:

Octorox said:

I think if the visual is too subtle only nerdy forum geeks like us will pick it up.

Who do you think is going to be watching this, LOL.

Seriously though, it’s kind of a jump to describe the suggestion as being too subtle for a thing I’m comparing to the V-hold on a TV being broken. That’s not a subtle thing. It’s just not constant

I’m not saying the effect, as-is, is bad. It looks very good, especially considering it’s placed right next to the professionally done effect that is Kylo’s saber, and it blends right in. But I’m saying maybe it shouldn’t look exactly like Kylo’s saber - it should be broken in a slightly different manner. Maybe not as constantly noisy and crackly, but more of a rolling, wave-like fluctuation.

I think that’s fair, it would be relatively simple to possibly make that change… I could do an alternate version that might look a bit more wavy or looks slightly different than Kylo’s in some and see what everyone thinks

EDIT: Also, Hal I loved the sound effects I’ll get you a ProRes version of the clip soon

Knight of Kalee said:

kewlfish said:

Hello all, I’ve been on a trip so I haven’t had the chance to work on the Crackle saber but I just returned home a couple days ago and have gotten back to work on it. Here is a very, very early test on Rey vs Kylo in the Force Dyad Lightsaber fight (so early that the entire scene isn’t finished yet lol) but I just wanted to update y’all on progress.

https://vimeo.com/442558780
pw - fanedit

As always, any issues that stick out to y’all, let me know. This is a super early test though so I haven’t really applied any polish to it yet.

This looks magnificent, dude! keep it up!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but we haven’t yet heard Hal’s sound mixing for Rey’s crackly saber, haven’t we?

Not that I have seen but I am beyond excited to see these scenes with the audio mixed in!

Hello all, I’ve been on a trip so I haven’t had the chance to work on the Crackle saber but I just returned home a couple days ago and have gotten back to work on it. Here is a very, very early test on Rey vs Kylo in the Force Dyad Lightsaber fight (so early that the entire scene isn’t finished yet lol) but I just wanted to update y’all on progress.

https://vimeo.com/442558780
pw - fanedit

As always, any issues that stick out to y’all, let me know. This is a super early test though so I haven’t really applied any polish to it yet.

Yeah that’s going to be the only issue with the Resistance scene is finding a way to use the audio before Poe’s lines… or atleast that was my issue a couple weeks ago when I tried it out. Although I am not the best with audio so, others may be way more successful than I was.

Hello all, been away from my computer for the weekend so haven’t got to work on saber stuff, but I have been popping in and out to keep up.

As for the broadcast I found this video: https://youtu.be/Fmu08wCZJr0

It’s the closest I’ve found with no music. I’m neither here nor there about the idea but if it leads to a better scene in the movie and is done well then I’m on board.

EDIT: I believe it’s a Palpatine impersonation, so not the actual Fortnite message… not 100% accurate but maybe with some more garbled audio work could add realism to it

Alright all, this should be the Final version of Rey’s training sequence (barring any issues that you all notice at the last minute). Also Hal this should be lossless quality and available for download. If it needs to be in a different format let me know and I will try something different.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WP5sHFxizCn8ZrmXZgj3gC4ExF50m2_6/view?usp=sharing

Jaws123DRevenge said:

kewlfish said:

jordan_winter said:

kewlfish said:

Here is the first pass of Rey V Zori on Kijimi… there are couple masking issues and the first scene needs the saber to be toned down a little but pretty good for a first pass I think. I am excited get working on the first Lightsaber fight next.

https://vimeo.com/440215054
pw - fanedit

I absolutely love the idea of the saber being unstable, it really adds to the idea of Rey flirting with the dark side whilst also addressing the damage caused in TLJ.

Will you be doing two versions of the Exegol scenes? One with Leia’s lightsaber in blue for people to use in their own personal edits? Also, will you be adding the effect to Jonh’s Force Ghost scenes?

So I plan on really tailoring this to Hal’s edit, so definitely with the purple lightsaber and definitely with Jonh’s ghost clip.

I hadn’t really planned to do Leia’s blue lightsaber but honestly it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to do it. In fact it would be super easy as I could use the same masking work from the purple clip and replace with the blue clip, so yeah I can do Leia’s blue lightsaber for people to add to their own versions.

Ngl, at first I didn’t like the idea of the cracklin saber. But after watching all of the tests you’ve made I’m all for it.

Thanks! I completely understand, its kind of an out there idea… I actually never really thought about the lightsaber being broken in two at the end of TLJ. I wanted to make it way more subtle than Kylo’s crackling as I wanted it to reflect Rey flirting with the darkside. Kylo crackling is out of control and wild, much like his personality, so it needed to be way more toned down then that for sure.

majoras_wrath said:

Wait, did I miss something? Is Leia’s saber being made cracklin’ too? Why?

Nah, but Anakin’s saber appears in scenes with Leia’s saber and some want to use the blue version and some want to use the purple version.

@jordan_winter no problem! Again it wouldn’t be anymore work at all, just switching jonh’s clips out

jordan_winter said:

kewlfish said:

Here is the first pass of Rey V Zori on Kijimi… there are couple masking issues and the first scene needs the saber to be toned down a little but pretty good for a first pass I think. I am excited get working on the first Lightsaber fight next.

https://vimeo.com/440215054
pw - fanedit

I absolutely love the idea of the saber being unstable, it really adds to the idea of Rey flirting with the dark side whilst also addressing the damage caused in TLJ.

Will you be doing two versions of the Exegol scenes? One with Leia’s lightsaber in blue for people to use in their own personal edits? Also, will you be adding the effect to Jonh’s Force Ghost scenes?

So I plan on really tailoring this to Hal’s edit, so definitely with the purple lightsaber and definitely with Jonh’s ghost clip.

I hadn’t really planned to do Leia’s blue lightsaber but honestly it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to do it. In fact it would be super easy as I could use the same masking work from the purple clip and replace with the blue clip, so yeah I can do Leia’s blue lightsaber for people to add to their own versions.

jarbear said:

It has been awhile since I’ve watched the original film, but is the mention of their planet destroying abilities tied into the kijimi destruction? Wasn’t it mentioned before that happened? If that line is NOT tied to that sequence, we don’t need to see it happen. It is strange in itself that ONE destroyer is let out no problem but a whole fleet can’t? That part in itself was odd.

If the LINE about their planet destroying ability is kept in since it is separate from the planet destruction scene, we don’t need that scene at all and it keeps the “stakes high” as well as not needing to wonder “How did they survive the planet’s destruction” thought with Babu and crew.

Yeah I think there are a couple lines that talk about planet destruction stuff. But I was referring more to the old film rule of it’s better to “show, not tell”. Instead of just hearing a character saying “Every star destroyer is equipped with planet destroying weapons”, you would actually want to see a planet being destroyed.

However with Hal not referencing the planet destroying weapons, none of that really matters lol

Hal 9000 said:

Cinefy, that music feels appropriate for the moment and works well. However, I think it’s a misstep to use Kylo’s theme to speak about the Final Order, especially after his turning point toward the light.

And I can certainly see about increasing the volume a little on the DOTF moment.

Oh, Kijimi… ugh. Personally I like things this way. We get it: a shit-ton of star destroyers. I really like not having to go along with another Death Star destroying a planet. The Sith people have modified old destroyers stashed there from the days of the Empire, at least that’d be the only sane thing to infer from this version of the movie.

I’m good either way, honestly… one way destroys planets and, the way I conceptualize your version, is kind of like Revan and Malek’s fleet from KOTOR. Palpatine would do what the fleet in-game did to Taris, orbital bombardment causing catastrophic damage to civilized worlds. With a fleet as massive as discussed in the film and no really to stop them, they could totally bombard the galaxy into submission.

jarbear said:

Just finished the work print and man, this thing is looking really great. I like it a lot.

I can’t comment on the LUT since, well, Im a color blind guy but do like the direction of things.

I wasn’t too sure about the “flickering” lightsaber that Kewlfish has been posting, but I think I am sold on it. I like how it is more subtle compared to Kylo’s. I like it. I think it would add some nice depth to the whole movie.

As for the “duel of the fates” music on the wreckage, I agree with Hal’s approach personally. I would like to suggest maybe increasing the volume just a little bit? I like how it is not too loud, but maybe just a little louder?

Of course I have my own things that may be more in line with a personal edit after this is published are these minor things:

Reinstate the destructive power of the Imperial/Sith Star Destroyers - I know for a good bit of people didn’t like this idea in the movie of “great, more planet destroying things” but at the climax of a saga, of course the stakes have to be larger. By neutering the destroyers, it adds an issue when looking back at The Last Jedi and the dreadnaught. Visually speaking, we are comparing the Dreadnaught with these Destroyers since “Have big cannons that cause lots of damage.” In the Last Jedi, they used bombers to destroy the ship. In this movie, it’s target the guns to destroy it. So then … why didn’t Poe just destroy the canon on the dreadnaught? We have visually tied “Destroy the ships that have big-ass guns and it will cause them to be destroyed.”

That is why it worked though in the original idea of “Ships that have the power to destroy an entire planet.” Those guns have the power to destroy a planet, destroy those things? It would more than likely destroy the whole ship. If I was carrying a rocket launcher and a person shots the rocket launch, I would get blown up due to the energy stored in the rocket. If I was carrying a 50 caliber rifle, loaded, and someone shots the gun, I wouldn’t explode with the gun since those rounds do not have the same energy as a rocket. Again this is probably more of a personal thing, but it does in a sense undercut what happened in the last movie and the “logic” of this concept. (Then again, TLJ brought in hyper speed ramming, which the concept would cancel out any Death Star in the past since a large cruise could just ram into the dish of the Death Star and cripple it. Sigh, Disney.)

I changed my mind on mentioning the point I brought up about the corridor “Run and shoot” gallery since I probably could remove that on my own and hopefully not have any music issues.

If we were to bring the planet destroying qualities of the weapons, we would probably bring Kijimi being destroyed back too, which I’m fine with… only thing I would like to see if this route is taken is that Zori and Babu would actually die and not show up at the end… would increase stakes instead of being another “gotcha, they’re alive”

oviniboy said:

So I have some time before work… here is the reflection and just some general fixes. It was pretty easy to apply the effect to the helmet but let me know if it looks wonky.

https://vimeo.com/440215054
pw - fanedit

the link is broken 😦
and damn, dude, you work fast!

Edit: nevermind, the link works

eh this one was easy because I could just copy the effect over and it was so tiny I didn’t really have to go frame-by-frame in as much detail as when the lightsaber is in full frame

kewlfish said:

oviniboy said:

kewlfish said:

Here is the first pass of Rey V Zori on Kijimi… there are couple masking issues and the first scene needs the saber to be toned down a little but pretty good for a first pass I think. I am excited get working on the first Lightsaber fight next.

https://vimeo.com/440215054
pw - fanedit

I think this looks great
Is there any way to apply the crackling on the reflex on Zorri’s helmet? That would completely sell the effect.

I thought about that as I was reviewing it actually lol, I could give it a shot, shouldn’t be too difficult

So I have some time before work… here is the reflection and just some general fixes. It was pretty easy to apply the effect to the helmet but let me know if it looks wonky.

https://vimeo.com/440215054
pw - fanedit

oviniboy said:

kewlfish said:

Here is the first pass of Rey V Zori on Kijimi… there are couple masking issues and the first scene needs the saber to be toned down a little but pretty good for a first pass I think. I am excited get working on the first Lightsaber fight next.

https://vimeo.com/440215054
pw - fanedit

I think this looks great
Is there any way to apply the crackling on the reflex on Zorri’s helmet? That would completely sell the effect.

I thought about that as I was reviewing it actually lol, I could give it a shot, shouldn’t be too difficult

Here is the first pass of Rey V Zori on Kijimi… there are couple masking issues and the first scene needs the saber to be toned down a little but pretty good for a first pass I think. I am excited get working on the first Lightsaber fight next.

https://vimeo.com/440215054
pw - fanedit

Here is a real quick mock-up of Kylo saying “you’re a Palpatine” instead of you’re his granddaughter. Super rough as I’m not good with audio but this is atleast how it would flow

https://vimeo.com/440182384
pw - fanedit

And here is the other way that was mentioned, which has it end after Kylo says “You have his power” I feel like there would need to be more silence before we show Rey’s shocked reaction though because it seems abrupt to have the music swell that quickly after the “reveal”

https://vimeo.com/440184299
pw- fanedit

Edit: I don’t know if either of these sounds any better but it’s probably okay how workprint 4 has it

Hal 9000 said:

There is an added Wilhelm scream somewhere already. It’s the lesser known variant, heard for example at the start of AOTC.

Ah nice lol, I must not have been listening closely enough, cool!

Neerb said:

“You’re a Palpatine” isn’t great either. Maybe cut both? So he says “You have his power,” Rey reacts, and hes goes on with “My mother was…”

Might cut the scene too short though, and it’s supposed to be the huge dramatic reveal.

I would be cool with that too… maybe that’s why I have an aversion to it, like the audience isn’t that dumb as Kylo basically told us three times in a row that she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter… like, we get it lol

Brewzter said:

Is Rey Nobody going to be a separate edit? I don’t see it in the main post and honestly I prefer Palpatine -> Skywalker over Nobody

Yeah, Hal wanted to finish Rey Palpatine/Skywalker first and then further down the line I believe he said he would try to get a Rey Nobody edit out when he could.

Also I watched the workprint last night and was extremely impressed. I didn’t watch workprint 3, so I got to see alot of changes from watching workprint 2 and I have to say, I couldn’t believe how much I actually… enjoyed watching TROS (maybe I’m just going insane by how much time I’ve spent going frame by frame through lightsaber scenes lol) but I felt like the pacing issues have been fixed and the movie feels more epic overall.

I do have some slight nitpick however, super tiny stuff

• Is there anyway we can put something between everyone standing around Leia after she dies and Poe n’ Crew being right there? I felt it was a little abrupt that they just happened to show up as they were standing around Leia’s body. (Super tiny nitpick but not the end of thr world lol)

• After seeing the Knights of Ren with dialogue from axlanian and, I believe, Krausfadr… felt strange to not hear them talk in the movie… can’t wait to see what comes from that.

• Is there anyway to add a Wilhelm scream to one of the jet troopers or something (this one is kind of a joke… unless…)

• And, finally, when Kylo confronts Rey about being a Palpatine… I found myself still cringing at Kylo saying “You’re his granddaughter”, is there anyway to axe “You’re his granddaughter” and keep “You’re a Palpatine” and then have Kylo continue with “My mother was the daughter of Vader and your father was the son of the Emperor” instead of him blatantly saying “your his granddaughter”… it just sounds weird lol

Of course these were just my thoughts while viewing, I’m onboard with whatever you have planned, Hal.

Alright all, Hal sent me Dom’s clip of Pasaana and since I already did all of the hard work with this one when I did the teaser, here is Rey V Kylo on Pasaana. As before this is a first pass so let me know what needs to be changed.

https://vimeo.com/438802140
pw - fanedit