RogueLeader, idir_hh,

PM sent! If anyone else is looking for those shots, let me know.

PM sent!

Also, V3 is ready for export and should be posted in the next few days.

Exactly, I don’t know that perfectly white balancing every scene makes it better when there may be artistic intent behind the grade. That’s not to say you can’t make it better, though.

Didn’t he wear a necklace eslewhere?

One thing I am growing to wonder with so much heavy grading going on in movies these days is: what do the colorists who work on these movies have to say?

There’s so many talented artists who work on these films, including the color graders, and I’d love to hear more about their decisions (similar to the color grading featurette they did for the Fellowship of the Ring EE). Are the tinted highlights deliberate color choices? Are the blanket tints that increasingly appear on blu-ray releases accidents? How does a blanket tint even happen in an all digital workflow?

idir_hh said:

Yeah I would prefer if Kanan, ayla secura and ashoka get cut and just keep the legacy characters.

FWIW, if this is because you think it would confuse the audience, I’ve only heard of one of those characters (I pretty much stick to the movies, and have seen Mandalorian and a tiny bit of TCW), but it didn’t bother or confuse me at all that there were some Jedi voices I didn’t recognize. If anything, it made the universe feel more expansive to me hearing Jedi voices I wasn’t familiar with mixed in with the ones I knew. Just my two cents!

Great!

Nev, I added a small explosion and a few more particles to show more of the impact of the laser fire that propel’s the shop towards the camera.

RL, I did remove the string tone that had played after the canon explosion. There is some light strings still from the original music that was underneath that moment, so it’s not completely music-less.

Stu, thanks so much!

I appreciate all of the help and feedback!

Alright, here it is, the latest version of the Crait battle!

CRAIT BATTLE REKINDLED V3
https://vimeo.com/289775362
pw: fanedit

I started making some notes in the vimeo link to help keep a record for V3 and wow, there’s quite a few changes for this scene!

Notes: enhanced Finn’s “Rose” reaction to her getting shot down, reversed angle of Finn’s speeder being targeted by walker (graphic provided by smpearce1981) and modified targeting graphics, made it so walker now turns and flexes to target Finn, cropped next shot so walker position difference isn’t noticeable (was always off, even in theatrical), adjusted angle and position of walker so it fires down and towards Finn speeder (mockup by NeverarGreat), enhanced Finn cockpit explosion effects, added explosion effect to shot of speeder coming apart, reduced music during canon explosion.

Thank you all for the help and suggestions! Let me know how they are or aren’t working. RL, especially curious about the music after the cannon firing, because while I like the concept of going silent, the audio/dialogue for the 5-6 seconds after the explosion don’t allow for total music silence without completely recreating the mix.

jarbear said:
I took a look at the scene and the walker with the “preparing to fire stance” shows it is much farther away from the “Death Ram” so erasing it from Finn’s cockpit view would both “fix” the issue AND it makes logical sense.

If you all take a look, you’ll see the walker is much further away than what it shows in Finn’s cockpit corner.

I’m not completely erasing it from the cockpit view, but preventing you from seeing the wide front leg (the one that moves into the attack stance). I think that’s the main inconsistency.

I did put the walker in the exact same spot as the previous walker that I removed, though. So if the overall positioning seems off from shot to shot, that’s how it was in the theatrical. Maybe let’s take a look at the new crop and then decide how it feels?

FreezingTNT2 said:

When V3 is released, do you plan on mentioning what changes you planned on doing for V3 but decided against, similar to what you did with V2?

The V2 list was small and very specific, whereas the edits for V3 were more up in the air. If some things jump out at me I could make a list! There were a few things that Axios suggested for V3 that I tried that didn’t work (and some that did). Overall, I don’t think there’s anything I planned on doing for V3 that didn’t end up in the cut.

Thanks everyone for the feedback and suggestions!

So far I’ve been able to address Nev’s first idea (thanks for doing the mockup, I used it as reference) and RL’s comment about the walker shot. For the latter, I think cropping to hide the right leg is better than swapping shots, as the editing is so precise in that scene spatially and flows so nicely that I don’t want to mess it up.

The other two comments I will look at later in the week and repost the entire scene with all four changes together! I think this will be my last round of tweaks, as at some point I have to call it and get V3 out the door. Thanks again to everyone for your ideas and mock-ups to help make this version the best it can be!

Alright, Stu, I gave it a shot!

Crait Battle (walker adjusts at 1:03)
https://vimeo.com/289775362
pw: fanedit

Even though it’s small in the frame, I can’t make many big adjustments to this, so it’s kind of a take it or leave it deal! It took quite a bit of motion tracking and rotoscoping to get it to this point. I used the motion from the closeup where the walker adjusts to target Luke.

smpearce1981 said:
Do you think once V3 is rendered and locked that will be it for this project?
…
(Although i did have another tiny idea…but it’s such a minor detail and would be so un-noticeable to 99.9% of viewers that it’s not really worth proposing)

What’s your tiny idea?!

I think it was inevitable to do another version after TROS came out, and now that the saga is finished, I hope for V3 to be more or less the final. However, there have been incremental updates to both V1 and V2 to make general fixes (like sound mix and encoding issues), and I expect that might happen here too.

I also intend to update V2 with the recent non-Palpatine changes after V3 is complete. I’m not sure how to brand it so that it’s not confusing. Maybe they should both be V3: V3 Legacy and V3 Palpatine?

That all makes sense, but there’s limited options because it’s a short scene and we can’t separate the music from the dialogue. The “sharp transition” as jarbear put it is in a different key than the “soft” transition.

Still, I’ve tried a couple of options. The first is the same cues, but adding sound effects during the transition to ease it a bit. The Alt removes the three declarative notes (and adds sound fx) to change the transition.

pw for both: fanedit

Shuttle Scene
https://vimeo.com/394579555

Shuttle Scene Alt
https://vimeo.com/396090420

Ha! Glad it’s working!

Stu, I think I want to avoid overdoing it so that by the time it cuts inside the cockpit everything’s calmed down. Adding another flame to Finn’s side (there are already a good deal of sparks) would feel like too much as it transitions to the interior shots. I want it to feel like they just emerged from the last bit of the craziness, and there’s only a few scattered particles left. Thanks for the ideas, though!

TNT, pm sent.

I really don’t think the Obi-Wan callback will work. We haven’t had any direct reference to him in the first two sequel movies and to suddenly hear him here will be disorienting. I think the scene as-is gives the audience enough to see that Luke knew what he was doing and died at peace.

smpearce1981 said:

What about adding one or two faint flame elements into the reflection? As if the shuttle is just passing the last pieces of flaming debris when the shot picks up?

Done! Added some subtle flame and sparks to the beginning of the shuttle shot so you see them pass through the last big bits of the explosion. I even used some material from the cut space Leia scene for some of these elements.

Shuttle Scene
https://vimeo.com/394579555
pw: fanedit

With that, I think I’m pretty close to being locked on V3! If anyone sees any issues on the clips or workprint, please let me know, but I should be proceeding to final render encode pretty soon.

FreezingTNT2 said:
On the subject of Palpatine, the final interaction between Rey and Kylo in The Last Jedi before the Falcon got off of Crait implied that the Force mind link is permanent after Snoke’s death.

krausfadr said:
I always viewed it as Snoke originally bridged their minds. But the dyad kept the bridge going.

Good points, both make sense to me!

FreezingTNT2 said:
I see… but why did it not kill Snoke?

Maybe this is isn’t made explicit, but I always got the impression that Kylo saying “the effort would kill you” implied that neither he or Rey were powerful enough to link their minds.

Snoke is the only one who could “safely” do it, aside from possibly Luke.

As for Luke’s projection, I always felt that it was something a bit more than just the mind-linking, since he was visible to everyone and for a longer period of time. So even a more-powerful Luke would be killed by it.

Again, this is not explicit, but this is the implication I got from the film.

FreezingTNT2 said:

Then why did it not kill either Kylo or Rey?

In the scene jarbear is talking about during their first force connection, Kylo says to Rey: “You’re not doing this, the effort would kill you.”

Later, in the Throne Room, Snoke says: “It was I who bridged you’re minds.”

I’m not sure how this applies to TROS. I guess Palpatine continued their mind-link?

smpearce1981, I did actually already add to the push in. Not a bad idea about the flaming wreckage but that also might be a little too much, even if subtle. I don’t want these details to call attention to themselves. Still I can take a look!

As for the Obi-Wan idea, I really don’t think it would make the scene any better. It would be confusing for some younger viewers, and shocking for the rest (to suddenly hear Kenobi again), right in the middle of this beautiful moment when Luke peacefully departs. I just think the scene is perfect as it is, wordless.

I played with the shuttle scene a little more tonight. The particles were a little too similar, so I added a few of the flickery sharp particles that better match the ship explosion (still very subtle). Also tweaked the color slightly, and added a tiny bit of vibration to the beginning of the first shuttle shot.

Shuttle Deleted Scene
https://vimeo.com/394579555
pw: fanedit

jarbear said:
I don’t know if this matter or not, but we see the AT’s targeting of the speeder focus next to the cockpit, just to the side of it. When you see Finn get shot down though, the explosion is/damage is to the other side of the craft. Would it be doable to change the position of the targeting of the speeder be where the damage occurs of it now being shot down instead of the collision with Rose?

Good eye, jarbear! I changed it, and you can see the update here:
Crait Battle (targeting shot at 1:10)
https://vimeo.com/289775362
pw: fanedit

This actually fixes two problems, the other being what smpearce1981 was saying about the cockpit explosion seeming too subtle. Moving the targeting to the other side of the ship adds a good deal of distance between Finn and the explosion.

Glad the work on the shuttle scene is helping!

V3 SECOND WORKPRINT

Okay, the new workprint has been uploaded (same link)! Here’s a consolidated post of all of the V3 changes. Some of the non-Palpatine related things could potentially be used to update the V2 if there’s interest, but my priority first is to get out the V3 with the Palp teases.
Thanks to everyone for you ideas and feedback. It’s been more work than I anticipated, but in the end, I think it’s helped to make the film better! 

V3 PALPATINE TEASES
PW for all: fanedit

1. Dark Side Cave 1st Appearance Sith Whispers
   Description: added Sith whispers as the cave first calls to Rey (note: I did try to add a reverb of Palpatine actually saying “Rey” from “I’m afraid the deflector shield…” as was suggested but it just didn’t work.)

2. Dark Side Cave Sith Whispers and Hood
   Description: Added Sith whispers and Palpatine’s hood appears in the reflection just before Rey’s face appears.

3. Flashback Palpatine Laugh (by HAL 9000 and TiMartyn)
   Description: Added Palpatine laugh to the last Luke/Kylo flashback. Thanks to Hal 9000 for providing the audio.

4. Palpatine Contact
   Description: When Kylo is in the radio room of the rebel base on Crait, he has an unexpected contact from Palpatine, a voice saying “Find me”. Option E has one reused shot, that is cropped and retimed.

5. Snoke Sith Death - Subtle
   Description: Snoke’s eyes flash red/yellow as he’s stabbed by the lightsaber, and then a puff of blue “Palpatine essence“ releases after his body splits in half.

6. Force Skype Sounds
   Description: Added some of the Palpatine Contact sounds to other Force Skype moments.

V3 NON-PALPATINE CHANGES

7. Finn Wakes
   Description: Rey whispers “Finn” right before he wakes up, hinting at his force sensitivity.

8. Praetorian Knife Continuity Fix
   Description: Remove continuity error of knife disappearing mid-shot, also had praetorian’s knife knocked away by Rey’s lightsaer strike way in the background of earlier shot.

9. Deleted Shuttle Scene Improvements
   Description: Improved reflections and particles on the wide shots, fixed 3D environment on viewscreen.

10. Crait Battle Tweaks
    Description: Several tweaks, including updated walker targeting FX shot (with FX image provided by smpearce1981), slightly enhanced Finn cockpit explosion lighting, tweak to Finn’s “Rose” reaction to add more impact (when she’s shot down), cannon beam and hum removal during Finn’s cockpit exit.

11. Added Wilhelm Scream
    Description: Wilhelm!

12. Broom Boy Rebel Ring Removal
    Description: Extended shots in end sequence to cover the rebel ring shot, maintaining timing.

Darth Muffy said:
It would be great to see that under an altenative version of TLJ edit with light use of caretakes akin to return of the jedis yub hub/special edition ending versions about. I also understand that its hard work doing these edits and the idea of an alternative version of the same edit must be off putting to make.

Yeah, the thing is I’m already likely to keep two versions of Rekindled available, one with the Palpatine hints to set up TROS and one without.

So, basically there will be V2 and V3 available. I’m also considering, after finishing V3, going back and updating V2 with some non-Palpatine related tweaks I’ve made since.

Keep in mind that hosting multiple versions requires more than edit time and storage space. If I change the timing in any way (such as adding a scene), I have to adjust the caption timing, chapter breaks, and then render and encode multiple sizes (currently 4) for each. It’s just too much to consider more than two version right now.

I am rendering a second V3 workprint now, so it will hopefully be up tomorrow!

I appreciate the vote of confidence! But I have no intention of adding the 3rd lesson deleted scene at this time. As others have said, it’s not just the incomplete FX, it’s whether it improves the story. I agree with smpearce’s statement that Rey’s training with Luke was interrupted by the force-Skype conversation with Kylo-Ren. Snoke bridged their minds and drove a wedge, which put Rey in real danger of falling to the dark side. The fact that Luke never finished her training is part of the story, so I’m ok that the third lesson is absent.