poppasketti

FreezingTNT2 said:

@Poppasketti Do you plan on making a Rekindled version of The Rise of Skywalker that would use Hal’s ideas while adding your own, similar to your edit for The Last Jedi?

Right now, I have no plans to, though anything’s possible. My hope is to join the others here and help Hal with ideas and/or FX work!

I agree with jarbear about moving the Chewy scene after Rey’s senses he’s alive. I’m not sure if you can cut it entirely, though. Wasn’t there some important dagger exposition there? I could be mis-remembering.

Thanks everyone for the quick feedback! Keep them coming if you can!

For #2, the Palpatine hood, I’m wondering if it would be best to just have the audio Sith Whispers, and skip the visual Palpatine reference. It would be very difficult to make the shadows start as Palpatine and then split into the two figures we see. I also think it would be confusing for a single hooded figure to emerge after Rey asks to see her parents, which splits into two, and then merges back into one. The way I looked at it with what I have currently is that the hood could be Palpatine himself or Rey in a Palpatine cloak (as she appears in TROS), and the idea is just to tease the imagery. However, if it doesn’t feel right, I would consider abandoning the visual reference entirely.

For #4, I think I may proceed with a hybrid of A and B, with the goal of shortening the message (removing “it is your destiny” and the laugh), making it vague as to whether it actually is the radio, and removing as many duplicate shots as possible. It may a case of having your cake and eating it too, but I’d like to have both the Kylo/Rey moment and the brief radio tease!

AbramPT said:
Kylo looks in the wrong direction when he goes to look at the computer screen.

Thanks for calling this out, because I didn’t mention this before! I added radios to the other side of the room, which you can see in the early wide shot when Kylo-Ren crouches down. The closeups of the radio are flopped from an earlier scene (“They’ve heard us, but no one’s coming”). I’m not sure if I need to call more attention to it, but I did try to edit it so that Kylo’s sightline makes sense.

Ok, here’s a post comprising the latest of everything being considered for V3, in order, save for Rey whispering “Finn” as he wakes up and Snoke’s smoke and eyes. (Does anybody know of a moment where Rey says Finn’s name softly or whispers?) Everything has been updated or is new in some fashion, based on feedback!

PW for all: fanedit

1. Dark Side Cave 1st Appearance Sith Whispers (V1)

2. Dark Side Cave Sith Whispers and Hood (V3)

3. Flashback Palpatine Laugh (by HAL 9000 and TiMartyn)

4A. Palpatine Contact - Option A - Rey/Kylo moment followed by radio contact (V6)
4B. Palpatine Contact - Option B - no Rey/Kylo moment (V1)
4C. Palpatine Contact - Option C - no radio, implied force connection (V1)

darksteel1335 said:

• Change super happy music when the thousands of ships arrive. It should be more inspirational and maybe triumphant. (not sure if that’s the word I am after)

I agree with this. Definitely don’t want to take anything away from John Williams, but the music during this moment was a little cheesy for me. It was triumphant like they had already won. I would have preferred something like “The Jedi Steps” theme from the TLJ trailer here, which is exciting but also measured (since there was much left to accomplish at that point in the film).

smpearce1981 and jarbear, I like both of your ideas for the radio scene. Definitely good to consider for the next pass. I am thinking of trying it as more of a whisper, but perhaps using the radio as something for Kylo Ren to interact with. In other words, leave it ambiguous as to whether it’s the radio, as smpearce1981 suggested.

Definitely agree on smoothing out the last part of the robe. I think it lingers too long and shortening it will sell it better.

smpearce1981, I did watch parts of TiMartyn’s edit and what I saw was very good. I think it’s the best version of completely cutting the Hux call I’ve seen. I still like having the phone call opening, as it shows Poe using his wits and cunning to get the better of Hux.

Ok, here’s a pass of a less subtle hood appearance as the two shadows merge.
https://vimeo.com/382919336
pw: fanedit

I used a shot from ROTJ to get the motion, but I wonder if this is a little too explicit. To me, it’s obviously Palpatine, and I wonder if I should dial it back.

stevepaynter, good point. I may still try to improve the silhouette and see how it feels, but I do think the sith whispers by themselves are enough foreshadowing in that scene.

That way, we’ll have a couple sith whispers (including one when Rey is fist attracted to the cave), a Palpatine laugh, some Snoke smoke and eyes, and whatever the end radio room scene becomes!

Not too much trouble, I definitely will try a version without Rey/Kylo, and a version without the radio (just a whisper of “Find Me” and maybe a laugh). Not sure where I’ll land in the end, but everything’s an option.

I’m glad people are liking the current version, though I hear the criticisms too!

jarbear and RL, good points!

I had originally considered cutting the Rey/Kylo interaction, but I loved it so much. It’s just beautiful acting and great wordless storytelling. That’s why my first pass earlier in the week actually wedged the Palpatine tease in between the dice and the Rey/Kylo moment:
https://vimeo.com/382080092

It doesn’t reuse any shots, but I think it feels sudden and overstuffed.

I should definitely try a version without the Rey/Kylo moment and see how it feels!

Also, it’s funny about the distortion on the voice, because I’m actually using a ton of it (highpass, eq, distortion)! But I’ll keep playing with it. I think I need to have it cut in and out a bit more!

idir_hh said:
I think there should be more emphasis on the hood though just before Rey’s face is revealed, what do you think of the idea of adding palpatine essense leaving snokes body while his eyes suddenly turn yellow just as Kyo cuts him in half?

The hood is very subtle right now, it was kind of a quick and dirty effort. I do wonder how explicit we want to make this though. The scene is about Rey’s internal struggle— her empty search for meaning- and if we call too much attention to the hood, I worry it will give it away and we’ll be thinking about Palpatine instead of Rey’s increasing isolation.

I’m not sure what Palpatine essense would look like leaving Snoke. Do you mean like smoke at the spot he’s split in half? Yellow eyes could be done, though.

RogueLeader said:
Maybe before he wakes up, he could hear Force whispers like Rey, or hear an echo of Rey saying “Finn”, which is why he wakes up saying “Rey!” It would also parallel the “Luke.” “Leia!” interaction later on in the film between the siblings.

I LOVE this idea! A simple “Finn” whisper by Rey is so simple and elegant. The only thing I wonder is does this set up the expectations for better payoff than we got in TROS? Hopefully the deleted scenes will help!

RogueLeader, I actually had the same thought about the radio! It doesn’t quite make sense. I think I started down that path thinking it would be Palp’s broadcast, but liked DZ-330’s calling out to Kylo. It’s too early for the broadcast, and I really like the ideas being discussed by Hal and others about its placement in TROS.

At the moment, I’m trying to work with what we have, and am not sure I could achieve Palpatine communicating in a way that feels like Kylo is responding without the radio. It’s one of the reasons I’m thinking of keeping V2 for those that would prefer not to have the extra Palpatine stuff (or at least not this scene).

Still, it does work for me, and I may sit on it for a while and look at the other areas.

As for the site whisper audio, I thought these would be hard to find but a quick YouTube search and…
https://youtu.be/aODsG8yJbY0

Here’s another pass of the radio scene, with updated work on the radio fx, addressing the kind of things Axios pointed out. It’s still yellowish, and if that stands out we can try white!
https://vimeo.com/382209243
PW: fanedit

And here’s a first pass of the cave Sith whispers with a first pass effort for a subtle hood moment as the two shadows merge into one.
https://vimeo.com/382695905
PW: fanedit

Hal was also kind enough to share his work on the Palpatine laugh during the Luke/Kylo flashback, so we now have teases at 1:08 (sith cave whispers), 1:12 (Luke/Kylo flashback), and 2:10 (radio scene). I’m thinking DZ-330 might be right about having something earlier in the film around the time she is first drawn to the dark side cave. I’m thinking since this pairs with her later cave scene, another sith whisper might be appropriate.

Thank you all for your helpful feedback!

DZ-330, I actually had the same feeling on extending the last radio shot. It just needs another beat to let the music resolve a bit more. Good call!

Axios, that’s good feedback! The transmission effect is an early pass, so it will need refining. I’m not sure about the color of of signal, as it’s the same color as what was originally there (original shot showed the signal as a simple sign wav), but I’ll take a look! The other thing that needs to be done is add some depth of field blur to match the rest of the monitor, so that should help.

As for the broom boy, I’ll have to see how it feels to watch the whole thing again when the V3 changes are done. The extra material in Canto Bight is good thematic background either way, but I’ve also always been a fan of the ending. It just makes the universe finally feel expansive and emotionally resonant at the same time, paying off Luke’s sacrifice (which is critically important now that TROS didn’t do it justice).

I also agree with Hal on this, who said (paraphrasing hopefully accurately) that Star Wars movies tend to end with an extended scene without dialogue, letting the music build towards the finale and giving the audience time to relax and reflect. Going from princess Leia’s last line to the end credits in 8 seconds just doesn’t feel right.

PM sent!

DZ-330 said:

Another Palpatine hint could be adding one in towards the beginning of the movie when Rey is training with Luke, the “you went straight to the dark scene” a subtle quiet laugh could be added before Luke screams “Rey!”

I like the rule of threes for things like this tease concept. So if we’re adding a laugh in the flashback scene, and radio moment at the end, the sith whispers and/or hooded figure in the cave feels like a good third place. I think the “you went straight to the dark side” scene is already a tease without the addition of any Palpatine-specific references. And I would hesitate to use the laugh again, as it feels like that would be one too many times!

Anjohar, I think those are good suggestions, and we’ll see how it feels when I get through these other thoughts first. I see what you mean about the radio moment, which is why I may try to keep V2 around for those that want it. Personally, I like the way it feels, and I really think something more explicit at the end is so helpful to build momentum for IX.

DZ-330 said:
I like this version a lot more. Don’t know why but it just feels more natural. The eyes at the end just make the last shot of Kylo in the movie too rushed the more I think if it.

Sounds good, the swapped shot version is the leading idea right now for me!

PMs sent!

Ash, that’s correct to my knowledge. I haven’t heard a clean recording, though with some audio effects (like the EQ and distortion filters that make it sound like radio) the music in the fortnite clip can be greatly minimized.

Tammer5, I feel like TLJ would be way too early to get into the wayfinder/exegol stuff. It’s too specific and would be distracting from the story. The only thing I think we really needed, given the direction of TROS, is some tease of Palpatine. Frankly, the teaser trailer did exactly that, but we needed something in movie, and I think many of us agree that the opening crawl was not the place to do it (and certainly not Fortnite).

I’ll be curious to see edits of TROS that change the crawl and save the Palpatine reveal for when Kylo Ren finds him, but I think some teasing in TLJ helps the trilogy’s coherence and provides momentum and anticipation for the final chapter.

For Finn and Phasma, I don’t think those deleted scene shots are usable at all (off the top of my head, I haven’t watched that scene in a while). In any case, Finn and Phasma don’t have any showdown in this edit.

Those are the site rules! I think this link would explains it better than I could.

V2 UPDATE: I am posting a slight update to V2 to fix the high volume of the Finn/Rose shuttle deleted scene on surround systems. The new filename ends in “123119” (same links). Thank you to InitAbsolute for pointing out the issue, and helping QC the adjustment! The new levels are only a few DBs lower, so it’s a small change. If you just want the audio files to remux yourselves, the DTS and AC3 files have been added to the audio folder.

There will likely be a V3, but I wanted to get this fixed here and now, as V3 will likely be the Palpatine-adjusted version that we’re playing with now. I’m thinking some people might simply want the V2, so I wanted to make sure that was in the best shape possible.

idir_hh said:

For this reveal to play out in TLJ naturally I think there has to be a build up, sprinkling strong hints throughout the film of a Snoke/Palpatine and Rey/Palpatine connection would go along way, this can be done by adding the blue smoke from ROTJ as Snoke gets cut in half, also hinting at Rey’s sinister ancestry in the cave scene could be done by playing the Sith whispers from TPM as a hooded silhouette stares back at her in the mirror.

Yes, I also agree. I think there needs to be two, maybe three clues elsewhere. One has already been done by Hal and TiMartyn with adding the Palpatine laugh during the last Luke/Kylo flashback.

Adding With whispers or hooded imagery in the cave also sounds like it’s worth pursuing (though I may lean towards audio-only here). I’ll just need to acquire the Sith sounds.

Siliconmaster482 said:
Though There’s a frame or two of him starting to look down at about 1:00 right before the last shot of the radio.

Fixed, thank you!

Also, DZ-330, I made another try at swapping the shots, same link as above. I cut to the closeup of his eyes on the word “Destiny” which feels better and more purposeful than what I did before. Also, the same link as above (so two options currently; with and without swapped shots).

I completely agree with Octorox. Just because we don’t see everyone at the end doesn’t mean we forgot them, or what they fought and died for. The peaceful final moments on Tatooine evoke all of those people without being explicit, which is my personal preference.

For example, I love Sam Gamgee’s “Well, I’m back” at the end of Lord of the Rings. And for Avengers Endgame, I was so happy it ended on the dancing instead of the long shot at Tony Stark’s funeral (which, for me, was a little cheesy).

Here’s another update, same link:
https://vimeo.com/382154087
PW: fanedit

This version, I adjusted timing slightly (hopefully an improvement), tweaked the effects on the voice, and added in just a little bit of the Emperor’s theme.

DZ-330, I tried the shot swap you suggested and I’m not sure if it’s better, because the eyes CU shot is much shorter and has to be slowed down a lot to pace out. Here’s what that looks like!
https://vimeo.com/382209243
PW: fanedit

Building off DZ-330’s edit and Ash’s note on balance, here’s a next pass.

https://vimeo.com/382154087
PW: fanedit

(Sirnoob1126, PM sent!)

No worries on the editor, thanks for sharing the structure! I’ll hav to recreate it on my end anyway if we ultimately end up using it.

I see Octorox’s point, but for now I’d like to keep this going and see how good we can make it. Like DZ-330, I also felt the ending of TLJ left very little to anticipate for TROS.

Hmm! Now, that’s feeling really good!

Maybe crop in on the two Kylo reaction shots to hide the repeats a little bit?

Hal 9000 said:

That’s certainly interesting, but it probably would have read as very strange in the theater.

That was my feeling too. I think DZ-330’s approach is cleaner, but then we lose that final exchange between Kylo and Rey.

stevepaynter, I’ve played with the broadcast a little, but always came back to the simple personal “Find me” directed to Kylo. I think the broadcast might be too grand in scope for this moment.