Managed to finish the Trask to Corvus link. The damaged Razorcrest plot point has been removed from the movie.
https://vimeo.com/514068328
Thanks guys. It’s actually the home schooling which is having the biggest impact on editing time. I’m still managing to squeeze a bit in, but it’s those last sequences that need a big block of time to sort out.
The added “Moff Gideon” line given to Bo Katan still sounds rough. Can you pitch shift it down a few percent?
I’ve totally changed that scene now and it sounds much better. I’ll post a clip when it’s completed.
Hey! Loved your Season 1 cut, near flawless on my opinion, how’s the season 2 cut going?
95% complete. Unfortunately the last 5% include the opening crawl, opening pan shot, episode link scenes and the 2 major story alteration scenes… those take time.
What doesn’t help is being a medic with children during a pandemic lockdown… free time is scarce at the moment!
I’m just running through my first cut of the season 2 edit, and the one thing that keeps nagging me is a desire to put the Tattooine episode into this fanedit. I just feel that seeing how Fennic and Boba came together is important. Not necessarily for the Mandalorian, but for the Book of Boba Fett which seems like it will run alongside the Mandalorian.
I REALLY strongly feel that the Tattooine episode should be included. Of course, I also really strongly feel that the Jawa/egg stuff should as well. It is a side quest, but so was the village episode. The point of keeping that was because we got to know Cara more and it showed why Mando trusted her, plus showed Mando considering taking off the helmet. Well, I felt that the Jawa episode did much of the same character-wise. We got to know Kuill more, and it showed why Mando trusted him, plus it showed Grogu’s skills.
I really think that a few of the scenes from that episode are really important to establish Kuill more.
As for the Tattooine episode. YES, YES, YES!
I suppose there are four ways of doing this.
- Cut the village scenes completely and when Mando says “looks like this planet is taken” transition wipe to the Razorcrest in space. This would keep the current 2.5 hour run time.
- Keep the village scenes but cut the walker battle, giving a 2.75 hour runtime.
- Keep all the village scenes and have a 3 hour runtime.
- Produce two 2-hour movies for season 1 by including the initial Nevarro trip and Jawas and ending episode 1 as Mando escapes Nevarro with the child.
I still think the Nevarro trip should be included sorta, but I really think it just needs a trimmed down version of only the first scene with Karga, and then cut to Mando in space. That way Mando (and his awesome skill-set), the mission, the fob and Karga are all introduced boom in one quick scene. And when Karga shows up in the transmission we know exactly who he is from that first scene.
And, of course, I’d still throw in the Moff’s alive scene after Mando flies off with Baby Yoda, right before he puts the grave together for Kuiil. I think it would fit beautifully there. I just think it would flow together nicely. The OOH! of the fly-off, to the jittery ooh! of the Jawas transition, and then the dun-dun-dun of the Gideon reveal which is a oh no! to the downer reminder of Kuill’s death. I think that has a good flow.
I say keep the village, but drastically cut it down. As much as I loved your edit, I did feel that the village stuff slowed the movie down (i also thought that episode was the weakest of season one). Frankly, you don’t need all of the pretty village lady stuff since nothing comes of it.* All of the reaction shots with her, all of the close moments with her, all of the attention/focus on her, cut almost all of that. There is enough with her and Grogu you can keep (like when we first meet her–that convo should be kept) that him nearly taking off his mask makes sense that it’s about Grogu, the lifestyle. And the convo with Cara and Mando easily can cut out her query about the “pretty villager lady” when the two are talking about his mask.
*For instance, Mando/Cara ask who has experience with guns. Focus on pretty villager lady raising her hand. Focus on her showing off during training. And then… during the battle, a bunch of the villagers are shooting guns. So, yeah, ALL of that could have been cut. Again, cut the PVL focus and you cut some nice precious seconds that add up to some nice precious minutes!
Oh, and, yes, cut down the walker fight big time. When I was watching it, I figured that a bunch of when Cara/Mando go off to distract the bad guys could be cut as well.
By doing that, running time-wise, you can cut a good chunk. Maybe.
If you cut all the PVL stuff, cut the walker battle stuff down, add that one opening Nevarro scene, some of the Tattooine stuff (and pretty, pretty please–the Jawa/egg/Kuill stuff), I see it easily fitting under 2.75/3 hours, I don’t see how that length would be a problem.
And, yes, I completely understand that I’m just totally hoping you’ll do this so that I don’t have to make my own edit! 😄 (The only thing I’d add other than this is putting Mayfield in, but, eh, I could live without him.)
I, of course, could be COMPLETELY wrong about the timing. If I am, and just going by your four choices above: I’d go with 4 personally. But, damn, that would be a lot more work for you. My second choice would be 1.
Unfortunately adding all that in would equate to more than an extra half hour. The only way to produce a movie of the first season is to cut a lot back and unfortunately that means omitting some cool stuff, like the Jawas, that ultimately don’t advance the plot.
I’m just running through my first cut of the season 2 edit, and the one thing that keeps nagging me is a desire to put the Tattooine episode into this fanedit. I just feel that seeing how Fennic and Boba came together is important. Not necessarily for the Mandalorian, but for the Book of Boba Fett which seems like it will run alongside the Mandalorian.
I suppose there are four ways of doing this.
What are people’s thoughts?
The added “Moff Gideon” line given to Bo Katan still sounds rough. Can you pitch shift it down a few percent?
I’ve totally changed that scene now and it sounds much better. I’ll post a clip when it’s completed.
The edit is starting to come together. Looking at a runtime around the 2h 25 region.
I’ll start posting some completed clips. Here’s the Tusken Raider meeting. I’ve trimmed down the speeder bike journey and cut the campfire scene.
It looks good. Seamless. What software do you use, and how do you make the SW wipes?
Thanks
I use Final Cut Pro. The SW wipes are basic transition wipes available in all editing programs.
The edit is starting to come together. Looking at a runtime around the 2h 25 region.
I’ll start posting some completed clips. Here’s the Tusken Raider meeting. I’ve trimmed down the speeder bike journey and cut the campfire scene.
Finally had a chance to sit down and give this a watch. Wow! I knew this was going to be good, but not as great as this.
A few thoughts -
At no point did it feel like anything was missing. Obviously I knew what had been cut out, but the seams were pretty much non-existent.
I personally feel like the original introduction of Mando works a little better than just seeing him being rescued by Kuill on Arvala-7, however I see where you were going with it.
In removing the Tatooine episode, you have omitted the ending scene in which Fennec is rescued by Boba Fett. Will this scene be included in your Season 2 edit, or will it just be assumed that the two have always been travelling together?
Other than those two queries, this is pretty much the best way to watch Season 1 without all of the fluff that held it back the first time round.
Thankyou!
The edit originally opened on Nevarro and I didn’t cut those scenes until very late on. In discussion with others here we agreed that it didn’t add a great deal and allowed the movie to be shortened by 20mins.
The thing I like most about starting on Arvala, is that when Mando then goes to Nevarro, as the viewer you experience it from the point of view of the child.
Short answer here is no. It’s very easy to cut the 2 lines from season 2 that references their past meeting. I would love to include that scene in episode 2 but there is no way of logically including it.
The longer answer is that I may go back and replace the Sorgen village with the Tatooine episode.
What I am definitely going to do is run 2 parallel projects. This project which is one movie per season at around 2.5 hours and another project that is either an extended cut of 3.5 hours or 2 movies per season clocking in at just under 2 hours.
Frustratingly I just can’t get this Gideon survival reveal to work. Its close, but not quite there because of the jumpy audio meshing.
Yeah, you can definitely tell that the Moff Gideon has been editing in there from other sources. I have an idea, what if you don’t have her say “Moff Gideon,” but instead, just “Gideon?” It was the higher, quicker “Moff” that really threw it off.
Already done! I’ve also modified the editing of that scene so that I can keep the frame on Bo Katan to avoid rapid cuts.
Frustratingly I just can’t get this Gideon survival reveal to work. Its close, but not quite there because of the jumpy audio meshing.
That was pretty damn seamless to me. 😂
Thanks. It’s still not as good as I wanted. Bit more tinkering I think. And having drawn a blank on TCW and Rebels for the required additional
line for Bo Katan, I might have to explore Battlestar.
I need to make sure this little scene is right because it dictates the rest of the edit.
Did you ever update this episode? I know you had plans for a few changes, or are you waiting to release your Episode 2 edit first?
I’m waiting to complete episode 2 first.
Frustratingly I just can’t get this Gideon survival reveal to work. Its close, but not quite there because of the jumpy audio meshing.
I watched this edit last night and I love it! I could wax lyrical about how good it is and about how it feels like a ‘proper’ Star Wars film, but I’ll suffice to say; this edit has become a high-point in my personal definitive collection.
I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the second series edit.
Many thanks! Episode 2 is well under way.
I don’t feel like her using lightsabers takes away from Luke, any more than Ben using a lightsaber in the cantina takes away from Vader showing up later.
This episode introduced Din to the concept of the Jedi, as well as serving as a warning to what they could be. This is Din getting a glimpse of what could become Grogu’s future. That’s fairly significant. Her reluctance to help and her prowess in battle feed into that insight. It all gives Din a choice of whether this is the path he wants for Grogu or not.
Ben’s use of a lightsaber in the Cantina is a single stroke. It’s an introduction to what a lightsaber can do. It’s a blink and miss it moment.
Ahsoka mowing down an army and then engaging in a duel is completely different. However, her brief attack on Din in the forest is very comparable.
As I said, I have 2 different cuts so I’ll see how they feel as the process progresses.
So, in the end, you are gonna go with a bit trimmed version of 2x01 or you decided to use the version you shared hersome time earlier (with Mando obtaining the armor quite fast 😄)? Because I really love what you did there, it os brillant.
I guess that since you cut 2x4,2x7 would be cut as well?
And I am wondering how much of the Ahsoka episode you had to trimm? ☺️
At the moment I‘m keeping the Krayt Dragon attack in. Without it the first act feels too short.
I‘ve trimmed part of the battle and I‘ve cut the return to the village. When Mando says he volunteered the village I then cut to the villagers at the sarlaac pit.
Yes, 4 and 7 are completely cut.
Regarding Ahsoka, in the current version I‘m only keeping the Mando/Ahsoka/Grogu scenes. The middle act is quite congested and having the village storyline in there doesn’t help. It also doesn’t really add anything to the story and worried that the lightsaber action takes away the impact from Luke‘s arrival.
I do have a version cut together where the opening scene is moved to the end battle if I change my mind!
I just finished watching this and I have a few comments.
1.) First of all, overall… WOW! So well done, the edits are just fantastic. It plays seamlessly for the most part like a SW film. It’s just so good. I’m hella, hella impressed. I just can’t say enough how awesomely a job you did, smudger, in taking a 10 episode show with running times between 25 and 40 minutes and turning it into a 2 1/2 hour movie. So, so good.
2.) With that said, I do think that the beginning is probably the weakest part with too much reliance on the crawl as the set-up. Without having seen the episodes first, I probably would have been more confused.
3.) I personally would have liked more Kuiil in the beginning scenes to give more meaning and resonance to him in the end, thus yeah, include a bit of the Jawa stuff.
4.) There are a couple of other things I’d include, not include, but that’s for ME and this is your edit and, again, overall SENSATIONAL job.
5.) I do have to agree with (I think jakeryan) that the Moff Gideon reveal should be before the end credits. I could see it fit beautifully right after Mando flies off with Baby Yoda, cut to the Jawa creatures all giddy around Gideon’s ship then to Gideon being revealed alive, and then cut to Mando putting the grave together for Kuiil. Those flow together nicely. The OOH! of the fly-off, to the jittery ooh! of the Jawas transition, and then the dun-dun-dun of the Gideon reveal which is a oh no! to the downer reminder of Kuill’s death. I think that has a good flow.
But again, it’s YOUR edit. And again, fabulous job!
I spent quite a few moments here and there marveling how great it was. I really had no clue where episodes ended and began unless I remembered it specifically because you did SUCH a great job. Starting with that first episode end on the child to the next episode swipe which was just chef’s kiss !!! PERFECTION!
Thankyou so much for the feedback. The episode transitions were the most challenging part but having access to the full episode soundtracks was a real help. The one I was actually most pleased with was the episode 2 to 3 transition.
You‘ve pretty much summed up the areas that were wither heavily debated or reluctantly cut. As a stand alone movie when I edited it, I stand by my decision to omit the Gideon ending scene. However, having now got a working first cut of episode 2, I‘ve had to completely alter the way in which Gideon‘s survival is revealed to Mando and it has lost some of its impact. Therefore I may need to put it back into episode 1 so that it works better for the viewer.
There were many things that were cut to get this down to a manageable sub 2.5 hours that were difficult to lose. I don‘t think losing the opening Nevarro scene is a problem, maybe its my opening crawl that causes the confusion. The Jawa scenes were very difficult to cut because they were one of my favourite parts of the season. However, the egg was ultimately a side quest so they had to go. The adverse effect was losing some Kuill scenes.
Having now had 2 full seasons, I‘m contemplating doing 2 movie streams. A single movie per season as the initial release and then either a 2 movies per season stream or an ultimate 3-hour plus version of each movie.
Having just finished your season 1 cut (so good! – left comments in that thread), I am really excited to see what you come up with here. Have you decided to go with one or two movies at this point?
The plan is for just one.
And there’s no way to use the moment when Bo-Katan mentions Gideon on Trask/Imperial ship? Even using Din’s dialogue from another episode in the scene?
Around 26min mark you could use Bo-Katan saying “him” and swap it out for one of the times she says Gideon, and add Din saying he’s dead or something. They’re both wearing helmets, so adjusting the dialogue shouldn’t be too tough, and if Bo-Katan only says it with her helmet off, it shouldn’t be too difficult to replicate the sound of her helmet (not nearly as distorted as Kylo’s helmet, for example).
Funny you should say that… I was just fiddling around with the scene where Bo Katan changes the terms of the deal and is talking about the darksaber. I’ve cut in Mando saying Moff Gideon is dead from the Siege and added “if Gideon is dead” in front of “I need to return to the ship with the foundling”. That scene then cuts to the Gideon transmission so its perfect.
I just need to find audio of Bo Katan saying “no, he’s alive”. I’m sure I can find that from TCW.
I’ll get a cut together tomorrow and share it… if it works then the first cut is done.
So I’m finally getting a decent cut together clocking in at 2h 22mins.
I’ve managed to solve the damaged Razorcrest issue by cutting together a landing on Trask with the ship intact. I then cut from Mando leaving the Imperial ship to the Razorcrest heading to meet Ahsoka.
The only outstanding issue is Mando finding out that Gideon is alive. Its a major plot point and reveal, but having cut that whole Nevarro trip, I can’t work it into the story. Putting it into the opening crawl is a major cop out. I’ve explored cutting it into his meeting with Cara, but nothing works well.
I’m still debating what to do with season 2, so I’m going through the process of trying a few things out to see how well they work.
The first one is removing the Krayt Dragon. Its a great sequence but it is very much a side quest. Here I’ve cut together a sequence where it has been removed. Let me know your thoughts.
The editing is great, but I’m not sure about its implications for the story. I worry it would leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth for the main character to kill a friendly marshall just trying to protect his town… especially when the rest of the movie is Din generally being heroic. There are no scenes to retrofit into potential guilt either so it would feel awkward when he hands it out to someone he doesn’t yet know is Mandalorian (Boba).
I think it would be better to just start the movie with Mando walking into Mos Eisley with Boba’s armor. How he acquired it would be an off-hand reference, like the Bounty Hunter on Ord Mantell or the Battle of Tanaab.
At that point we don’t know that he’s a friendly Marshall, and Mando has already hung a man up and left him to die in the episode. Also the way its cut leaves it open to interpretation. We don’t know if Mando killed him, we just know that he fired a blaster and took the armour.
However, I’m probably going to keep most of the Tattooine sequence and just edit it down. I’ve got a working cut now that is 30mins total duration. My next task is to get Mando to Trask as soon as possible and ideally with an undamaged Razorcrest!
I’m still debating what to do with season 2, so I’m going through the process of trying a few things out to see how well they work.
The first one is removing the Krayt Dragon. Its a great sequence but it is very much a side quest. Here I’ve cut together a sequence where it has been removed. Let me know your thoughts.
Boba had a theme?
If you haven’t already listened to them, the RFR Star Wars Oxygen podcasts discussing the Star Wars scores are amazing.
Here is what I’m thinking
Link please 😃
Think this is worth checking out. https://youtu.be/pRr-7JIHt2Y Would love to see it added to the edit in some way, that’s if everyone else feels the same way about it. I must say, the music does feel a bit over the top at times. But the blaster sound effects and the way the Mando theme fades to Boba’s theme at the end is a nice touch
That’s very well done. My initial thoughts were to use his OT theme when we first see him on Tatooine, as a musical reintroduction, and then stick to his new theme.