logo Sign In

smudger9

User Group
Members
Join date
17-Dec-2014
Last activity
28-Mar-2024
Posts
692

Post History

Post
#1562344
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

I’m now up to the end of episode 3 with my second cut. This is the most challenging episode because it essentially only had one job… to get Sabine and Ahsoka to the surface of Seatos… but it took 30 miniutes to accomplish it! It required a LOT of cutting. I’ve managed to get it down to 15 minutes. I could have done it in 11 minutes had it not been for Ahsoka’s costume change!

Anyway, as its only a 15 minute segment and has been massively edited I thought I’d post it here for some feedback. The first three episodes clock in at 1h 8mins including the opening logos and crawl… I would have liked to have done it in an hour, but it still has me on track for the magic sub 3-hour target.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u1SaVjW2yCsvPXPJcnpmkYHkR_DSUJfi

Post
#1562172
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

Thanks for the feedback. I’ll lock down the first act then.
I’m currently working on a second cut with completed audio transitions. It’s taking a bit of time because along with the numerous scene cuts, virtually every remaining scene has been trimmed. The first third is done but it’s slow going!

Post
#1561729
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

So I’ve completed the first cut and it’s clocking in at 3h10. This is a little too long, but I haven’t yet removed the New Republic plot from the middle act. That should save 5 to 10 mins. I’ve now gone back to tighten up act 1 and have managed to chip the running time down to 3h07, so I’m getting there and confident that I can bring this in at 2h55 or so.

In terms of the first act there are a couple of sequences that are crucial to the current structure that I wanted an opinion on. It uses AI dialogue to allow me to remove the Correlia and droid head scenes. It would be great to get feedback on

  1. Whether the AI voices are good enough.
  2. Whether the plot is good enough to get them from Lothal to Seatos without needing to use the droid head. I can put a much shortened droid head sequence back in if needed.

This is the medical bay sequence
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PUOxAdTMZyKWIRPqRqL35h70j2BUwXDL

This is the Ashoka/Sabine platform sequence
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F0GJz6yXZYY6V1gUQ2HM_CAOtK3nPe4Z

Post
#1561248
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

losthead said:

Out of curiosity, would it be possible to edit the Hera trial scene to be referring to the Corellia incident? That could allow us to cut Hera and Jacen out of Seatos, but still provide a conclusion for the New Republic arc in the show.

That would be straightforward to do, although I’m currently working on removing the New Republic plot completely.

Post
#1560077
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I like it! Obviously needs the AI lines from Huyang that he was the one who found her. Maybe also consider shortening up her auditory flashback so that the camera doesn’t have to pan over Hera and the ghost.

Yes. That will all be done. It’s just a very rough cut to see if it works.

Post
#1560037
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

So last night I was working on removing Hera and the New Republic from Seatos. Here is a proof of concept for the sequence from Ahsoka being pulled from the water to her departing in the space whale. There will need to be alteration of Huyang’s dialogue and removing the Ghost from a couple of shots. Thoughts?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xTHdvaVItybDqsEHn8_BUZT3ahRPGEqG

Post
#1559952
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

szopman said:

In my opinion, it’s better to keep as much as possible or the flashbacks and cut the whole Hera/NR subplot.

In the end, the NR subplot is just a filler, and it was one of the weakest points of the show. I guess most of fans didn’t enjoy it.

On the other hand, let’s be honest, people love the Anakin stuff, and those flashbacks were important I’m terms of the “Lesson” and Ahsoka’s character development. Also, if you take in consideration viewers/fans who never watched TCW, those flashbacks add a lot in terms of Ahsoka/Anakin story. I understand that for the sake of a coherent, well paced 3h movie you have to trim stuff, but I in my opinion you should keep this flashback stuff, as much as possible.

And again, Hera/NR stuff was really weak and in the end turned out to be a useless filler.

EDIT
I’d be happy to watch the rough cut of this 😉 I ll have to spend 2h in a train tomorrow anyway 😉

Yeah the Clone Wars stuff was one of the best parts of the show. I think I’ll stick with my current edit of those. I’ve shortened the scenes as much as I can whilst maintaining the story.

The New Republic stuff is a really difficult one. I agree that it’s a relatively weak part of the show. However, without some elements of it there isn’t anything to plug a couple of time gaps in the Seatos story. That’s fine with a TV show, but with a movie it’s obvious that something is missing. And there is the issue with Ahsoka’s exit from Seatos. I’ll render the rough second act and send you a link.

Post
#1559945
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

I’ve done a cut of the first 7 episodes which is clocking in at 2h40. I’m waiting for a non-DV 4K source for episode 8 so that I can complete the cut and I’m confident I can bring it in on 3 hours, which is my upper limit for a movie edit.
Whilst I’m waiting for an episode 8 source I’m going back through act 1 to complete the audio.

Act 1 is pretty much nailed down. It’s act 2 where I’m still a little uncertain, particularly concerning the Clone Wars flashbacks and the Hera/New Republic plot. My current version includes both the Clone Wars and Hera/New Republic elements with a lot of trimming.

I guess the options for the Clone Wars flashbacks are:

  1. The trimmed version I currently have.
  2. A series of flashes with no dialogue.
  3. Remove and use the WBW scenes only.

For the Hera/New Republic arc I can:

  1. Stick with my edited version which removes the defence council and tribunal scenes and trimming of the Ahsoka search.

  2. Cut it entirely and have Huyang rescue Ahsoka from the water. However, this option creates issues with the pacing of the primary plot due to lack of spacer scenes and a very disjointed Purgil departure results in a disjointed Purgill departure sequence.

If anyone wants to look over a rough cut of the second act let me know.

Post
#1558884
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

This evening I moved onto episode 3 and have managed to edit it down to 18mins. This puts the first 3 episodes at 68mins including the crawl. I haven’t been able to remove Ahsoka’s space walk because there are 2 key elements that occur when she is back in the cockpit with her space suit on… the flight through the Purgill and Huyang’s report on the hyperdrive ring. And actually the space walk sequence allows Sabone to redeem herself in the eyes of Ahsoka. I have massively cut down the rest of the space battle sequence so it is much faster paced.

Post
#1558881
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

arabian said:

I have two suggestions.

Suggestion #1 - Have a cold open before the opening credits, and have that scene be the one from the Mandalore when Ahsoka fights and captures Morgan. Even if it’s edited down, having that scene I think would be an awesome introduction to the series, action-packed, who Ahsoka is, who Morgan is, her power before… PLUS, it creates a fabulous full-circle moment in the end when Ahsoka and Morgan are fighting on the top of the fortress.

Suggestion #2 - The title you’ve chosen is quite generic and lacks punch. I’d workshop something else. It just doesn’t hit or sell really what this is about. This is a story about a journey of rebirth, discovery of self, and a dangerous return with a dash of hope (Hi, Ezra!). “A Threat From Beyond,” I just don’t feel captures that at all. JMO.

Anyhoo, looking forward to the finished result.

Great suggestions Arabian. Had I decided on doing 2 movies for Ahsoka, I definitely would have had the Ahsoka/Morgan duel from the Mandalorian as the opening scene and hard cut to Morgan as they approach Peridea. However, as a single movie it doesn’t really fit as the opening and I’m dead against a pre-crawl scene.

Post
#1558668
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

So, after watching the finale, this is definitely a one movie series. There just isn’t enough meat for 2 films. The finale itself was a very action heavy 40mins, a lot of which can be heavily trimmed or cut like the TIE fighter attack.

The whole Peridea sequence could probably be shortened to an hour, which would fit nicely into a third act. That leaves an hour or so for the middle act on Seatos.

So for the through-line story I feel the focus of the movie, in order, should be.

  1. Thrawn’s return.
  2. Ahsoka and Sabine’s relationship.
  3. Ahsoka’s rebirth.
  4. Baylan’s quest.

And as has become a theme with these edits, the New Republic scenes (and thus Hera), add little to the overall plot and will be largely cut.

I’ll hopefully have a first cut completed by the end of the week.

Post
#1558550
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

I’ve had a good session this evening working on the single movie plan. I’ve now gone through all seven episodes and done a rough cut which came in at 2h 58mins, which is obviously too long with a 40 minute finale still to come. However, there is definitely a lot more than can be cut.

I then went back and did a more detailed cut of the first two episodes and I believe I now have a workable first act which allows the plot to progress quickly but maintains our character introductions. This comes in at 50mins:
Logos and crawl: 2mins
Episode 1: 34mins
Episode 2: 15mins

The main changes from the first cut are:

  1. Cutting the whole Ahsoka map sequence.
  2. Sabine now names the Denab system in the med bay as soon as Ahsoka asks her about the map.
  3. Re-inserted scene where Morgan sends Shin to Lothal.

So act 1 now plays out as:

  1. Rescue of Morgan
  2. Ahsoka and Hera on Home One.
  3. Sabine speeder intro & Ezra hologram.
  4. Baylan/Shin/Morgan at the temple remains - Shin sent to Lothal.
  5. Ahsoka & Sabine reunion on Lothal.
  6. Sabine takes star map and opens it.
  7. Sabine v Shin.
  8. Combined Medbay scenes - Sabine reveals Denab system to Ahsoka. Ahsoka leaves and Huyang persuades Sabine to re-start her training.
  9. Sabine returns to the Comms tower, suits up, cuts her hair and contacts Ahsoka.
  10. Morgan arrives on Seatos and opens the star map.
  11. Ahsoka collects Sabine and they jump into Hyperspace.
  12. The Final hyperdrive arrives at the Eye of Sion.

Act 2 is where a lot of fat needs to be trimmed and I’ll work on that this week after the premiere. I desperately want to keep the Clone Wars flashbacks but they may have to go 😦

Post
#1558225
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

yoshif8tures said:

smudger9 said:

yoshif8tures said:

smudger9 said:

GLogus said:

When you think about it, not a lot has happened over the course of 7 episodes. It’s basically just “Star Wars: The Return of Thrawn”. Seeing Hayden as Anakin again was nice more satisfying than in Kenobi), and I really like the the actor who plays Ezra, but over all, the show has not covered a lot of ground.

Totally agree. Plot wise it fits a 3 act movie perfectly.
Act 1: Character introduction & getting the map to Seatos.
Act 2: Confrontation on Seatos & Journey to Peridea.
Act 3: Thrawn reveal & Finale

However, it’s been edited and structured in a way that makes it difficult to cut the fat.
Much work to do! Hopefully all will become clearer after the finale.

Perhaps they saw how popular that Kenobi fanedit was and decided to make this in such a way as to make an edit very difficult 😉

Wouldn’t surprise me. I also wonder if fan editing is one of the reasons we don’t seem to get deleted scenes anymore.

Do you think fanediting would have that much of an impact?
I would have thought it was Disney not wanting to show anything except their original product. For example there was a book written by J.W Rinzlet about the making of TFA, he did the other 6 films, but they subsequently cancelled it.

I think it has some impact. Studios are aware of Fanedits and I’m sure it has resulted in less additional footage being released.

Post
#1557962
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

yoshif8tures said:

smudger9 said:

GLogus said:

When you think about it, not a lot has happened over the course of 7 episodes. It’s basically just “Star Wars: The Return of Thrawn”. Seeing Hayden as Anakin again was nice more satisfying than in Kenobi), and I really like the the actor who plays Ezra, but over all, the show has not covered a lot of ground.

Totally agree. Plot wise it fits a 3 act movie perfectly.
Act 1: Character introduction & getting the map to Seatos.
Act 2: Confrontation on Seatos & Journey to Peridea.
Act 3: Thrawn reveal & Finale

However, it’s been edited and structured in a way that makes it difficult to cut the fat.
Much work to do! Hopefully all will become clearer after the finale.

Perhaps they saw how popular that Kenobi fanedit was and decided to make this in such a way as to make an edit very difficult 😉

Wouldn’t surprise me. I also wonder if fan editing is one of the reasons we don’t seem to get deleted scenes anymore.

Post
#1557556
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

GLogus said:

When you think about it, not a lot has happened over the course of 7 episodes. It’s basically just “Star Wars: The Return of Thrawn”. Seeing Hayden as Anakin again was nice more satisfying than in Kenobi), and I really like the the actor who plays Ezra, but over all, the show has not covered a lot of ground.

Totally agree. Plot wise it fits a 3 act movie perfectly.
Act 1: Character introduction & getting the map to Seatos.
Act 2: Confrontation on Seatos & Journey to Peridea.
Act 3: Thrawn reveal & Finale

However, it’s been edited and structured in a way that makes it difficult to cut the fat.
Much work to do! Hopefully all will become clearer after the finale.

Post
#1557196
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

szopman said:

I beg you, please don’t cut Anakin’s hologram, it was so cool to see it! 😉

The whole training scene will probably be cut 😬. If we hadn’t had the Clone Wars visions I would have kept it, but it seems unnecessary since we’ve already had more than enough to establish Anakin and Ahsoka’s connection and history.

Post
#1557165
Topic
The New Republic EP1: A Vergence in the Force 4K (The Mandalorian Season 1 Edit) [V4 RELEASED]
Time

tony-bob said:

Hi ! After watching the first two films, I thought it was excellent ! No weirdness in the editing bothered me, it’s very good work, bravo ! The first one is perfect for me. For the second, some elements could have been lengthened as the passage with Ahsoka but it’s not embarrassing at all. I can’t wait to see the other two !

Thanks again for sharing your movies !

Many thanks. I agree that season one works much better as a movie because the main plot can be extracted from the filler.
Season 2 was much trickier because there was less filler and it was harder to remove. As a result I had to cut scenes down to give a more reasonable runtime. I think anything over 3 hours becomes onerous to watch.

Post
#1557163
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

Well episode 7 was a whole lotta filler! Looks like a single movie is back on the table!

So all that needs to be accomplished with the episode 7 footage is the arrival of Ahsoka, Baylan and Shin parting ways and Ahsoka/Sabine/Ezra reuniting.

The fight sequence achieves very little in terms of the story so can be heavily cut, just a question of just how much can he cut without it feeling too short.
The Baylan/Ahsoka duel definitely needs to go!

Post
#1556242
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

vranir said:

smudger9 said:

vranir said:

While we’re on the topic, there any way that we can change Ashoka’s question to Elsbeth? She should know generally where Thrawn is, and Elsbeth doesn’t actually know anything more than she does about it. Instead, could we have an AI voice ask where the map/orb/it is? That (either chronologically or by inference if used as a flashback) is what leads Ahsoka to the ruin where she finds the artifact.

I don’t think the question needs to be changed does it? We don’t see the answer so it’s perfectly believable that Morgan would say that he’s in another galaxy and you need a map to locate it.

But why would she be asking Elsbeth and not someone easier to find who knows the same thing, like Hera or Sabine? It’s weird to go on a quest to hunt an enemy in order to ask a question that your friends already know the answer to.

Even slightly different wording would help: “Where was Thrawn taken?” This would imply that she knows more. “Where is Thrawn?” sounds like he’s hiding or coming, not trapped somewhere.

Because Sabine and Hera don’t know either. When Ahsoka encounters Sabine the first thing she says is “I know how to find Ezra”.