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szopman

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27-Dec-2019
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20-Feb-2024
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279

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Post
#1572841
Topic
The New Republic EP1: A Vergence in the Force 4K (The Mandalorian Season 1 Edit) [V4 RELEASED]
Time

So, yesterday (as a part of my Star Wars rewatch-marathon) I watched the v1, as it’s my favourite version of this fanedit (I hate chapters 5 and 6, and I think the film works perfectly with chapter 4 included).

I think it was the first time I rewatched since you released it back in 2019/2020.

I enjoyed it so, so much! You cut all the boring filler stuff, and left the best of the 1st season. This edit really makes the s01 way better. It flows very well, the pacing is very good, and the editing is just perfect. I felt like watching a proper Star Wars movie.

For me, your v1 of this fanedit is the best possible version of Mando s01. Watching it again was a great experience, I loved every second of this film.

I treat it a bit as a movie-pilot for the series (something like the TCW and Rebels:Spark of Rebellion films).
The second season I enjoy it too much in its original form (I just skip 2x02) to watch it in a condensed version, but “A Vergance in The Force” (v1) is definitely the only enjoyable version of s01 for me 😉

I will definitely stick to it in all my future rewatches of the saga, I already made some copies of the edit in some of my various drives to not lose it 😉 .

Post
#1572832
Topic
Mando EP2: Search for the Jedi [V2 RELEASED]
Time

I think season 2 is so good that you could reconsider cutting it into 2 movies.

Movie 1: 2x1, 2x3 and 2x5 + you can include some Boba Fett stuff if you prefer. It would give you a 3 act movie, with running time of approx. 2h.

Movie 2: another 3 act movie where 1st act could be 2x6 (the introduction of Boba Fett and kidnapping of Grogu), 2nd act would be a trimmed version 2x7 (there were a lot of great moments there) and a very strong 3rd act with Luke Skywalker.

You’d end up with two 2h movies and you wouldn’t need to worry about cutting too much or not including enough material. The season was very solid, so the cinematic experience would be still great.

Post
#1570231
Topic
The New Republic EP1: A Vergence in the Force 4K (The Mandalorian Season 1 Edit) [V4 RELEASED]
Time

Since you went back through your Mando edits and you are updating the crawls, etc. Any chances of a version of those edits without “Episode” number, just subtitles? 😉
Some viewers could watch those edits more selectively or in different orders then 😉 also it’d give this vibe of the New Republic novels from the 90s 😄

Btw.
I love the new artwork for this project, looks really cool with this red logo 😉

Post
#1569428
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

GLogus said:

smudger9 said:

GLogus said:

I just finished watching this edit. I evaluate Star Wars fanedits less in terms of preserving canon and more in terms of simply telling a good story, so I submit my comments with that in mind.

I will start by saying that I was not a huge fan of this series. I thought the first three episodes were mediocre, the next three were pretty strong overall, and that the last two were frankly pretty bad. Through no fault of the faneditor, whose efforts are certainly impressive, this same pattern has translated into the structure of this fanedit.

As per the speeder scene that has already been discussed, I think some of the dialogue between the two pilots and Sabine is a bit too “made for TV”, but otherwise I think the speeder scene is necessary because it’s a good re-introduction to Sabine as a character.

As alluded to earlier, most of my issues come in the third act, largely covering episodes 7 and 8. I have two problems broadly, and then a handful of more specific problems.

First, I think the flow of the third act is just too slow and relaxed. We’re at the part of the movie where we should be building up to the climax, and that sense of tension just isn’t there. This is not helped by the fact that Ahsoka acts as if she’s consumed a bunch of edibles and is so zen now that nothing could possibly faze her. I feel that cutting at least some of the more egregious “I’m too high to care” moments might help retain some of the tension. Ahsoka’s only the worst offender. Sabine and Ezra come across as pretty lackadaisical themselves.

Second, I think the other problem is simply that too much dumb nonsense ends up in the third act. Any sense of tension is again obliterated when the viewer is rolling their eyes at the utter stupidity of what they’re witnessing. The zombie horror element of the undead Night Troopers reanimating, making silly noises, and then being effortlessly defeated again is the worst example, imo, but not the only one.

Despite all the trims, the length of this fanedit is still strongly felt. It loses all of its steam in the third act, and while this is the fault of the series itself and not of the faneditor, I still felt obliged to say something. Smudger is something of a miracle worker in my view, so perhaps something can still be done even though I don’t have much in the way of proposed solutions, having not played around with the source material myself.

As for specific problems, I’ve always hated when Shin force pushes Ezra during their confrontation. She pushes him so hard that it looks like it should’ve killed him, yet he’s completely fine only a moment later. It also makes him like a bit of a doofus.

Lastly, I’ll echo what someone else has said about Sabine’s force push of Ezra. It pains me to say it, because I absolutely think Sabine’s force powers are unearned, but something definitely feels like it’s missing with the way its cut, to the extent that someone unfamiliar with the series is going to be confused. With a heavy heart, I say that Sabine’s force push should probably be reinserted.

On the positive side, I would say the first two thirds are nearly perfect (or as good as they can be given the source material), and I especially like the even-handed approach to trimming the Hera subplot.

Thanks Glogus, your thoughts are always appreciated. There isn’t really anything I can add to your points. As you say, the series was set up for an epic finale which it failed to deliver. I had exactly the same feelings as you when I was editing… how can I speed up the pace of this final act. I cut a lot out of episode seven, removed Thrawn’s tactical withdrawals, got rid of the TIE fighter attack. However, there just isn’t anything compelling left… you can’t polish a turd! A shame really because, in this edited form, 1 love acts 1 and 2. Someone with special effects ability and the willingness to physically shoot scenes, like PixelJoker, may be able to come up with something better!

I agree the length is slightly too long. Annoyingly if it wasn’t for the costume change I could have chopped 5 mins off the Seatos approach by getting rid of the space walk and maybe save a few minutes in the finale.

Re-inserting Sabine’s force push is 2/2, so I’ll pop that back in and run a version 2 along with the other changes discussed above.

Thanks again for the feedback.

I wonder what Skeleton Crew will give us!

Specifically, I do think some of Ahsoka’s overly zen-like reactions can be removed—Like when she reunites with Ezra and giggles like a schoolgirl (I don’t know why, but that just grates on me, lol). Again, she’s acting like she just OD’d on Ambien for the latter half of the series, and it detracts from what what should be rising tension leading to the climax.

I also believe something can be done with the over-the-top zombie troopers, even if it’s just to tone down the ridiculous sound effects.

You are right, however, that you succeeded in elevating the material significantly, and you have a killer Act 1 and 2. Your BoBF edit was nothing short of magic. You elevated that material to legit one of my favorite Star Wars films. I was, frankly speaking, astonished by the potential you brought out in it. But perhaps that potential just isn’t here with Ahsoka.

I think when you’ve been working so long on an edit and looking at the same sequences over and over again you can lose sight of what else can be done. I’ve made the alterations discussed above and I think I’ll leave it as is… for now.

I’ve moved back to my episode I to add in the new series logo and crawl style, upgrade it to 4K and maybe tighten it up a touch. Then I’ll come back and have another look at the final act along with any further feedback I get from this round of viewings and do a proper V2.

I have a loose idea regarding the whole series.

Maybe you can leave ambiguous the Grogu’s decision, leaving it as a cliffhanger in Episode III.
Then, make Ahsoka episode IV instead of V.
And then Mando s03 could become the fifth episode. In this case, it takes one more movie to keep the suspense of Grogu’s decision. Also, in this order, we have some nice introduction of Ahsoka in eps II and III before the movie centered on her in EP IV.

Also, the Moff Gideon reveal could be moved to the episode III end (for ex) as a cliffhanger as well.
Or to Ahsoka’s film since they’re discussing the Thrawn’s return there.
For ex. You could add the scene where the old Asian X-wing captain discovers that Moff Gideon probably escaped as the last scene of the episode III.
Then in Ahsoka’s movie (as ep IV) include the scene of the shadow council discussing Thrawn’s return. It could be even cool to make a transition from Gideon asking sarcastically “where is he?” to the scene from “Ahsoka” that introduced the grand admiral.

It could flow really well this way and would make all the films more “connected”.

Post
#1567802
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

[smudger9 said:]

Ezra’s Return was more out than in and that worked perfectly when the New Republic elements had been removed. Having put those back in, it helps provide a close more to Hera’s arc than Ezra’s. I’ll watch it back again and make a final decision.

(…)

The second act was what I was most unsure about. Did you find anything that didn’t work for you?

Regarding Ezra’s scene - OK, from that point of view it makes sense to leave the scene.

2nd act of the film - I think it flows well. I would personally cut Here our of it, as I hated this filled stuff in the series. But, even tho I personally dislike this content a lot, I do think the second act is well structured and the scenes with Hera don’t affect it anymore because of the way you edited it. I think you found a great balance between keeping this stuff and removing it completely. It’s neither too much, nor too much cut.

Post
#1567770
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

Ok, so I watched the 2nd cut and … I think it’s really good.

Since the opening crawl and end credits are still in-progress, I won’t mention those.

When it comes to the rest of it, it’s really well edited. The editing is as great as it can be, and the transitions make it really feel like watching a full-lenght Star Wars.

I was very sceptical when you mentioned you’d keep Hera in the second act after all, but in the end it, I must admit it flows well actually. It doesn’t feel superfluous filler like in the series.

And I’m very happy you decided to keep Anakin’s hologram 😉

There are two things I’d personally cut (but it’s more like my personal preference):
-the first scene with Ahsoka, I think the entire sequence could be cut and you could start with her approaching the NR base and meeting Hera
-Ezra’s return - I’d leave it ambiguous what happened to him after he made that jump, or, I’d make it a post-credit scene instead 😉

In general, the final product is a very well paced, coherent 3h movie. It’s definitely way more enjoyable and “digestible” than the source material.

PS
I know u don’t like to watch other faneditors’ work, but I ll send you a PM anyway one thing that other faneditor on this forum did to trim a bit the first scene with Bylon and Shin. It could save you a minute or two, without loosing the best part of this scene.

Post
#1565987
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

Devils_Cabana_Boy said:

Hope the edit is ticking along nicely… Looking forward to seeing what you’re able to do with this one!

Almost there with the second cut. Just the last 15mins to finish off. The audio is complete too. Currently clocking in at 2h 57.

Acts 1 and 3 flow really well and are pretty final. The middle act is where changes may occur. I’m not 100% happy with removal of all New Republic elements on Seatos and how much of the WBW elements I’ve included.
I should get the cut finished this week and view it over the weekend. I’ll send a link to anyone interested in checking out the full current cut. I’ll also post a changelog… which will be vast!

I’m sure it’s perfect! 😉 the more WBW stuff and the less NR, the better 😄

Post
#1564350
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

I think “Master and Apprentice” (as it could refer to Anakin and Ahsoka, Ahsoka and Sabine, Baylan and Shin) could be a nice title as well, but probably it doesn’t sound very Star Wars either 😉

So many cool updates on this project, can’t wait to see the final outcome 😉

Take your time and may the force be with you!

Post
#1564323
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

szopman said:

This idea may sound crazy to some of you but, maybe add the part of dialogue between Ahsoka and Anakin from “Rebels” during the Lucas film/A long time ago… sequence? Like the clone troopers that could be heard in the theatrical TCW movie during the Lucas film/A long time ago … sequence.

That is what I was thinking…… Anakin/Vader dialogue from Rebels and visuals from Rogue One or Kenobi.

Oh, actually it’s a good idea as well. I would definitely be interested to see something like that.

Also, I think that if you were to restructure it and add some flashbacks before, then the flashback from Ryloth could work well as a separate flashback/vision (ending with the silhouette of Vader), as it’s the only “past” part where we don’t see that clearly that it is the adult Ahsoka in her teenage body.

Post
#1564296
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

Here is my edited flashback sequence. Lots of trimming here meaning I’ve got it down to 13mins with Huyang being the one that rescues her.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y4YuxylIKTCKHZJPsW8_0rF1omHsw33T

So, I checked it. The whole flashback/WbW sequence looks cool. I wasn’t able to spot where you trimmed it exactly (except one particular moment), so I’d say it looks seemeless. You managed to save the best part of the show almost intact 😉

I don’t wanna be a pain in the … but I think you shouldn’t have trimmed the moment when Anakin’s ghost goes back from “evil” to “good”. I saw you trimmed a bit the transition and I think it would be better if those few extra seconds stayed. it was a great little moment, the facial expressions of Hayden was perfect and in my opinion, for the millennials fans it had a huge emotional impact to see how his face changes from ROTS evil Anakin to the good Anakin Skywalker again. I know it may be silly, as we talk about 5-10 seconds, but for me it was something that I spot right away, I remember it was really a big deal for me when I watched this episode 😉

Nevertheless, in terms of editing and pacing - great job!

Post
#1563733
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

GLogus said:

smudger9 said:

Half way there with the second cut!

Here is the episode 4 segment. A lot of big and little cuts here… got the episode down to 19mins. Half was point clocking in at 1h 27 so I’m on target!

Let me know your thoughts.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EK1EjzPk0ZkD9x16xAGz4AsQmzrHNnzi

I hate to see so much of Episode 4 go as I think it was the most cinematic of all eight episodes. Episode 5 may have had the member berries, but 4 was the only one that was as good as the franchise deserves.

Besides, all you had to do was remove the shots where Ahsoka is folding her arms and smirking. That would easily get your cut down below 3 hrs.

I dare to disagree, I think he cut all the superfluous stuff (tho again, some pauses and dialogues could still be trimmed probably), but left the best from it ( I personally like he chose to keep the Inquisitor’s death, I think it was a nice nod to Nightsisters magic and Kurosawa movies).

I have one question regarding the fanedit - in the end it will be “Ahsoka - Episode I” or “New Republic - (…)”?

Also, regarding the title - did you consider using the last episode’s title “The Jedi, the Witch and the Warlord”? I just personally think it was a very cool title and it describes well the whole show 😄

Post
#1563568
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

Today I watched your cuts of episodes 3 and 4. Looks great, you cut a lot of superfluous stuff and you definitely improved the pacing a lot. It flows so much better now.

I personally would trim some dialogues even more, but it’s OK the way it is now 😉

Hope you won’t cut too much from the Anakin/Ahsoka encounter/flashbacks 😉

Looking forward to the final cut! 😉

Post
#1562786
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

idir_hh said:

What do you think of leaving out the scenes that have ashoka fighting her way back to paridea, that way you keep the suspense and anticipation of her return, maybe only keeping the shot of her calling to Sabine with the force as confirmation that she has arrived. So you would cut from her jumping to light speed until she comes to save the day pretty much. Which shaves a good bit for faster pacing.

It’s actually a very good idea

Post
#1561736
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

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

It sounds great.
I listened to it twice on my earphones and it sounds really good. I didn’t spot anything off.

Tbh, in the first one (medical bay) I don’t even know where the AI voices were placed.

Post
#1561319
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

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.

This is the way! 😉

Post
#1560474
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

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

You can check WitchDR’s work (Huyang’s saving Ahsoka) which he posted in Ahsoka Redux thread:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16i210vISm-52HAErEJ3kfUyQcrJi8GDH/view

Post
#1560473
Topic
AHSOKA - A TWO-PART MINISERIES EDIT (Released)
Time

The way the opening is edited is beautiful. But, I think the opening crawl text is too long. Star Wars openings are never this long. Plusz a lot of those things is just repeating on detail what we saw in Part I.

I would truncate it a bit if I were you, like for ex:

"After facing a powerful Dark Jedi BAYLAN SKOLL,
a former Padawan AHSOKA TANO finds herself between life and death.
In consequence of this showdown, her apprentice SABINE WREN has been captured by the enemy.

GENERAL SYNDULLA, with the aid of courageous pilots decides to go against New Republic’s orders and
assist her friends on a unapproved mission.

The sinister Nightwich of Dathomir, MORGAN ELSBETH, has discovered a secret path leading to a distant galaxy.
The countdown has begun. THE EYE OF SION, an intergalactic vessel secretly developed by the remnants of the GALACTIC EMPIRE,
is on its way to PERIDEA, a legendary world far, far away…"

Post
#1560071
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

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

Looks good, very promising 😉 In general, it works very well as it is. And the pacing is much better than in the series.

I’m not a skilled editor, but it seems that removing Ghost/Hera from those shots should be very doable.

Regarding Huyang saving Ahsoka - I’m not sure if someone posted it in this thread or in the Ahsoka Redux thread, but I think someone already worked on it 😉
Also, i think that if you just shorten the dialogue, the explanation is not really needed. I mean, the viewer would just simply assume the droid found her and saved her.

Post
#1559964
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

smudger9 said:

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.

Maybe you could intercut some parts of 1x06 to fill those gaps?

And regarding the NR stuff, it’s not only that it was weak (although it is). The whole subplot was basically a filler that doesn’t add anything really to the story.
If you have to sacrifice some stuff, that’s the first thing you should cut (as long as it’s doable, of course) 😉

Post
#1559950
Topic
The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED]
Time

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 😉