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wmgan

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Join date
9-May-2006
Last activity
7-May-2011
Posts
282

Post History

Post
#221459
Topic
"Troy" Re-Cut (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/221459/action/topic#221459
Time
I'm looking forward to this, though like Boon I like the original as it is. I liked the filmmakers' fictional-historical take of The Iliad that dispensed with all the supernatural elements. One fan edit that I would really like to see made is a version of the Iliad that brings in the gods, using footage from other films, but that's going to be one hell of a project.
Post
#216580
Topic
How do you make good titles for a movie?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/216580/action/topic#216580
Time
I made a title with After Effects once for an original short I made, a couple years ago . . . it was a "typewriter" effect where letters appear one-by-one as if they were being typed. I think I referred to the tutorials that came with AE's documentation to do that -- definitely not as difficult as I thought. (Of course, that effect is fairly simple compared to the awesome things I'm sure you can do with AE.) I haven't done much more than that with AE, but like ADM says, experimenting with a tool is definitely the best way to master it.
Post
#216054
Topic
Idea: Lord Of The Rings trilogy edit...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/216054/action/topic#216054
Time
I know some people who hated how long the ending were because they were barely holding on to their bladders by then, LOL.

*** SPOILER ALERT for the LOTR musical ***

It's interesting to note that the Scouring of the Shire was in the stage musical in Toronto. Wormtongue was absent from this adaptation, so Saruman's henchman in this scene was Bill Ferney (who acted as his spy in Bree, like in the novel). I'm not sure how I feel about the inclusion of this scene -- I loved the fact that they had it, but looking at it objectively it might have been somewhat anti-climactic after all that had just happened (though I was upset at how weakly the destruction of the Ring was handled, such that there wasn't really much of a climax there either). You'd have to get an impartial viewer (i.e. someone who has never read the books nor seen the movies) to judge.

I'm also not sure how I feel about their decision to skip the seige of Gondor and battle at the Pellennor fields altogether and sort of merge that with the battle outside the Black Gate (and merge the Mouth of Sauron with the Witchking too; and yes, the Army of the Dead does fight at the Black Gate) -- if you've seen my abridged cut you'll know that I consider the battle at Helm's Deep far less important than the battle at Gondor, but it seems the playwrights felt the exact opposite. Oh well. Having Gandalf the White appear for the first time at Helm's Deep was an interesting decision that worked emotionally, but like lordjedi said, as with the movies, changes lead to other changes -- now that the three hunters have to arrive at Edoras without Gandalf, the catalyst for Theoden's awakening is -- guess what -- the shards of Narsil. Oh yeah -- Anduril wasn't forged until just before Aragorn goes to summon the Army of the Dead, like in the movies -- but since Aragorn had it with him all the while (how exactly does one fight while carrying the weight of a broken sword?!), how exactly does he get it forged? This is really puzzling -- if memory serves me rightly, after the victory at Helm's Deep (possibly after banishing Saruman), Gandalf presents the reforged blade to Aragorn, leaving me to wonder just when he had the time to reforge the sword.

The thing that really got on my nerves is this -- it's stated explicitly that when Gollum was held captive in Mordor, Sauron made him promise to find the Ring and give it to him (Sauron). He agrees to help Frodo because Frodo tells him that he will be free of his promise to Sauron if he helps Frodo. This is just wrong -- it changes his fixation on getting the Ring from actual addiction to the thing itself, to simply wanting to hold up his end of a bargain.

Shelob was simply stunning. The Khazad-Dum scene was a fantastic end to the first (of three) acts -- with the Balrog still hidden in shadow, smoke starts to fill not just the stage but the whole theater, and black confetti is blown into the audience, really drawing you into the scene. When the Balrog itself makes an appearance, to be honest, it's a little bit of a letdown (it looks basically like an enormous paper lantern), and Gandalf (or rather, the platform he's on) descends rather SLOWLY (soon FOLLOWED by the Balrog, who folds its wings and descends). I'm still puzzled over what the director intended by this -- if the intention was to have both Gandalf and the Balrog FALL, it was certainly far from convincing -- I'm more inclined to think that the scene represents the Balrog overcoming Gandalf before descending back into its fiery pit, though it's really unclear exactly what was supposed to have happened. The same with the destruction of the Ring -- Frodo and Gollum wrestle (Frodo doesn't put it on and disappear after claiming the Ring, or at least it wasn't depicted clearly), when Gollum manages to get the Ring, and (like in the book) jumps around shouting "My precious!", when he steps onto a platform that descends. Again, if he was supposed to be FALLING, it was the least convincing "fall" I've ever seen . . .

All in all, it's a very interesting take on LOTR and I recommend all fans to see it -- I know it got a lot of bad reviews, but I enjoyed it thorougly despite all its flaws, and I think that fans will be both its greatest supporters and detractors. It's a wonderful alternative visual interpretation to the movies (there were definitely elements that were influenced by the movies, but thankfully not too much).
Post
#216048
Topic
The Phantom of the Opera Resynched (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/216048/action/topic#216048
Time
Thanks, Dr. Faustus! If you're a fan of musicals, check out my extended cut of The Producers too. I'll work on an extended cut of Rent soon.

Haha, "The Police Bay" -- that's hilarious!

I realized that there won't be a simple way to make a high-quality version without re-editing the whole thing from scratch -- I initially used 640x272 source files so I built my project using those dimensions, and Premiere doesn't allow the dimensions of a project to be changed -- if I substitute the XviD source with the original DVD files frameserved using AviSynth, I would have to resize it first, which would mean great loss of (especially) vertical resolution, which kinda defeats the purpose of using a HQ source anyway.

So . . . I shall redo it, but perhaps not right away. And hopefully I'll be able to get that d*mn flaming sword right.
Post
#215392
Topic
End of SE ROTJ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/215392/action/topic#215392
Time
Originally posted by: Gaffer TapeUgh, I remember my friend's ex-girlfriend once tried to argue the point with me because she thought that the Jabba scene was actually in the original cuts with only the original actor in there. And though my friend used to be a huge Star Wars nut, he wouldn't back me up!


Perhaps she read that scene in the original novelization and assumed it would also have been in the movie?
Post
#215382
Topic
The Producers (2005) - Extended Edition (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/215382/action/topic#215382
Time
The torrent is now up on Demonoid! It's a double-layer DVD. Cover art to follow soon (though I would welcome contributions from anyone who wants to do it) . . .

***
THE PRODUCERS (2005): EXTENDED EDITION
With deleted scenes reintegrated by Wui-Ming Gan

"Under the right circumstances, a producer could make more money with a flop than he could with a hit!"

With 12 minutes of deleted footage reintegrated into the movie, this extended edition of The Producers is the closest thing to seeing the show live on Broadway. Experience the show-stopping number "King of Broadway" on screen, laugh as Will Ferrell hams it up in "In Old Bavaria", and bring back nostalgic memories of the original 1968 movie with a scene in the Astor Bar and vignettes in "Along Came Bialy".

RUNNING TIME: 147 minutes
LANGUAGE: English
VIDEO FORMAT: Anamorphic widescreen
AUDIO FORMAT: Dolby Digital 2.0

BONUS FEATURES:
Outtakes
Analysis of a Scene: "I Wanna Be a Producer"
Feature Commentary with Director Susan Stroman

To discuss this fan edit, please visit:
http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=5463

DISCLAIMER:
This DVD is strictly NOT FOR SALE. You may obtain a copy of this fan edit only if you already own the official DVD release.
Post
#215381
Topic
The Producers (2005) - Extended Edition (Released)
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/215381/action/topic#215381
Time
Originally posted by: Klingon_Jedi
When Ulla is on the ladder painting, she's wearing an apron. When she's not on it, it's gone. It's extremly noticable.


I don't know how I missed that -- it's painfully obvious once you drew my attention to it. In fact, the apron is on her only in the close-up shots -- when it cuts to a wide shot with her on the ladder, the apron is gone.
Post
#215299
Topic
End of SE ROTJ...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/215299/action/topic#215299
Time
Originally posted by: Hoth-Nudist
Ive never seen the end of ROTJ SE 2.0 and I never will. I feel its an insult and when I read about the changes mad back in '04 for the DVD's, I vomited with terror. George can keep that manure for I'll never spend a dime on it along with the PT. The OOT is all the story I need.


I'm always surprised when I hear such vehement reactions to the 2004 DVDs. Don't you think that most of the visual changes -- replacing the chimpanzee-eyed old lady with Ian McDarmid, the more realistic looking corridor, replacing the English (Basic?) words with an alien script, a much better-looking Jabba than in the 1997 SEs, etc. -- are improvements over the 1997 SEs? Okay, so replacing Sebastian with Hayden might not have been the best idea (though I'm perfectly fine with it), as is letting Greedo still shoot first (I don't know why so many reports say they now fire simultaneously -- it's pretty obvious to me that Greedo's shot comes earlier), but most of the changes made in the 2004 DVDs from the 1997 SEs are far less intrusive than the ones made in the 1997 SEs from the earlier versions.

EDIT: Aurebesh! I can't believe I forgot the name of that "alien script".