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Star Wars The Dark Redemption - The FanFilm Edit (COMPLETED w/new audio mix)

katie75

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Hey all.

So, as I work on my main fan editing project (as well as my first fan edit ever, which is a serializied edit of the Star Wars saga films into short films), I decided that since it had been such a long time since I had done video editing I needed to give myself a little practice on a smaller project first to get myself into a place where I could do my project. So I decided that I would do a fan edit of a fanfilm favourite of mine - Star Wars The Dark Redemption.

While I love this fan film, Ive also had my issues with it as well. The non traditional score in a couple of places (the opening crawl & the end credits specifically), the non traditional opening of the film, the opening crawl itself even, etc. So I decided to sit down &, for myself, see what could be done. Originally this project started out literally being only about redoing the opening crawl but I noticed a couple of other things as I worked on it so I figured why not go all out & do a fan edit.

So far, this is what i have gotten done:
1) Removed theforce.net title card at the beginning of the film.
2) Replaced the original theforce.net title intro with the 20th Century Fox & Lucasfilm logos with the 20th Century Fox fanfare playing over both.
3) Replaced the "A long time ago etc" shot with a clearer resolution shot of that same text.
4) Replaced the THE DARK REDEMPTION text that flashes on the screen & then recedes slowly with the more traditional STAR WARS to be more like the saga films.
5) Rewritten the opening crawl & added to the text to flesh out the crawl a bit more.
6) Created the new opening crawl using the Star Wars Crawl Creator on the starwars.com website & physically filmed the new crawl as it plays in the app using my iPhone. (the app on the website does not allow for one to save their crawl in any way so this was the only way to retain the crawl I done; I considered doing the new crawl from scratch using either Powerpoint or AfterEffects but after watching a few tutorials on how to do this on YouTube, I decided to just go with the official website's app & physically film it as it was quicker & easier, not to mention more accurate to how the crawls appear in the saga films & thus would give more accuracy in matching this crawl up to appear as close to those ones)
7) Replaced the opening crawl music that plays in the film with the opening crawl theme music from the video game Star Wars Dark Forces II Jedi Knight as it fit into the time frame & the speed of the crawl more appropriately (have had this game since its release & adore it, so its soundtrack is one that I had easy access to, along with various other games Ive purchased over the years)
8) Removed the pan down shot to the planet Kessel with the TIE Fighter flying by & approaching the Star Destroyer & then Slave I descending from the Star Destroyer's hanger bay & flying towards Kessel.
9) Replaced the above shot with the opening pan down shot from the fanfilm Wrath Of The Mandalorian to now have several Star Destroyers show now, with a shot of Slave I descending from the hanger bay of one of the Star Destroyers.
10) Added in new music 'Taris Lower City' from the game KOTOR to play after the pan down & as Boba Fett does his landing approach.
11) Removed the original rock song that plays over the end credits & replaced it with the more traditional Star Wars end credits music that appears at the end of every saga film.

So far this is as far as I have gotten with my fan edit & Im still looking at other changes that could be made (Im watching all of my Star Wars DVDs, as well as other Harrison Ford films, in an attempt to find dialogue that I can use to replace the actor who does the voice of Solo as the Falcon escapes from Kessel). I am using Windows Movie Maker to do all of this as it is the only program I have available to me right now, but I have managed to do quite a bit with it so far :)

While Im not planning on posting the finished edit here, depending on the level of interest in seeing it, as well as moderator approval more than anything else, if there is interest I can always upload it to Vimeo for people to view, but again, pending mod approval of course.

Any thoughts, opinions or input is most welcome :)
 

katie75

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Here is the new opening crawl I created for the film, sans audio. It still needs to be reshot again as it is a bit shaky in the beginnng & the colour is off a bit, but here it is lol I have fleshed out the text to make the crawl a bit longer, reworked the wording as well too just to give it more of a Star Wars feel. I cant say Ive ever liked when an opening crawl announces the timeframe the film is set in with relation to A New Hope or the Battle of Yavin etc. Just my preference tho...

I will try to post more clips & updates here on this project as things progress.

Enjoy :)

 

katie75

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Here is the original fanfilm of The Dark Redemption for anyone who has not seen it. It really did set the benchmark for fanfilms at the time of its release.

 

bionicbob

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Always loved Dark Redemption. The actress really captured Mara Jade well imo.

In regards to your new crawl, I found it a bit tricky to read... too much information and too wide, so you can not read it until it is almost 3/4s up the screen. I would recommend, if possible, simplify the crawl and not make it as wide.:)
 

katie75

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Here is the revised opening, about the first three minutes or so of the film, with the above changes implemented (excluding the end credits of course). This is still just a tentative opening, more to give folks here an idea of what Ive been doing with my edit than a final cut. In the finished edit, things will be much clearer & sharper, the crawl will be worked on more & finalized to be clearer as well; I may just slug it out with Powerpoint of AfterEffects to do the crawl...


As always, this is still a work in progress but any suggestions, comments, ideas etc are welcome
 

katie75

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bionicbob said:
Always loved Dark Redemption. The actress really captured Mara Jade well imo.

In regards to your new crawl, I found it a bit tricky to read... too much information and too wide, so you can not read it until it is almost 3/4s up the screen. I would recommend, if possible, simplify the crawl and not make it as wide.:)

I am definitely looking at other ways of doing the crawl as Ive noticed the same issues as well :)

And I completely agree with your point about Mara in ths film, it is also one of the big reasons I love this film as well!
 

katie75

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My progress on my TDR fanedit continues, tho it has been moving along a bit slower the last few days. At this point, I am focusing on the scene with Han, Chewie & the Falcon at the end of the film.

For the scene at the end with Han Solo in the Falcon, dumping the spice, Im thinking I will use dialogue from my ANH DVD by taking the line 'What's the cargo?' when Solo & Chewie are speaking with Ben & Luke in the cantina & cutting the word What's so that it sounds like 'The cargo?' then adding a Wookie growl to be a response & then using dialgoue from the Jabba/Solo convo outside of the Falcon, so that Solo then says 'Jabba'. Im still working thru the rest of my OT DVDs to see what else I can use to build that conversation. Ideally, I would love to add the dialgoue from TFA where Han tells Chewie he talks his way out of it every time etc etc, but in the time it will take to wait for the DVD to be officially released so I can get it in order to rip the DVD so I can use that dialogue snippet is just too long to wait. At this point it is just easier to use whatever dialogue I can glean from the OT DVDs I already own. As much as the dialogue that already exists really works in the film as is, I kind of wanted to add in Harrison Ford's voice a bit to the film, just because lol

Im also considering seeing about Boba Fett dialgoue as well, but it really is consistent thruout the film. Originally I considered going thru all of my Clone Wars DVDs to see if I could replace dialgoue word for word using Dee Bradley Baker's voicework that he did for all of the clones, but at this point all Im seeing that as is a lot of tedious work that really isnt necessary to do for the film. I am still considering looking at Clone Wars to see what sort of desert world exterior shots I could add for shots of Kessel, but Kessel itself doesnt really need a lot of establishing shots in this film & the effects that are already in there as well as exterior shots showing the planet are pretty good the way they are.

Other thing I intend to look at seeing if it is possible is trying to flesh out the TIE attack at the end on the Falcon to amp up the action a bit more, probably by using other fanfilms that have the use of TIE attacks in them as well. I love the action sequence at the end involving the Falcon, but Im curious to see if I can augment it a bit more lol
 

szopman

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Check out tv film "Spark of Rebellion", you have some footage of Kessel there ;) Maybe it will be helpful.

About voices of Han and Boba - u can check out original trilogy radio adaptations and "Dark Empire" radio version :) And maybe cartoon from "Holiday Special" - "Story of faithful Wookie" (with original voice of Harrison Ford). There's some dialogues of Boba there, in all this sources ;) And maybe this: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rebel_Mission_to_Ord_Mantell .

But, I think Boba's voice in the fan film is quiet good. I think, that Emperor's voice should be replaced ;) (in "Dark Empire" radio adaptation there's some great voice work, but there are a lot of other sources: TFU video-game, Rebels, TCW, CW etc.).
And yeah, Han Solo's voice should be definitely replaced ;) As I've mentioned - maybe some radio adaptations or this cartoon?

About changing rock music - http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/We_Don't_Do_Weddings:_The_Band's_Tale_(audio) check this out ;)
This also would be cool:
 

katie75

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I do already have Spark Of Rebellion on DVD actually, but Im not sure the animation style would match up that well with the rest of the film, so I will have to rip the DVD & see how it will look & test it out a bit.

As far as Boba Fett goes, at this point Im inclined to leave the voice work that is in the film as it is, since it is pretty consistent thruout & works really well overall. No point in messing with that really.

With Han Solo however, Im really wanting to stick just to Harrison Ford dialgoue, since it is a character that is so well known from the core SW films & anything else will just not feel right I think. I dont own any of the radio dramas or audiobooks, so Im basically left with my SW DVDs as well as a few other Ford films Ive bought over the years on DVD & VHS (yeah, I still own some VHS tapes & a VHS machine lol).

I have given thought about the Emperor's voice as well, but havent really gotten to the point where Im ready to tackle that yet. Once Ive figured out the Solo dialogue I can always move on to that & see what or if there is anything to polish or replace there.

Im trying to stick to using fanfilm material as much as possible since there isnt an issue with copyright material, however, for anything officially released that I do use, I want to keep to the Own The Source Rule as much as I can. While I have no intention of uploading this to Youtube or fanedit.info once it is done being that it is a fanfilm, I will probably upload it to Vimeo & post a link in this thread so anyone who wants to see the finished fanfilm fanedit may do so.

On a side note, Ive also been working on editing all of the cinematic sequences from the game Rebel Assault II The Hidden Empire together as well. Ive loved this game from the moment I bought it when I was a kid, & have never really been happy with the clips Ive seen on Youtube of the sequences. Ive always wanted to view it as a complete film with as little gameplay footage as is possible. This project tho is just for myself so I wont even bother making a thread or posting anything on it, it is mosty a labour of love on this one lol

And finally, after I am done this TDR fanedit, Im hoping to do another fanfilm fanedit, possibly integrating bits of footage from the films in. The few ideas I have at this point are 1) a Boba Fett film using various fanfilm sources to create a new film, 2) a ESB era Hoth film using elements from fanfilms & ESB & possibly footage from the recent Battlefront game release or 3) merging the two fanfilms Emergence Of The Sith & The Jedi Saga together to create one single film. These are nothing but future project editing ideas at this point & intended to give me further experience with editing so that when I tackle my big project with the SW saga films, Ive got a fair idea of what & how to do it with regards to creating a cohesive storyline. Since Ive only got Windows Movie Maker to work with (I am quite flat broke & cant afford to purchase software anytime soon), Im not planning for my edits to be incredible or amazing in any way. I have found tho that the more limited I am in the means to create something, the more creative I tend to get in figuring out how to go about solving any challenges to a project, so Im not seeing Windows Movie Maker as necessarily a bad thing to use.
 

katie75

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Quick update...

After many more multiple viewings of TDR, Im pretty much sure that I want to redo the sound mix on the film overall, so I am going to put a rough cut of the film together, complete with dialogue from other sources, then take the audio track for the film as a whole & try & build a better mix in a separate audio program. Ive NEVER done anything like this before, so I am taking my time with this & learning as I go. I do have a copy of Acid Music Studio that I purchased years ago, so at this point this is my go to software for audio mixing, tho Ive never used it for this kind of thing. Just trying my best to get the audio mix the best that I can. Probably wont be Dolby 5.1 or anything but I want a good solid stereo mix for the whole film...
 

Hubunkey

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These sound awesome, hopefully you share them somehow once you finish them :)
 

katie75

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JJE-187 said:
These sound awesome, hopefully you share them somehow once you finish them :)

Thank you!. I think I will probably post a Vimeo link once Im done with all of the work on TDR. As stated originally, this was simply meant to be just a thing where I redid the crawl for my own preference, but it has sort of morphed into a much bigger fan edit project. Im really enjoying working with a fan film as well, since it has given me some real freedom to create & enhance a film Ive always very much enjoyed. Ive already got a couple of other ideas on what fanfilms I might want to do a fanedit with after Im finished with this film :)
 

katie75

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Another quick update...

Right now my focus has been on the scene where the Falcon escapes from Kessel & drops Jabba's shipment of spice (the little bit of exposition that provided a bit of backstory of the bounty Jabba The Hutt had placed on Solo in ANH, which was a clever bit to include in this fanfilm). Ive tried various combinations of dialogue from the OT films, even attempted to try dialogue from the Holiday Special,, but the best exchange for this scene I think is still the bit btwn Han & Chewie in TFA (ie I'll talk my way out of it like I always do, etc...). Originally I was just going to find another way rather than use this bit of dialogue but for the scene at the end of TDR, I really feel it is the best fit. With the recent announcement that TFA will be released on DVD at the beginning of April, Im just going to wait until it is released so I can purchase it & rip it in order to use the dialogue.

In addition to simply dubbing in Han Solo & Chewie dialogue Im also going to enhance the scene a bit more as well, make the escape from the TIE fighters a bit more dramatic & lengthy. Ive considered adding in elements of the TIE battle with the Falcon from ANH, but I think that for the scene what would not only work better but also match up a bit closer would be shots from the TIE escape from the end of the fanfilm Knightquest instead. The sequence includes cargo being jettisoned also, so it would fit together nicely into this fanfilm. Starting in on a rough construction of the scene this week, simply takiing all the shots involved & editing them together with no attention paid to the audio in either film mismatching & clashing with each other, this will be addressed after the sequence of shots is determined & the visual scene is constructed together in a way that Im satisfied with.

Finally, Im making an attempt at redoing the opening crawl that I did previously in the next day or two with the feedback Ive gotten earlier in this thread in mind. Trying to slow the speed of the crawl as well as try to make the text a bit more easy to read as it scrolls. Also going to see if I can use the opening crawl music from ANH or Empire instead to compensate for the extended duration of the slower moving crawl. Hoping that I can have both this scene & a new crawl done by the end of this month :)

As always, any feedback, thought, advice or suggestions are much appreciated!
 

katie75

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JJE-187 said:
These sound awesome, hopefully you share them somehow once you finish them :)

Since I keep finding things here & there that I want to work on, Im probably going to post clips in this thread here & there as I go. This willl allow people to see what Im doing as well as offer any feedback as well.
 

TomH1138

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Wow -- I never thought about editing a fan film before. Neat idea! And Dark Redemption is one of the better ones. I liked its unusual soundtrack, but I agree that adding some John Williams and a proper opening crawl could make it more Star Wars-y.
 

katie75

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TomH1138 said:
Wow -- I never thought about editing a fan film before. Neat idea! And Dark Redemption is one of the better ones. I liked its unusual soundtrack, but I agree that adding some John Williams and a proper opening crawl could make it more Star Wars-y.

I know! Originally I wanted to do an entire fan edit of the core six Star Wars films, but realized pretty quickly that I should start small. Since I love Star Wars & am a fan of a bunch of Star Wars fanfilms, I figured that TDR was a natural starting place to begin with to get some digital film editing experience. While Ive always loved this film, the non traditional elements of it have always sort of sat a bit off to me, so that is why i picked this one too. The other reason I picked TDR was that fanfilms are by definition films not under copyright (even if elements of them such as characters, themes, music etc are), so I figured it was another good reason to edit the film.

Throughout the work Ive done on TDR so far, Ive really been enjoying it, even toying with ideas for other fanfilm edits after this one. The other day I just had the idea strike me to create the "Star Wars Fanfilm Saga", wherein I redo the crawls to several SW fanfilms & add in an Episode number, choosing which film gets which episode # based on the era of the SW universe the fanfilm is set in. BUT, the snag Im hitting with that idea (which literally has only gone as far as me thinking about it so far) is that fanfilms I want to include (Revelations, Sins Of The Jedi, Broken Allegiance, Knightquest, The Dark Redemption) are all set in the Episode IV/Empire era, so it makes it a bit hard to choose one of them to be the fanfilm saga Episode IV lol I will eventually figure it out tho, but as Ive said, this is way down the road & isnt much more than an idea that I think on occaisionally. Tho I do think it would be cool to establish a fanfilm saga, despite none of the films tying in with each other.

But I will finish this edit first & then worry about the next project after that lol
 

katie75

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Another quick update here.

I am working on the Falcon scene at the end mainly at this point. Basically Im going to pull the footage from ANH's TIE Fighter attack after the escape from the Death Star & use a bit of footage from Knightquest as well. While there were some great scenes in Star Wars Rebels with TIE Fighters, the animation just didnt fit in with the rest of the film & would have looked off. While the footage from ANH will prob look a bit mismatched as well, it should fit well enough that it wont be too garish or awkward. After the scene is completed all I will need to do is add in some music score from dramatic purposes & then await the release of TFA on DVD so I can rip the dialogue exchange btwn Han & Chewie for that scene as it really will fit well I think. Once done with this scene, I will post Vimeo clips.

After I am done with this scene I will revisit redoing the opening crawl in Powerpoint as well to address concerns with the current crawl.

Any feedback is most welcome :)
 

katie75

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Decided to post a couple clips clips today, just to show progress on the scene Im working on & maybe even get some feedback hopefully as well.

This is the original scene that is in The Dark Redemption now, audio & all:


And here is what I have SO FAR, just a rough cut with no audio mix done yet:


It is still early on with this scene, so be patient with me please! Im attempting to figure out how to get the aspect ratios of all the clips together to match, as well as build up the Falcon scene with more with shots of TIEs attacking as well as the Falcon in flight. It is a LOT of trial & error with really short clips, much like a jigsaw puzzle lol The original scene was about 24 seconds long & I have it now in this clip at about 66 seconds, so Im a bit hesitant to draw it out any longer than that. The main attack on the Star Destroyer using the seismic charge is from a fanmade short on Youtube called The Battle Of Jakku. With a different coloured desert like planet slightly visible in that scene tho, I know I will need to do a bit more trimming possibly for continuity's sake. Once I have finalized the clip order & the scene altogther, I will figure out both the score & the dialogue for the scene.

Given that Kessel is seen as more of a desert planet, one of the other changes Im considering is changing it from a distinctly red planet to a more pale coloured planet more in line with how Tatooine & Jakku appear from space. Havent decided if I will do this or not at this point however. If I do keep the red plane shots, Im considering adding in a quick shot of the Falcon on approach to Yavin IV from ANH somewhere near the beginning, as there is a large planetary body in that shot that would match up fairly well I think. Other things Im looking at are the shots of the Falcon sitting in the hangar on Kessel, but these arent really any sort of a priority at this point. I have no plans to alter any other scenes at this point as I think it is pretty good as is & flows well.

Finally, Im debating inserting a shot of Leia on the Tantive IV afteer receiving the stolen Death Star plans, but it isnt really something Im planning, more of just a random thought at this point. It isnt really necessary or needed but would be kind of cool to see another SW actor from the films in this film too.

As always, any input or advice is welcome & appreciated!
 

szopman

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Looks nice ;) I'm lookin forward to see it ;)
Maybe you could cut some stupid scenes (mostly with this duo that rescue Mara) ? :) Cause I enjoyed the fanfilm to the moment of their arraving. They are very annoying ;O

Have you thought maybe about changing this Emperor's voice? :D

And about idea with Leia and Tantive IV, well..., I don't think its the very good idea, but you can try it ;) In case u want to make it somehow, in STAR WARS radio-adaptation, there's the whole chapter about how Leia received this plans, maybe u could use some audio :) (it's avaible in amazon)

It's really interesting the fact, that in "Dark Redemption" one of the actors from ANH reprised his role in this fanedit ;)
 

katie75

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I have considered trying to edit out some of the annoying rescue duo but Im not sure how I can really go about that as they are pretty much central characters to the film itself. Mostly at this point Im just focused on small additions or edits in the film.

As far as the above posted scene goes, Im considering editing out the seismic charges & Star Destroyer destruction as it isnt really necessry to the scene. Im also thinking that editing in Han & Chewie in the Falcon from ANH a bit (specifically 'stay sharp there are two more coming in, they're going to try & cut us off'). If I keep the shot at the beginning of the film that shows multiple Star Destroyers that I edited in from the fanfilm Wrath Of The Mandalorian, it established multiple Imperial Destroyers above Kessel so it would work later in the film.

The other thing Im looking at is the Yavin IV approach by the Falcon near the end of ANH, specifically having that shot edited in near the beginning of TDR, to establish the arrival of Solo & Chewie on Kessel. I think it could work.

Finally, Im debating whether or not I want to replace all Kessel hangar shots of the Falcon with footage from other sources just so I can have the Falcon in the escape scene match up with the Falcon in those scenes.

I am actually looking at how to redo the Emperor's voice. the main sources Im going thru are Clone Wars & The Force Unleashed I & II as both Ian Abercrombie & Sam Witwer did great voicework for the Emperor. I dont own or even have access to any of the radio dramas, so I cant use any of that voice work for anything (a la the Own The Source Rule; this may be a fanfilm edit, but I am still trying to stick to this Rule).

And finally, I decided there really isnt a point to adding in Leia into the film, so that is gone off my list of changes to do lol
 
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