Stephen King's It (1990): The Cinematic Cut -- Trailer & Poster in OP

Hello all. I've just signed up for this place after discovering it. Looking forward to/nervous about putting my first ever fan edit out into the world.

NEW! POSTER!


NEW! TRAILER!

After seeing the IT re-adaptation and hearing everyone talk about how terrible the original is (unjustly maligned!!), I set out to trim down the fat, add some more emotion-evoking music (using Benjamin Wallfisch's outstanding score for the new film in conjunction with Richard Bellis' original Emmy-winning score), and cut as much of that bad-Ray-Harryhausen spider as possible. I've attached an image from FCPX of the current state of my timeline. After three weeks of evenings and weekends I'm on my fifth -- and hopefully final -- revision.



Please contact me directly if you would like to see this fanfic.

Original TItle: Stephen King's It
Genre: Horror
Fanedit Type: FanFix
Original Release Date: 1990
Original Running Time: 180
Fanedit Running TIme: 160
Time Cut: 20
Available in HD: 720p

Intention: I thought the original was a great miniseries. My goal was only to tighten up some of the pacing, cut it down to a semi-realistic theatrical running time, and modernize it a bit. This doesn't not make any attempt to change the narrative or alter motivations. I just want to present the best possible version of the original.

List of major edits (there is not a single frame of this film that was un-touched):
* New opening credits.
* Many new musical cues and sound effects throughout.
* Colour-graded the entire film.
* Cropped to 16:9 (and lovingly pan-and-scanned throughout)
* Removed Mike Hanlon's voiceover wherever it occurs.
* New establishing plates for all cities outside Derry.
* Bill & Audra's establishing scene is shortened.
* "Georgie & Pennywise" tightened up.
* Ben's awkward dialog with his date is removed.
* Ben's first encounter with IT tightened.
* Bev & Tom meeting the Japenese businessmen removed.
* Bev's "Call" removed.
* Tom's endless search for champaign is VERY tightened.
* Moved Eddie's 'revelation' from Mr. Keene to immediately after his adult character is established. This makes the payoff later more satisfying.
* Theater (I Was A Teenage Werewolf) scene tightened.
* Removed awkward "men or mice" line.
* Eddie's shower scene re-cut to heighten tension, add franticness, and hide poor visual effects.
* Removed Eddie's chaufer from the train scene. I mean... ugh.
* Adult Richie's establishing shot scaled WAY back because it adds nothing.
* Removed Richie's entire conversation with his agent. It was awful.
* Werewolf scene re-paced.
* Removed intervention of shop owner from the Hanlon/Bowers scene. Doesn't make sense that he would step in when it is later established that adults don't get involved.
* Rock fight scene got new foley, and dialog cuts.
* The daylight-is-fading-and-we-need-to-get-this-in-one-shot super-pan of the now complete Loser's Club changed to standard cuts.
* Bill's "Help Me" speech now 40% more inspirational!
* Adult Stan's "sex maniac" dialog and lingering shots of Perfect Strangers is cut.
* Stan's Mummy encouter added during the phone call with Mike.
* Vic Criss' encounter with the Deadlight tightened
* Deadlights have a custom lighting effect
* Heny whitehair is cut
* Eddie's "Battery Acid" is re-timed to make his intervention for Stan seem more "last-minute"
* The "Drain Incident" has been quick-cut to mask the poor effects somewhat without losing the sense of place or understanding what is happening.
* "Stan Found" has been recut for gradual discovery and to remove the total lack of blood in the opening shot.
* "Audra/Greco" moved to right after "Stan Found", but Greco is removed completely, it doesn't set up or pay off anything, so it's cut.
* The various "[Character] Arrives in Derry" scenes have been reordered.
* The "Bill & Mike Ride Silver" montage was cut because, honestly, it feels like filler.
* "Ben Helps Fellow Fat Kid" is cut because it was too convenient, and the new fat kid cannot act. At all.
* "Bev Returns Home": removed close-up of "MARSH" doorbell plate, because it was too obvious. Now it's more subtle, more of a detail that will reward repeat viewings.
* "Bev Returns Home": removed the "You're not real!" exchange by the closed door, makes it feel more like an escape and less like IT just allowed Bev to leave.
* Trimmed down the "Dinner Montage" at the Chinese restaurant.
* Removed the image of Pennywise superimposed on the moon during "Wake Up, Henry". It is still implied that he sees Pennywise in the moon, but not shown directly.
* Trimmed the "Fortune Cookie" sequence to tighten it up a bit and mask some of the lesser effects.
* Cut A LOT of Harry Anderson's CLEARLY improvised comedy during the "Calling Stan" sequence.
* Re-cut Bill's re-telling of Stan's "Mummy Encounter" so we ONLY see flashbacks of things that Bill witnessed firsthand.
* Trimmed the part where Mike slams the prop fridge and it pops back open momentarily. That has bugged me since the 90s.
* Trimmed the Clown Dog from "Henry Escapes" and leaves the how nebulous, but implies that he used the switchblade given to him by It-as-Belch.
* Removed some of the hokey dialog from "Ben and Bev Kiss", but because of the single tracking shot (there are a LOT of those in this miniseries) I couldn't really do much with the "Why is it so mean?" mini-monologue.
* Bill's "I don't want to be scared anymore" speech is now 30% more inspirational!
* Re-cut the "Pennywise in the vines" monologue to hide the superimposed pennywise. We still see the Losers Club looking at a singular location, but what they actually *see*  is not show to the viewer.
* HEAVILY re-cut the final fight with IT in it's spider form. Removed almost all wide shots of the spider. Removed MOST of the close-ups. Basically tried to show as little of it as possible. While I think the practical spider looks pretty good, I think it's better to be less explicit, and allow each viewer to fill in the blanks on their own. Let the creature be more personal that way.
* The film now ends with the remaining Losers Club members standing outside the cave. No closure, or happy ending. They survive. That's all.
* Custom end credits (expanded from original, using IMDB to credit many more folks who went unrecognized in the original miniseries).

Hello. Welcome to the site.

You should probably start an In-The-Works thread for your edit to share and give more detail. I'm sure people would be interested in it.

Your timeline looks great. Nice to see another FCPX user here.

All in all, enjoy your time here and maybe post here.

Good day to you.

i'm sure i speak from everyone when  i say welcome and enjoy your stay..

MANIAC has a of edit of "it" so  i would suggest trying to add a list of your cuts/edits that you have made. i know you have mentioned adding music and removed the spider so if you added a list people could see how your edit was different to MANIAC's edit

*Thread moved to In-The-Works*

Welcome to the community Conrad MacIntyre.

Call me weird, by I love to see those edit timelines.

As a heads up, our rules can be found here. Editors that have not had an edit approved by the academy are limited to two In-The-Works threads. Once you are approved this limit is lifted.

Again, welcome and happy editing!

PS - you may want to rename the thread to reflect your edit

DigModiFicaTion said:

PS - you may want to rename the thread to reflect your edit

Click to expand...

Agreed.  To do that, you just have to do a "full edit" of your first post.

"Greetings from a new guy" is an interestingly eccentric name, even for a fan edit. About a creepy clown.

I am unfamiliar with the standard conventions around here (which seem to indicate that I... chose poorly... the home for my initial thread). I will update the title to reflect this new home. I've got a list of edits and my general goal for this project coming later today. Thanks all for the warm welcome thusfar!

Moved my list of edits into the first post of this thread.

Here is the first ~4 minutes. Up to the point where Mike calls Bill:



EDIT: Blargh! I just noticed a 1-frame jump in my lovingly-crafted pan-and-scan... another render. #sadpanda

I saw that review of my IT edit but you are really taking this way to seriously isn't it?
First of all, i create my own storyline in this so no comparison at all to the original
Some things of that review:
Ben and Beverly are not introduced to each other  
In the class scene they laugh at each other so for me that is enough 
The boy is a newcomer in the class so i think they got to know each other at some point what you see with the other kids 
So not important, also not important is that letter 
Who gives a fuck what he wrote on that letter he likes the girl that 's it 
Strange thing in the original is that he knows where she lives i can't remember one scene that he got that information but, whatever
That Beverly marsh repetition is cut, for me that was irritating so i cut it like i cut all that childish bullshit
Ben is walking alone in the barrens... SO?????
Those scenes are not jumpy, it is just another day and he walks alone there that's it
Then he sees his father which is the killer clown of course and i cut that skeleton scene because in the other scenes he only shows himself to the other children but he doesn't attack them
So i cut that also in the scene with fat Ben
And i don't care which of the children saw him last because when they are as a group together they talk about him and what they saw
Also in my storyline it is not important who saw him last
Building the dam is cut  ohhhhhh jesus, what I've done now?
That shows the bonding of the group yeah right, very important, but not for me
I made a cut of a bunch of children who has to deal with a killer clown that's it!
The fact is that the original story is way too long with all that nonsense
Bill's help me is cut and that is an American tragedy
:huh:
Well, the fact that they are do something about that clown was for me enough so also that melodramatic shit is cut 
You didn't like my balloon font, well i liked it, you see a lot of balloons in this story so i used it
The hand on the bloody balloon well, take a guess why i used it.....
It's a killer clown right, it's a child killer, that was my expression with that balloon
You don't like my cut, well, that can happen.....
I saw the opening of your cut, there are certainly some things i wouldn't use, attack on the girl with that fast forward, music that fades away to soon, that cropped footage, well be careful with it that you put everything in the right center...   
But that is personal taste like it is yours with your review of my edit
I read that you trimmed a lot the giant spider at the end, well, trimmed or not the ending sucks anyway
Like i said ones, when it came out in 1990 it had something but when i saw it back on Blu-ray it was fun to watch it again but not for the next time i guess....
But this is my cut although it's not really my horror it is now what it is
Good luck with your edit and i am pretty sure you don't like the adult footage of chapter 2
So you've been warned already....

Maniacs edits are for those people that wanna have horror/action to the forefront and not a lot of story/drama to drag that down. Maniac even said multiple times in his thread that this version of IT was not something he would normally tackle but he was more or less doing it a s a favor to me because I wanted a edit that had the kids and adults completely separate. I am sure your take which will mix the adults and kids stories together will be a totally different edit than what Maniac has done

I don’t really want to talk about his edit here, this thread is about my attempt to polish the existing content. If there is an existing thread that discusses the @"maniac" edit, I’m more than happy to continue the conversation there.

And yes, my version sticks very close to the original narrative. Even though the cross-cutting pretty much destroys any tension that IT will kill any of the “Losers” as children, I wanted to reserve and polish the original team’s vision. 

I think separating the two halves would be an interesting project, though. And if I did that, I would probably start the way Maniac started his first half. So great.

@maniac I didn't bother to read your wall of text but keep this thread free of responses to a review of your own edit.

Did my first public viewing last night with friends and family. Incorporated their feedback/tweak suggestions, doing an export now, and will make available either later today or tomorrow (once I have been able to watch the exported file and make sure everything worked correctly). I'm really happy with how this came out.

Submitted to the academy for approval. Thread moved to pending approval.

Hope IT turns out great

I can help those who would like to find a copy of this to watch, just get in touch.

Tried my hand at poster-making.

Watched the first half of this tonight, excellent job with modernising it and the rescoring choices really work! in particular at the group hug scene about an hour in. An excellent debut edit so far Mr Macintyre! Will PM with more detailed feedback later..

Watched the second half of this edit last night, CM has done an excellent job on this whole edit. The rescoring, pan and scan, and new titles give this a much more cinematic feel than the original TV version. Theres about 30 minutes of footage cut from the original which makes this suitable for a single viewing now too and the narrative doesn't suffer from the cuts from what I could tell. I think this is a nice halfway house for those who prefer Tim Currys pennywise to Bill Skarsgaards and wanted to see It given a modern makeover. This manages to acheive that Well done CM!

Sinbad said:

Watched the second half of this edit last night, CM has done an excellent job on this whole edit. The rescoring, pan and scan, and new titles give this a much more cinematic feel than the original TV version.

Click to expand...

I haven't watched this edit but I am curious about the pan and scan comment. Unless I'm mistaken, this is an edit of the original IT from 1990, correct? That version was made for television and had an aspect ratio of 4:3, so why would pan and scan need to be used here? Just curious is all.