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The 'Blade Runner 2049' blu-ray finally turned up so I've started tinkering with it.
For me, the main problem with the film is the glacial pace of the editing. It's littered with gaping chasms of nothingness, where the camera isn't moving, no music is playing, no dialogue is being spoken, no significant soundFX are be played, no changes in lighting are happening and there is no movement within the scene, or on the character's faces... to the point that you might have thought the film projector had broken down .
So I initially plan on making a FanFix that removes no scenes, removes no dialogue and (if feasible) removes no shots either. I will just be trimming hundreds of tiny moments from the start and end of shots/scenes, removing excessive silences between lines and re-timing lines where possible. My wild guess (based on not much) is that these removals could amount to between 15 and 30 minutes of the runtime. I still intend to retain pauses for dramatic effect and shall be giving careful thought to when these should be used. In the original, since almost every line has a pause after it, none of them are dramatic.
Here is an example of the first scene between K and Morton, with 34 seconds of excessive pauses removed:
(Password: fanedit.org)
Apart from lots of tiny trims there are a few other changes:
- FX tweak to the Spinner door, so it now closes when K holds his hand in the air (as if he has activated it). In the original it is already closing before he does this. Not sure if this was a mistake, or K is doing something else that I missed?
- Added slow zoom in on Morton's POV of the kitchen interior. To add a bit more life to the shot and to better mesh with him moving forwards in the next shot.
- Brought forward shot of Morton glancing at the table and moved K's verbal threat so he says it as he puts the gun on the table (and not after). I think this makes it a touch more menacing.
- More contrast overall to the flat looking images. I haven't tweaked any individual shots yet.
I think it still plays as the same slow paced scene, full of tension but edited at an appropriate pace.
There are other problems with the movie but I probably won't address those until I've made this faster-paced simple version and watched it back.
I have no title in mind yet, so I'm open to suggestions (probably something that describes the focus on pacing).
'Blade Runner 2049: Aerodynamik' is completed, released and on ifdb.
https://ifdb.fanedit.org/blade-runner-2049-aerodynamik/
Tagline: "No scenes removed. No shots removed. No lines removed. 13 minutes shorter"
Movie Runtime: 163 Minutes
Fanedit Runtime: 150 Minutes
Time Cut: 13 Minutes
Cuts Made: 429
1920x800 / 11.7gb MKV / AC3 448
Cutlist:
General plan of changes:
- Regraded the film scene-by-scene and shot-by-shot (if needed) to tone down excessive tinting, make blacks black (not grey), make whites white (not grey), lighten up scenes that were impenetrably dark, increase saturation in some scenes, decrease saturation in other places and generally make things look more varied and contrasty.
- Removed overlayed location titles because the '82 film had none and the information isn't really important.
- Made some (hopefully invisible) VisFX tweaks t ofix continuity mistakes and combine multiple takes into single shots.
- Reordered some lines and shots, mostly to facilitate removals of dead time but these changes are rare.
Cuts and Additions:
I've made 429 tiny cuts to the length of shots which are far too numerous and small to list but here is a list of other more significant changes:
00.00.00 - TM2YC and FE.org titlecards added.
00.02.18 - Opening sequence rearranged and shortened to more closely approximate the faster pace and intercutting style of the '82 opening e.g. the eye is now in two shots in the middle and we open on a slow fade up timed to the music.
00.02.36 - Removed part of shot that had the opening location title.
00.03.47 - FX tweak to time the spinner door closing with K clicking the thing in his hand.
00.04.59 - Added slow zoom in on the kitchen to make it more of a Sapper POV and to smooth in the cut to Sapper already in motion in the next shot.
00.07.05 - Reordered shots to increase pace and to make the timing of the gun being placed on the table more menacing.
00.10.24 - Tweaked yellow flower in long shot so it's more prominent. Also added slow zoom in on tree and animated spinner window to match new camera move.
00.11.46 - Shortened flying sequence and timed the cuts to the drum beats on the soundtrack.
00.11.52 - Matted the window to adjust the grade separately in order to maintain a consistently grey sky.
00.12.34 - Matted the window to adjust the grade separately in order to maintain a consistently grey sky.
00.13.02 - FX tweak to remove the baseline onscreen title.
00.22.32 - FX tweak to fix continuity error by adding Madam's elbow to the edge of the autopsy table.
00.23.18 - Rearranged a couple of lines to aid the removal of some dead time and to make the conversation flow better.
00.23.45 - Added slow zoom in on K's face to make the shot more impactful.
00.25.12 - FX tweak to combine two halves of this shot so K reacts to Madam quicker.
00.26.09 - Adjusted grade of two shots to fix mis-match of neon lighting colour across the cut.
00.26.29 - FX tweak to remove Wallace onscreen title.
00.27.42 - FX tweak to re-time Luv and what is on her computer screen.
00.31.57 - FX tweak to combine two halves of this shot so Luv reacts quicker to K's comment.
00.43.54 - Added slow zoom onto the carving to make the shot more focused.
00.46.56 - FX tweak to combine three parts of this shot so Madam and K's conversation occurs quicker.
00.48.27 - FX tweak to make the gap between Madam's lines shorter.
00.48.43 - Added slow zoom out to the first 2 seconds of this shot to increase the menace in Madam's stare.
00.49.19 - FX tweak to re-time computer screen readout.
00.49.54 - Added slow zoom to shot of screen to make it feel more like a natural POV from K.
00.53.31 - Several shots in this sequence had to have the windows matted and colour timed differently to maintain a properly graded cockpit but keep the skies grey and overcast.
00.54.36 - Did my best to correct what I believe to be an FX error. Joy's head was partially transparent, so I've made the black of her hair black again to look more solid. It's improved but not fixed.
00.56.18 - Sped up pace of K waking up, this meant I had to carefully re-time each of the heavy bass beats of the music, so the gaps between them were all consistent to the new pace.
01.03.00 - Added slow zoom to make the shot more focused on what K is looking at.
01.04.46 - Added slow zoom to make the shot more focused on what K is looking at.
01.07.11 - Added slow zoom in on horse to make the shot a little more intense.
01.09.12 - FX tweak to combine two halves of this shot to decrease the gap between lines.
01.12.47 - Added slow zooms in on K and Ana's faces to make them a little more intense.
01.13.13 - Cropped shot of K's face tighter to be more focused on his reaction and to maintain consistency with the new earlier zoomed shot.
01.13.37 - Added slow zoom and camera tracking move to focus in much more on K flipping out.
01.18.26 - FX tweak to combine two halves of this shot to decrease the gap between lines.
01.35.26 - Added slow zoom to draw more focus to the dog.
01.42.36 - Added slow zoom in on K's face to make the shot more interesting and intense.
02.16.20 - Brought forward shot of Deckard looking down at the horse to increase pace and drama. FX tweak to re-time movement of K's arm.
02.16.35 - FX tweak to combine two halves of this shot to improve pacing.
02.18.18 - Reordered ending shots to intercut K and the snow, with Ana and the snow, timed to the existing Vangelis music.
02.19.17 - Added slow zoom out and upwards from K's body to give his last shot more finality.
'Aerodynamik' is intended as an experiment in almost purely removing dead time and leaving the rest as unaltered as possible. For those like me that felt BR2049's main fault was the extremely slow pace of the editing. I will create a new thread for a more extensive fanedit of BR2049 at some point down the road. That will feature shots, lines, scenes removed and reordered, different music etc.