Aquaman - Special Edition

Aquaman - Special Edition

Hello Fellow Editors
This is a Preview post about my finished Aquaman edit. I have other edits waiting for academy review, so eventually this will be submitted too.

This movie stays in sync my Dawn of Justice Trilogy, which is all hopefully still canon and true to the vision of Zack Snyder in anticipation of his upcoming JL release.

Goals

• Keep Arthur as dumb as possible and make the rest of the movie a little more more serious, closer to the rest of the DCEU.
• Remove as much unnecessary exposition as possible
• Remove Depeche Mode and Pitbull songs
• Remove "Ocean Master" references
• Remove as many plot holes as possible* (can't get them all)

 
Initial Run Time: 2h23m
New Edit Run Time: 2h04m

1920x800 AAC 320 kbps, 48 kHz Stereo
 
Cut List

• Removed intro narration
• Movie intro starts with Lighthouse setting shot and removed Thomas tying the shutters OPEN.*
• Removed Atlanna and TV scene (to remove Atlanna expelling water)*
• Tightened scene with arrival of soldiers, removed some of the story Atlanna was telling to Arthur, removed the discussion with soldiers and Atlanna (for better mystery setup)
• Removed discussion about tears on pier between Thomas and Atlanna (lame)
• Removed Aquarium scene with young Arthur (not relevant anymore)
• Tightened Black Manta's arrival on the submarine to remove some of his dumb lines. He mostly only talks to his dad. (trying to create more villainous vibe)
• Removed Black Manta's lines to sub captain about jobs
• Removed Manta knife discussion (not important)
• Removed "its a man" lines from pirate watching the video of Arthur's arrival (silly)
• Removed Black Manta line "Its not a man"
• Removed Black Manta and Arthur discussing about meeting eventually, shortening fight (silly)
• Removed lines "you knew to live so you can kill that sob" (silly)
• Removed Orm's history lesson about the meeting place (overt exposition)
• Removed mention of the "Ocean Master" title (silly)
• Brought explosion sooner (pacing)
• Removed Vulko's "to arms!" line (silly)
• Moved payout of gold to Black Manta to right after the attack (to connect his importance sooner)
• Removed Black Manta lines "he killed my father" and "keep the money, I want Aquaman" (silly)
• Tightened Mara and Arthur's discussion to remove JL references, and the lines "I’ve been looking for you", "because you’re a lady", "you are the firstborn... your people executed", and discussion of Volko and the Trident (overt exposition)
• Removed Mara introducing herself after saving Thomas (better that they just already know each other already somehow... JL?)
• Shortened Dr. Shin's rant to remove question of the existence of Atlanteans* (removed idea of the world not believing in Atlaneans in spite of knowing about Aquaman)
• Removed Vulko and teen Arthur swimming lesson (silly)
• Removed "They still think Atlantis is a fairy tale"*
• Removed "Ocean Master" reference by Mara (silly)
• Removed refence to the Trident being "forged"*
• Removed line "it gave us the ability to breathe underwater" (the evolved thing covers it)
• Removed Vulko's line "it’s an ancient recording dating back..."
• Removed Orms' line "I can’t believe you’re finally here. I've heard so many stories about you
• Removed shots of being killed from Orm's visual presentation (hypocritical)*
• Removed teen Arthur's lines "you mean the executed her? because of me?" (bad acting)
• Removed Mara's line about hating the surface people too
• Removed Orm throwing up water in the air pocket*
• Removed the second, higher pitched "bad guys behind us, aaaahhhh!"
• Removed Orm flying beside Arthur and Mara on their escape
• Removed Mara inside whale dismissing how he talked to it*
• Removed Pitbull song and the ocean exit shots, cuts directly to shadow of plane overhead
• Tightened Arthur and Mara discussion in plane to let her respond quicker
• Removed Orm's Captain (Murk) lines when tracking Mara (removing Murk as a noticable character)
• Removed King Nereus describing his daughter Mara as the Princess of Xebel, instead just being a concerned dad
• Removed Black Manta's lines with Orm when getting equipment, and the shots and lines of how the gun works. (silly)
• Changed Depeche Mode song to the Black Manta theme from the soundtrack (ugh)
• Lowered romantic comedy sound effects as much as possible from Arthur and Mera's discussion in the desert (ugh)
• Removed mention of "forging" weapons again*
• Removed water fountain scene in order to better set up the Pinocchio reference (that joke is better than making water animals)
• Removed Arthur knowing who all the statues were (keep him dumb)
• Moved up explosion slightly to reduce the loving gaze between Mera and Arthur (annoying)
• Removed Black Manta monologue on his arrival (silly)
• Removed Black Manta announcing his name to Arthur (silly)
• Removed Arthur telling Black Manta "I thought I told you not to make this a habit"
• Removed Mera breaking facemask of solder and shot of Murk healing his arm (better to not make it an issue that these guys drown in air)
• Removed Murk and the toilet (silly)
• Removed Black Manta stabbing Arthur with the Manta knife* (not Atlantean steel)
• Removed a couple shots of Arthur on the boat to better set up the no-shirt to shirt shot*
• Removed flashback shot of young Arthur talking to fish
• Removed Karathen saying Arthur is the only one who can hear it*
• Shortened Karathen's arrival at battle to show less destruction to both sides (focus on Atlantean reaction)
• Removed Mera’s final speech (silly)
• Trimmed Arthur’s ending narration and removed final Aquaman shots, ends on sunrise on dock with Atlanna and Thomas, rounding out the love story.
• Added new Aquaman logo screen before cinematic credits.
• Changed music after Black Manta mid-credit scene to be more fast paced.

 
PM me for a link if interested!

This is just a personal hobby for me but I am always trying to make my edits better, so I hope for and and always welcome feedback.

Thread moved to ITW.

The Great Subtracter said:

Keep Arthur as dumb as possible and make the rest of the movie a little more more serious, closer to the rest of the DCEU.

Click to expand...

Why keep him as dumb as possible?
 

Lowered romantic comedy sound effects as much as possible from Arthur and Mera's discussion in the desert (ugh)

Click to expand...

Those can be completely removed. The center channel is clean of the music in that particular scene.
 

Removed water fountain scene in order to better set up the Pinocchio reference (that joke is better than making water animals)

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Isn't it a big coincidence that a child would just so happen to give Mera "Pinoccio" not long after Arthur used an idea from it to save their lives?
 

Removed Black Manta stabbing Arthur with the Manta knife* (not Atlantean steel)

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that the Manta knife is made of Atlantean steel. It was subtly implied in Black Manta's introduction scene that his WWII frogman grandfather was in contact with Atlanteans and got the knife (or at least the metal that it's made of) from them. The scene in which he stabs Aquaman with it is a confirmation that it is indeed made of Atlantean steel. This will probably be referenced in a sequel.

This was really well done. Everything flowed smoothly, with no obvious cuts. The only thing I noticed was that the bad guys behind us dialogue was still in. Good luck with the approval process & thanks for sharing.

stferguson78 said:

This was really well done. Everything flowed smoothly, with no obvious cuts. The only thing I noticed was that the bad guys behind us dialogue was still in. Good luck with the approval process & thanks for sharing.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback! Awesome that the cuts seemed smooth, I have definitely gotten better at those over the years then!

As for that part, I should clarify I took out the "second" time he says it, when its higher pitched. Kept the "ahh" part as it seemed like it was in response to the dive the ship was beginning.

Hi Hbenthow!

Awesome that you chimed in, your initial suggestions in the idea thread actually got me going on this! I even tried your Elvis music suggestion, but since I now only have the Roy Orbison song in it, Elvis just wasn't right for my edit. But I did try!

Point 1: Seemed like the only way to keep the humor in this was to keep it has his expense. I could've taken it more seriously but when your first shot of life underwater is dudes riding in on seahorses, ya gotta be able to laugh IMO. Thats why I kept the bar selfies, armpit smells, and other dumb stuff he does. Makes more sense for me when he describes himself as a blunt object and has low self esteem because of it.

Point 2: Agreed. I ended up lowering the other channels all the way. But there is still a slight musical notes if the volume is loud enough just on the center channel. In practice I don't usually love ONLY using a center channel, often if feels too flat. Good thing they were in a dessert LOL

Point 3: By removing the fountain encounter, the girl now doesn't hand the book to her. Now it cuts from Arthur eating a rose to Arthur mentioning he found where they are supposed to go. Then we see Mara with the book, so it (hopefully) implies that she stumbled upon it while he was asking questions.

Point 4: Since I removed the discussion about the origin of the knife with his dad, that connotation cannot be made. Now, since Black Manta never announces his name in the Sicily fight, the knife better references to the "Black Manta" name because we see it on the knife when he receives his reward, and when he throws it in the mid-credit scene. Hopefully it won't come up in AQ2...? If it does, I'll use the conversation I cut here as a flashback in that one LOL

Thanks for all the detailed questions! I love this!

This looks great!Thank you for your time and sharing this.

Good news in respect to my more serious edit:

‘Aquaman 2’ Will Be “A Little More Serious,” Reveals James Wan

I watched this last night; you did a fantastic job with this material and it was a far better experience than the original. I would highly recommend this to anyone who had even the slightest inclination to see a superior version of this film. Thank you for your time and effort!

[video=dailymotion]
Opening sequence now available! (will try to make for all my edits now)

Changes in the clip:

• Removed intro narration
• Movie intro starts with Lighthouse setting shot and removed Thomas tying the shutters OPEN.*
• Removed Atlanna and TV scene (to remove Atlanna expelling water)*
• Tightened scene with arrival of soldiers, removed some of the story Atlanna was telling to Arthur, removed the discussion with soldiers and Atlanna (for better mystery setup)
• Removed discussion about tears on pier between Thomas and Atlanna (lame)
• Removed Aquarium scene with young Arthur (not relevant anymore)

Opening sequence clip now available! (Going to try to create these for all my edits.)

Specific changes: 

• Removed intro narration
• Movie intro starts with Lighthouse setting shot and removed Thomas tying the shutters OPEN.*
• Removed Atlanna and TV scene (to remove Atlanna expelling water)*
• Tightened scene with arrival of soldiers, removed some of the story Atlanna was telling to Arthur, removed the discussion with soldiers and Atlanna (for better mystery setup)
• Removed discussion about tears on pier between Thomas and Atlanna (lame)
• Removed Aquarium scene with young Arthur (not relevant anymore)

I always hated that narration. This just proves how unnecessary it was. That's a great opening scene.

2022 Update!

As promised, now in 5.1 audio, with subtitles!
(And a few better audio transitions)