RAIDERS OF THE KRYSTAL SKULL: Remixed by Jorge

RAIDERS OF THE KRYSTAL SKULL: Remixed by Jorge
The latest Indiana Jones effort gets the Remixed by Jorge treatment.
And it's all good... Trust me. Besides, you all know what a cautious fellow I am.

original film name: INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL Paramount Pictures. (2008)
new release name: RAIDERS OF THE KRYSTAL SKULL: Remixed by Jorge (January, 2010)?
Original Runtime: 122 mins.
New Runtime: 77 mins.
DVD - Features:
Menus 16.9
Bonus trailers
Bonus short film "Skhzein"
Audio commentary by The Hollywood Saloon.

This one came as a surprise. I wasn't planning on Indy 4 as my next release. It wasn't even on my radar.
I had been working (and still am) on a fanedit of THE READER and another one called JOHN CARPENTER'S THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT.
But it was in the midst of fanediting when that dark day happened: Infodroid dropped out of his Indy 4 fanedit.
Suddenly what had been a sleepy tread about KOTCS became a tragic adventure.
What was going to happen? would Indy 4 ever have a fanedit made? who will take the reins?
It was all very tragic and exciting. Especially with the workings of new member Professor Hebrides who would post
assemblies of his work in progress and who did much too good a job promoting his edit because suddenly all I had was
Jones on my mind.

I had not seriously read the thread until after InfoDroid vanished into the jungle.
So some of their ideas percolated through me but over all I just approached the film like all my other fan-edits:
I am the audience and what do I want to see.
So in no particular order, here's the cutlist:

Cut/Added:
- New color treatment.

- The Spell of the Skull. Indiana sitting in front of the skull got a new treatment.

- Spalko's Gift. Never liked Spalko's demise. felt too much like a forced Raider's melting face imitation. Changed it to a more mysterious outcome.

- Trimmed the Pyramid puzzle.

- The Rocket Sled. re-arranged it and added a POV shot I created. hated the sound of the clock ticking so lost that while I was at it.

- No Mac "You don't know him!, You don't know him!, You don't know him!". We know him.

- Trimmed the quicksand.

- No CG scorpions. In an Indy movie? c'mon! real tarantulas, real snakes, real bugs like fortune cookies. Sadly could not get rid of the ants.

- Added flashes to the machine guns at the gate ambush. those guys were shaking those gatts like pepper mills. without flashes it looked silly..

- Doomtown. Got rid of the original PA Voice. Now it's just a siren until Indy runs back in and we get the countdown.

- Remixed the motorcycle chase. I hated the music cue. It felt silly instead of exciting. Used a classic raiders cue.

- No living dead at Orillana's grave. There are no Nazca Ninjas, you big silly.

- Indy doesn't try to figure out the skull when he finds it. It sounded confusing and forced to me.

- No monkeys and no Tarzan-Mutt.

- Trimmed the truck chase.

- Trimmed the sword fight.

- Trimmed the fist fight

- Trimmed the waterfalls.

- Trimmed the refrigerator

and maybe there's more. As far as the new title, I wanted to invoke the original. I also didn't like the "C" in Crystal so it's Krystal.
Did you have a problem with SE7EN?




Concept:
Nearly two decades after the last appearance, Indiana Jones is back. The great Steven Spielberg and the great George Lucas,
re-teaming with the great Harrison Ford and the great John Williams (cue triumphal brass!), to dig up one of the great
adventure series in cinematic history and the result is. . . not bad. . . exactly.
It's not a desecration of the franchise. It's just feels . . . tired.

But if Indiana Jones looks tired, its exhaustion stems in part from two forces outside Spielberg's control.
The first is almost 20 years' worth of rip-offs: The Mummy did Indy no favors.
And whose fault is it that Crystal Skull reminded me of National Treasure: Book of Secrets?
Second: These same two decades brought huge advances in computerized visual effects, many of them trailblazed by
Lucas and Spielberg themselves. It's natural they would use them on Indy.
But there are points in the film where the effects look so airless and digitized - so fake - that they ruin the illusion of
down-to-earth, jaw-cracking swagger that made Indiana Jones such darn fun.

None of the complex CGI sequences in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" can hold a candle to the
moment in another film when a young Indy, confronted by a black-robed swordsman chuckling ominously,
watched and waited while the guy twirled his scimitar, then pulled out his revolver and simply shot him dead.

But that was a long time ago, in a film that feels far, far away.
So the attempt is to bring some life into a tired film.




PROJECT TIME:
planning: did it as i went.
editing: 1 month.
sound editing: see above.
DVD layout and features: 1 month.
persons involved: A guy whose name starts with a J.

Harware:
Mac Powerbook G4 17"
1.5 GHz cpu
1Gb of RAM

Software
Fairmount
dvd2oneX
Mpeg Streamclip
Final Cut Pro 6
After Effects 5
Soundtrack Pro
Compressor Pro
DVD Studio Pro
LiveType
Photoshop

Thank you to The Dark Audience. (you know who you are)
As always your help was invaluable.


Artwork by Remixed by Jorge

Where are the links? cant wait to see it!

Hooray! A completed Indy 4 fanedit Now it's time for you to get moving on the Star Wars Prequels

What's the audio? 2.0, 5.1 upmix, or true 5.1?

5.1 upmix.

While that's a bit of a disappointment for me, I'll take a good Indy 4 with a 5.1 upmix over a crappy Indy 4 with true 5.1 any day. Looking forward to this...

killbillme said:

It was all very tragic and exciting. Especially with the workings of new member Professor Hebrides who would post assemblies of his work in progress and who did much too good a job promoting his edit because suddenly all I had was Jones on my mind.

Click to expand...

I confess! It's all my fault...and you're all welcome :wink:

killbillme said:

Added flashes to the machine guns at the gate ambush. those guys were shaking those gatts like pepper mills. without flashes it looked silly.

Click to expand...

THANK YOU! I knew I was forgetting something from my planned effects list

killbillme said:

No living dead at Orillana's grave. There are no Nazca Ninjas, you big silly.

Click to expand...

I was literally thinking about doing this right before I read your post, since I cut the "guarded by the living dead" line earlier this weekend...now I may have to come up with something else...good thing I have something of a Plan B in mind already...

killbillme said:

Indy doesn't try to figure out the skull when he finds it. It sounded confusing and forced to me.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean, but the ex-archaeology major in me sort of likes it, since it's the closest we get to Indy actually being an archaeologist.

Jorge, your comic-style artwork is FANTASTIC!

Funny and clever, and it reminds me of the Marvel Indy comics at both their best and weirdest (oh, look -- it's President Eisenhower! No wonder he likes him! :lol: :lol: :lol: )

killbillme said:

and the result is. . . not bad. . . exactly.
It's not a desecration of the franchise. It's just feels . . . tired.

Click to expand...

Yup. Exactly.

killbillme said:

But there are points in the film where the effects look so airless and digitized - so fake - that they ruin the illusion of down-to-earth, jaw-cracking swagger that made Indiana Jones such darn fun.

Click to expand...

Yes! Back then, it was "how are we gonna do THIS?" Now, it's "we can do anything...but SHOULD WE?"


Good thing I pretty much finished a (very) rough cut of my "moving storyboards" (sans Spalko's demise and, of course, planned effects shots and final sound cues) this weekend. Now I feel like I can watch your edit without being too heavily influenced...maybe...can't wait to see it!

I come on the forum everyday early on the morning to see if the beast is unleached, and today's the day!

- Remixed the motorcycle chase. I hated the music cue. It felt silly instead of exciting. Used a classic raiders cue.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on this one, the scene itself is cool, but each time someone praises it I end with a feeling like "...Yes... it's good, but something is still wrong". And now you said it, I guess it is the music.

Another FE Blockbuster is here! Well done Jorge! I have a feeling this is going to be massive!!!

New Runtime: 77 mins

Click to expand...

Maybe a little short to be taken as a real fourth Instalement of the franchise (?)
But maybe it's not the goal (as the covert art indicates somehow). Having 77 minutes of real good Indy movie will be more than welcome!

congrats on the release Jorge, cant wait to the final product w/ all the bells and whistles.
kudos on the comic book artwork - I do hope thats available in a DVD_ROM folder :smile:

elbarto1 said:

congrats on the release Jorge, cant wait to the final product w/ all the bells and whistles.
kudos on the comic book artwork - I do hope thats available in a DVD_ROM folder :smile:

Click to expand...

Thanks man. comic book design is my other love.
And its another way to fanedit a story. using the source material (and some shots of Ike).

Downloading now Jorge - looking forward to it. I didn't realise that it was you behind the Hellblazer cover....nice work!

damn it... have to wait till the weekend to watch this.... awesome release

is it just me or are there so many great fanedits coming out recently?

Sunarep said:

is it just me or are there so many great fanedits coming out recently?

Click to expand...

Was thinking the same thing. I'm gonna need a bigger hard drive...

Argg, my GF wants to see it too, and she's not at home tonight... I guess I'll wait tomorrow to watch it.
Already seen the first 3 minutes though. Looks good. And the DVD menus are GREAT.

Raiders Of The Krystal Skull: Remixed by Jorge A Review by Mollo

WARNING : SPOILERS AHEAD.

Jorge is without doubt an extraordinarily talented FanEditor. His previous work has proved the point with eloquence. Yet I have been disappointed by his recent work, Frankenstein and The Dark Knight in particular.

Where the technique of those FanEdits is outstanding, Jorge continues to show a lack of attention when it comes to narrative and for me this is a very important aspect of a successful FanEdit.

Raiders Of The Krystal Skull is a case in point. The FanEdit begins with a short educational film about the terror of the atom bomb. Now this would make complete sense if the whole film was concerned with the terror of the atom bomb but it is not. The sequence where Indiana Jones finds himself in an atom bomb test site is a disposable action scene and nothing else. This scene bares no real relevance on the story as a whole. Jorge, by drawing your attention so directly to this new "atom bomb threat" idea, makes for a more forced and disjointed narrative. This is about aliens, right?

The new title sequence is done very well and I absolutely love the villains spreading out to fire their machine guns with the new FanEdit title of Raiders Of The Krystal Skull springing cheekily into view.

The area 51-warehouse scene is done very well but does feel a little choppy at times particularly when Indiana and baddie fall through a glass window in the floor. There is a slight pause before the fall through, which suggests action has been cut.

Most of the problems with the original movie are still present. The escape from the nuclear blast by use of a lead lined fridge for instance. I was hoping this particularly odious moment would have been exorcised. The Gopher makes a horrible appearance!

Also the chase in the jungle while heavily trimmed is still ridiculous, as is the sword fighting.

The waterfall madness, a moment as contentious as the fridge, is still here yet trimmed. The suicidal behavior, tree bending antics and ease of survival are all still here. Why does she think driving an amphibious duck of a cliff is such a good idea? Jorge reduces this sequence but it cannot change the ludicrousness of the action. Them falling out of the amphibious Duck and the sharp cut to all safe and sound in the water below feels to quick and awkward. Maybe a moment of pause by using footage of a waterfall would have helped the transition.

The ending is another weird piece of narrative purposely injected by Jorge. The spaceship leaves and obviously the FanEditor himself has added a voice over to represent the aliens. Also a sudden image from, I guess, Lord of the Rings is superimposed over the action. This all feels tagged on and strangely unsatisfying.

This ending and the final wedding scene are just too awful to take and the violation that is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull continues unabated. If a FanEdit of this 4th installment has failed in the hands of the talent that is Jorge, I don't hold too much hope that anyone else can save this mess.

Very Disappointing.

WARNING : SPOILERS AHEAD.

When I noted how much time had been cut from the film, I was a little dubious as to whether a decent storyline could be pulled from this film, but on the whole yes, it does still remain intact, but not without a few issues.

The new start as Mollo indicates seems to be a device to simply explain the most pointless action sequence in the film - Boom Town. I personally would've gotten rid of that whole sequence, it adds nothing to the plot and is simply ridiculous. however, I do appeciate you removing the silly car race.

The Warehouse has been trimmed up nicely and entire other sequences, such as Indy teaching and Jim Broadbent are entirely absent. They aren't missed.

Mutt is much more likeable and Indy seems to get along with him much easier than before. Ox is trimmed down to the necessary - but now barely has any lines at all. Mac - well Mac doesn't say much now.

There is some choppy editing in places and at a couple of points, it felt like we'd entered a scene in the middle of a conversation. For example, after Mutt and Indy are captured and Indy is all strapped up - he seems unsurprised to be seeing Ox and speaks to him as if he's already seen him once. When Mac is explaining about double agent, this too, feels like we've entered a middle of a conversation. This also presents a few later problems when people refer back to conversations that seemingly never happened. Notably between Indy and Mutt.

Certainly during the jungle sequence, the kick to the face to Diatchenko felt abrupt and near the end of the sequence, unless I missed something the skull suddenly drops down in Ox's lap. But I did like lack of Monkeys and Tarzan-Mutt. Oh and good work on getting rid of natives at Orellana's tomb.

The added effect I assume from 2001 during 'spell of the skull' was interesting. I'm on the fence as to whether it's OTT and beating the audience a bit too hard with 'do you get it????!!!'

So, to your ending. What I assume is your own V/O and then a picture of Cate from a certain other film trilogy....ehm, no. Sorry, but this didn't work for me. I couldn't quite understand the V/O...and am I to assume that Spalko got a happy ending?

So, all in all, this is an improvement on KotCS, but not by a massive amount. Still Boom Town remains and there are some choppy elements. I think having seen the work that ID was doing, whereby he started at Orellana's tomb and then did a sort of 'two days earlier', he got rid of a ton of offensive items....his additions from 'The Fountain' made it very interesting. So perhaps that was what I was expecting.

Anyway, thanks Jorge for finally getting an edit of this film out there!

I'm going to give this a 7/10 - with the original getting 5/10.

What? wait a minute... I just posted this! You guys stayed up all night?
This has got to be the quickest turn-around for a fanedit. Another first for REMIXED BY JORGE!
"Remixed by Jorge: Fans stay up around the clock to catch his latest release!"
Thanks for the reviews. And don't worry. I got another one coming that will really blow your socks!
Cheers! :grin:

Jorge, the audio is wonky on the disc presentation. On 2 different DVD players I have to switch the machine audio output options from "Dolby Digital-Bitstream" to "Dolby Digital-PCM" just to be able to hear ANYTHING. Not the end of the world mind you, but kinda annoying nonetheless.

Don't know what to say about that jamie. The workflow is no different to any of my other releases. Ac-3 audio.
Anybody else have this happen? anybody have a solution?