Pulp Fiction: The Chronological Edit (aka Re-edited Diner Scene)

This is part of my Chronological Re-edit of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

This scene takes place right after Vincent and Jules get rid of the car about 40 minutes into the film and ends the first episode of "The Bonnie Situation". The complete re-edit is stuctured as follows:

Butch's childhood memories - Title sequence - The Bonnie Situation - Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife - The Gold Watch - Credits

I really tried to keep the continuous time structure of both scenes intact. When Yolanda talks about the Hero-Factor in the original scene, you can hear Jules saying "Well yeah!" in the backround and so I edited the two parts together. Same with Vincent going off to take a shit, he is visible behind Yolanda in the original scene.

It is really interesting to analyse the difference of the original achronilogical editing to this one, where the two dialogues play out simultaneously. Here is an incomplete list of my thoughts about that:

- You gain suspense, because you don't know that Yolanda and Ringo are going to rob the place.
- On the other hand, you lose suspense, which is created by knowing what Yolanda and Ringo are going to to and revealing that it is the same diner in which Vincent and Jules are sitting, by intercutting Ringo calling for coffee in the original scene.
- You lose the intimacy of watching the conversation of only two people.
- It is harder to follow two dialogues at once.
- By intercutting Jules into the kiss of Yolanda and Ringo, you get an additional level of Jules' emotions, maybe thinking about his love or how he misses having one.

Let me know, what you think about it.

Works well! Narratively, I agree with your assessment. I can see quite easily why QT did it the way he did (especially since the main suspense of the second scene is in what will happen to Jules and Vincent), but there's another kind of suspense not knowing anything at all.

Two comments:

- You can hear the waitress say "Garcon means boy" twice, first in the background and then in the actual scene, but I'm not sure it really matters much.

- The ambient noise of the room is quite different in the two setups. That may not be a problem if you have long stretches of the same scene, but with so many cuts back and forth it kinda breaks the mood a little and I'm pretty sure the sound editor would have mixed it differently if the scene had been like this originally. Not having the luxury of all the resources available to the original sound editor, I don't know if it's possible to even it out without creating extra hiss, but it could be worth a shot, imho. Maybe you could have a shot at EQ-ing one of the sources, or maybe copying between-dialogue ambient noise to the other source could help, not sure. Does the difference bother you?

Thank's for your input!

I have to say, I didn't hear the first "Garcon means boy" until now I could fix this by taking out the second time it is said, but since it was so subtle the first time, I guess like me, 90% wouldn't hear it. Filtering it out during Vincent's speech could also be problematic, but since he stops talking in that very moment, I will definitely give it a shot.

Concerning the ambient sound: I have to say it doesn't bother me that much. You could argue, that Yolanda and Ringo are sitting closer to the window and the door, which causes the sound of cars and other noises from the outside to be louder.

nAsA said:

my Chronological Re-edit of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

Click to expand...

Do you plan on submitting this to the site when you are done? If so, I will move this thread to in-the-works.

TV's Frink said:

Do you plan on submitting this to the site when you are done? If so, I will move this thread to in-the-works.

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Yeah sure, no problem with that.

The fact that the sound would be different is realistic, no question about that. Still, you don't really see (hear?) that kind of realism in movies because it's more of a mood thing. An editor will smooth out the differences if there's cutting back and forth and the scene is going for flow over disruption - and IMO this scene is all about flow.

Just my two cents. I don't think it ruins the scene by any means, and I think you've done a great job all in all.

I assumed he was just editing this scene, I dont remember any mention of fanediting the entire movie

jswert123456 said:

I assumed he was just editing this scene, I dont remember any mention of fanediting the entire movie

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It's in his first post, at the beginning.

nAsA said:

This is part of my Chronological Re-edit of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction... The complete re-edit is stuctured as follows:

Butch's childhood memories - Title sequence - The Bonnie Situation - Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife - The Gold Watch - Credits

Click to expand...

To let you all know:

I'm done with the re-edit of the entire movie, submittet it a few days ago, but still waiting for a reply.
The major work was done on the diner sequence and a bit on the part, where Jules and Vincent visit these guys to get the suitcase.

To reduce the difference in the backround sound, I crossfaded the sound at each cut and have to agree with you slime, it flows much better. Thanks for your two cents!

Concerning the first "Garcon means boy":
I was able to filter it out and am pretty happy with the result

One line is still redundant in the finished scene, but I have no idea on how to get that out.
But it's just as subtle, so I won't put my finger on it...maybe no one will ever hear it

DVD cover artwork is also finished - but since I only have a test version of this fancy 3D cover software, it comes with a watermark...



Constructive criticism is requested!

I think the clip in the first post was fantastic!

I didn't have any problems with following both conversations at once because the scenes were short enough that one can maintain dialog on the surface of the mind while watching the next scene, then coming back very quickly. That's the only reason it works, IMO, is because of the very short scenes.

Very good edit, looking forward to the entire edit

Thank you, man. I really appreciate it!

And you got a point regarding the relatively quick cuts, but I guess if you haven't see Pulp Fiction before, it can be a bit harder to follow both conversations. But it's highly unlikely, that someone watches the fanedit before the original movie.

I really like that cover. It's simple and elegant. Excellent font choices, overall design looks great. I have Imandix Pro so I'll make the final 3D view when it's ready to go on the site.

I'm on vacation so I got time, I'll review the edit for you, go ahead and send me a PM.

Great, I sent you the links!

What do you guys think of the title?
There already is a fanedit called "Pulp Fiction - The Chronological Edit" in the database from october 2006, but it says "The only scene that is still out of place is the opening prologue".
Maybe I should call mine "Pulp Fiction - The Complete Chronological Edit" or something along these lines...

"Pulp Fiction - The Complete Chronological Edit" would be fine.

But you could also just stick to the name you picked originally - There are plenty of hollywood movies that steal names from each other. It's not wrong.

I've had this problem before with a script I wrote... it's a spin of the play "Inferno", and just about every single name that makes any sense and has anything to do with that play - has been taken...

And when I finally came up with a title that hasn't been used for a movie already - and pay a professional artist to create a pro-mo poster and DVD cover art and DVD insert art - and spread the materials all over the internet and at actor's guilds......... I find out the title has been taken already by a book that some woman from NY wrote... go figure.

Additionally, I've researched that copyright CAN NOT and DOES NOT protect titles unless they are a series - such as Harry Potter or Star Wars, because in the case of a series - the copyright holder could loose future profits if someone else were to use the name. But in the case of a single work - there is absolutely no protection for a name or title of a creative work.



So I say... Do what you want with the name.

theslime said:

- The ambient noise of the room is quite different in the two setups. That may not be a problem if you have long stretches of the same scene, but with so many cuts back and forth it kinda breaks the mood a little and I'm pretty sure the sound editor would have mixed it differently if the scene had been like this originally. Not having the luxury of all the resources available to the original sound editor, I don't know if it's possible to even it out without creating extra hiss, but it could be worth a shot, imho. Maybe you could have a shot at EQ-ing one of the sources, or maybe copying between-dialogue ambient noise to the other source could help, not sure. Does the difference bother you?

Click to expand...

I honestly didn't even notice the ambient noise difference until I re-watched the clip and was paying attention to it. The clip is so fast paced with two conversations going on at once, it's unlikely that anyone would pay attention to anything except dialogue. Maybe it's just that audio-expert's ear you have.

Ok I just missed that detail, thanks for correcting me.

So I started watching this edit (the whole thing) and I stopped it and closed VLC player to go to Wall Greens to get some beer (don't you hate when you run out this late?!? Jeeze!) and when I came back to finish the movie, I gotta say I had a few moments of difficulty figuring out where I left off.... It's all mixed up lol.

Found the spot eventually though.

This sounds boss! So happy you were able to use some of my criticism for something good. Those were my only nitpicks so I'm sure I'll love it now.

Also, your cover rules.

Is this getting reviewed by the academy ?

wayne.workman2012 said:

Is this getting reviewed by the academy ?

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I reviewed it and sent my notes to the editor. It's disapproved at this time, needs to be better quality and I feel the editing in the diner scene can be improved.