Alien Covenant: The Appendix Cut

[catferoze]

After my first time watching all the alien movies last year, i watched some fanedits and especially liked a lot of the stuff added to alien covenant in the Chaos edition. so, i decided to make my own preferred edit. The main changes are many deleted scenes and some promotional shorts were added and several appearances of the aliens are reduced or removed. I feel the cgi aliens often look bad, and I like these prequels better when they don't feel like they're trying to imitate the earlier alien movies.

Alien Covenant The Appendix Cut cutlist:
-use extended David prologue
-add Phobos short
-add Walter in hydroponics deleted scene
-add Oram comforts Daniels deleted scene
-add Walter comforts Daniels deleted scene
-add extended funeral scene
-add Ledward's fall deleted scene
-trim Ledward bloodburster
-trim Hallet bloodburster
-use extended plaza scene
-add Daniel's thanks Walter deleted scene
-add The Crossing journey flashback
-add Rosie's prayer deleted scene and remove some neomorph shots
-add Walter reports back deleted scene
-trim Oram chestburst
-move The Crossing genocide flashback
-trim cargo transport pickup to remove xenomorph fight

Running time: 130 min
Time cut: 13 min
Time added: 23 min

I used the Chaos Edition as a reference for some of the deleted scene placement. At first, I was just going to use it as a source, but discovered it has framerate issues and decided I want to do my edit a little differently. So, I've been learning how to get my project setup in premiere and have started editing it together. Any feedback or tips are most welcome!

p.s. my wife came up with the title, Alien Covenant: The Appendix Cut; she liked the double meaning of adding to something and removing what she calls "the gross parts".

 

[catferoze]

Here's where I trimmed the chestburster and reinserted the Crossing genocide flashback
pw: fanedit

 

[LoveMoviesandTV]

Good edits. I think if someone hadn't seen the theatrical version then they wouldn't know stuff was missing.

 

[catferoze]

Good edits. I think if someone hadn't seen the theatrical version then they wouldn't know stuff was missing.

Thanks! Creating smooth audio transitions was a little harder than I anticipated, but those turned out pretty much as well as I'd hoped. Hopefully I can keep it up with the trickier edits I've planned.

 

[catferoze]

Well, after getting into it and learning a few more things, I decided to scrap the whole thing and start over. It's going much better this time as I'm more organized and instead of just copying other fanedits, I'm building my own from the beginning.

Here's a new transition from the extended David prologue to the Phobos short. I decided it looked better to remove all the monitor stuff at the beginning of the short.

Inserted the last supper and Daniels' transmission home between Phobos and Walter on Covenant. Using all the crew transmissions felt too long and unnecessary, but I feel like including Daniels' helps establish her as the main protagonist and creates a better transition between last supper and Walter on the covenant.

Hopefully the audio is alright. I need to do some more research into working with multichannel audio in premiere and fine tune the volume levels between different sources when they don't all match.

 

[catferoze]

Here's where I trimmed the bloodbursters out to avoid much of what I feel isn't great cgi or alien reveals. Definitely the trickiest edits I've done so far, but they turned out better than I'd expected.

 

[Heavisyde]

Very good cuts.

Is it just me or does David's "how could you?" come a bit too quickly?

 

[catferoze]

Very good cuts.

Is it just me or does David's "how could you?" come a bit too quickly?

Thanks!

I'll keep that in mind. Things got so unorganized on my first attempt of this edit I decided to start over, but I'm almost back up to that scene so I'll see if I can improve it.

 

[catferoze]

I replaced most of the previously posted clips with updated versions. I'm at the weekly upload limit on vimeo so I might upload a new version of the beginning with Phobos next week, but I don't think I made many new changes to that anyway. I'm pretty much done with my edit and will try to figure out the best way to export it and get it submitted.

 

[Kaby]

Here are some updated clips from my edit.
pw: fanedit

1. I cut out the entirety of the alien on the covenant. Here's the transition point I made.
   
2. I moved The Crossing genocide flashback to a later point and inserted part of the journey with Shaw as a new flashback.
   
3. Here's where I trimmed the chestburster and reinserted the Crossing genocide flashback
   

Ahh these clips are amazing. Can't wait to check this out. I'll have to rewatch Prometheus then go right into this one.

 

[catferoze]

After submitting my edit I received some excellent feedback and have made further changes to polish it up.

Main changes:
-removed last supper and Daniels' transmission home (they don't really add that much to the story, and while I like parts of last supper, it was easier to remove altogether)
-various audio improvements
-removed additional scene of neomorph climbing a cliff
-removed repeated dialogue
-removed Xenomorph fight on cargo transport and restored Xenomorph on Covenant (initially I felt the latter scene was too similar to other alien film endings and didn't want to keep both showdowns, but it was pointed out that of the two sequences the second is better executed and I agree)

Here's the Crossing flashback with improved audio [pw: fanedit]

I tried to extend the reverb of David's "despair" for a better transition

Trimmed the cargo transport rescue to remove Xenomorph

 

[catferoze]

 

[catferoze]

Putting some finishing touches on this edit. This scene has been the most challenging and time consuming by far, but I think it's much improved after some helpful feedback from @The Scribbling Man

It feels like I'm getting close to completing my first real fanedit!

 

[krausfadr]

Your edit looks so good, catferoze. Congratulations on an edit almost completed. I'll PM you once you're ready.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

I have been reviewing this edit for the academy and I'm pleased to say it is now approved.

I was not a fan of the theatrical cut and am not of the opinion that Covenant can be completely "fixed" as such, but Catferoze has done an admirable job of getting the best out of available material. The changes include adding some extended or deleted sequences to strengthen development, shifting the position of David's flashback, trims to reduce the presence of poor CG and the removal of an entire sequence. All of this has been done to a high technical standard and I would certainly recommend it over the original film. The inclusion of a 5.1 surround track is also a nice touch.

Congrats, catferoze!