'Defenders: Cut to the Chaste' TV-to-Movie Edit

[henzINNIT]

View media item 970
Defenders: Cut To The Chaste

Intention:

After seperate shows for Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist, The Defenders mini series was built up to be an 'Avengers' style cross-over that brought everyone together in an exciting, climactive event. Sadly, it also brought over many of the weaknesses that had plagued the solo shows, and arrived to a pretty lukewarm reception. Even with a reduced 8 episode run time, the series feels padded, bogging down the stronger elements within. In the simplest terms, my intention with this edit is to provide a more streamlined way to experience this story, trimming away the excess material while preserving all the fun of the character mash up.


Original Post:

I have been making notes on a potential series-to-movie edit. I've been toying with a Netflix edit for a bit and while there are plenty of opportunities for edits, I think Defenders offers the most potential. As it stands the show is 8 episodes (397 mins approx) and just brimming with filler. What should be a fun mash-up is plodding, repetitive and occasionally silly. Considering its relatively simple plot, I think it works best as a one-and-done story.

General Goals:

- Drastically reduce down-time and exposition, ramp up the pace and hopefully the excitement.
- Streamline the convoluted villain plot.
- Thin out the introductory sequences and have characters cross paths more naturally.
- Diminish the Iron Fist effect. No offence to Finn Jones (who is trying his best) but Danny is the worst written character, coming from the weakest show. As he is mostly used as a macguffin in this, his material was the easiest to cut.
- Cut the weaker action sequences.

Planned Changes:

- New opening based on s1e3's opening: the resurrection and training of Elektra. The former will be the opening credit sequence, and the latter expanded beyond Elektra's training and into her various kills (culled from Danny subplot footage). The montage will essentially catch us up to present day, and there will be no other flashbacks.
- First Act will be comprised of the first 3 episodes. The various subplots of Luke/Matt/Jessica will be trimmed down. Danny will be cut entirely until Luke fights him. Stick is also cut until he appears to the Defenders in act 2. Alexandra's visit to the hospital cut. Her illness will be revealed later. The Run the Jewels music cue in the big Midland Circle fight always bothered me. I will try to "fix" it.
- Second Act is best described as the life and death of Stick. His arrival brings important exposition and his death is a textbook "all is lost" moment. This will be made up of episodes 4,5 and 6, and a lot of down-time will be cut from the many hostage situations that take place. The restaurant sequence will be cut down, including removing Alexandra appearing there and Jessica leaving (along with all of her activities outside). Bakuto's first confrontation with Danny and Colleen will be cut, along with Murakami attacking Trish and several Hand meeting scenes.
- Third Act will be episodes 7 and 8, and the most heavily changed of all. There will be dramatic cuts to the group's time in the police station, as well as all of the scenes getting the Defenders down the elevator. Matt, Jessica and Luke escape the station and we'll immediately pick up with the Defenders arriving to fight with Colleen and Claire upstairs planting bombs. The Wu Tang music cue will be changed. The ending scenes will be trimmed for pacing. Matt with the nuns will be the final shot.
-Post Credit: Defenders ride the train.

 

[revel911]

I love this! Thinking 1 movie or a two part set of episodes?

 

[henzINNIT]

I love this! Thinking 1 movie or a two part set of episodes?

I'm thinking one movie for now. It's a really thin story when you break it down, punctuated by scenes of someone restrained by someone else. The sheer amount of footage may force my hand however, so it could end up as a 2 parter.

 

[Horrifyingly Hillarous]

I like this, I’ve personally always wanted to see movies made from the Netflix shows that culminate in defenders much like the first phase of MCU movies culminated in the avengers

 

[DonAdam]

Sounds good. If you could cut that terribly composited shot of Jessica walking into the elevator that would b great.

 

[henzINNIT]

Updating OP with rough scene list. This is a decent approximation of the edit before being able to actually you know, edit.

Sounds good. If you could cut that terribly composited shot of Jessica walking into the elevator that would b great.

That'll go for sure. All the elevator sequences look terrible so I'm tempted to cut the lot. I like Jessica having a little hero moment catching it though, so that remains at the moment.

 

[henzINNIT]

God how I wish this was out on Blu Ray already.

I made artwork:

 

[ArtisDead]

Interesting. This should be very good.

 

[walterio]

any updates?

 

[henzINNIT]

any updates?

I wish. I have been watching a bunch of the Marvel Netflix shows lately, including a rewatch of Defenders. Would love to do this edit, but the physcial release never materialised, they stopped right when this was next up and it doesn't look like it is ever happening.

I've been looking into buying digitally (it is available to buy on amazon or itunes) but I don't think that'll leave me with files I can edit. Old school pirating is probably the only way, and frankly I'd consider that too if I knew where I could acquire the show in decent quality.

I miss physical media man.

 

[asterixsmeagol]

I don't think there's any physical release of The Defenders, but there is a digital copy available for purchase on iTunes.

Marvel's The Defenders - Apple TV

In New York City, a Big Bad is brewing. Somebody's making the ground shake and buildings fall, and has plans for even greater destruction. Could it be…

itunes.apple.com

 

[henzINNIT]

I don't think there's any physical release of The Defenders, but there is a digital copy available for purchase on iTunes.

Marvel's The Defenders - Apple TV

In New York City, a Big Bad is brewing. Somebody's making the ground shake and buildings fall, and has plans for even greater destruction. Could it be…

itunes.apple.com

Can you edit from those? My research into digital copies hasn't been too fruitful, and I worry about either not having proper access to the files or them being copy-protected to hell and back.

 

[addiesin]

Can you edit from those? My research into digital copies hasn't been too fruitful, and I worry about either not having proper access to the files or them being copy-protected to hell and back.

DRM can be removed specifically from iTunes video files you've purchased and downloaded, albeit with commercial software.

 

[henzINNIT]

DRM can be removed specifically from iTunes video files you've purchased and downloaded, albeit with commercial software.

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

 

[hbenthow]

I don't think there's any physical release of The Defenders, but there is a digital copy available for purchase on iTunes.

Marvel's The Defenders - Apple TV

In New York City, a Big Bad is brewing. Somebody's making the ground shake and buildings fall, and has plans for even greater destruction. Could it be…

itunes.apple.com

And they have season 3 of "Daredevil", season 2 of "Luke Cage", and all of the other Netflix Marvel shows that didn't get released on Blu-ray as well. Edits of all of them are on the table now!

Their iTunes releases must have slipped under the radar.

 

[henzINNIT]

I've started piecing some things together for this. There's been some early successes which give me hope, though I'm less convinced I'll get this down to movie length. May be a 2-parter. Current working title (for nothing but my own amusement) is Defenders: Cut to the Chaste.

 

[henzINNIT]

I've completed a second pass on the edit for this. First stage was just moving and removing scenes, this time I've gone through each scene more thoroughly. It's in a pretty decent state so far, but still a little long at around 3h15m.

That's a substantial trim from roughly 6h41m, but is leaving me scratching my head about how to format this. It might be too drawn out for one film. Could be a 2-parter with 90 min episodes/movies but at present that split doesn't fall in a particularly good spot. In fact, I'm really not sure where to divide at all.

I would like to remove at least one music drop in this, but I'm working with stereo and worry that will make it even harder to achieve. Most of the planned changes seem to work pretty well though.

 

[TinyBreadMouse]

I like long films, so I'll voice my support for a 3-hour cinematic cut. I'd be so excited to see Defenders in one sitting.

You can always make two versions: A very condensed 3-hour cinematic cut, and a longer 2-parter, for those who appreciate the different approaches.

 

[yoshif8tures]

If you need a previewer to determine which method is best then feel free to drop me a message

 

[henzINNIT]

Over the next couple of days I should hopefully finish rendering out a rough cut of this. It's staying as just one part I think. The TV-to-Movie concept is more compelling, and this is one story. At 3 hours it's longer than intended, but shorter than a series really. I've made all the substantive cuts I can, the rest will be dictated by pace once I can watch the whole thing end to end. Happy to share it for anyone who'd like to give notes, and once I work out how to do it ha.

To break it down a bit more:

-The film opens with the Hand acquiring Elektra, and I'll lay credits over the montage of her resurrection. A new montage has been built in place of Elektra's training, which extends beyond that into her killing spree as the Black Sky, intercut with Alexandria listening to an orchestra.

-The first 3 episodes have been reduced down to 1hr20. This is mostly achieved by cutting Danny's screentime until he crosses path with Luke, and massively reducing scenes focusing on the Hand, but nearly every scene has been changed in some way.

-All the introductory sequences have been trimmed and rearranged. We follow the characters in roughly this order in sequence until they meet up: Luke/Matt/Jessica. The show originally opened with Jessica waking up in a bar, this now occurrs after we've seen Luke and Matt's mornings, which I think is slightly funnier.

-A big part of trimming this section involved combining the events of two nights into one. Every character is a little more busy, everything moves a bit faster. The first proper action sequence is around the 40 minute mark, where Luke and Danny fight. This originally occurred at the end of the second episode.

-Episodes 4,5 & 6 have been condensed to 1h05. Massive cuts to the time spent with the Defenders hiding in the Royal Dragon. Jessica no longer leaves and therefore none of her scenes away from there remain. Alexandria never enters either. They bond for a bit, Stick arrives with exposition and then straight to the action. In the series, we spent over 1 whole episode in the Royal Dragon, now we're in and out in 22 minutes.

-Behind the scenes of the Hand is kept to an absolute minimum. It tends to make the group look more inept, especially Alexandria. She's not shown to be in a position of weakness, nor sick, until she reveals that to Elektra.

-Bakuto no longer confronts and wounds Colleen while the heroes get their friends protection. Murakami no longer attacks Trish and fights Daredevil. The scene where Matt visits Karen to get her to safety remains, but their conversation is cut.

-Episodes 7 & 8 have been cut down to 45 minutes. A lot of trims and cuts to down-time across the board.

-Time in the police station is cut drastically. No Jessica interrogation. No Claire and Colleen tending to Luke. Matt wakes and briefly grieves Stick before we cut to the 3 being marched to the police chief. Matt gives his 'legal advice' and they escape. In the commotion, Colleen sneaks into storage and steals the explosives. It is implied that this is part of the plan. The next time we see these characters, the Defenders are on the elevator down and Claire and Colleen are setting up explosives. A lot is cut in between.

-All shots with bad green screen and compositing removed. This means all the action on the elevator has been cut. It's a shame not to see the pit at all, but it looks bad so I think this is best.

-Bakuto and Colleen's fight trimmed down. Tweaked Misty having her arm cut off for a little more clarity.

-There's no longer a debate when Matt tells the others to go ahead without him. He no longer stops Danny and tells him to protect his city. His confrontation with Elektra is reduced, and the other heroes' escape is faster. And the the closing scenes trimmed and rearranged to wrap up a little quicker.