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Frank Herbert's Dune - The Spence Edit

spence

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This is a remake of the edit from the ground up with a better HD quality source, new and extended scenes, different color timing, and a 5.1 surround track. This will be the definitive version of my Dune edit, so if you're curious about it, I'd wait for the newer version.

Some changes:
- Additional scenes: New/extended dream sequences for Paul, Yueh and Jessica in the palace, Paul is visited by the Reverend Mother, Paul rides the worm.
- 2:35:1 cropping is further refined, now moving within the same shot to keep the framing correct throughout.
- Further color correction and use of LUT's to make the cinematography more cinematic.
- Further soundtrack replacement/additions from Children of Dune.
- Extended runtime of 2 hours 49 minutes.

Thanks again to all who have helped put this thing together. This has always been a passion project for me. I've always loved the story and world of Dune, and a proper adaptation has never been done. Even with the new films, it being split into two pictures doesn't make it a true adaptation of the novel. This is as close as it's ever going to get.

A tremendous amount of time, effort, and headaches went into making this edit as great as it could possibly be. I firmly believe that it's as good as my skills will allow. I'm very proud of not just the editing itself, but the way it flows as a movie. My hope is that you can sit down and watch this edit and be so absorbed in it, you'll never think about the fact that you're watching a movie that, technically, doesn't exist.

It's a 1000% improvement over the quality level of the original edit. Not only is the picture better, but my abilities as an editor have improved significantly since I first took this on. The difference is night and day. If you liked the original version, you will love this. If you never watched the original version, I hope you give this a chance.

It's not without it's quirks. It's important to remember that the quality of the source blu-ray transfer isn't particularly incredible to begin with. They also had the budget and VFX appropriate to a year 2000 TV miniseries. The costumes, sets, backdrops and even some of the lighting and acting are very theatrical. I look at this as a feature as opposed to a bug. The movie has a very specific vibe and feeling, one that you don't see often anymore. This is closer to a 60's big Hollywood epic than a modern film, and I like that about it. If you want to see a top notch, completely modern take on this, the new films exist. This is it's own thing, and it's better enjoyed if you keep that in mind.

Feedback is encouraged and welcome, and any issues found will be addressed.

Below information is for the original version of this edit:

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Original film title: Frank Herbert's Dune
Fanedit film title: Frank Herbert's Dune - The Spence Edit[SIZE=+0]
[/SIZE]Date Original Film Was Released: 2000
Date Fanedit Was Released: August, 2014
Original Runtime: 265 mins
New Runtime: 163 mins
Time Cut: 102 mins

Intention: To create a feature film version of the Dune Miniseries that runs at under 3 hours.

Every shot has been individually cropped to fit the 2:35:1 aspect ratio. Elements of the score have been changed, many subplots have been cut, many obnoxious colors have been desaturated.

Release Info:
1.84gb .mp4


Editing Software: Sony Vegas, Handbrake

Cutlist:
There's honestly way too many things to note them all, but here's the big stuff:
- Crop the footage to 2:35:1 and desaturate the over-bright colors to make it more "cinematic". The film was actually originally shot in 2:1 ratio, so the cropping actually works quite well. Still, ever shot had to be hand cropped.
- Brian Tyler's score from Children of Dune has been incorporated and blended in with Graeme Revell's original score. Both composers are credited.
- New opening credits sequence.
- Princess Irulan's subplot with Feyd is removed. It doesn't really add anything to the story, she's just finding out things we already know.
- Paul is less whiny, less childish. Because this footage is so condensed, I needed to make him a little stronger right off the bat, so we can believe he has grown into the leader he becomes.
- The first act of the movie has been chopped up the most, completely reordered with a large amount of scenes removed.
- The majority of the cutting I did was for pacing and truncating the plot. Though it's still a long film, this length to me feels like the perfect amount of time to tell this story without it feeling hacked to bits.
 
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spence

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Thank you! I'm very happy with how it turned out. I'll try and make a cutlist, but that would probably take as long as the editing did.
 

spence

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Hey guys need some IFDB help here. How do I get my poster, shown above, to show on the IFDB page? Last time I submitted a fanedit we didn't even have an IFDB, that's why I'm asking all these noob questions!
 

bionicbob

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Attach your dvd art/poster with your IFDB submission, where it asks for the link to your dvd art, and the Admin will then later use that image when they create your IFDB page for DUNE. ;-)
 

TM2YC

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bionicbob said:
Attach your dvd art/poster with your IFDB submission, where it asks for the link to your dvd art, and the Admin will then later use that image when they create your IFDB page for DUNE. ;-)

Indeed.
 

hebrides

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What? What? Spence is back, AND with a new edit! How did I miss this? Sounds great, and I'm really looking forward to checking it out! :)
 

spence

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Thanks Hebrides! Glad to be back. Hope you enjoy the edit. It was a big labor of love.
 

bionicbob

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Just finished watching, I will keep my review spoiler-free.... ;-)

From IFDB:

This may be controversial, and please do not throw stones at me, but I actually prefer the Sci-Fi DUNE mini-series over the David Lynch version. I mean I have read the original Dune many times (and yet strangely, I have never read any of the sequel novels), I own and have watched all the various versions of Lynch's epic, including Spicediver's masterpiece but I have always had trouble with Lynch's vision of the characters and Dune universe.

Thus when news broke that Spence was back (!!!) and his return project was going to be the Frank Herbert Dune mini-series, I was overjoyed!

And I was not disappointed. This is a very entertaining fan edit.

Chopping over 100 minutes and cutting the narrative down to less than three hours, the movie is dense with rich (and only essential) story and moves at brisk, but never too fast, pace. The cropping of the footage to widescreen looked good to me, nothing seemed lost or off center. The music replacement (fantastic choices btw) is very well done and really enhances the epic feel of the movie.

Epic. That is the word that kept coming to mind as I watched this edit unfold. From the new score, the space opera style costumes, the soundstage sets/matte paintings and theatrical performances, this fan edit really felt like (and I mean this as the highest form of compliment) an Old Hollywood Demille style biblical epic.

My nitpicks are very small... I thought the new opening credits could have benefited from a different font choice... they just did not match or set up the tone of the style and nature of the story. Also noticed the end credits are the French Language version... no biggie. The vast majority of cuts are seamless, though there were the odd one here or there I noticed. A couple of times I thought the new audio might have been a tad on the loud side and could have been dialed down slightly more.

But in terms of story, I agree with most of Spence's choices. This is not an edit about trying to be more faithful to the book, this is an edit about telling a good story. And Spence does this exceptionally well.

Highly recommended.

:thumb:
 

NewSpock

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I love the first dune-book by Frank Herbert, I adore it! Looking forward to watch this edit. Just need to find the time to do so.:clock::smash:
 

Dwight Fry

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bionicbob said:
This may be controversial, and please do not throw stones at me, but I actually prefer the Sci-Fi DUNE mini-series over the David Lynch version.

lapidation-o.gif
 

bionicbob

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^ ...that looks really, really, really painful...:-o:oops::p
 

TV's Frink

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bionicbob said:
Just finished watching, I will keep my review spoiler-free.... ;-)

From IFDB:

This may be controversial, and please do not throw stones at me, but I actually prefer the Sci-Fi DUNE mini-series over the David Lynch version.

Preferring any non-Lynch thing over a Lynch thing will never be controversial in my book. :D
 

wulfman17

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A wonderful idea, the Opening looks very good. But as far as I'd love to see John Hurt of Alien-(and recently Doctor Who)-fame in Dune, wasn't it William Hurt as Duke Leto?
 

spence

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Yes it was. Wow, how did nobody ever catch that? I'll fix it soon.
 

bionicbob

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holy smoke! Yep, I missed that too! LOL!

Looking at the opening titles again, if you are going to redo them, I would suggest try adding some drop shadow to them.
 

ErikPancakes

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Got a chance to watch this last night. Loved it! I'm working on a full review, but was curious about a couple things.

I haven't been able to finish the miniseries before - the cheap sets, costumes, and overly-theatrical cinematography get to me too much, I suppose. So I don't know if these issues are inherent with the source material or not.

First, I'm curious why you cut the Reverend Mother/Paul scene as early as you did. Paul mentions her saying "Kwisatz Haderach" to him later in the edit, but you cut the scene short, before that happens. As it stands in the edit, someone unfamiliar with the source material would have no idea why she visited Paul and why she performed the gom jabbar test on him.

Second, it seems like a very abrupt jump from Paul being accepted by the Fremen to his taking a role of leadership within the sietch - one second he's given his Fremen name, the next he's leading them in a series of ambushes against the Harkonnens. If you're planning a V2 to fix the John/William in the titles, is there any buffer that can go in the middle to smooth out this transition?

Finally, I don't think I would have known what was going on with Irulan and Paul at the end if I wasn't familiar with the novel. Again, I don't know if there's another scene you can pull to stick there to make their marriage a bit more clear, or if it just isn't there in the miniseries.

I understand you're finished with the edit and probably have no desire to change anything at this point, but I think if there's a way to patch up these three spots, it would make an already stunning edit absolutely perfect. You've done a great (and very difficult) thing in condensing Dune down to a film of reasonable length without losing any of the story and keeping everything well-paced. It's easily my preferred version of any Dune adaptation, and I never thought I'd say that about the miniseries. Hell, if anyone ever tries to make a Dune movie again, they should just look at this edit and build from there! Great work, Spence!

(Any chance on a sequel edit of Children? ;-))
 
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