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GotG2: Pruned Edition

rb

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Hiya all! (edited Oct 14, 2017)

uS0XXU2.jpg


Edit 1: Very new to this all. Thank you! 

Edit 2 (9/3): Audio cue was off, gap was created in re-edit, fixing frames, republishing. Fixed!  

Edit 3 (9/5): Updated with gazza's poster idea. 

Edit 4 (9/6): Updated based on feedback, fixing final errors. Pretty close to done!  

Edit 5 (9/8): Woohoo. I think this baby is complete. 

Edit 6 (10/13): Submitted for approval to IFDB; promo video 
 

GotG2: Pruned Edition is about 16 minutes shorter than the official film. It's a respectful effort to streamline a highly enjoyable if slightly overlong story about unkillable space adventurers. My opinion is below the surface, like a second onion layer, there's a snappier, smarter telling of the same story in the same order with the same humor. It just needs the tiniest bit of pruning.

So! Here you will find a wonderful movie but with slightly trimmer action and banter, mildly reduced beats in dialogue, and so forth, hopefully never at the cost of real feels or jokes -- it aims to enhance what's there, nudging things forward where they otherwise tend to linger (before they spoil the feels and jokes they set up so well). Don't get me wrong, I love a dick and poop joke as much as the next goofball, and I preserve many (most) silly moments. This isn't a humorectomy, although that would be an interesting project. The edit considers the overall rhythm and makes frequent, small, hopefully not glaring reductions, scene by scene, of a few lines to sometimes just a few frames. I feel like the flow is improved in aggregate, and would like to share.

Approx. 150-200 edits. Some noticeable changes: 

- No prologue. (See Note 1) 

- No Stan Lee. (Update, feedback: Stan Lee reinstated!) 

- Various quips / reactions removed. 

- Gamora steps on more of Quill's lines. 

- Drax, Mantis, Taserface come off a bit less obtuse.

- Fewer cartoon physics moments. 

- Microedits in action to punch up and / or move along.

- Slightly less Baby Groot. 

(Note 1) Do we need the omniscient flashback? I say no. 

I believe the story is better served by the ambiguous arrival of the antagonist. We get to know him along with the heroes instead of waiting for them/the film to catch up to details that are Checkov's gunned before the opening credits. Sans prologue the movie kicks into gear faster, and feels more open-ended: it's comic book deep space, let it play in real time and modern day. The exposition-heavy second reel more than covers everything to satisfaction... and if it doesn't, I'd argue neither does an extra two minutes of god's eye narrative set 30 years earlier. The director's vision is intact. The movie has better momentum by introducing the antagonist at "protagonist speed".

Thank you again!
 

TM2YC

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^ Be careful not to paste in formatting on your text. It was very hard to read but I've fixed it now. Thread moved to in-the-works.
 

gazza

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i would say cut out gamora and quill kiss/love story element .the chemistry between them works better as two seperate dynamics and makes more  sense in a  will they/wont they hook up type of attraction .
 

rb

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TM2YC said:
^ Be careful not to paste in formatting on your text. It was very hard to read but I've fixed it now. Thread moved to in-the-works.

Thanks very much! I wasn't aware the formatting was carried over from my copy-paste, and will be more attentive.
 

rb

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gazza said:
i would say cut out gamora and quill kiss/love story element .the chemistry between them works better as two seperate dynamics and makes more  sense in a  will they/wont they hook up type of attraction .

Good note. Are we talking about GotG2 though? I find the Quill and Gamora scenes pretty restrained in the sequel. So far, edits in their dialogue have been to increase her position when he mansplains, or letting her interrupt a little quicker. It hadn't crossed my mind to shave out the romance. (Being a big softie/respecting the soundtrack, I let their dance scene play out untouched.) Now I want to go through and target this theme. Thanks! If it doesn't happen with this edit, then it may with a more drastic experimental one I'm prepping.
 

SpectacularSMan

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Love this idea. From the first time I saw Guardians 2, I knew I loved it but I would love it even more if about 10-15 mins was trimmed away and some of the more reaching jokes could be removed. Best of luck to you on this one! My one con would be that you removed the Stan Lee cameo, which I feel belongs in all of these Marvel movies and that hinders my chances of making this my definitive version of the movie. Other than that, I like what you have going on here!
 

gazza

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you do realize you have two walkmans in your cover picture. you could change the groot one to a boombox. just a suggestion
 

rb

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Thanks very much! 

I absolutely hear you about edging out Stan Lee. Now that you mention it, it seems obvious: he should stay in. It's not my intention to break from tradition, and even after pruning it's not like there aren't dozens of silly asides throughout the movie, so I'm not even tempted to argue he's a distraction or his cameo disrupts the flow. More than that, Gunn's commentary confirms him as an informant to the Watchers so there's a connecting thread to the whole MCU. 

For interest, it was Gunn's commentary that helped me first justify taking out Lee. He said he had whittled down characters in drafts of the script, etc. to a point where Peter Quill was the movie's sole space-faring human (well, half-human). It seemed like kismet and an invitation / easter egg for the "pruned edition" to actually make that the case. 

Editing continues! I saw two places I wanted to tidy up so I'll sneak Lee in with tomorrow's update.
 

rb

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gazza said:
you do realize you have two walkmans in your cover picture. you could change the groot one to a boombox. just a suggestion

Heh heh! Nice. I'll fiddle with the poster while I wait out the next render of the movie tomorrow! 

Update: Great idea! Weird that the official art has two walkmans. I ended up swapping one for gardening shears so now there's zero. Thematically appropriate? In any case Groot holding a stylized cassette tape looks sooo much better.
 

Solemn.Philosopher

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Look forward to checking out the edit. I liked GotG2, but it was a bit over-the-top and long.

As for Stan Lee, some people think he represents the supreme deity of Marvel known a being called the One-Above-All. Stan Lee will actually play a large role at some point in the universe and that his Watchers cameo seems to push it in that direction.  

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/One-Above-All_(Multiverse)

Personally, I think that would be interesting.
 

gazza

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rb said:
gazza said:
you do realize you have two walkmans in your cover picture. you could change the groot one to a boombox. just a suggestion

Heh heh! Nice. I'll fiddle with the poster while I wait out the next render of the movie tomorrow! 

Too spoiler-y if
he's holding up the battery bomb timer from the end of the movie?


537692876a817b8a7dd817ea768d0a14--bebe-groot-im-groot.jpg


how about this also the walkman in quills hand would look so much better if it was turned sideways. imo
 

rb

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Solemn.Philosopher said:
Look forward to checking out the edit. I liked GotG2, but it was a bit over-the-top and long.

As for Stan Lee, some people think he represents the supreme deity of Marvel known a being called the One-Above-All. Stan Lee will actually play a large role at some point in the universe and that his Watchers cameo seems to push it in that direction.  

http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/One-Above-All_(Multiverse)

Personally, I think that would be interesting.

Thank you! 

That's fascinating. I'm of two minds about putting Stan Lee through the rigors of more movie production, though. For... morbid reasons, I suppose. ^^; He's back in the edit, in any case!
 

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A fresh update: the edit is complete! 

I think this is the version I would like to submit (after a steep and appreciated education in IFDB approval processes), however, feedback may prove this is not the version that merits approval. 

There is a lot (a lot) in this film that could be excised for reasons of taste or flow... but I've tried to keep to the original goal which was, since first viewing, to trim only those moments that (personally, acknowledging bias and subjectivity) overstayed by a few seconds and either detracted from or neutralized the charming humor or drama. GotG2 is a joyous, well-told space adventure hampered by, let's say, over-indulgent moments for that extra test audience laugh or "kid brother" appeal. The original will always be the official version to me; I've grown indefensibly fond of it through familiarity (and admit this is a cliche). And I have nothing but love for writer-director Gunn, composer Bates, and the (wow) hundreds of artists whose (wow!) millions of dollars of work never appear in this fanedit. 

Same movie. Slightly faster. Thank you!
 

TM2YC

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Fanedit submitted for review. Thread moved to pending.
 

DigModiFicaTion

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I haven't seen GotG2 but I must say I really like the cut out lines poster you made. Wonderful play on the title you chose. Good luck with the approval process!
 

rb

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Thanks so much! Had to google around a bit first to see if it maybe had been done. If only all parts of fanediting fell into place as easy... :)

Update: As a general response, I'd like to apologize for my misunderstanding and inappropriate action regarding how to submit a fanedit to the Academy. I read the rules and sent a PM for approval while also creating a new thread in a new section to signify that ITW discussion could be (by some magic, which turns out to be labor-intensive mod burden) moved to the Pending section. Basically I screwed things up for several people. Sorry about that! I've been duly warned and am refraining from further activity until I understand exactly how to proceed. However things land, thank you sincerely for your interest in the fanedit, and I look forward to getting settled.
 

TM2YC

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rb said:
I'd like to apologize for my misunderstanding and inappropriate action regarding how to submit a fanedit to the Academy.

Thanks and that's okay. We all got a bit confused for a moment there but it's sorted now :) . In future, if in doubt, just ask.




I've previewed this GOTG2 edit for inclusion on ifdb and I'm pleased to say it's approved :) .

14514010924_d2f40d31b9_o.jpg


rb has made 200-250 (something like that) small trims (totaling 15-minutes) but aside from the obvious deletion of the Kurt Russell prologue, I couldn't spot them. That's impressive for a first-time edit. The impression you get from viewing this, is that you think you watched more-or-less the same movie as you did at the cinema but you can't quite explain why you enjoyed it more this time? :D  Small subtle invisible edits, are the best kind of fanediting IMO.

I loved GOTG2 but it felt over-stuffed somehow. Too exciting, too action-packed, too funny, too zany... not bad problems to have to be sure! This edit felt a bit more measured, with just the right amount of fun and just the right amount of action. The 'Pruned Edition' is a fine way to rewatch this movie now it's come to home video.

The only imperfection to this edit is the visual quality. It's totally acceptable to watch but for a 11.5GB/1080p/2-hour movie, I'd have hoped for something sharper and more detailed than this mp4.

Thread moved. Congratulations rb.
 

theryaney

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Congrats! Few things feel better than getting your first edit approved.  :) ​

Looking forward to this once I've actually seen GotG2.
 

rb

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@"TM2YC" and @"theryaney" Thank you so much! 

One month later, almost to the day, extras are complete and the whole kaboodle is ready for listing. I tried and abandoned a commentary track (who wants to listen to that?) in favor of a promo clip. Blessedly shorter -- like the movie! Took this long also to try and fail at a higher quality conversion of the source (clarification: nothing has changed in the fanedit since submission for approval one month ago, I've just tried to re-render it for quality). To ensure top quality in future projects I'm looking into new hardware or new software. This isn't to speak poorly of the many excellent tutorials and resources here by the way, I'm just not very technical. One of the great happy accidents of this fanedit is that, when I first imagined it, it "just worked" in my editor, no codecs or troubleshooting required, things clicked at low quality and I ran with it. Don't want to disappoint going forward! 

Anyway! Loose and irreverent Youtube video added, and everything awaits listing on IFDB. Thanks again and as always to the Academy.
 

DigModiFicaTion

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^This is an excellent video showcasing your edits (wasn't sure if you knew how to embed it) I especially like your intro. Congrats rb! Looking forward to your future projects! Now I need to go buy this movie and enjoy it. :)
 
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