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Lifeforce: The Web Of Destiny Cut by JetSetWilly

JetSetWilly

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Ive been toying with this idea for bloody ages now, before we brits had the blu ray release of the two cuts of the film. What I plan to do is an combined cut, using the best footage from both versions, cutting awful dialogue, rearranging some scenes, and trying to make the film more serious and less goofy. I know it's what makes it a classic (i love the film for being so crap, its really good), but I want to try and give it a more serious tone. At the moment, its not in the works (as Im ripping the blu rays as we speak), but im watching it to see what else I can do to it to make it the movie it should have been back in 1985, hence why its just an idea.

Thoughts, anyone?

EDIT:
Here's the trailer. Let me know what you think (I know theres a video glitch about a minute in, but I didnt see it until after I uploaded it)

 

Dwight Fry

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Go for it! I really like this movie, I don't think it's "so bad it's good" but a pretty good if flawed movie. It can definitely use a fanedit!
 

JetSetWilly

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Thanks Dwight. Ive started to make a cutlist, and make notes as I go through the film, so once ive done that, Ill post the final list up here.
 

Vultural

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I adore Lifeforce!
Saw it theatrically, and, to my bride's disgust, bought the laserdisc.
The wildly over the top narrative is matched by ham fisted performances.
An endearing classic.
I grasp what you are trying to do, and am guardedly hopeful.
What is needed is far less Steve Railsback, as well as Patrick Stewart weirdness.
Then again, I would always welcome more Mathida May. I know the BluRay has extra minutes - a whopping 15 additional minutes!
If only it were 15 more minutes of May sashaying wherever she wants, but I suspect I'm delusional there.
 

JetSetWilly

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Right, after watching it back on Netflix, Ive wrote a cutlist for the first half, which goes a little like this (ahem):

-US cut for the main title card, which then cuts to UK version for prologue narration and scenes aboard the Churchill
-US cut for scenes of astronauts entering alien craft, which has titles over the scenes as well (the asteroid in the UK version titles made no sense at all). It also eliminates the line "Ive got the feeling ive been here before" as well. It makes no sense either.
-cut Nicolas Ball's line "well, here they are"
-cut line of dialogue "the only way to describe it is like a giant umbrella". Sounds silly, and sounds better when it just goes with "my god, its enormous"
-cut "Dearbridge, what's wrong?" line and subsequent shots of him looking drained. It's noted later and isnt needed
-move Carlsen's flashback to the events onboard to just after Dearbridge says "Lets get them free", and remove Carlsens voiceover, so it all flows in one narrative
-remove "Houston, we have a problem". Sounds too corny and seems shoehorned in in an attempt to be serious. Which doesn't work.
-minimalising Falada's reaction shot to Bukovski being enticed by the space girl. It's too long a reaction
-remove Bukovski's "she did that". It seems redundant after Falada saw Bukovski witht he space girl, so he knows it was her.
-shorten or remove Falada/Bukovski "you alright to go down there" scene. We know he's been partially drained, so he would want to stay behind because he's technically knackered.
-cut two lines "from the SAS" and "gentlemen, that last remark is not for publication, this is a D notice situation", or try and make it work somehow
-remove audio somehow to remove the guards age when they are about to do an autopsy on the dead guard. He looks more than 20 (he looks about 30)
-cut the line from Kane "now she has clothes". Again, its redundant, as we can see the dead girl is nude, its obvious the girl took her clothes.
-when the guard reverts to his dead state, the audio from the UK version has the zombie voice overlapped, and you can clearly hear the actors original voice underneath. The US version doesnt have the overdub until you see him turned back into a zombie, so this will be used instead
-same sequence, when the camera goes to the zombie pathologist, you can tell its a guy in a suit. Im gonna try and cut this as seemless as possible
-cut the second time we see the heartbeat monitor malfunction. Its already happened once, so we don't need to see it again.

Thats just for the first 40 minutes. There will definitely be other trims as the project goes along, like reducing the amount of time for Armstrong's lifeforce to escape his body, as some of Railsback's acting in that bit is very suspect. Im also going to play around with the idea of re-introducing Carlsen into the film a bit earlier. How I'll do this, I dont know, but thats part of the fun :)
 

JetSetWilly

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Okey cokey, this is now officially in the works. Have already worked on roughly 25 minutes of the film, and its so far taking shape. Neg/Frink please move to in the works, please chaps :D
 

ThrowgnCpr

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JetSetWilly said:
Okey cokey, this is now officially in the works. Have already worked on roughly 25 minutes of the film, and its so far taking shape. Neg/Frink please move to in the works, please chaps :D

Thread moved. Please don't call me neg or frink :p
 

JetSetWilly

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Right, just a quick update (i know its a double post, but what the hell!). Basically, a very rough cut has been finished, and clocks in at just over 105 minutes. Thats with trims, cuts, audio replacement and scene shuffling. Most of the cuts were in the first hour of the film, with very little to cut in the last 45 minutes, mainly small trims for pacing. Most of the dodgy lines have now gone, and some long drawn out shots have been shortened as well. All in all, its about ten minutes cut in total. Ill get to work on a cover/poster at some point either tomorrow or saturday, with a trailer following closely after.
 

JetSetWilly

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After watching back the preliminary cut, there are a few edits that don't seem to work, mainly cutting most of Carlsen's flashback. Moving the scenes to earlier works a treat, but now when Carlsen recounts what happened, it feels a bit disjointed, so am going to reinstate his flashbacks in full, and still use them earlier too, so we know what really happened. Also, there were some audio issues and visual issues which have been mostly rectified. This has actually been an easy edit, as 85% of the music you could edit, and it wouldn't make a difference, which im surprised about. After all this has been done, it should be about 107 minutes.
 

JetSetWilly

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Ok, so am rendering a new credits sequence which I'll upload to vimeo. Its different to the one I had originally done, and I think flows much better too. Once uploaded, I'll linkage it here.


Of course, it isn't 100%. Got to add some outlines to the text i created for the overlay titles during the film, and I've got to play about with the film title card as well, but this is how it's going to look once complete
 

WyndorfDave

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Great work! Anytime I see 'Cannon' or 'Golan Globus' in the credits I know I am in for a treat!
 

Neglify

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Definitely hold on the film title longer than a second.
 

JetSetWilly

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Thanks for the feedback, guys. Ill have a play around (ooer!) today and see what i can do to make the title card last a bit longer. The title music is actually edited down, and i think, works better than it did in version 1. I might, so i can get that extra second or two, move the MGM logo back, along with the Cannon logo (and give it back its music) so I've got a few extra seconds to play with.
 

Dwight Fry

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The abridged music works well. Actually I think you don't need to have extra music in there, as your blank spots in between credits are a bit too long anyway. I'd even suggest to lose the MGM logo entirely, since it was not a production company for the movie, just a distributor for the DVD since MGM bought the Cannon catalog.
 

JetSetWilly

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That's what I've been thinking too. Its something else i can play around with, though.
 

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Right, am now rendering a second version, with buggered about with credits:

NEW! - removed MGM logo
NEW! - reintroduced the Cannon logo music (it is iconic, after all, and it would be wrong to leave it out :) )
NEW! - finally figured out how to move ONE scene from the flashback to earlier in the film, and made the flashback sequence and Carlsen's story flow good with the removal
NEW! - .......underpants?
NEW! - redone titles over the movie as it's playing, just like in the butchered cut you guys had for ages, which now have an outline, making them easier to see (hurrah!)

So, technically, only two pieces of footage are used from the Hackjob cut (which looking back, i didn't really need to use.....f**k it!)

Currently half way through, so once done, I'll have a little watch and see what else needs to be done. If anyone else wants to as well, you're more than welcome.
 

JetSetWilly

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Right, had a few technical issues with the cut I rendered. I keep encountering what I call scene bleed, which is when a second of the previous scene will somehow impose itself over the next for a few seconds, while the other scene plays underneath, but now it's all pixellated. Because of this, I've had to make a few more chops to scenes. I even tried readding the movie, and swapping out the parts effected, but sometimes it still happens. Its really infuriating, as I had to cut the scene where the pathologist is temporarily alive, runs toward Caine, hits the bars of his holding cell, and explodes in a cloud of ash. It's a shame really, as I found it a chortle-worthy scene. I will say though, the other times it has happened, it's when I needed to trim a scene anyway, and wasn't going to keep that bit in anyway.

Also, a few changes:
- new font used for the LIFEFORCE title card (starliner, as it gives it a more of a sci-fi feel....and it looks cool as well lol)
- when Falada and Caine talk about life after death, Caine says he doesn't want to know, but Falada tells him anyway. Caine saying no to wether he wants to know is cut, and the conversation is a trimmed too.
- Bukovski saying that the sexual attraction to the female vampire was horrible (why? it's Mathilda Freaking May......NUDE!!!). This has been removed, and a slight fade has been used, mainly because he only moves about an inch, so it doesn't show too much. Only way I could work it

One other thing I need to add is the scene moved from the flashback needs to be rescored, as there is very little music in this part anyway, so I might be able to get away with it. One thing I do wish, is that I could get my hands on the deleted footage and make an extended cut, as there was supposed to be a 15 minute sequence that had no dialogue at the start, and added more stuff on the Churchill. Having a lot of fun working on this though, and this new cut is 108 minutes long roughly.
 

JetSetWilly

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HUZZAH AND HURRAH! V3 has been done (or is it V4? I've lost track hahaha). Added the little tweaks to some scenes, I didn't add that music afterall, just to see how it turns out. I have brightened up the picture though, as the film was really dark. You couldn't see anything at all. It has dulled the colours somewhat, but I think it reins the picture in a bit as it was too vibrant (and this coming from a digitally remastered Blu ray print!!).

So, who wants to watch the workprint, and see Mathilda may in the buff?
 
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