• Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
  • If this is your first time here please read our FAQ and Rules pages. They have some useful information that will get us all off on the right foot, especially our Own the Source rule. If you do not understand any of these rules send a private message to one of our staff for further details.
  • Please read our Rules & Guidelines

Morrigan Presents Batman Forever

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
264855fbb66c4d6e92ee0b00aa78b41672020c9d.png

Morrigan Presents Batman Forever

Much of the film has been reordered to further resemble the original shooting script, although personal choices have been made where I wanted to keep consistency, or where moving a scene didn’t serve any narrative purpose. Similarly, some but not all of the available deleted scenes have been upscaled and restored to the film to enhance the reordered narrative. In addition to the visual enhancements, the deleted scenes also have new sound mixes built with new score and SFX. New score elements are taken from Elliot Goldenthal’s score for Batman Forever, with the sole exception of the Arkham Escape scene which features a small sample of a track from Goldenthal’s score for Batman & Robin.

Special thanks go to all my previewers - Zarius, Jrzag42, heathen3017, and Malthus. I very much appreciate all of your feedback and assistance in dialling in this edit. Extra special thanks go to Malthus for the technical expertise and advice to complete certain elements, not to mention a level of encouragement to keep me going. Thank you all!

Cutlist/Scenelist:
Runtime - 130 minutes
Time Cut - 2 minutes
Time Added - 11 minutes
  • Opening credits removed.
  • Deleted scene of Two-Face’s Arkham Escape inserted as new opening with new score and SFX.
  • Introduction of Nygma and Bruce’s Waynetech tour moved before titles.
  • Opening title inserted.
  • Batman suits up and Two-Face’s bank robbery.
  • Nygma’s testing and Stickley’s murder, including aftermath with Bruce and first two riddles.
  • Bruce visits Chase and takes her to the circus, Two-Face crashes the circus and murders the Graysons, Dick moves in with Bruce.
  • Chase calls Batman to rooftop, one small line of dialogue changed to remove reference to old scene order.
  • Batmobile/Two-Face car chase, birth of the Riddler, and Riddler and Two-Face team-up moved to after Chase/Batman rooftop scene.
  • Beauty and the Bat deleted scene inserted into Riddler and Two-Face’s crime wave montage with new score and SFX. Batmobile monitor has been replaced to improve continuity of the scene, and two shots of the Riddler added for the same reason.
  • Alfred and Bruce discussing Bruce’s identity in the Batcave cut to make way for deleted scene.
  • Two-Face and Riddler discover Batman’s identity moved to after Bruce/Dick/Alfred Batcave scene.
  • Anti-Batman newscast and Alfred and Bruce discussing Batman retiring deleted scene inserted with new score and SFX.
  • Riddler’s question mark Batsignal moved to after Bruce wakes after being shot.
  • Secret of the Batcave/Red Book deleted scene inserted with new score and SFX.
  • Chase awakens in Riddler’s lair moved to after secret of the Batcave scene.

Original first post for posterity:
It's the 25th anniversary of Batman Forever in a couple of weeks, and for a large chunk of that time I have wondered why the 'director's cut' never saw the light of day, either as an official release or as a fan edit. In order that I might be the change I want to see in the world, I have decided to embark on my first fan edit, an attempt at doing just that.

It's pretty common knowledge that Batman Forever went through a major change in timeline quite late into production. The sequence of events in the final film was completely changed to accommodate studio requests, and Joel Schumacher was required to cut his 160 minute film down to a more palatable Summer movie length of two hours. As a result, there are parts of the movie that leave threads hanging, and even a few clues in the film as to what might have been. It is my intention to make as close to this original version of the movie as possible, using what we know of the earlier structure of the movie, and what deleted scenes we have to make it happen.

This edit is not an attempt to tone down the elements Schumacher introduced that differentiated it from the earlier Burton films, and it is not an attempt to make a dark, gritty Batman movie - we have enough of those. This project is an attempt to see what might have been had Schumacher been allowed to keep a little more of his original cut in the film.

New Scene Order:
- Harvey's escape from Arkham (Deleted Scene: My restored version can be previewed below, password: fanedit.org)
- Waynetech tour feat. Nygma
- Two-Face robs the bank
- Nygma murders Stickley, Wayne surveys scene
- Bruce visits Chase at her office.
- Two-Face attacks circus
- Bruce takes in Dick
- Batman and Chase meet at police headquarters

The rest of the movie continues essentially per the theatrical cut, but I will be inserting as many of the deleted scenes as I can. Some of the scenes just aren't up to scratch in terms of quality, but at the moment I intend to insert the following:
- A scene where Riddler redirects the Batmobile to a beauty salon, explaining why Riddler and Two-Face are unopposed during their crime wave.
- A scene where a newscast bashes Batman, and Bruce talks with Alfred about quitting.
- A scene where Bruce loses his memory after being shot in the head, and descends into the Batcave to face his fear.
Depending on how it flows in the final edit, I'll consider the deleted scene with Chase and Alfred from the finale. All the deleted scenes will be re-edited and tidied up, to best fit in with the quality of the Blu-Ray.

Feedback on the idea and my first preview clip above would be most appreciated!
 
Last edited:

Canon Editor

Well-known member
Messages
1,730
Reaction score
80
Trophy Points
53
Welcome and good luck on this edit! Batman Forever needs a good extended edition. I've been working on my own fan edit of Batman Forever since... forever and although the edit is finished, I wanted to ask you how you managed to rip the deleted scenes in such high quality?
I've been having a real problem with deinterlacing on those and have tried many ways to fix it but none seem to work.
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
Canon Editor said:
Welcome and good luck on this edit! Batman Forever needs a good extended edition. I've been working on my own fan edit of Batman Forever since... forever and although the edit is finished, I wanted to ask you how you managed to rip the deleted scenes in such high quality?
I've been having a real problem with deinterlacing on those and have tried many ways to fix it but none seem to work.

I just ripped the low quality deleted scenes off the blu-ray, cropped/upscaled and deinterlaced with standard Vegas filters. I did have to change the framerate to match the rest of the movie, which has left some blurring I'm not entirely happy with. I have done some minor colour and contrast correction (trying to get 'The Bat Must Die' sharp enough to read was a particular trial) but mostly they are straight off the disc and cropped.

I'm interested in your edit as a true attempt at improving the source material, rather than my what-if. Two new fan edits of a twenty-five year-old movie that doesn't have Star Wars in the title is a nice novelty - especially for me, since I love Val Kilmer as Batman.
 

The Danger Zone

Well-known member
Messages
1,212
Reaction score
282
Trophy Points
98
I have just viewed your restoration of the Arkham Asylum prologue, and while I like what you're going for, I do have a few notes:
  • The scene should be scored with more sinister and foreboding music so as not to downplay the threat Two-Face represents. It may also help to give the scene an underlying horror vibe as Dr. Burton approaches the gagged-and-bound guard.
  • In regards to audio, I believe some remixing can be done here — particularly in the lightning strikes and foley. The scene would be more effective if there was a loud thunder clap when "The BAT MUST DIE" comes into frame.
  • There should be a quick fade to black at the tail end of the final shot to provide a smooth and easy transition to the main story.
I hope you appreciate my feedback, morrigan.
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
Motleys Fanedits said:
I have just viewed your restoration of the Arkham Asylum prologue, and while I like what you're going for, I do have a few notes:
  • The scene should be scored with more sinister and foreboding music so as not to downplay the threat Two-Face represents. It may also help to give the scene an underlying horror vibe as Dr. Burton approaches the gagged-and-bound guard.
  • In regards to audio, I believe some remixing can be done here — particularly in the lightning strikes and foley. The scene would be more effective if there was a loud thunder clap when "The BAT MUST DIE" comes into frame.
  • There should be a quick fade to black at the tail end of the final shot to provide a smooth and easy transition to the main story.
I hope you appreciate my feedback, morrigan.

I appreciate the feedback! I will experiment with a few musical cues, I'm trying to only use Elliot Goldenthal's score - that clip did include part of the Arkham Asylum score from Batman & Robin, but I'm trying to focus on the Forever score especially, which can be a bit light-on for dark and sinister vibes. Totally agree on the audio, already reworking the mix, including adding that final thunderclap (I had the same thought when I rewatched the clip after I uploaded it.) As for the end, that's a placeholder, we'll cut from that scene to the next, I just let the track play on the preview render.
 

gortat

Active member
Messages
28
Reaction score
2
Trophy Points
8
I see there are several Batman Forever edits going on and that's great. Anyway, will you use some alternate/deleted shots from the trailers?

 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
gortat said:
I see there are several Batman Forever edits going on and that's great. Anyway, will you use some alternate/deleted shots from the trailers?


I'll scan through, if there's anything useful in there (both in terms of where to fit it back into the theatrical cut and in terms of video quality) then I might use it! I hadn't seen some of that stuff, so I appreciate the link!
 

The Danger Zone

Well-known member
Messages
1,212
Reaction score
282
Trophy Points
98
I'd prefer if WB released an official extended cut of the film — provided they have Schumacher's approval — since it's the film's 25th anniversary this year, but I guess nothing will stop Zack Snyder's Justice League from having its time in the spotlight.

When do you aim to get this released, morrigan?
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
Motleys Fanedits said:
I'd prefer if WB released an official extended cut of the film — provided they have Schumacher's approval — since it's the film's 25th anniversary this year, but I guess nothing will stop Zack Snyder's Justice League from having its time in the spotlight.

When do you aim to get this released, morrigan?

My ideal situation would be if I had to take this down because the official director's cut gets released. I'm hoping to get this out before the end of the month, but I don't want to rush it out just to try and hit the anniversary.

But I am making progress, between working this week I have finished my preview clips of two more deleted scenes. Password: fanedit.org


(there's a bit of a weird noise effect on the water sounds in the first part of this clip, I have already fixed it in the final mix, but I accidentally left it in this preview)


I just need to figure out some footage and sound effects for my version of the beauty parlour scene, plus I want to have a look at how the deleted ending scene with Chase and Alfred sits in the edit, but once I'm done with those I just need to integrate my finished deleted scenes into the new structure of the movie before I can look at getting a release out.
 

The Danger Zone

Well-known member
Messages
1,212
Reaction score
282
Trophy Points
98
Judging from your process on those two scenes alone, here are my two cents:
  • Do you plan on addressing the background noise in these scenes? Maybe you could try running them through a "Noise Reduction" filter in Audacity or Adobe Audition CC.
  • It may be just me, but something is seriously up with the contrast. Was that intentional on your part or a rendering blunder?
  • Add an echo filter to the bat squeaks to make their insertion seem more organic.
Thank you.
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
Motleys Fanedits said:
Judging from your process on those two scenes alone, here are my two cents:
  • Do you plan on addressing the background noise in these scenes? Maybe you could try running them through a "Noise Reduction" filter in Audacity or Adobe Audition CC.
  • It may be just me, but something is seriously up with the contrast. Was that intentional on your part or a rendering blunder?
  • Add an echo filter to the bat squeaks to make their insertion seem more organic.
Thank you.

I'm definitely going to take a pass at noise reduction before these scenes go into the final cut, but the contrast thing is totally unintentional - I've had a look now and it seems like I added a contrast effect to the whole video stream when I was working on one specific shot for the Arkham Escape scene - now fixed to only be on that one shot for the final version. As for the bat squeaks, I wasn't quite happy with them myself, so thanks for the idea.
 

The Danger Zone

Well-known member
Messages
1,212
Reaction score
282
Trophy Points
98
Thanks for understanding, mate. By the way, do you plan on restoring the "Dick's pain" deleted scene?
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
Motleys Fanedits said:
Thanks for understanding, mate. By the way, do you plan on restoring the "Dick's pain" deleted scene?

At the moment I find that scene and the scene with Chase and Alfred don't flow with my preferred extended version of the movie, I don't feel like those scenes being cut changes the ultimate tone or story of the movie, unlike a lot of the other deleted scenes which help make it more coherent and bring closure to the various plot lines.

In other news, I have rendered out the first eight minutes of my cut, to show how the intro is going to flow in the final edit.

(password: fanedit.org)
 

Zarius

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
7,019
Reaction score
864
Trophy Points
153
Not a bad intro, I do like how you shift the Forever logo to just after Bruce arrives to change.

I do think the music stopping after Harvey's escape around the 2:15 mark needs a smoother easing out rather than just abruptly stopping.
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
Zarius said:
Not a bad intro, I do like how you shift the Forever logo to just after Bruce arrives to change.

I do think the music stopping after Harvey's escape around the 2:15 mark needs a smoother easing out rather than just abruptly stopping.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll massage that first transition a little more in the edit, but I'm glad you liked that final placement of the titles - I went back and forth on that a lot, but I liked having this little prologue introducing our three major players before the title.
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
She's back.

After getting 2020'd and not finishing this project due to life stuff, I am back working on this extended edition - and I only have one last scene to dial in before I'm ready to submit this for review (although if anyone would like to look over the final edit before I submit it, I would very much appreciate it.)

I'm trying to get the Beauty and the Bat scene to where I want it, and I am fairly happy with the structure, I just need to figure out the actual content. viz. I have inserted new score, sound effects, and an extra clip of the Riddler (to make it clearer that someone is messing with the Batmobile) but the sound effects and the extra clip of the Riddler aren't precisely to my liking. If anyone has any advice on where to go based on the preview below, I would very much appreciate it.

Password: fanedit.org

EDIT: I have tried something new in the scene here (big thanks to @Malthus for some advice and assistance/helping me talk it out) interested to see if it flows.
 

Malthus

Well-known member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
1,599
Reaction score
1,632
Trophy Points
148
Firstly I really like the direction this is headed and think it clearly conveys the message you want.

I'm not sure how I feel about the flickering footage at the end. I absolutely get where you're going with it so it is arguably effective but I found it painful to look at. Perhaps you could have the laughing people slowed down or pitched up, perhaps have the hue of the video change or have the footage distort while keeping Batman "normal" to highlight the frustration, confusion, etc that Batman is feeling. Maybe a green tint to the footage could allude to the Riddler?

As for the redone screen, I think it works better but presents new problems, specifically its brightness coupled with its fullscreen nature make it stand out especially after the artsy Riddler shots. I feel altering the original shot to incorporate this new video would make it feel more homogenous. 

Great work though, glad you found our chat helpful.
 

morrigan

Well-known member
Faneditor
Messages
121
Reaction score
103
Trophy Points
63
Malthus said:
Firstly I really like the direction this is headed and think it clearly conveys the message you want.

I'm not sure how I feel about the flickering footage at the end. I absolutely get where you're going with it so it is arguably effective but I found it painful to look at. Perhaps you could have the laughing people slowed down or pitched up, perhaps have the hue of the video change or have the footage distort while keeping Batman "normal" to highlight the frustration, confusion, etc that Batman is feeling. Maybe a green tint to the footage could allude to the Riddler?

As for the redone screen, I think it works better but presents new problems, specifically its brightness coupled with its fullscreen nature make it stand out especially after the artsy Riddler shots. I feel altering the original shot to incorporate this new video would make it feel more homogenous. 

Great work though, glad you found our chat helpful.

The flickering is actually a weird rendering artifact when I render straight to MP4 from Vegas, and doesn't exist in the final edit or when I render to what will be my final HD format - it's meant to just be a fadeout. I am currently working on the map screen, definitely going to match it to the original panel in the next revision, which should hopefully be the final revision.

Once this scene is done I will have a final cut, ready for review. If anyone is interested in watching it before I submit it, I would very much appreciate it.
 

Malthus

Well-known member
Donor
Faneditor
Messages
1,599
Reaction score
1,632
Trophy Points
148
morrigan said:
If anyone is interested in watching it before I submit it, I would very much appreciate it.

Sign me up, happy to preview this.
 
Top Bottom