Rogue One: Where Rebels Dare (TM2YC Fanfix) - Restructure/Less fanservice

[Weekly Wackadadoo]

It’s great, but I think that the wipe is too slow and looks a bit awkward going up (sorry for the poor description, I don’t know quite how to phrase it). But the shot from Prometheus blends perfectly.

 

[TM2YC]

I think that the wipe is too slow and looks a bit awkward going up

The wipe from Cassian climbing? It's 30 frames, which is more or less the average speed of SW wipes. ROTJ and ESB seem to mostly have 32 frame wipes, SW77 has mostly 25 frame wipes but is quite inconsistent (some are as long as 56 frames).

The upwards-wipe (in the direction the character is moving) is also standard in SW. Think of when Threepio is lifted up by Luke and Ben after the Sandpeople trash him (00.26 into this clip). This video is very handy, although it is the SE:

---

I've added a massive planet to the first couple of shots in the 13-year transition. It adds scale, makes the shot look more different from the opening crawl FX shot, helps the composition and just makes it a bit more visually interesting.

(Password: fanedit.org)

 

[Garp]

I've altered it back to what it used to be... pray I don't alter it further .

I feel... less special... 

 

[Canon Editor]

Those last updates have been good TM!  Keep it up.

 

[dkerin]

Really nice!   Back in the day I would do a lot of new added fx for Battlestar edits (the original) and knowing how I did them I would only see every little thing I would nit-pick.   But watching something someone else does, and not knowing what went into it, I can enjoy it objectively!   Accept it as part of the movie.   And this looks really nice!   The only thing that looked odd to me was the small star filter glare on the distant Star Destroyer.   Think that was the only thing that pulled my eye to something that felt like it was out of the film style.   But hey... could just be me.

But seriously... gorgeous looking and does that little bit to widen the scope of the shot/location.

 

[TM2YC]

The only thing that looked odd to me was the small star filter glare on the distant Star Destroyer.

Damn, you've got sharp eyes. I thought I'd been subtle enough with that glint. I'll dial it back at bit. I was trying to match the glint in the next shot. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[TM2YC]

The editing is basically done (I think) and now I'm half-way through grading. It's not going to be a radical departure but for me, things lacked contrast overall and a few scenes could've looked better and more OT like. Just some minor tweaking of the look to make me happy .

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

I kind of like the lonely Death Star without the huge planet. Your work as always looks great though.

 

[theryaney]

It looks great! Reminds me of Adywan's opening to the DS.

 

[TM2YC]

I was grading the Vader/Bacta scene and remembered I'd forgotten to have a crack at this idea:

during the Vader bacta scene, I would have Vaneé (Vader's assistant) say "My Lord." when he's kneeling.

You could have him saying "My Lord" at several points, so I've made two versions. I'd love to hear which version people prefer (or even if anybody hates both):

(Password: fanedit.org)

---

I kind of like the lonely Death Star without the huge planet. Your work as always looks great though.

I was expecting at least a few people to prefer it that way. It probably makes more sense to have the DS hidden away somewhere but I think the planet really helps the shot look less amateurish.

 

[Nerdman3000]

I was grading the Vader/Bacta scene and remembered I'd forgotten to have a crack at this idea:

during the Vader bacta scene, I would have Vaneé (Vader's assistant) say "My Lord." when he's kneeling.

You could have him saying "My Lord" at several points, so I've made two versions. I'd love to hear which version people prefer (or even if anybody hates both):

(Password: fanedit.org)

---

I kind of like the lonely Death Star without the huge planet. Your work as always looks great though.

I was expecting at least a few people to prefer it that way. It probably makes more sense to have the DS hidden away somewhere but I think the planet really helps the shot look less amateurish.

---

The second one I think is better, though I'd have him say My Lord right before it cuts to his face after he has just knelt.

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

And here I thought someone was responding to something I said.
@"Nerdman3000" ,

 

[SkywalkerFan01]

You could have him saying "My Lord" at several points, so I've made two versions. I'd love to hear which version people prefer (or even if anybody hates both).

I prefer the first one, the timing feels better to me.

 

[TM2YC]

Of the two I definitely preferred the first ,with the line said just before the March comes in full.

I'd have him say My Lord right before it cuts to his face after he has just knelt.

I feel that works least well of the three but here is a test clip for comparison anyway:

(Password: fanedit.org)

I'm starting to think no line would be best. I like it just being the music. Any more opinions before I do the final render?

 

[octoroxx]

I think out of those three, the first one is the best. Just music is also fine though.

 

[Canon Editor]

I am beginning to think that only the music is the better alternative.

 

[TM2YC]

Yeah, only music it is for that Vader scene. It was fun trying to do my best "evil-minion" voice acting though .

An animated "thank you!" titlecard has been added to end of the fanedit and that's the last piece of the puzzle. So this is the final timeline (I think). I still need to do the rendering and checking though:



(^ Click image to see full size image)

I'm trying to keep my timelines more tidy these days. Video tracks are grouped at the bottom with their corresponding sound tracks. The top 13 tracks are just for additional soundFX and music that couldn't fit on the lower tracks.

Original Runtime: 134 minutes
Fanedit Runtime: 130 minutes
Time Added: 3 minutes
Time Cut: 7 minutes

The artwork, cutlist, and ifdb listing need doing but hopefully that should all be done by the weekend.

 

[octoroxx]

Are you still planning on releasing a version without the crawl alongside the version with a crawl?

 

[TM2YC]

Are you still planning on releasing a version without the crawl alongside the version with a crawl?

Probably not anymore.

When I was less happy with the "13 years later" transition, it seemed a good idea to have two versions of the edit but now I'm very satisfied with how it looks/sounds. The crawl can be skipped by starting the viewing 2.5 minutes in, so that difference alone isn't worth having a second version IMO.

Cutlist is done:

Editing Details:
- Regraded lightly to increase contrast and adjust tinting in some scenes.
- Added new custom-made traditional Star Wars style opening. Fox style fanfare, green Lucasfilm logo, SW logo, custom crawl, pan down etc.
- Reordered opening act, which I felt was choppy in the original version. Now we do not return to older Jyn until it's time for her to be rescued and time for her story to begin again. Death Star scene has also been brought forward to establish the threat, before we see how others are responding to that threat. I think these changes make things clearer.
- Reordered some parts of the final battle to help pacing and logic.
- Reordered a few other scenes throughout the edit in small ways to help the story.
- Added traditional style wipes to points where I felt it was appropriate. Large shifts in time, or in location etc.
- Removed all onscreen titles naming the various planets, as this is not something done in any other Star Wars film.
- Removed or altered a few distracting "fan service" moments including the Dr. Evazan/Ponda Baba cameo, Red-5's death and the entire encounter between Vader and Krennic.

Cuts and Additions:
00.00.00 - Added FE.org and TM2YC titlecards.
00.00.32 - Added custom Disney/Fox titlecard, created by youtube's Timon Berkowitz. Trimmed to match Original-Trilogy (OT) timing, cropped to scope, added animated clouds and regraded to look more "vintage". Music from Harmy's Despecialized Edition (DE).
00.00.39 - Replaced modern Lucasfilm logo with custom-made old green 1977 style version.
00.00.49 - Replaced "A long time ago..." titlecard with custom-made one. Matched closer to style of original 1977 version but with clean blue to mirror closing Rogue One (R1) credits (which I've also recoloured).
00.00.56 - Added custom-made traditional Star Wars logo, timed to exactly match look and movement-speed of 1977 original but with a modern R1 starfield.
00.01.04 - Added custom-made crawl timed to match the crawls of the OT as closely as I could (thanks to DigModiFicaTion for his crawl text creation guide and helpful advice). Music from 'Attack of the Clones' opening as it segues smoothly into R1 existing score.
00.02.23 - Added pan-down timed frame-by-frame to the DE 1977 reference.
00.02.27 - Added custom-made pan-down establishing FXshot with Stardestroyer (SD), tiny moving Krennic shuttle and wide shot of Lah' Mu (ringed planet graphic created by deviantart.com's vissroid. Regraded and adjusted).
00.02.37 - Trimmed beginning of first shuttle shot to remove pan-up and added reverse angle of SD and rings overlay.
00.03.44 - Altered blue-milk shot so the camera pans with Lyra's movement across the kitchen, instead of zooming right in on the milk, which I found to be distracting.
00.09.25 - Trimmed Saw's lines and instead we fade from young Jyn gazing up to a starfield.
00.09.47 - Added custom-made pan-down FXshot featuring a new establishing shot of the completed Death Star (DS), with animated dish and SDs. Plus "13 years later...." title. SoundFX and music replaced with 'Krennic's Aspirations' from the R1 score (which is otherwise unused in this fanedit).
00.09.54 - Added another custom-made FXshot of the DS. Animated SDs, dish and shadow from the dish.
00.09.57 - Reordered and trimmed shots of SDs to work better with the new music and sequence. Also ending on a SD close-up is more logical since that is where we next see Krennic and Tarkin.
00.10.07 - Adjusted shot of Tie flying over SD so the camera tracks the SD and not the little Tie
00.10.11 - Brought forward DS opening scene to be our new intro into the present-day and to establish the threat, before we see others react to that threat. This also serves to not interrupt the main Jyn plot later on.
00.11.42 - Added wipe to cropped shot of Jedha, with title removed (First Cassian scene moved to later).
00.12.57 - Added wipe to cropped shot of Kafrene
00.13.06 - Rescored and replaced soundFX to opening Kafrene shots.
00.15.04 - Rescored end of Cassian scene with 'Wobani Imperial Labor Camp' from the R1 score to increase the emotion as he murderes the Rebel spy and to have a dramatic music cue into the first scene with older Jyn. SoundFX also replaced.
00.15.21 - Added new establishing shot of Wobani terrain, taken from 'Prometheus'. Regraded and soundFX new added.
00.15.26 - Brought forward Jyn's flashback dream-sequence and mixed it over Jyn asleep in the prison.
00.16.12 - Replaced soundFX in prison waking scene and replaced music with 'Star-Dust' from the R1 score. Added Stormtrooper dialogue sample from '77 Star Wars.
00.16.52 - Cropped shot of labour camp to remove title. This the dream sequence and prison scene now form an uninterrupted and stronger re-introduction to older Jyn.
00.18.07 - Added wipe to shot of Yavin with title painted out.
00.19.05 - Moved shot of Cassian in the shadows from the random place it was at, to just before Mon Mothma introduces him. Minor remixing of audio to allow this change.
00.24.33 - Added wipe to shot of Saw walking.
00.26.16 - Added iris-wipe to shot of Jyn. Transition Rescored and soundFX replaced.
00.29.53 - Removed distracting fan-service cameo from Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba.
00.41.06 - Brought forward scene where Bodi is discovered in the cell, to form one unbroken scene of the Rebels locked up. Added music from guards. This brings focus to the discussion between Cassian and Chirrut and means that the Bodi scene does not interupt the DS powering up threat later on.
00.41.56 - Removed a couple of lines between Cassian and Bodi and replaced it with SoundFX of Bodi breathing erratically, music and Cassian just smiling at having found the pilot.
00.45.35 - Removed a few shots and lines of the DS powering up to allow the move of the earlier Bodi scene. Music and SoundFX added.
00.53.28 - Brought forward short scene of Krennic leaving the DS, to just after he walks out on Tarkin, to make one longer scene. Replaced soundFX and rescored with more of the otherwise unused 'Krennic's Aspirations' piece.
00.53.45 - Added wipe to shot of Yavin.
00.54.17 - Added iris-wipe to shot of the U-Wing. Added a little more engine noise (from an X-Wing) to have more impact.
00.57.13 - Added wipe to cropped and flipped shot of Eadu. Camera adjusted so the ship tracks the speed of the wipe. Remixed sound.
00.57.20 - Flipped two shots of the U-Wing to match altered Eadu planet shot.
00.58.24 - Added more radio static to further blur the line between the impact sound and Rebel communicator.
00.58.40 - Brought forward scene of X-Wings launching to more believably give them time to arrive at Eadu. Added music.
00.58.49 - Added iris-wipe to shot of U-Wing. Added storm soundFX.
01.00.43 - Replaced all soundFX during this Chirrut transition to cover the move of the music-heavy X-Wing launch scene.
01.13.43 - Removed the whole Vader/Krennic encounter sequence (one part retained for later). I found it annoying and fan-servicey. The suit doesn't look right, the dialogue is laughable, it distracts from the main plot and it serves zero narrative purpose. Also it furthers the diminishing of Krennic's character if both Tarkin and Vader are belittling him.
01.13.44 - Added wipe to shot of Yavin. Replaced all soundFX and music
01.13.47 - Removed first 30-seconds of Rebel meeting. The Rebel leaders were shown being defeatist to a silly extreme. The scene now begins with Radus saying "If she's telling the truth, we need to act now!", then we hear more reasoned arguments for inaction. Added background arguing soundFX.
01.19.03 - Removed a few seconds of Bodi dithering too long over the 'Rogue One' call sign.
01.20.11 - Added wipe to shot of transport in Hyperspace. Added extra soundFX.
01.20.13 - Cropped shot of Scarif to remove onscreen title.
01.23.06 - Removed unearned reference to Saw during Jyn's motivational speech. This also helps Jyn's speech be more low-key and believable.
01.30.31 - Brought forward scene of K-2S0 hitting the Imperial guy. Added more door soundFX.
01.30.43 - Removed a couple of shots of Bodi and replaced soundFX and music.
01.31.29 - Added completely recut brief version of the earlier Vader/Bacta scene to sit just after Tarkin says "...inform Lord Vader". So this is him being informed. This way he naturally enters the film at a point where he becomes important to the plot. Recut shots to remove dialogue. Almost totally replaced soundFX and music with the opening Imperial March from 'Return of the Jedi'.
01.31.59 - Replaced radio-static soundFX and music leading into Yavin scene.
01.33.06 - Replaced all soundFX and music during the cameo shot of R2 and Threepio. Replaced 2016 Anthony Daniels screaming "Scarif!" (which I never liked) with typical vintage Droid bickering sourced from the 1978 Oscars Ceremony. So Threepio now says "Behave yourself R2. Of course. I'm just as excited as you are. Now do be quiet" with R2 making beeps in response.
01.35.41 - Added anti-clockwise rotation to camera for two pilot shots just before they go into a roll to their right.
01.35.43 - Removed pilot saying "We won't have long" because the actor delivers it with zero emotion. Added soundFX
01.36.14 - Removed a few seconds of X-Wings flying about and brought forward X-Wings attacking the Imperial walkers. This way they arrive to the rescue less than a minute after they enter the shield gate (originally the gap was over 2-minutes which felt odd). Added soundFX.
01.37.01 - Rescored new transition to K-2S0 saying "The fleet has arrived". This is another benefit of having the X-Wings arrive earlier because now this line from K isn't quite as random and omnipresent.
01.37.08 - Removed Jyn saying "What does that mean?" because she answers her own question a second later and it was silly thing to say.
01.38.10 - Rescored and replaced soundFX across new transition from Jyn to Bodi.
01.40.41 - Brought forward scenes of U-Wings deploying troops. Added soundFX and music.
01.41.18 - Removed 30-second chunk from the space battle for three reasons. 1. It contained footage of the x-wings bombing the actual shield (rather than the shield generators) and expressing surprise at it's lack of effectiveness (which seemed silly to me). 2. The "How much more can that thing take?" line is very poorly delivered. 3. The whole fan-servicey Red5's death bit.
01.44.16 - Added glitchy "Cas...si...an" line to final shot of K-2S0 as I always felt it was missing from the moment after he says "Goodbye". If I could have changed it to "I love you Cas...si...an" I would have LOL. "Goodbye" was too short for what felt like strong friendship.
01.48.42 - Removed a couple of seconds of Chirrut fumbling for the switch. It stretched credibility that he could use the force to survive intense crossfire and locate a panel across a battlefield but then not to find a switch right in front of him.
01.52.19 - Removed silly 20-second scene of Jyn climbing through a giant Cigar cutter. It smacked of that "choppy-crushy things" scene from Galaxy Quest. Now we just see her starting to climb up the tower, then we see her as she finishes climbing the tower. It's hardly a stretch to imagine how she got there.
01.54.51 - Removed Jyn saying "You know who I am" because it's cliched, undeserved and Krennic genuinely doesn't know who she is, having never met Jyn before (maybe he met her as a kid but it's not shown). Remixed music.
02.01.21 - Graded final Tantive IV scenes to look as close to the 1977 opening as possible.
02.01.46 - Retimed iris-wipe to credits to time with the Tantive IV going to hyperspace and not a few seconds after.
02.09.52 - Replaced end Lucasfilm logo with same vintage green style one from the start.
02.10.02 - Added animated thank you fanedit titles with DS plan graphics. Added DS computer soundFX.

Original Runtime: 134 minutes
Fanedit Runtime: 130 minutes
Time Added: 3 minutes
Time Cut: 7 minutes

Sources:
Rogue One Blu-Ray
Star Wars (Harmy's Despecialized Edition)
Prometheus Blu-Ray
Rogue One Soundtrack
Attack of the Clones Soundtrack
Return of the Jedi Soundtrack

 

[Last Impressions]

This is the edit ive been looking for...looking forward to it.