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Son of Krypton

krausfadr

krausfadr

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A Man of Steel (MOS) and Batman v Superman (BVS) fanedit in 4K


Son-of-Krypton-Cover.png



Intent:

The fanedit, Man of Tomorrow (MOT) by JobWillins is a prime example showing the impact that extensive artistic restructuring and rescoring can have on film. This edit, Son of Krypton (SOK), would not have been possible without the prior contributions of other fan editors, especially JobWillins.

I was just going to release a MOS FanFix. But after watching MOT a few times, I grew stronger of the opinion that the true fix was combining it with BVS.

In my opinion, the character of Lex Luthor in BVS was poorly written, too comical with a musical score to match his overly quirky personality. In this edit, BVS and Lex are more serious and refined to the central elements.

For me the heart of MOS lies in two major storylines which are restored in SOK:
  1. Superman saves his mother from Zod.
  2. He also helps the military even though they try to kill him, gaining their respect.
This required reinstating the Battle of Smallville, though it is toned down significantly.
Change List:

Major changes to MOS:
1. Color correction to reduce the very slight unnatural green tone throughout and make Superman’s suit more vibrant in outdoor daylight.
2. Reduced Krypton scenes to under 5 minutes, Zod doesn’t directly murder Jor-El. Scenes rearranged and rescored for a very different experience.
3. Changes to musical score including updated music for Superman’s first flight, keeping modern-ness of Zimmer with more themes of Williams.
4. Clark joins the Daily Planet earlier.
5. While Superman is in custody at the military base, Zod arrives in Kansas, lands the World Engine (but does not start terraforming). Scenes rearranged and rescored for a very different experience.
6. Superman is released from custody and flies home to find Zod threatening his mother. He does not visit Zod in space.
7. Toned down the destruction and boss battles at Smallville and Metropolis.
8. Lois is not involved whatsoever in fighting the Kryptonians, she’s not on the military bomber with the phantom drive.
9. Zod gives shorter speeches.

Major changes to BVS:
1. Color regrade to match the natural color of MOS 4K, eliminating the gritty green tones throughout. The 4K release of MOS has a more natural grading than the Blu-Ray.
2. Most of the storyline is cut (Africa, Hearings, Clark living with Lois, etc.)
3. Updated musical score in some scenes. The new arrangement and score, particularly in the scene with Lex removing Zod's fingerprints creates a different mood and experience.
4. Lex’s weird mannerisms and outbursts are reduced, and his backstory is removed.
5. Tightened up most of the BVS scenes used.
6. Lex does not kidnap Lois or push her from a rooftop to lure Superman. Instead, Superman hears Lex calling his name with his super hearing.
7. When Clark is in his reporter persona he is less judgmental and condescending.

Major differences from MOT (in addition to the above):
1. Kept more storyline from MOS.
2. Cut more storyline from BVS, significantly toned down Lex.
3. The Krypton scenes are reduced but retained in the beginning and are not presented in a flashback.
4. Krypton scenes that resembled Star Wars removed.
5. Clark becomes Superman before Zod's broadcast (same as MOS).
6. Bruce Wayne watches Zod’s broadcast.
7. Used the snow/dad scene from BVS (with Jor-El's voice added) as the transition scene between Lois’ arrest and Superman surrendering.
8. Reinstated the battle of Smallville.
9. Different scene structure and arrangements (note some structure was borrowed from JobWillins, see below).
10. Video in 4K and audio in surround 5.1.

Ideas from other individuals which are used or completely copied in SOK:
(while different editors separately will make similar editing choices, I did not come up or would not have come up with parts of SOK and due credit is given below).

Avid 4D:
Zod’s voice matches the staticky sound of the rest of his broadcast.

TM2YC:
1. Changed Audioslave music from scene with Clark “borrowing” clothes.
2. In the holding room Lois laughs at Superman’s joke instead of laughing at him.
3. Zod isn’t as mean to hologram Jor-El.

JobWillins:
1. Zod dies on impact to the ground, no heat vision neck snap. Edited this scene virtually the same way as Man of Tomorrow. Added a different music cue when Zod dies. Retained more foley.
2. Recut scenes just before and after Zod is killed to show Bruce Wayne helping the little girl then brooding in the Batcave. Edited these scenes virtually the same way as Man of Tomorrow using “Beautiful Lie” from BVS soundtrack. Added foley.
3. Used tornado flashback scenes when Superman fights Doomsday. Edited the scenes and music virtually the same way as Man of Tomorrow. Added foley.
4. Recreated the same scenes after Superman’s death as Man of Tomorrow, including music.

Joseph Bennie and IronPixelChef:
Created music that I used to mix together for Superman's departure from the Scout ship and his first flight.
 
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A test for the new musical score as Clark becomes Superman and launches into flight. The sound design is not finished, but the score is placed to see how well this arrangement works. What do you think?

 
I like the sound of this, I like the look of the colour regrade, and I love the two preview clips. The Krypton sequence as you've made it is beautifully paced, really illustrates the necessary points quickly and elegantly and gets us where we need to be for the start of the movie - I'm not sure if you have a plan to address the fate of Jor-El later through flashback, in which case I understand why you've cut his death here, but if you're not planning on using that somewhere else it's probably the only piece missing from Krypton. Other than that, great job. As for the new score, it's everything my little Superman fangirl heart wants to hear when we see Clark taking flight for the first time, great piece of music, just enough of the classic theme without launching into the full orchestral score.

I'll be watching this with great interest! I personally prefer to keep Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman separate, but no matter what you do I'll be ready to give it a go and see your vision.
 
Thanks for the feedback morrigan. I wanted to simply suggest Jor-El probably was killed during the initial insurrection. I could also go the non-subtle route and try to add him reacting audibly to being shot. I‘m on the fence about including BvS but I have to admit Man of Tomorrow did a convincing job of this concept, improving both films.
 
Update: I'm doing some restructuring I don't think are in other MOS Fanedits. In this edit, Superman will not visit Zod on his spaceship. Here's the draft cut of scenes leading up to the new first encounter between Superman and Zod:

 
Not sure how well this will work narratively. The Government arrests him just to let him leave? After just politely talking to him for an hour? Here they've done nothing to ensure humanity's safety; in the original they're bargaining for the safety of mankind by handing him directly to Zod. Here they're immediately trusting Superman to do something they have no reason to trust he'll do; act in their self interest.

Hardy hasn't been saved by him yet, and Swanwick doesn't even trust him by the end of the film anyway. Why would Swanwick release him back to the wild after bringing him in?
 
They let him go presumably to go fight Zod who they realize has invaded (Kansas) as they’re arresting Superman. They don’t have much regard for Superman though as they still try to kill him along with the other Kryptonians. Also it works narratively because when Superman breaks out of the handcuffs the General knows he can’t actually control him anyway.
 
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I like that "first flight" rescore with the mix of John Williams and Hanz Zimmer. Did you come up with that arrangement while editing or is that something you found on a bonus CD or on youtube somewhere? Bravo either way.

I don't have a problem with Superman not visiting Zod's ship, but it does present some challenges to superman's story arc. Zod's ship is where the Kryptonians figure out that the codex is inside/a part of Kal El. There is also an important "atonement with the father" bit of storyline between holo Jor El and Superman. I like the idea and I'm curious to find out how you plan to tie up some of the loose ends it might create. May I ask why you would like to remove that sequence? Is it for the sake of cutting some time off the edit in order to incorporate scenes/story from BvS?
 
Hi Clark, thanks for sharing your thoughts. The first flight rescore is done using three different musical pieces. The music is available for purchase but it is available to listen on youtube as well. I remixed and layered the pieces on top of each other.

I appreciate your comments about what you liked on Zod’s ship. I’ll revisit it to see what I might still be able to use. I’m only cutting the portion where Lois and Superman are on the ship. Not necessarily other scenes from the ship. The reason I’m cutting it is because it’s probably the weakest element of the storyline. After viewing the edit Man of Tomorrow I realized it is very possible to remove this part, making room for limited parts of BvS, and overall improving the film.
 
Tinybreadmouse, I'll post more clips so you can see how I handle the narrative. There will be more threat from Zod established than just "turn over Kal-El or else." Thanks for looking at potential issues to address.
 
krausfadr said:
Tinybreadmouse, I'll post more clips so you can see how I handle the narrative. There will be more threat from Zod established than just "turn over Kal-El or else." Thanks for looking at potential issues to address.
Click to expand...
The easiest way I have found to change a narrative is to change what happens on screens in the film. (TV's, computers, phones). When Zod hacks into the TV airwaves he is distorted so you can't see any of his lip or facial movement. Maybe you could comb through some other Michael Shannon (Zod actor) movies to make what he says more threating? You would have to modulate the voice heavily to match the bass-y tone that Zod has but it might be worth looking into. Just don't chase that rabbit too far down the hole.
 
Yeah that is a good point-- the broadcast dialogue could easily be changed. However, I've added in some earlier US military engagement with Kryptonian spacecraft-- which does not go well for the military. Zod effectively begins his ground invasion. So the US military is already getting their butt kicked by Zod before they let Superman go.
 
Clark, I also did go back and review closely the interaction between Superman and Jor-El on Zod's ship. I found this to be just more of the same pep talk he gave his son earlier except this time, Superman thinks he's Jesus. For me, this all needs to be cut. The only savior theme I intend to keep is from BvS when the crowd gathers worshipfully around Superman after he saves the girl from the fire.

EDIT: I've thought about this some more and found a way to possibly include some of Jor-El's dialogue spoken in Zod's ship. For this edit after Zod's broadcast and before Superman turns himself in to help Lois, I plan to now cut the visit to the priest as well as the bully flashback. Instead I will use the scene from BvS where Clark is hiking in the snow. We hear the sound of the scout ship door closing then see Clark walking in the snow, the words of Jor-El echoing in his head "you can save her, you can save them all." Then he stumbles across the ghost of his Earthly father who reinforces the importance of the love of his life. It is after this "dual fathers" scene that Superman shows up at the base to turn himself in. @ClarkWayne
 
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Change list updated in description.
 
Here's an expanded update of the rearranged scenes leading up to Superman's first encounter with Zod. TinyBreadMouse brought up the issue that the General might not have enough motivation to release Superman, and this update aims to fix that.

 
@ClarkWayne ok so I mocked up the scene which replaces the priest and bullying scene just before Superman turns himself in. Here's the opening of that scene:

 
krausfadr said:
Here's an expanded update of the rearranged scenes leading up to Superman's first encounter with Zod. TinyBreadMouse brought up the issue that the General might not have enough motivation to release Superman, and this update aims to fix that.

Click to expand...
I think this is starting to take a nice shape. My only critique would be the cut between ZODs ships destroying the Jets the were scrambled to intercept and Superman talking to the soldiers through the two way mirror. I think it works fine to have Swanwick there (good news is he is wearing the same outfit!) but it just doesn't seem like enough time has passed between the cuts for to Swanwick have moved from the situation room or wherever he was directing an airstrike to the room where Superman is being held. Arguably the rooms could be right next to each other or the same room I suppose but I wonder if adding something inbetween those two scenes would make the transition a little smoother. Just a thought. Keep it up. Looking good.
 
Yeah the same thought crossed my mind but hadn’t thought of a scene that could fit in.
I even thought about cropping him out of the first few seconds to make it at least look like he could have had time to walk in.
 
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