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Star Wars Abridged — 9 films cut to 3 (new preview for sequel 3-in-1 available)

Zarius

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Finished the Resistance chapter.

It takes a while for all the changes to really show themselves as the first hour and a half is Force Awakens, but when they do...yeah, this is an interesting way of mixing them, certainly a different kind of structure from what I've seen of other 3-in-1 edits, though still covers some familiar beats (like the footage of the republic citizens reacting in horror as the star destroyer blows the planet up, I think I've seen that before in an edit)

I really liked the training montage with Rey, including bits of her training in Rise of Skywalker.

The Ford Force ghost was a nice enough effect, tying it to Luke rather than Leia fit in well with the themes presented earlier in the film when Luke is exploring the Falcon and asking where's Han

I would probably place Kylo smashing his helmet elsewhere...from my reading, he contacts Palpatine, gets mad for no reason, pummels his helmet, then travels to Exogal...at no point was it ever conveyed why he was annoyed...unless I'm reading it rightr that he's irritated that Palpatine was manipulating him from the start? I would have him destroy the helmet after a supreme setback brought on by the resistance more than by Palpatine exclusively..

There was a dodgy spot with the music at 1 hr 40 minutes, and for some reason there's someone 2 hrs in talking but no audio is coming from them, and it seems it's a rewinding shot. Not sure what that accomplished there.

I'd say you've got something very daring in there, it tries to give us as much of all three movies, but some of the movies are favoured more than others, and from there I can see why it may have pacing problems.
 

subjectzero

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Thanks Zarius!

Yeah, the helmet smashing was supposed to be that he was pissed at Papa Palpy for manipulating him this whole time. I tried to make it seem as if he thought he was his grandfather's apprentice only to find out that he's been had this whole time. His own mask was supposed to be him taking after his grandfather which is why he smashes it. Everyone in the galaxy has been had by Palps, including the First Order, so Kylo goes off to kill him. I think I might need to figure something out to really sell that point... I'll have to think on it.

Thanks for posting about the weird places in the cut! I haven't really given this a detailed watch so I expect I missed a bunch of stuff I'll want to fix. I'm going to let it rest for a bit and go back to finalize the prequel and OT films before I circle back round to finalize this one.

These edits gave me some very good insights into the films BTW. The prequels were actually the best planned but worst executed while the sequel trilogy was the best executed but the worst planned. That meant the PT really just needed bits lopped off while the ST had a lot more rearranging and restructuring to be done making it the hardest to create a 3-in-1.
 
Zarius said:
Finished the Resistance chapter.

Boy, that was long, almost three hours, takes a while for all the changes to really show themselves as the first hour and a half is Force Awakens, but when they do...yeah, this is an interesting way of mixing them, certainly a different kind of structure from what I've seen of other 3-in-1 edits, though still covers some familiar beats (like the footage of the republic citizens reacting in horror as the star destroyer blows the planet up, I think I've seen that before in an edit)

I really liked the training montage with Rey, including bits of her training in Rise of Skywalker.

The Ford Force ghost was a nice enough effect, tying it to Luke rather than Leia fit in well with the themes presented earlier in the film when Luke is exploring the Falcon and asking where's Han

I would probably place Kylo smashing his helmet elsewhere...from my reading, he contacts Palpatine, gets mad for no reason, pummels his helmet, then travels to Exogal...at no point was it ever conveyed why he was annoyed...unless I'm reading it rightr that he's irritated that Palpatine was manipulating him from the start? I would have him destroy the helmet after a supreme setback brought on by the resistance more than by Palpatine exclusively..

There was a dodgy spot with the music at 1 hr 40 minutes, and for some reason there's someone 2 hrs in talking but no audio is coming from them, and it seems it's a rewinding shot. Not sure what that accomplished there.

I'd say you've got something very daring in there, it tries to give us as much of all three movies, but some of the movies are favoured more than others, and from there I can see why it may have pacing problems.
 

subjectzero

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Hold the phone guys! I think I figured a way to shorten the movie by an hour AND free up some scenes I MIGHT be able to repurpose! It also means I might change a whole hell of a lot of this 3-in-1... we'll see.

Edited for more info on what I'm thinking:

Nando v Movies is doing an interesting rewrite of TRoS and part of that was a video explanation of why TRoS doesn't work. One of the things he points out (and I feel fairly silly for also not realizing this) is that you can go directly from finding the dagger directly to Endor. Actually, I think I can take it one step further, we can go from reading the passage in Luke's book to the Death Star without the dagger at all. Maybe even pepper in some vision of the throne room earlier for Rey.

The real issue here, is getting the reveal of Rey's parentage. The only possibility I can think of is that in my cut, since there's no Snoke, Rey never goes to confront Kylo and I cut all that out of TLJ. Maybe I can put that back in and use the footage from TRoS where her and Kylo are in the hanger.

I haven't really gone back to look at all of it yet so I don't know if this will all work. There's some other possible surprises which might mean a full restructuring of the film. Basically, I'm going to try another major pass on this.
 

Masirimso17

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I think it can work. The only thing I would miss is Poe and Zorii’s scene about “they make you think you’re alone” and I’d somehow find a way to reinsert that.

My idea had C3PO reading the dagger and revealing Snoke’s location (instead of Palpatine being the big bad) but you may not need it of course.
 

subjectzero

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Masirimso17 said:
I think it can work. The only thing I would miss is Poe and Zorii’s scene about “they make you think you’re alone” and I’d somehow find a way to reinsert that.

My idea had C3PO reading the dagger and revealing Snoke’s location (instead of Palpatine being the big bad) but you may not need it of course.

That scene between Poe and Zorii already ended on the cutting room floor. I think I did try having him read the dagger in the cave but couldn't quite get it to work.

I just finished an edit of the new version and lopped off a considerable chunk. Basically, I've reworked it so they go from the new Rebel base directly to the Endor system. No dagger required, just a few added shots during some visions and some new scenes sprinkled here and there. Some work still needs to be done on it to clarify some aspects.

Part of me wants to make a new version which would really rewrite the whole sequel trilogy. Not sure exactly how but my experience doing this cut has brought up some interesting ideas.
 

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I haven't watched your prequel edit, but I did watch Rebellion.

THIS WAS AN INCREDIBLE EDIT. Let that be the primary message you receive.

I know this was probably more of a workprint, but here are my thoughts on what I felt could be improved.

1. The Rogue One sequence is great. I would suggest holding off showing Vader until he shows up with lightsaber in hand. Wouldn't change anything else there. Just feel like there is a stronger Vader reveal when you don't see him coming at all.

2. The opening title works, but I would drop the ABRIDGED title from the actual edit. I think it takes you out of it a bit and feel it's strong enough with REBELLION only. 

3. I think someone mentioned, but there was a little flash frame in some of Empire footage where Han and Leia have their back and forth. Where you cut the Luke/Leia kiss.

What I liked:

ONE DEATH STAR. Single greatest improvement.

NO EWOKS.

I really loved this and should be regarded as one of the stronger Star Wars edits out there. I feel like I will catch myself watching this one a good bit. I feel like we got a Lord of the Rings level feature out of this, and I wasn't at all bothered by the length.

I can't wait to sit and watch the prequel edit now.
 

mrbenja0618

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Masirimso17 said:
I think it can work. The only thing I would miss is Poe and Zorii’s scene about “they make you think you’re alone” and I’d somehow find a way to reinsert that.

My idea had C3PO reading the dagger and revealing Snoke’s location (instead of Palpatine being the big bad) but you may not need it of course.

I love this scene too, but I believe it's also crippled by the fact that she NEVER TAKES HER HELMET OFF. Honestly, we couldn't see her face for this emotional scene? Sheesh.
 

Jrzag42

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mrbenja0618 said:
I love this scene too, but I believe it's also crippled by the fact that she NEVER TAKES HER HELMET OFF. Honestly, we couldn't see her face for this emotional scene? Sheesh.

It is a pretty cool mask though.
 

mrbenja0618

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I finally got to watch your prequel edit.

Without spoiling, I will say you make Anakin far less cringy, and I actually felt for him... Not sure if it's seeing it all in the film, but I also think there are fascinating cuts in the romance sections that really changed things for me. I have some thoughts, if you are open at this point.

I thought it was one of most interesting prequel edits out there. Made the AOTC material stronger for sure!
 

subjectzero

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Any and all criticism is welcome at this point! These are still WIPs!
 
mrbenja0618 said:
I finally got to watch your prequel edit.

Without spoiling, I will say you make Anakin far less cringy, and I actually felt for him... Not sure if it's seeing it all in the film, but I also think there are fascinating cuts in the romance sections that really changed things for me. I have some thoughts, if you are open at this point.

I thought it was one of most interesting prequel edits out there. Made the AOTC material stronger for sure!
 

mrbenja0618

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First off, please don't quit. The work you're doing is good, and I'm interested to see your work on the sequel films.

On the prequel edit. I think the strength was that by having all three films stacked, it feels like the Jedi's distrust of Anakin is relentless and comes off as a stronger reason to rebel. 

My own criticism would be that you used a bit more TPM. I think you could have opened with the pod race with Qui-Gon looking in the stands at the Jedi prospect as he races. It could have opened to an action sequence like the original Star Wars. That complaint is minor and doesn't truly hurt the edit.

How is the sequel edit coming?
 

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I agree... I am truly looking forward to your sequel edit, @"subjectzero"
 

subjectzero

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I know this is a long time coming but life got a bit in the way. I did export a new version only to realize I need to cut another character out of the film completely. The more I work on this edit, the more I realize how much of a narrative mess the sequels are.
 

Zarius

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subjectzero said:
I know this is a long time coming but life got a bit in the way. I did export a new version only to realize I need to cut another character out of the film completely. The more I work on this edit, the more I realize how much of a narrative mess the sequels are.

That's to be expected when two of the three don't do anything but rehash or course correct, there's no real thematic material in them, the middle is the only thing with anything resembling an actual skeleton
 

subjectzero

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Zarius said:
subjectzero said:
I know this is a long time coming but life got a bit in the way. I did export a new version only to realize I need to cut another character out of the film completely. The more I work on this edit, the more I realize how much of a narrative mess the sequels are.

That's to be expected when two of the three don't do anything but rehash or course correct, there's no real thematic material in them, the middle is the only thing with anything resembling an actual skeleton

Ironically, despite being a fan of episode 8, I removed a ton of that movie from my edit.
 

mrbenja0618

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subjectzero said:
Zarius said:
subjectzero said:
I know this is a long time coming but life got a bit in the way. I did export a new version only to realize I need to cut another character out of the film completely. The more I work on this edit, the more I realize how much of a narrative mess the sequels are.

That's to be expected when two of the three don't do anything but rehash or course correct, there's no real thematic material in them, the middle is the only thing with anything resembling an actual skeleton

Ironically, despite being a fan of episode 8, I removed a ton of that movie from my edit.

I also enjoyed TLJ, but I do think the greatest sin (in all three films) is the treatment of Finn. All his scenes amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things until he catches up with the others in the climax. It's a shame too. Finn (to me) had the most interesting origin, and he basically becomes comic relief.

Not sure if that's the portions from the film that you're referencing, however.

Good to hear you're working on it.
 

subjectzero

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Update on Abridged III: I'm abandoning the current version. I've tried reworking it and reworking it and the whole thing has collapsed into quite a mess. The problem is that there's just no cohesive story throughline—unlike the prequels and original trilogy—and it just doesn't work. The sequel trilogy needs a complete rewrite... I'll get to that in a minute.

In the interim, I'm going to finalize the first two films. Those are pretty much ready to go and just need a bit of finesse. No point in delaying those while I work on the third one.

As for Star Wars Abridged III, I think the best way I can think of to rework it is to make one significant change: Rey Solo. Not entirely sure how to pull this off, TBH, but I wonder if I can edit the Death Star lightsaber fight with the Exogal battle, recasting the Final Order as Snoke's final order... if something happens to him he'll have his retribution and let the galaxy burn. Again, no idea how to actually pull this off but if anyone has either Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver saying the words mother, father, brother, and sister, that might be super helpful.
 

Masirimso17

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subjectzero said:
Update on Abridged III: I'm abandoning the current version. I've tried reworking it and reworking it and the whole thing has collapsed into quite a mess. The problem is that there's just no cohesive story throughline—unlike the prequels and original trilogy—and it just doesn't work. The sequel trilogy needs a complete rewrite... I'll get to that in a minute.

In the interim, I'm going to finalize the first two films. Those are pretty much ready to go and just need a bit of finesse. No point in delaying those while I work on the third one.

As for Star Wars Abridged III, I think the best way I can think of to rework it is to make one significant change: Rey Solo. Not entirely sure how to pull this off, TBH, but I wonder if I can edit the Death Star lightsaber fight with the Exogal battle, recasting the Final Order as Snoke's final order... if something happens to him he'll have his retribution and let the galaxy burn. Again, no idea how to actually pull this off but if anyone has either Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver saying the words mother, father, brother, and sister, that might be super helpful.

Interesting. Were you unable to cut out Kijimi and the Chewbacca rescue as you originally planned?

Do you think your old version with Kijimi/Chewie rescue is different from your new plan enough for it to be worth a watch? I was holding off on it before the new version, but maybe it might give some ideas. Although, if Rise of Skywalker is in it a lot I don’t think I can be able to sit through it again ?
 
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