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Steel of Man. Restructured, Regraded, Rekindled!

tremault

tremault

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Got inspired by HiTop's new youtube video about superman.

I really LOVE the intensity of the colour in that image and I realised that I really miss that about superman. the message of hope. It's something I don't realy feel during any WB movies, and only really felt back in the 80s. That pure imagery of Christopher Reeve with his smile and beautiful blue eyes...

Well there was also a lot about Man of Steel that I loved... but not the lack of colour, that's for sure. Also there's that weird structure with all those flashbacks. If you've seen my other topics, you know I don't like those XD at least not too many. But what would I really be saying by adding more colour? what would I be saying by removing flashbacks?

Well, as seems to be a bit of a thing for me, I want to punch up the emotion. I think in this case, I want to assault your eyes with it. here... I'll render the first bit of colour work I've done. See how I want to really kick you in the face with colour?

I also did some work on Krypton scenes, reworking the colour of the entire sequence to accentuate red, yellow and blue.
https://imgur.com/a/S7QRANR

Aside from that, I plan to rescore some elements of the movie using John Williams classic scores.... but I'm not 100% decided on that as it could feel trite.

First thoughts about how to present the story... I love the intro so that may be mostly untouched, but I do plan to do something with faces. I want to blur out faces when they show anguish in some places. I intend to make it subtle so that it appears as it is done in camera, but I want to try it order to possibly reduce a lot of the negative feelings. I also want to blur Clark's face in some scenes and will be editing him out in some sections as I think I want to go with the 'mystery man' angle. I think by doing this, the first part of the movie hangs more on Lois and I can find some other way to introduce Clark and his childhood experiences. Still thinking on that.

I know there are a lot of Edits of this movie, so I don't feel it's good enough to do a gentle edit, I need to be violent with it.

Anyway, welcoming any thoughts, and I don't have time to research other people's edits so if you can think of anything relevant, I'd be very grateful!

edit:
coloured intro
 
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The clip you posted as well as the pictures look really good! Most colour edits of MoS look off, as if they just boost the saturation, but here it looks amazing honestly.

If you're gonna rescore with John Williams, I would recommend using the fanmade version that combines his theme with Hanz Zimmer's. Somebody already made an edit completely rescoring with Williams and IMO it felt odd next to the real world grittiness of MoS.

One idea I had for a MoS edit is combining the first flight scene with the scene of Clark learning to fly from Superman Returns. That would definitely increase the "hopefulness" of the film.


Looking forward to seeing where this edit goes!
 
yes, that is a really awesome scene and it matches really well! Maybe I could use that!
thanks :)

Thanks for the tips about the music. that is a really nice mash up!
 
Oh me, oh my! I loved your Captain Marvel edit, & am curious about your Shang-Chi edit (still waiting for reasonably priced used copy), so color me excited for you editing Man of Steel, especially since you're citing HiTop Films as an inspiration!

First off, I'll say that leaning into the "Lois investigating a mystery man" is a good instinct. I actually suggested the same idea back when the film came out & no one's really tried it yet. If done right, you can imply that Clark told Lois everything (about growing up in Smallville, about Krypton's destruction, etc.), & use that to deepen the bond they're supposed to have throughout the movie. Of course, you have to frame those flashbacks that answers Lois' implicit question of "why don't you just come out to the spotlight & help people out in the open?"

As for your asking "What would I really be saying by adding more colour? What would I be saying by removing flashbacks?" That's a very valid thing to ask, because just watching edits with the saturation boosted up doesn't do anything if they don't compliment the story. For example, you could get away not adjusting the colors of Krypton or Clark's childhood, because the former is about a civilization/planet/people long past it's prime, & the latter was an admittedly tough time for Clark growing up & grappling with the questions of how much he should be helping out. To add on to that last part, I think you should play out the scene of Pete Ross' mom talking to the Kents about the bus incident with the dialogue muted, so that it adds more credence to Johnathan Kent saying she was scared by what had happened.

On the other hand, definitely boost the colors when adult Clark is talking with his mom on the farm, or whenever he has the Superman suit on, because then it's about Clark choosing to be a positive influence to the world at large/standing in opposition to Zod's forces (it'd be really fun to keep the scene gray when Zod is interrogating Clark's mom, only for the color to pop back in when Clark comes to save her). Brightening the color can also make us more agreeable with actions Clark takes, & de-saturating it when he makes the wrong move (like when he smugly tells Zod that his parents taught him to control his abilities).

If you're looking for other video essays to help you out, I highly suggest this one, if you have the time for it:

If you don't have the time, I'll just highlight one very important line he says concerning the climax of the movie:

"[Infinite Crisis] said that a perfect world doesn't need a Superman. And I say, that our world doesn't need a Superman that kills, because it makes our world that much darker if he does."

He also mentions that Superman killing really jars poorly with how even this movie says that Superman will give the people an ideal to strive towards, since, ideally, Superman should be able to solve problems without killing anyone. What might help is if you do what JobWillins did in his Man of Tomorrow edit, & have Zod die not from Superman snapping his neck, but from Superman using too much force & slamming him into the pavement of the building, accidentally killing him that way. You could even call back to the scene of Clark destroying that rude trucker's rig, showing that this Superman (at the moment) has a problem when it comes to excessive force/payback when it comes to bad people, followed by using the Ghost Jon Kent scene from BvS to show Clark learning to live with what he did.

I'm sure I have more to add, but I'll leave it as is for now. Good luck!
 
Thanks very much Nic!
Some interesting things you say and some great points! That usage of the flashbacks is really useful, I think I was leaning in that direction so that solidifies my thoughts on that.

I'll take a look at that video later on, see if I vibe with what they are saying. Probably will for the most part. The part about superman killing. On the face of it I agree. How I want to deal with it though.... I'm not sure that I want to remove it. Main reason is that it would be very hard to get a good edit that really flows. also, what message does the film convey without it. What would be the struggle, and what would superman have learnt? I haven't broken it down to that degree yet, so I don't fully have the answer, but my current thought is ;

Superman learns that no matter how much you try, there will be someone that will not relent and will try to kill time after time, and try to destroy the world, and you will be faced with a situation where you must pay the ultimate price. the world is not pretty and while it is idealistic to say nobody ever needs to die, it will happen. the question is, how do you deal with it? what is our hope for the future? how do we look towards the light when shadows exists?

I don't know, it's a bit messy. In some ways I don't like it. perhaps it could be a teaching moment? to teach Clark that he took the ultimate action and he can never do so again?

actually...... I have a thought.
during the moments where Zod is about to kill those people, I could include flashbacks to Jonathan getting caught up in that twister? Now I think of it, maybe that is what the director's intent was? To show this family as a symbol for Clark's own past? If that was the intent, I don't think it communicated well. But if I show the memory of Jonathan in peril and Clark unable to save him, it would add weight to Clark's decision to take an extreme action.

It supports a core ideal to pivot off. the desire to protect and save family. That is why Superman is a protector. They highlighted that really well in season 1 of Superman & Lois.


Narrative structure here is tricky. In a sense, I'm looking at making this more akin to Psycho, with focus on a different character at different stages in the movie. At the start the focus is on Jor-El and his hopes and dreams for his family. Then the focus will be on Lois and her search for the mystery man, Then the focus will shift to Clarke and his quest to deal with past regret.


Edit: Hmm... Zod is a tornado.
 
Oh man, i really tried to take out the Zod kill in my edit, playing with so many options. My best attempt was that Zod just died in when they flew into the building, but it felt... lacking. So instead I attempted to make Clark and Jonathan more optimistic throughout the rest of the movie, and I used Jonathan as the catalyst for Clark to reveal himself to the world. Then, as you say, the kill is more about tough reality of the classic Superman in our "real" world. Death can not simply be avoided, Zod's or others.

But I love the idea of using some sort of flashbacks to "soften" that kill moment! That is the climax of the movie, so whatever you say will need to resonate with everything leading up to it, but this could really work well!
 
tremault said:
actually...... I have a thought.
during the moments where Zod is about to kill those people, I could include flashbacks to Jonathan getting caught up in that twister? Now I think of it, maybe that is what the director's intent was? To show this family as a symbol for Clark's own past? If that was the intent, I don't think it communicated well. But if I show the memory of Jonathan in peril and Clark unable to save him, it would add weight to Clark's decision to take an extreme action.
Click to expand...

You are literally in my head right now! Years ago, I worked with a friend on this website, @KingoftheGundam79, on a Man of Steel edit, & one choice we agreed on was juxtaposing Jon Kent & Zod's deaths together to give more context to the scene. Though, we went in a slightly different direction with it.

The way we structured things, we kept Jon Kent's rebuking Clark's attempt to save him alongside Zod's refusal to stop fighting, even though he had nothing left. The idea was to showcase both men as stubborn/set in their ways, believing that things have to be a certain way, as well as equating Jon's death with Zod's, both being people that refused to let Clark save them, whether for his own good or their selfishness. While it sounds tricky to get all that information across at once, seeing young Clark scream out for his dad followed by Superman screaming after killing Zod was chef's kiss-style editing. We wound up taking that route thanks to a BvS review that said Clark & Jon Kent's characters in both it & MoS make more sense if you interpret them as suffering from depression (which I kinda love for an interpretation of Superman, since it's not a problem he can punch): http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/2016/04/batman-v-superman-dawn-of-justice.html

But hey, that's probably too dark for what you're going for, & you're idea for juxstaposing Jon & Zod's deaths also works very well. I can't remember if this has beeen used in another edit, but you can cut Superman stopping the World Engine in the Indian Ocean with Martha helping child Clark out from class. Clark in the present is getting beaten up AND he can still hear the cries of the people of Metropolis (he can hear Perry helping Jenny from under rubble), so he remember when his mom told him to "make the world small" (color corrected to be brighter & happy), which gives him the strength to power through the World Engine (also color corrected to be brighter & happy).

As for your "Psycho-style" approach to editing, I like it in theory, but I'm iffy on the execution. In Psycho, the presentation worked because it was fakeout of presenting one type of story with a well-known actress, only to kill her off & have the story drastically shift gears. For a Superman origin movie, focusing a third of the movie on Jor-El come across as frustrating because you're given all the information at once, then shifting to Lois & waiting for her to put together puzzle pieces that the audience already has figured out, then by the time we're in Clark's PoV most of the character stuff is done & what's left is action.

If you start the edit from Lois' PoV, then you have the advantage of making her the audience surrogate, we find out about the ways Clark has helped people second-hand, getting bread crumbs of info from the people Clark has helped from along the way. Then, when Lois & Clark finally meet, you get to naturally shift the PoV again, and both the audience & Lois get to learn about Krypton from Clark's perspective.

If that last part sounds confusing, let me explain. When Lois is following Clark on the scout ship, you can move Clark's first meeting with Virtual Jor-El from later in the movie up here. They each get introductions out of the way ("To see you here, fully grown...if only Lara could've seen it." / "I have so many questions. Where do I come from?"), but then Clark hears Lois being attacked by the drone, so Clark has to leave & hear the story from Jor-El. Then, once Lois & Clark meet, you cut to Clark's face, cut to black, play Clark's brief conversation with Jor-El ("I have so many questions, etc."), & then transition to the Jor-El's part of the story. Imply that Jor-El told Clark his story off screen, & now Clark is doing the same with Lois (which is LEAGUES better, no pun intended, than Jor-El barfing up exposition for 5 minutes). It also adds more weight to Lois' decision not to run the story later, since she's been given much more personal information at this point.

One last thing, regarding Gundam's edit. As a sort of "faster, more intense" editing decision, we had it so that when Clark smashes into Zod's scout ship, their fight would be intercut with Faora making her assault on the phantom drive delivery jet, as a sort of ticking clock feel going on of "Clark needs to finish the fight with Zod fast!" We also had it so that Clark killed Zod before Col. Hardy was able to detonate the drive, so there was extra tension of "will Clark be able to collect himself so he can save Lois from falling/The Phantom Zone?" That way, Clark's last act of the fight is not one of taking one life but saving thousands (& Lois specifically).

Okay, one MORE last thing. Could you experiment with removing everything revolving around Clark being the first natural birth in all of Krypton's past century? Thematically, it adds nothing to the movie, & Zod's wanting to "sever the degenerative bloodlines" comment can be read as a way of population control/ensuring that only he allows who can/can't procreate.
 
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Wow, that could work! Hmm... I'm supposed to be asleep right now, so I'll keep it short for now...
Introducing the krypton events as Clark meets Jor-El is fantastic, but it bears keeping in mind, this simulation will only have memories up until the ship leaves Krypton. The rest of it, what happens to Zod will be unknown to Jor-El. I think it will therefore be a nice little mystery when Zod arrives at earth so late and then he can relay his part afterwards. Of course, this means Lara's death is entirely absent, but I think that's okay.

I'll reply further tomorrow.
 
tremault said:
Wow, that could work! Hmm... I'm supposed to be asleep right now, so I'll keep it short for now...
Introducing the krypton events as Clark meets Jor-El is fantastic, but it bears keeping in mind, this simulation will only have memories up until the ship leaves Krypton. The rest of it, what happens to Zod will be unknown to Jor-El. I think it will therefore be a nice little mystery when Zod arrives at earth so late and then he can relay his part afterwards. Of course, this means Lara's death is entirely absent, but I think that's okay.
Click to expand...

I think there's a way around that. In the film, Jor-El says that in a nebulous amount of time, he was able to upload his conciousness into Baby Clark's ship's memory banks, so instead of the Lion King animals of Krypton, you could show bits & pieces of the Zod's uprising and show it off as a Civil War of Krypton, overlaying Lara's line of "Make a better world than ours, Kal," making it so Zod's had the people's support for awhile rather than this just being a recent coup. Also, Virtual Jor El's memories of Krypton could end with the ship leaving Krypton's orbit, then after lands on Earth & fades to black, you cut to the aftermath of Clark saving Pete Ross & the other kids from drowning (show it as Lois hearing the first half of the story from either Pete or Martha, and tie it back to the present of Clark saying "My father believed, etc." in the present since he's talking about Jon, not Jor-El).

EDIT: Also, saving the rest of Zod's story (killing Jor-El, the following trial, his escape from the Phantom Zone, & trying to find other Kryptonian colonies) as a mystery is also a very good choice because experiencing all that from Zod's PoV will make all that exposition feel more natural. I think that's something Gundam & I also did for his edit.
 
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Sounds complicated! I don't think I want to go picking apart that entire sequence just now. Only if it poses problems in it's current form. I mean, I like the sequence, the photography in this film is rather beautiful.

In terms of structure, I'm thinking of a boomerang movement through time. Lois traces the clues back through Clark's timeline, then as she meets Pete Ross and then Clark, we start following Clark's story forwards through time. I do think that's elegant and a strong concept to help me focus.

It's really interesting to see the similarities with your old project. quite a different slant on it though. same but different XD I do like the sound of that visual edit, it does sound particularly cool!

So yes, I like that idea, start with Lois, Then deliver the rest of the story once she's met Clark. I can't show Clark meeting Jor El at the start though, I need to keep it from Lois' perspective.
With regards to the world builder finale.... there's a lot there. I haven't watched the movie in a while and I'm just looking at snippets right now and working from memory for the general structure. I do remember that the world builder bit was rather boring for me. I expect I'll be paring that down quite a bit and I may end up rearranging some events, but I really do need to just take a look at those sequences and break it down in my mind, what are the key moments, what must be shown, what adds to the feelings of hope, what takes away from it? I have looked at The fight with Zod and I need to take out the bit at the start in the streets with the tanker explosion. I do think that all needs to be a bit more expedient.

After all the movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes. I can comfortably cut a LOT out of it. As I said earlier, I need to be violent with it. A lot has got to go. It pains me to say but that also includes Lara's final moments.
 
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I did try that one ages ago before I was a member. I remember I loved the concept and I liked a lot of it but I found the music to be overwhemling in it's frequency. I didn't get all the way through because of that unfortunately.

Okay well today I worked on this. It required a lot of rotoscoping and took several hours but I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

I actually wanted to colour the interior of the WB in blue, but then I realised how much detail was in there and almost fainted XD
 
Hi all, spent a while hunting for footage that might help me. Justice League was a bust, both versions... but Batman vs Superman actually has 2 potentially useful scenes!! The night scene at Kent farm could possibly work for some kind of epilogue, and there is a scene after the bombing with Superman doing some actual helping people. Reversing and reframing should make them feel unique enough to work.

edit: no, none of those B v S clips work. I thought they'd add some additional weight when edited right. the edits of the clips worked in isolation, but placed in context they just felt needlessly convoluted.
 
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Today I looked at the finale. This is a massively complex set of scenes and it's going to be a lot of work figuring out what I want to do, but I have realised there are way too many characters. I decided, I don't think there ought to be so much focus on Perry white and the rest, and there ought not be so much focus on the military personnel. This movie is about Clark, Lois, and Zod. The other characters are supporting characters so I will be using them as such.

I ended up doing a bit of cutting around this aeroplane sequence. No colour grading or audio mixing on this yet, I'm trying to see how the edit works. One thing I think I need to do is make the scientist's presence more obvious sooner. I can't remove him activating the phantom drive, although I wish I could.
 
I found a good place for the tornado scene. Putting that entire scene in the finale messes with the pacing pretty badly, but I find that this is close enough to the finale to remain fresh in the mind and it also adds weight to this scene and adds to Clark's resolve. audio and colour still need some work.
I have edited so Jonathan gets to the car for the dog much quicker, I reframed so the distance to the car is obfuscated. I removed the argument. I edited so that as Clark reaches the overpass, the car flies through the air and crushes the car Jonathan is in. Clark has no time to rush back as it is already too late. The colour grading is made to get more contrast and more red tones as the scene gets more hectic.
I felt this position really worked because it is right after he points out that family are irreplaceable. It also means he says "I don't think they want to share the planet", right after we have seen the tornado, which creates an association.
 
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tremault said:
I found a good place for the tornado scene. Putting that entire scene in the finale messes with the pacing pretty badly, but I find that this is close enough to the finale to remain fresh in the mind and it also adds weight to this scene and adds to Clark's resolve. audio and colour still need some work.
I have edited so Jonathan gets to the car for the dog much quicker, I reframed so the distance to the car is obfuscated. I removed the argument. I edited so that as Clark reaches the overpass, the car flies through the air and crushes the car Jonathan is in. Clark has no time to rush back as it is already too late. The colour grading is made to get more contrast and more red tones as the scene gets more hectic.
I felt this position really worked because it is right after he points out that family are irreplaceable. It also means he says "I don't think they want to share the planet", right after we have seen the tornado, which creates an association.
Click to expand...

This may just be a "I notice it because it's different" type scenario, but the transition from Clark reuniting with his mom to immediately going to the tornado feels very rushed. Given how Clark's words before the flashback are "but you can't be," it'd make for some nice irony to go back to a time where young Clark said something like "you're family, not mine" to show how much he's changed. Of course, cut out some really mean-spirited stuff (remove Clark saying "you're not my real dad" & remove Jon saying "We're not your parents"), but keep the set-up, the calm before the storm.

I also don't think you need Clark to say "I don't think they're interested in sharing this world. Aside from being a somewhat flat line read, it's also fairly obvious. You could just have Lois come in on the scene to bring Clark back to reality. I also wonder if you could foreshadow this scene, by including snippits of Pa Kent in the storm as Clark is punching Zod screaming "You think you can threaten my mother?!" Showcase how Clark won't let anyone harm his family again.

One last thing, but the audio transitions within the tornado scene are very noticeable (going from music playing as Clark is getting everyone to the overpass to no music playing while Jon is helping the dog in the car). I want to say @Wakeupkeo has a version of this scene that smooths the audio & also has a wayward car crush Jon Kent, but don't quote me on that.
 
no, I think you're right. I thought it was quick too. the placement is good, but the timing is problematic. I tried to give it as much time as I could but it still feels quick. I might need some sort of insert shot or maybe slow the footage down, or maybe some other creative editing. I appreciate you pointing it out, it's good to be kept on my toes.

I want to have that line in there "I don't think they're interested..." as a direct follow on from the tornado. I want it to be like Clark is equating them to the tornado. I want that to be the first plant of the seed that grows into him realising he has no option but to kill Zod. This is how I can justify that event as I know a lot of people vehemently dislike that moment. I want to make it feel earned. About that scene where he is punching Zod, I will be removing that. I feel it's unnecessarily violent. having clips of the tornado inserted at choice points though... that could help to push it to the front of our minds. Thanks for that, I'll keep that at the back of my mind for later. not sure if I should use it though as I don't want to suggest he is ptsd. that might be too far.

Thanks for pointing out the audio. I'll give it a once over.

I think I'm still getting an idea of the story I'm telling, but generally, Clark is not violent or angry. He is focused on helping people but also desires to keep it a secret. I believe Jor el is the reason for him changing his mind on this. but I'm not including any tension between clark and his parents.
i've edited a few sequences so far and it's coming together. I think my subconscious is clear on what I want, but I haven't translated it fully into words yet.
I have removed clips of his childhood that are unnecessary. I'm removing as much of the military people as I can.

it's been really hot here over the past few days so it's hard to think properly, but i could do a summary of the work i've done so far, I have a good portion of the structure laid out and the intro is quite solid.
I have it starting with Lois and she is following the mystery man. then when she gets hit by the floaty robot, she is dazed and so she can't focus on his face. I like how it comes across. not sure how long the sequences are but I could do some renders to give you a taste.
 
I would like some feedback on this please. I have been struggling to remove Clark from this sequence, and this is something I'm trying. Luckily, this film uses dynamic zooms from time to time so I've tried utilising that to hide one of my cuts. essentially, I'm extending this shot by repeating the end, but obfuscating it using framing. I'll be mastering afterwards using my 4k source so quality shouldn't be an issue.

Here is a portion of the intro that I promised. There is no shots of Clark before this except the moments where he carries Lois' luggage, because he's not shown to be significant in those shots, and where she sees him through her camera.

I can't really give a summary of the structure yet, I forgot how much of a mess my timeline currently is XD
 
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