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The Gill-man: B+ Movie Edition

The Scribbling Man

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The other day I watched the classic sci-fi b-movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon" for the first time. I stuck it on because I enjoy checking out classics - plus, sci-fi b-movies can be quite fun (and occasionally, surprisingly good). 
What I found was that it generally isn't a very good movie, but it does have its moments. However, the so-bad-it's-good experience was seriously "watered-down" by the crazy amount of filler. This film is absolutely chock filled with painfully long scenes of people diving and swimming with very little happening, and a rather lame attempt is made at making these scenes tense by adding an excessively dramatic soundtrack. 

My chief aim with this edit is to cut down the filler and in the process create what is hopefully a shorter, better paced and more enjoyable experience. I had a go at a scene today:


Changes for the above scene:

- Cut out about three two minutes worth of swimming. (Edit: my mistake. 3 minutes were removed from a different scene I was looking at.)
- Cut creature just floating around lamely and trying to touch woman.
- Added shot of creature grabbing for woman's leg just before she gets on boat.

I imagine this isn't a very widely watched film, so I don't know how many will actually be interested in this. But any thoughts and feedback is appreciated.
 

TM2YC

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Juniquex said:
I imagine this isn't a very widely watched film, so I don't know how many will actually be interested in this.

I'd be interested.

Fanedits of old black 'n' white movies are less common, making this automatically interesting. I also own the blu-ray as part of the Universal Monster box-set. I watched CFTBL once and did find it to have tedious underwater scenes.

That clip looks/sounds perfect to me. It's got the "Jaws" pacing and tension. I can't beleive you cut out more than half the scene :D , it must really have been filled full with filler.
 

The Scribbling Man

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TM2YC said:
Juniquex said:
I imagine this isn't a very widely watched film, so I don't know how many will actually be interested in this.

I'd be interested.

Fanedits of old black 'n' white movies are less common, making this automatically interesting. I also own the blu-ray as part of the Universal Monster box-set. I watched CFTBL once and did find it to have tedious underwater scenes.

That clip looks/sounds perfect to me. It's got the "Jaws" pacing and tension. I can't beleive you cut out more than half the scene :D , it must really have been filled full with filler.

Thanks, that's good to hear :)

I definitely felt there were similarities to Jaws when I watched the theatrical, particularly with the soundtrack. Spielberg must have taken some inspiration from it, I reckon.
 

Wakeupkeo

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This looks awesome, I would be very interested as well!
 

ssj

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Juniquex said:
- Cut creature just floating around lamely and trying to touch woman.
- Added shot of creature grabbing for woman's leg just before she gets on boat.

good sir, that kind of behavior in hollywood is frowned upon these days.
 

Sinbad

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That's very nicely edited, I haven't seen the orginal but if theres a lot cut there it certainly wasn't apparent, I'll give this a watch when its finished. I also got the Jaws vibe from it has Spielberg ever cited this as an influence on Jaws? also wasn't Clint Eastwood in one of these flims??
 

The Scribbling Man

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Sinbad said:
That's very nicely edited, I haven't seen the orginal but if theres a lot cut there it certainly wasn't apparent, I'll give this a watch when its finished. I also got the Jaws vibe from it has Spielberg ever cited this as an influence on Jaws? also wasn't Clint Eastwood in one of these flims??

Thanks! It's chiefly just one big chunk removed and an added shot at the end. I'm being really pernickety with a scene at the moment though... Literally shaving off like 12 seconds just to increase the tension/pacing in a single scene. I might upload it soon.

Yes, I've heard something of that ilk... I think Clint Eastwood makes an appearance in a sequel, but I haven't seen it. I doubt he'd be credited as it's before he was famous. He also has a small role as a police officer in the B-movie "Tarantula".
 

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Love the old Universal Horror lineup!  Any idea on what the run time will look like when you're done your edits?  I imagine this will have a short running time based on how much it sounds like your cutting.

Either way, definitely interested in this!
 

The Scribbling Man

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Okay, just spent perhaps a bit too long on this... Was planning on just cutting swimming scenes out, but now I keep wanting to alter the pacing and improve tension. Here's my version:

Cut List:

  • Numerous little shaves here and there adding up to approx. 12-15 sec, including:
  • shots between women and creature are quicker, and woman's reaction time is improved.
  • Improved reaction time of henchmen after woman screams. I did this by speeding up the clip of him bracing himself.



Here is also a slightly quicker henchmen death (one less scream). I kind of prefer this, but wasn't sure if this jarred with the music too much:


And here's the original, should you wish to compare (0:00-1:03):


Thoughts appreciated! It's quite possible I'm taking this a bit too far...
 

The Scribbling Man

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musiced921 said:
Love the old Universal Horror lineup!  Any idea on what the run time will look like when you're done your edits?  I imagine this will have a short running time based on how much it sounds like your cutting.

Either way, definitely interested in this!

I'm not sure, but I reckon it's probably going to be a little under an hour. The original running time is about 1 hour 16 minutes, and at the moment my version is around 1 hour 7 minutes. I'm about halfway through the material.
 

Sinbad

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There's a slight jump on the guy on the left at the 45 second mark on the first clip, I dont find the second clip jarring at all. Your version definitely takes some of the comedy away in as much as the creature actuallly seems like more of a threat rather than a bloke in a suit who can't see where he is going...
 

The Scribbling Man

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Sinbad said:
There's a slight jump on the guy on the left at the 45 second mark on the first clip, I dont find the second clip jarring at all. Your version definitely takes some of the comedy away in as much as the creature actuallly seems like more of a threat rather than a bloke in a suit who can't see where he is going...

Thanks for the feedback.

Yeah, there was originally a scene inserted between where it looks to be jumping. Although, I thought it was a missing frame at first, but it actually looks like the two clips vary ever so slightly in terms of brightness, so there's a noticeable dip. Not sure the best way of fixing that.

So... taking the comedy out - good or bad thing? It can never be a great movie IMO, but it can be so-bad-it's-good, minus the boring parts.
 

Sinbad

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I would put that 2 second clip inbetween back in. I think it's a good thing to cut down on the comedy value, that version already exists so trying to make it more menacing is definitely the way to go I think.  I prefer to watch an alternate viewing experience in a fanedit rather than minor fixes that address 'niggles' with the original. Depends what ultimately you are going for though...
 

The Scribbling Man

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Sinbad said:
I would put that 2 second clip inbetween back in. I think it's a good thing to cut down on the comedy value, that version already exists so trying to make it more menacing is definitely the way to go I think.  I prefer to watch an alternate viewing experience in a fanedit rather than minor fixes that address 'niggles' with the original. Depends what ultimately you are going for though...

It's started out as an experiment really. I'm not very experienced in editing, but I've always been interested in it. Watching this the other day I immediately saw what needed changing and so I thought I'd give it a go. I guess the general aim is to remove filler, improve pacing and increase tension as much as possible.
 

Sinbad

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Well if you're not planning on submitting it that slight jump doesnt matter I wasn't sure if it was in the actual movie at first. What software are you using to edit with?
 

The Scribbling Man

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Sinbad said:
Well if you're not planning on submitting it that slight jump doesnt matter I wasn't sure if it was in the actual movie at first. What software are you using to edit with?

I'd certainly like to submit it as it'll give me a standard to work to. Plus, it seems to have generated some interest.

I'm using Sony Vegas Pro 12.
 

Sinbad

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A Vegas user here too can help out with technical questions if I know 'em. ive used a lot of the plugins in the past. Youtube has guides for pretty much everything in Vegas though. You could play with the contrast brightness plugins to fix the differing lighting in the henchmen scene
 

The Scribbling Man

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Sinbad said:
A Vegas user here too can help out with technical questions if I know 'em. ive used a lot of the plugins in the past. Youtube has guides for pretty much everything in Vegas though. You could play with the contrast brightness plugins to fix the differing lighting in the henchmen scene

Thanks. Yeah, was going to look into how to do that sort of thing. 

Do you prefer the missing clip in between or is it just the jump that bothers you?
 

Sinbad

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it doesn't really bother me, its something I'd probably expect to see in a low budget b movie from the 50s anyway. You would have to ask a  member of the Academy whether it would need addressing though. I think the clip in between doesnt drag the scene out at all, works equally as well.
 
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