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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Edits

not_a_wizard

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Hi @Stromboli Bones
No need to thank for my review.
I'm the one who thanks you for your amazing work and dedication.

There is something I've actually forgot to mention in my review so I'm writing it here instead. A pet peeve of mine.. And it's something it's present in both the original and yours and M4_'s fanedits.

In episode 3 A Warm Welcome when they're stealing weapons from the armory and Killi falls down the stairs. I've always found that fall quite silly: "come on! they're warriors who can't carry weapons down some stairs?!"
But the reason it happens it's because he got shot with an arrow to the knee leg. Thorin even asks him if he's ok when giving him the weapons.
However that's something I completely forgot while watching that scene. Only hours later did it strike me.

So IMO a possible improvement could be adding some line (if such exists) asking about his leg or add a 1-2 second shot showing his wounded leg.
 
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Racerx1969

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Couldn't get the Chapter creator in MKVtoolnix to work, but I found a program called Drax that let's you put Chapters on mp4s, so we're golden now!
Understood. It is weird and fiddly and I struggled with some little things I've done.
 

Stromboli Bones

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In episode 3 A Warm Welcome when they're stealing weapons from the armory and Killi falls down the stairs. I've always found that fall quite silly: "come on! they're warriors who can't carry weapons down some stairs?!"
But the reason it happens it's because he got shot with an arrow to the knee leg. Thorin even asks him if he's ok when giving him the weapons.
However that's something I completely forgot while watching that scene. Only hours later did it strike me.

So IMO a possible improvement could be adding some line (if such exists) asking about his leg or add a 1-2 second shot showing his wounded leg.
In M4's since the arrow is removed, he just randomly trips and falls down the stairs. Is that a plot hole or a continuity error? Eh, not really. It's just a dumb plot point.

In mine, Kili HAS the leg injury, which then results in his tumble. I myself feel that this was implied by Thorin when he asks if he's okay to carry all that, but that may not translate to everyone. However, my edit may have a better explanation for why he fell, but in mine, his injury just kind of.... Goes away. Which is arguably MORE of a "plot hole" than M4 had by just cutting it.

Point being, I'm not sure there's an easy way to handle this scene, and personally I think it's fairly unimportant, so I haven't spent a ton of time looking for a solution. I will, now!
 

Stromboli Bones

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@JPePe and some others have suggested a few things, including the scene where Bilbo asks Gandalf about all the different types of wizards. I see it as a fairly Unnecessary scene, but not one that would Negatively impact the episode.

Anyone else have thoughts on that?
 

Stromboli Bones

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An editor's work is never done..... Here's a little surprise change I've made after it was suggested by @JPePe

The Eagles now arrive AFTER Thorin defeats Azog. To my knowledge, nobody has ever done it this way before, and while JPePe's reasoning was sound, it actually makes even more sense/works better than either of us realized at first!

Thorin now fights and defeats Azog thinking that this is the ONLY way they're going to win the Battle; by cutting the head off the snake. This adds weight to their duel, whereas in the originals (and my edit) their duel was overshadowed pretty heavily by the fact that a handful of literal Bird Deities just showed up with gigantic Bear-man to start absolutely wrecking shop. If Thorin had lost this duel, chances are the good guys would have won the fight anyway, and probably would have killed Azog. Delaying that scene means that the characters and the audience are both operating under the assumption that Thorin's life isn't the only thing at stake here. He has to win this, or the good guys are hosed!

By extension, the impact that the Eagles and Beorn have on the battle is now reduced (Azog is dead, it has been implied that this will cause the army to fall apart) and makes them more of a Clean-up Crew, rather than Tolkein's signature Deus Ex Machina (A complaint I hear, and agree with, quite often!)

This was a pretty simple and easy change, and at face value it's a simple rearrangement of a few scenes, but I think it actually has a pretty substantial impact on how the final act plays out. Thanks again JPepe for all of your suggestions, and for finding all my goofs...... :)

Here's a clip! It starts right after Thorin gets Orcrist back and Bilbo gets bonked, and then ends when Thorin falls over. It's a little over 4 minutes, the big change happens around 2:40!


The music might need a little tuning but I'm happy with it to start!
 
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JPePe

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An editor's work is never done..... Here's a little surprise change I've made after it was suggested by @JPePe

The Eagles now arrive AFTER Thorin defeats Azog. To my knowledge, nobody has ever done it this way before, and while JPePe's reasoning was sound, it actually makes even more sense/works better than I think he realizes! Thorin now fights and defeats Azog thinking that this is the ONLY way they're going to win the Battle;
by cutting the head off the snake. This adds weight to their duel, whereas in the originals (and my edit) their duel was overshadowed pretty heavily by the fact that a handful of literal Bird Deities just showed up with gigantic Bear-man to start absolutely wrecking shop. If Thorin had lost this duel, chances are the good guys would have won the fight anyway, and probably would have killed Azog. This means that Thorin's life isn't the only thing at stake here. He has to win this, or the good guys are hosed!
By extension, the impact that the Eagles and Beorn have on the battle is now reduced and makes them more of a Clean-up Crew, rather than Tolkein's signature Deus Ex Machina (A complaint I hear, and agree with, quite often!)

So cool you did this! 😊

I hadn't thought about it as thoroughly, but you are absolutely right how it impacts the story!
 
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antani22

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Great, great scene is done with the coming of the eagles! Good music and adds lot of emotion as Thorin can lastly see before his end that the battle will be won and thus leave this world with peace.

Another good touch is the adding of the changelog! Many thanks for providing the fans with such an information!

Keep it up!
 

Stromboli Bones

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I've had a few people ask me about a Single Film Version, (@JPePe , most recently, and I don't know if you were interested in that, or just curious, but I remember you asking me about it a while back @Hal9000 ) and while I never really planned on releasing one, it was super simple to just copy and paste each individual episode into a single Project, and that Project is currently being exported!

Now, I don't LOVE the transitions that I created to bridge Episodes 2-3 and 4-5, but I think they're serviceable. On top of that, because this isn't my personal vision for how I wanted to present the Hobbit, and in order to make those transitions better I would have to add/remove/adjust some scenes, I don't really have any desire to spend any more time on them. So, to those of you out there who opt for the Single-Film Version of my edit, and don't love those particular transitions.... Sorry lol.

On another note, JPepe (again XD) pointed out that it's a little weird for Gandalf to mention Saruman to Galadriel in Episode 2 when she asks about Bilbo ("Saruman thinks that it is only power that can keep evil in check" or something) so I cut out that line and will be exporting/uploading that version once the Single Film is done!

Thank you to anyone and everyone who continues to read my rants/updates :) I will be going back to Elden Ring now. Hope you all have a wonderful day!
 

JPePe

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...

On another note, JPepe (again XD) pointed out that it's a little weird for Gandalf to mention Saruman to Galadriel in Episode 2 when she asks about Bilbo ("Saruman thinks that it is only power that can keep evil in check" or something) so I cut out that line and will be exporting/uploading that version once the Single Film is done!

Thank you to anyone and everyone who continues to read my rants/updates :) I will be going back to Elden Ring now. Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Getting things perfected! (y)
 

Stromboli Bones

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Something happened when I copy/pasted all of my other episodes into Premiere and it extended every scene by a single frame, which means every single one of my transitions has an extra frame of the next scene in it..... So the Single-Film might be delayed a bit lol

Edit: Okay apparently not EVERY transition, but a decent chunk of them...
 

The Scribbling Man

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^ I'm not familiar with premier, but have you checked to make sure all the project settings are definitely the same (especially framerate)?
 

Stromboli Bones

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^ I'm not familiar with premier, but have you checked to make sure all the project settings are definitely the same (especially framerate)?
I don't think that's the issue because it did it IN the editing suite, as well as the final export.

When I went back to Episode 3 within the suite it was fine. Copy-paste it into a new project and suddenly it shifts all the sequences to be 1 frame longer.....

Oh well, Fortunately, I think i got em all, it was only Episode 3's contents. Super bizarre lol.
 

Stromboli Bones

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The "Better Video" version of my Single-Film is up and ready for download! I'm putting it in the base folder until I get the other versions ready, but due to the file size it'll take a while.

As is tradition, I noticed a goof while uploading. I put the "Misty Mountains" song at the end of the credits, but somehow the time line got shifted so it's Gandalf telling Bilbo about how Golf was invented. Both in the single-film and Episode 5. Lmao. How does this happen.

Will fix tonight/tomorrow
 

Stromboli Bones

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As I continue to get lots and lots of feedback, I've been wrestling with whether I implement the suggested changes, because I like(d?) my edit how it is now.

However, does that mean there isn't room for improvement? No, but what is "better?"

Oof.

Anyway, probably the most commonly suggested change is the cliffhanger at the end of Episode 2, so I whipped up a sample of how I'd handle it differently. I will probably go this route, as the end of 2 currently seems to confuse a lot of people (most recently, some family members had never seen it before and didn't understand the jump to DOS)

BUT I'm not 100% sold yet. Figured I'd put this out there in case anyone feels like weighing in!

(Note, I skipped most of the intro to episode 3 just to make the video shorter)

 
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