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The Hobbit - The Spence Edit

Of course! Just throwing things out there. :)

One thing I'm looking forward to is that you're not slaving yourself to the novel. You couldn't possibly play to both. I'm thinking, for example, the scene in the extended cut of DOS where Gandalf slowly introduces the party to Beorn. A decently silly sequence as it was in the book. But in a print medium you have more time and you don't necessarily have to hold the reader's interest for two r three straight hours. Films, on the other hand, need to be able to do that (at least in the cinema) so you want your story to be as focused and to the point as possible.
 
As of right now, Beorn will not be introduced to anyone! I realized that, in the way that I am editing it, Beorn only really exists to give the party some ponies. So why couldn't Gandalf just have ponies waiting for them when they exit the caves?

I do not feel the need to be particularly slavish to the book. Instead, I'm trying to look at it the same way that Jackson and co. must have looked at Lord of The Rings: What's important to the story and the characters, and what is nice to have but unnecessary?
 
Please tell me this is going to be in HD. I don't recall any of your edits being in HD. Can't stand SD anymore. :p
 
I don't have the means, tech wise, to make it a Blu Ray release. But I will be using a Blu Ray source and will release a rather spiffy HD Mp4, similar to how I did with Dune. Probably a DVD version as well. So, much better than SD, not quite Blu Ray quality HD.
 
spence said:
I don't have the means, tech wise, to make it a Blu Ray release. But I will be using a Blu Ray source and will release a rather spiffy HD Mp4, similar to how I did with Dune. Probably a DVD version as well. So, much better than SD, not quite Blu Ray quality HD.
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Okay, cool, I've seen edits sourced from blu-ray like yours and they do indeed look good. :)
 
spence said:
Instead, I'm trying to look at it the same way that Jackson and co. must have looked at Lord of The Rings: What's important to the story and the characters, and what is nice to have but unnecessary?
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That's a good approach. I think that will help your edit stand out from a lot of the other edits that will be made. With respect to other editors, of course. :)
 
I've also created a different ending for the film. It would pick up right after the shot of Bilbo walking into his house at the end of BOTFA. Then goes back to old Bilbo looking at the picture of his young self. Then he starts writing the book. "In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit." The end.

I was trying to post it for you guys to see but I'm getting that copyright issue business from YouTube and vimeo.
 
Oohhh, I do like the sound of that. Reminds me of the end of Lord of the Rings.
 
Exactly! I'm even using the music from the end of ROTK.
 
PM me if you are interested in seeing this as a WIP.
 
I always thought that only Thorin disliked Bilbo, but the rest of the dwarves quicky warmed up to him. I'd like to think that Thorin decided to put down their weapons in the troll scene so that later in their quest (if they escaped the trolls, that is) Bilbo would find the Arkenstone for them. Like Gandalf said, it would be much easier and quieter with a Hobbit. That's what I think anyway.
 
I've never been terribly bothered by the scene, personally. Seems a lot of people are. It's a trope that occurs in films all the time. I don't have any plans for altering or removing it, save maybe trimming the fight down a bit.
 
Never bothered me, but then again, there's all sorts of things in all three movies that people seem to hate which I don't mind.
 
TV's Frink said:
Never bothered me, but then again, there's all sorts of things in all three movies that people seem to hate which I don't mind.
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People are very hard on these movies. They almost treat them like the Star Wars prequels, but they are leagues better than that comparatively. I don't mind the length really either, I enjoy the universe and spending time in it. I loved seeing every one of the films at the theater. But do I think a better narrative film experience could've been made if it had been kept to a single entry? Absolutely.
 
TV's Frink said:
You ain't kidding.
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Oh goodness. And the war rages on.

Not to get too off topic, but I always thought it was funny that the best thing about the Hobbit Trilogy was actually the worst thing about the Star Wars Prequels: The characters and the acting. Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, and Ian McKellen literally stop the whole thing from disintegrating. Not to mention Andy Serkis and Benedict Cumberbatch.
 
Masirimso17 said:
I always thought that only Thorin disliked Bilbo, but the rest of the dwarves quicky warmed up to him. I'd like to think that Thorin decided to put down their weapons in the troll scene so that later in their quest (if they escaped the trolls, that is) Bilbo would find the Arkenstone for them. Like Gandalf said, it would be much easier and quieter with a Hobbit. That's what I think anyway.
Click to expand...
My point is not that the dwarves dislike Bilbo. It's that with no weapons they ALL are troll bait. They don't know Gandalf is going to bail them out, so what purpose is served by them all surrendering? Anyhoot, it's a relatively silly scene all the way around, so I suppose it's neither here nor there.
 
kellenpure said:
My point is not that the dwarves dislike Bilbo. It's that with no weapons they ALL are troll bait. They don't know Gandalf is going to bail them out, so what purpose is served by them all surrendering? Anyhoot, it's a relatively silly scene all the way around, so I suppose it's neither here nor there.
Click to expand...

I totally get it and you're right. I actually tried it out when you first brought it up and it does work pretty nicely. But if I do it that way, the film doesn't have a single lick of action until the goblin tunnels, and even that is truncated. For pacing reasons, I have to keep the stupid scene.

I'd honestly cut the trolls altogether if I could make it work narratively, but we've got to get the party to the troll cave. It's also something explicitly mentioned in Fellowship of the Ring, so I guess that means it's got to be there.
 
Little update on this, I've managed to cut An Unexpected Journey and Desolation of Smaug down to 2 hours total wihtout losing the character arcs. It moves at a brisk pace but I was careful to keep some slower moments so that pacing isn't ridiculous. Also a lot of the action plays out much shorter now so as not to feel like total overload. For instance, the barrels scene is really only about 1 minute long, and the troll sequence is cut shorter. There's no orc chase with Radaghast or the fight in the trees.

I was worried it would all feel like too much but it really doesn't, IMHO. I'm using Fellowship, which I consider the strongest of the LOTR movies, as my example and the pacing matches with that quite well. The biggest difference is that we get out of the Shire much faster in The Hobbit than in Fellowship.

I'm especially happy with how Rivendell turned out. In the original version, and especially the extended version, the entire narrative grinds to a stand still while they are there. In this, it's still a slower sequence with some nice comedy and character development for Bilbo, but it doesn't feel like it lasts forever.

My biggest concern is the titular Battle of the Five Armies. It'll be tough to whittle it down to a shorter sequence while still maintaining the scope and narrative cohesion. I saw the movie a couple of times and already have some strong ideas for cutting it, but I have no idea if any of that will work until I try it.

I really, really want the blu ray of Battle of the Five Armies.

Still offering up the WIP of the first two films. I've had a few takers so far. If you did watch it, please post your thoughts!
 
That sounds great. Is it available for viewing in its current state?
 
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