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To Cross the River (The Way of the Gun)

futon88

futon88

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The Humbling River - Puscifer

Commentary

There's a lot going on in The Way of the Gun that I love, especially the core relationship of "Parker" and "Longbaugh" and the chemistry they've clearly picked up over the years. Their ability to communicate with the subtlest glance is only surpassed by Del Toro's ability to convey it. The gunplay is exquisite and the plot is interesting, but to me it's all hampered by some plodding family dynamic stuff down the middle. I aim to streamline it.

Objectives
  • Remove the opening scene. Why: It's homophobic, serves very little purpose, was based on a story McQuarrie heard about an altercation at a dog park, and was basically shoe-horned in. Its only value is the closing shot that foreshadows the end of the movie.
  • Remove the Jeffers/Francesca sub-sub-plot. Why: There are just two many layers to the plot, and they all keep us away from P/L/R at the motel. By removing this one specifically, we move the story along faster. Also, this way I don't have to hear Francesca eating shrimp.
  • Remove Francesca listening in on all the conversations. Why? It goes nowhere. Just a distraction, best I can tell.
  • Remove the closing shot of Francesca announcing she's pregnant. Why? As a layers-within-layers thing it's interesting, but for me it just ilicits a groan. I'd rather close out the story with P&L.
  • Just generally get things moving a bit faster. Why? It's a two hour movie that feels like it's two hours.
Changes
  • Removed opening "raving bitch" scene at the bar.
  • ???
  • Moved the beginning of Parker's monologue...
  • Shortened opening credits substantially (removed costume designer, etc.)
  • Removed interview scene at the sperm bank.
  • Removed Chidduck telling Robin what women want in life.
  • Subtle score enhancement while Robin talks about the baby.
  • Shortened early scene with Chidduck on the phone, in the hallway, to hide Francesca.
  • Different music as P/L/R drive to Mexico.
  • Removed scene with Jeffers and Franscesca (secret affair stuff).
  • Removed Francesca from the scene were Jeffers and Obecks are discussing their plan in the kitchen.
  • Removed scene with Painter and Sarno in the hallway. The scenes with Painter and Chidduck tell us what we need.
  • Removed scene with truck being loaded with money; instead we stay with P/L/R at the motel.
  • Removed scene with Robin stumbling through the hall and getting dragged back to her room.
  • Shortened Abner's death scene slightly (Note: If I make it shorter the joke doesn't work, and if I cut entirely we miss critical information, so I went for balance).
  • Removed L slapping the woman's ass.
  • Subtle score enhancement when Robin is in distress (placental abruption).
  • During the c-section scene, after Jeffers is killed, substantially shortened the exquisitely long shot of Del Toro thinking in the chair.
  • Removed the final scene with Francesca saying she's pregnant.
  • Changed music for closing credits.
Movie also features a slight regrade throughout to liven it up a little bit.
Note: Color balance has been shifted in a way that might offend some viewers. :)
 
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You never fail to amaze me. Mr. Couch. I loved this movie when it came out. I can't wait to see what you do with it. I've got a song...
 
Would love thoughts on this...

The task is simple: Remove Francesca from the scene.

I figure I have two options: Remove her from the right side of the frame, or crop her out of it.

Here's a video showing Original -> Removed -> Cropped


NOTE: No audio.

(the static camera made it really easy to do a split screen composite, with footage on the right side stabilized and looped; my work in progress is much longer than this clip, but still works surprisingly well)

Here's my question: The director framed the scene this way for a reason. We're expected to see Francesca off to the side. I could leave the framing as is and just hide her, but that could be weird, because why is it framed that way? Or I could zoom in and risk artifacts, loss of detail, or a change in grain quality that could be noticed (the above was done with Topaz). And even with the zoom, the framing isn't quite what you'd expect if the original goal was just to capture these two characters at the table. They'd use a different lens, I think.

I'm inclined to go with the simple removal because it does seem to match their hushed tones better. As in, even the audience is pulled back and maybe can't hear fully, or maybe the audience is eavesdropping. The wide shot also conveys a feeling that they could be exposed.

If you had the same goal, how would you tackle it?
 
OP updated.

This will be ready very soon. It's just a little thing.
 
futon88 said:
Would love thoughts on this...

The task is simple: Remove Francesca from the scene.

I figure I have two options: Remove her from the right side of the frame, or crop her out of it.

Here's a video showing Original -> Removed -> Cropped


NOTE: No audio.

(the static camera made it really easy to do a split screen composite, with footage on the right side stabilized and looped; my work in progress is much longer than this clip, but still works surprisingly well)

Here's my question: The director framed the scene this way for a reason. We're expected to see Francesca off to the side. I could leave the framing as is and just hide her, but that could be weird, because why is it framed that way? Or I could zoom in and risk artifacts, loss of detail, or a change in grain quality that could be noticed (the above was done with Topaz). And even with the zoom, the framing isn't quite what you'd expect if the original goal was just to capture these two characters at the table. They'd use a different lens, I think.

I'm inclined to go with the simple removal because it does seem to match their hushed tones better. As in, even the audience is pulled back and maybe can't hear fully, or maybe the audience is eavesdropping. The wide shot also conveys a feeling that they could be exposed.

If you had the same goal, how would you tackle it?
Click to expand...
I'd go with the removal, since the cropped version still has that door on the right in plain sight for no reason. So it's still distracting framing-wise plus the quality loss.
 
Thanks! That's what I ended up doing. It seems to work pretty well. The wide shot, subjective distance, and whispering give the sense of a secret meeting the viewer maybe shouldn't be a part of.
 
The name has been finalized and final teaser/trailer is uploaded. The change list is locked.

Here are some examples of the color correction:

Before
grade1-before.png

After
grade1-after.png

Before
grade2-before.png

After
grade2-after.png

Before
grade3-before.png

After
grade3-after.png
 
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This is now available.

Note: I decided not to replace the opening music. Joe Kramer's score is perfect, in my opinion. The IFDB listing still shows that the music has been replaced for the opening credits, but I'll get that updated.
 
This is another masterpiece, my friend. You act like it's not much but the editing is brilliant. And what an awesome choice of music!
 
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Thank you. :) I do think that's overstating things a bit, but I'm happy with how it turned out. It was a joy to revisit Christopher McQuarrie's first movie and see if I could elevate it just a tiny bit.
 
I was referring to the trailer. You know I love a good trailer! I haven't seen your edit yet. But hope to...🤔
 
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