TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE (DVD-9 now available)

[Uncanny Antman]

I agree that you don't have to start "big" but you do need to start "interesting." And I'm not trying to say that this part of the movie is completely uninteresting, but is more of a scene that was designed to begin building on preexisting interest rather than to create interest.

Well, naturally. It is what it is. But for my taste, it fits better before the Qatar stuff. Bumblebee does a few odd things, but remains in car mode, doesn't do anything crazy huge. When it comes after Blackout wiping out an army base, it seems a little low-key.

I'm not trying to change your mind, just illustrate that both sides of the argument are legitimate. ...because that's what opinions are all about.

I also think starting with Sam comes off as a little weak because of Prime's voice over at the beginning. His close of, "But we were already to late," is a setup for something to happen.

I won't disagree with that. If I were editing it, I wouldn't use Prime's opening V.O.

 

[eldiablosuizo]

Why, just because you think this movie needs to only be a "mindless action film"?

Absolutely not. I will argue that the character work was not strong, however. Upon seeing Transformers for the first time, I was expecting something much better than what was presented. Under different writers and/or a different director, we might have gotten characters with more substance, but, as it stands, they are just not people that I, personally, care about. I think this edit handles all of the characters in a consistently better fashion of the edits I've seen.

Additionally, I question the addition of the epilogue, as it feels like it's the beginning of another movie (which it is), and I can understand it if it was truncated. It feels like you're establishing another set of rules that are inconsequential for the end of the film, as you want to see Optimus Prime drop out of the plane and transform to go fight a robot.

Ok, what "rules" are you talking about? That I set up a possible sequel story that may (or may not) happen at the end of the film?
Guess what, a lot of movies have done that (Batman Begins, Terminator, The Matrix, District 9, etc.) and it did not diminish the quality of any of them.

The rules of the universe of the film. It felt like a whole different set up for a different film, which is technically true. And you're absolutely right regarding the films that have set up a sequel in the end, and, in the offering of the alternative epilogue compared to the original, I honestly think you've convinced me. I will maintain my opinion that it needs to be shortened, but it's your cut, so take my opinion as you will.

Otherwise, thinking about Transformers not as the first part of a franchise, but as a film, I would just work on the original resolution.

You mean showing the Captain (who we don't really know...) meeting his wife and baby (whom we don't care about...), Sam making out with Mikella on Bumblebee (use your robot guardian like your parents couch...), Optimus Prime giving a random speech that sets up a sequel (just like my epilogue...), and ending on a terrible song by Linkin Park (which makes my ears bleed...)?

Excellent point. I got nothin'.

Additionally, if what I said regarding JasonN crying himself to sleep at night because of my comments, please take it in jest, as it was a joke that would work better if they could hear my tone of trying to lighten a potentially harsh mood. As I said, this is the best cut of Transformers so far, but, obviously, I've got qualms. As such, he can take my opinions and throw them out the window.

 

[Captain Khajiit]

Additionally, if what I said regarding JasonN crying himself to sleep at night because of my comments, please take it in jest, as it was a joke that would work better if they could hear my tone of trying to lighten a potentially harsh mood.

I nice laughter emoticon there might have gone a long way towards doing that. Just a suggestion! (See what I mean...)

 

[JasonN]

I agree on opening with Sam because it is not an attention grabber, and a good rule of storytelling is to grab people's attention right away. While Sam buying BB is obviously important, it is not really a scene that grabs the viewer's attention, but is more of the beginnings of the development of the story that hopefully the audience is interested in after the opening.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the idea of starting every film big the way they seem to these days. But as with all things, it depends on the film. 'A good rule of storytelling' is doing what is best for the specific situation rather than adhering to an arbitrary set of rules.

THIS. :wink:

 

[xDeeMx]

I just watched this movie and loved it.

I think RotF is beyond saving so I applaud your decision to take its good scenes and work them into the first one. I can't get over how perfect the Soundwave scenes were integrated. Only Ravage's attack felt kinda pointless. (Also I kinda wanted to see the aircraft carrier scene but I guess that would have been too out of place.)

Overall it's one of the best fan-edits I've ever seen. Thank you for turning Transformers into a very tolerable movie.

 

[Remixed by Jorge]

Ok, here is my review of this fanedit.
Now as a way of setting this up I must mention that I don't know JasonN, I don't hold any hatred or animosity towards him.
Sometimes I have been accused of being unduly harsh and insensitive.
But that is not my intention, I just call it like I see it.
So JasonN if you are ready for this read on...

TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
Just finished watching the AVI.
I watched the original film once and was not impressed. Also I was never a big TRANSFORMER TAS guy.
But when you get 4 TRANSFORMER fanedits in 1 month well I guess you have to find out whats going on.

VIDEO
Beautiful. Pristine quality. No flash frames or awkward edits. Also no AR/Border issues as in other releases.

AUDIO
Crisp, sharp. loud. No bad edits.

STORY/ENTERTAINMENT
Amazing work. It really moves along and doesn't get bogged down.
I didn't re-watched the original but did watch UA's and Kevinicus so I can compare them that way.
I saw this version first and the opening with Sam buying a car worked perfectly fine for me.
The only time I got a bit confused was when Sam sees Bumblebee return the next morning and acts like it's a spawn from hell.
it was strange because Sam didn't see BB do anything out of the ordinary the night before. For all he knew BB was stolen. So that had my head scratching.
Also you trimmed the British blonde with her hommies and her arrest, all to the good.
but then I saw her again in the chopper with Sam's line about his car being a robot and it just reminded me of
her and I started wondering what happened to her, what she was doing there, etc.

REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
I would be remiss if I didn't mentioned the additional REVENGE OF THE FALLEN footage.
Great idea. Some of it works, some doesn't
Soundwave and the satellite was brilliant. Specially since it allows you to trim the goofy little cell-phone robot.
Ravage's attack I can understand and almost forgive.
But the epilogue in China was a bit too much.
It's too long and you have the audience now wondering "when is this going to end?" and that's not what you want to happen.
But I don't blame you. I did the exact same thing in my PREDATOR: ROUGH BEAST fanedit.
Alluding to a sequel which I knew I was never going to make. (But there's all this good footage, right?)
Overall, a good time was had by all.
Well done.

On a technical level Audio and Video are impeccable.

On the editing level, it is seamless.

On a story editing/entertainment level, I enjoyed the movie.

On my street-wise rating system I give this film a
GREEN LIGHT: Step on It!.

 

[JasonN]

VIDEO
Beautiful. Pristine quality. No flash frames or awkward edits. Also no AR/Border issues as in other releases.

Talked a bit with TV's Frink about this, but the reason why several of my previous releases had AR and border issues was due to how Vegas was importing the video sourcefiles and how they were being resized for DVD project setting. Starting with my V3 cut of Matrix Evolutions, I've been using new methods to correct the video AR in Vegas and remove the black border on the sides (which is one of the reasons why I'm redoing the video of my SW Prequel edits).

But the epilogue in China was a bit too much.
It's too long and you have the audience now wondering "when is this going to end?" and that's not what you want to happen.
But I don't blame you. I did the exact same thing in my PREDATOR: ROUGH BEAST fanedit.
Alluding to a sequel which I knew I was never going to make. (But there's all this good footage, right?)

I may shorten the sequence somewhat for the DVD version, but I haven't fully decided yet.
(like the soldiers taking in the helecopter or trim some of the dialogue in the command center)

 

[Remixed by Jorge]

I've been using new methods to correct the video AR in Vegas and remove the black border on the sides (which is one of the reasons why I'm redoing the video of my SW Prequel edits).

Good to hear J. I really enjoyed the fanedit and look forward to the dvd.

 

[TV's Frink]

I was sort of lukewarm on the first TF but based on some of the nice things I've heard about this and UA's edit, I think I'll be checking them out.

 

[ab5tract]

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye is just what I would expect from JasonN. Tight editing in both video and audio, with no technical flaws whatsoever. A strident cutlist that can border on the overly chopped. And a highly enjoyable fanedit, to boot.

(Note: this is a review of the AVI version)
VIDEO: 10/10
AUDIO: 10/10
EDITING (TECHNICAL): 10/10
EDITING (CUTLIST): 8.5/10
ENJOYMENT: 9/10

As always, this fanedit was built to please its fanedtor first and foremost. So it is no real critique when I say that removing the Maggie/hacker friend arrest did not work for me. When they come back later in the helicopter, it feels very tacked on. The addition of Soundwave was a really cool idea and was delivered impeccably. The epilogue, however, did not so much. I like the concept, but with the current execution it also feels too tacked on. I also think removing the Army/Sector 7 confrontation had a negative impact on the flow of the story, as it is not quite obvious why all of the sudden Sector 7 is deferring entirely to Sam.

All that said, this movie is exactly what I've come to love about JasonN's work: a technically flawless fanedit that delivers a significantly more serious tone to a movie that desperately needed it. The tone of this fanedit is almost completely different than the source material, especially after we get past all the original awkward features and into the action. Much more serious and enjoyable.

This is for the most part the same as the one just posted to fanedit.org but with a few changes to make it flow better and a new concluding sentence. If that one could be changed to reflect this, I'd appreciate it. Next time I'll be sure to post the review to the forum first.

 

[JasonN]

So it is no real critique when I say that removing the Maggie/hacker friend arrest did not work for me. When they come back later in the helicopter, it feels very tacked on.

I originally kept them in the helecopter because I like Sam's "bought a car, turned out to be an alien robot" line, but yeah, those characters then proceed to come in the sotry from out of nowhere, so maybe I'll cut that part for the DVD release.

I also think removing the Army/Sector 7 confrontation had a negative impact on the flow of the story, as it is not quite obvious why all of the sudden Sector 7 is deferring entirely to Sam.

The big problem is that in the original cut there is absolutely NO reason whatsoever for the Army to mutiny and side with Sam against Sector 7 - they've only known each other for what, 10-20 minutes, so why would the Captain and his soldiers automatically trust Sam with knowing how to protect the Cube moreso than Sector 7 and his own government?

I'm convinced that Bay wrote this sequence solely for the purpose of creating "fake" drama/conflict in the human story and to push his own "government=bad" and "military=good" agenda (which he went all out in displaying in the sequel film...).

 

[JasonN]

Updated changes for the DVD Release:
1. Ok, I feel really pissed off at myself for not catching this sooner than I did....

Apparently in two of the "Soundwave in space" scenes (1st is where he acknowledges Wheelie to follow Mikella and 2nd is when he tells the Decepticons to mobilize), Michael Bay - in his efforts to constantly reuse as much footage as possible in TF2:ROTF - used THE EXACT SAME ANIMATED FOOTAGE OF SOUNDWAVE IN BOTH SCENES!!! :evil:
(the only difference to these scenes, apart from Soundwave's dialogue, is Wheelie's subtitles in the 1st scene and a slight contrast filter in the 2nd scene)

Repeat footage in movies tend to annoy me to no end (unless it's like in a flashback), so I've gone back and re-edited the Soundwave's "achknowledge" scene in my fanedit to use different footage instead (I've also replaced the "zoom-in from space" shot from earlier in the hacking sequence with an alternative shot of Soundwave).


2. Cut the hacker girl and her black friend from the helicopter scene with Sam/Mikella.


3. Trimmed about 20 seconds from the "Shanghai" epilogue (cut more footage from the Commander Center, removed Captain Lennex and co. talking in the helicopter, and removed Ironhide's "I smell him" line)


4. Smoothed out several music cuts/transitions that could've been better

 

[JasonN]

Ok, here's the updated version of the Soundwave "Acknowledge - Retrieve It" scene:

EDIT: I've also added a video example of the two "Soundwave" repeat-scenes in the previous post.

 

[JasonN]

One last, small addition to the DVD version:

Near the end when Optimus catches Sam from falling from the building and Megatron jumps off the roof after them, I've added some additional audio of Megatron yelling "Prime!" as he falls after Optimus/Sam. :wink:

 

[JasonN]

I hope to have the DVD9 version finished by the end of the week so that I can send it to another member for RS upload, since I'll be gone all of next week and won't be able to upload it myself (I'll be at the boonies of "Slower-Than-Hell Internet Speeds"....).

The Extra Video that I had planned on all the stupid plot elements of TF2: Revenge of the Fallen didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, so I won't be including it on the disc.
(but really, what else can I say on TF2 that other better and smarter people haven't already said? )

But on the plus side, this will be the first DVD of mine to feature motion menus.

 

[JasonN]

The DVD-9 version has been 100% finalized and was sent out to elbarto1 for RS upload on Friday. :wink:

Also, since evidently you can only post Reviews and not Comments on a fanedit's main page on Fanedit.org anymore (a change that I wasn't aware of till now), I've decided to post my responses to the "review" of uKER:

Honestly I was downloading this and watching as every file downloaded and I decided to cut it halfway since I thought it was terrible. Some of the things that bugged me:
Ah, negative reviews in which the reviewer didn't even bother to watch the entire edit before making an opinion.... how I've missed them.

- Sam arriving at the lake cut so short that there's no explanation for Mikaela's behaviour.
Ok, why should there be an "explanation" for Mikaela's behavior? She doesn't KNOW Sam at this point of the edit's story.

- Sam's college lecture on his great grandfather AFTER he buys the car so it doesn't make any sense him saying the sales are for his car's fund.
Maybe he still needs to make some money in order to pay for the rest of the car? [the half of it that his dad bought]

- Intertwined scenes with the Allspark shard and Ravage totally pointless. The Allspark wasn't broken at that point.
Ah, so you're still going by the plot of "TF2: Revenge of the Fallen", where the Shard that the military complex is guarding HAS TO BE a part of the broken All Spark at the end of the first film?
Yeah, little FYI.... I don't give a flying crap about "Revenge of the Fallen" at all and [with the exception of the Shanghai and Soundwave scenes] it is NOT a part of my edit's continuity.

- Left the crappy call center gag. WTF?
Thought it was funny, it's just a matter of personal taste. [and for the record, I only left the first "Call Center" scene in]

- As the first poster said, after Bumblebee gets stolen, he is not seen as a robot, so why does Sam freak out?
Maybe because his stolen car has come back to his house and starts chasing him?

- The scene with Sam leaving Mikaela at home became so short and pointless it's awkward they made a cut back & forth to show it.
1. I needed a buffer scene to place inbetween the "soldiers in desert" and "Pentagon hacking" scenes
2. It still shows that Mikaela and Sam must've had some sort of "date"
3. So you want Mikaela to call herself a shallow girl [which she was in the original cut...] and for Sam to make a terrible joke off of the TF's catchphrase that's never referenced again?

The scene with Scorponok attacking became terrible since you removed the whole sign falling scene, which eliminated the anticipation. Him attacking about 5 seconds into the scene made it totally uneventful.
So cutting the scenes of the "Spanglish" and "Dumb Nerd" soldiers to remove terrible humor and poor acting completely ruins the "Scorponok Desert Attack" sequence?
Alright.... :roll:

 

[boon23]

people have opinions, JasonN. Grow your balls back (since they exploded in another post) and live with it like everybody else does.

 

[Uncanny Antman]

:shock:



:lol:

 

[JasonN]

people have opinions, JasonN. Grow your balls back (since they exploded in another post) and live with it like everybody else does.

Opinions are fine and dandy, but why should I be unable to explain my editing decisions to a person who brings negative criticism that's based on what I view as either flawed logic or over-dependence of the original cuts' plots? Are editors now unable to defend or challenge against negative reviews of their edits?

And my balls grow back at a rate of 3 seconds each time they explode, thank you very much. :razz:

 

[boon23]

people have opinions, JasonN. Grow your balls back (since they exploded in another post) and live with it like everybody else does.

Opinions are fine and dandy, but why should I be unable to explain my editing decisions to a person who brings negative criticism that's based on what I view as either flawed logic or over-dependence of the original cuts' plots? Are editors now unable to defend or challenge against negative reviews of their edits?

And my balls grow back at a rate of 3 seconds each time they explode, thank you very much. :razz:

you can defend (here on the forum) however you please. But I am sure you have also realized that it's not satisfying. The final truth always is: you made it for yourself and you like it. That must be good enough.
Movies do not need explanations and if they do they are not good movies. People tend to watch everything differently and are entitled to their (sometimes weird) opinions.
So all I am actually saying is that it makes not much sense to battle against windmills.

If you are referring with the "unability to defend" to the review instead of a comment function - correct. Forums are for discussions. The website is for fanedits and reviews. It makes a lot more sense this way.
But if there is a need for it I can implement a plugin that allows to rate comments (as in: # members found this review useful).