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Valérian and Laureline: Welcome to Alpha 2D + 3D

AriochRN

AriochRN

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V-L-WTA-Poster.jpg

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets left me with mixed feelings when I left the cinema - I felt there were some good (and even great) sequences in there but far too much stuff that just slowed things down, and the borderline harassment “flirting” from Valerian was just cringeworthy. Also, the whole dream sequence at the start is pretty much repeated towards the end which felt very much like “I’ve already seen this :/“ Without the opening alien planet sequence I think that the Pearls become a much more mysterious bunch whose motivations remain ambiguous until the latter part of the film, instead of the obvious-good-guys-from-the-start that the theatrical release presents them as.

In all, I thought there was a good film in there but Luc Besson should’ve been a bit more snippy-snip in the editing suite 😁

A while ago I saw the fan edit entry for the Valerian: No Love Lost Edition by Malthus and thought it sounded fantastic - I’ve not been able to get a copy but the described cuts sounded very interesting and inspired me to attempt my own cut; I’ve got the deluxe 3D Blu-ray (it’s like a vinyl double album size package) and I wanted to try something similar with a 3D side-by-side video, so I decided to try my hand at editing. I want to keep a small spark of romance visible between the two leads (as befits their character origins) so there is a satisfying finale but to tone down Valerian pressing for marriage all the time, and hopefully tighten the flow of the movie as a result - every time marriage reared its head it was like brakes being stamped on.

This is the first time I’ve tried doing a fan edit film and I’m still not completely happy with one scene, but overall I’m pleased with how it’s turned out.

I've titled my cut "Valerian & Laureline: Welcome to Alpha" as a homage to one of the original comic stories "Welcome to Alflolol" though the original title will remain in the edit, 3D animated logos being slightly above my skill level :ROFLMAO:

List of changes:
  • Added fanedit text notice at start of film
  • Alien planet sequence and beach scenes excised - we go from the Space Oddity montage > title > astroship jumping in
  • Removed marriage proposal when disembarking the bus
  • Removed “haven’t we met?” when first seeing the Pearls
  • Removed “hey, I’m not running a tea-room here”
  • Big Market shopping couple man no longer says “Civilised…sure”
  • Trimmed Laureline dialogue when fixing dimensional hand box, no mention of proposal
  • Removed mention of dream sequence when examining pearl on astroship
  • Removed talk of marriage / honeymoon before leaving exospace*
  • Removed “demographics” section of Alpha transit**
  • Trimmed a few “Valerian” calls from Laureline after he crashes - now she acts more quickly and decisively
  • Trimmed Laureline finding Valerian scene - now ends with peck on cheek, no marriage talk
  • Trimmed start of scene when Laureline gets "caught" by Boulan Bathors
  • When Valerian recruits Bubbles the scene ends with “…the best I ever saw” and Rihanna smiling
  • Trimmed relationship advice during alien kitchen walk
  • Removed Bubbles death scene, she now raises and lowers her hand but Valerian doesn't see it***
  • Excised dialogue from bridge
  • Removed Valerian’s “told you so” when it is revealed he hosts the Pearl Princess’ soul
  • Inserted crashed ship Mül scene from intro dream sequence into Emperor’s story time
  • Trimmed argument between Valerian and Laureline about giving up the Converter, no love explanations
  • Removed Filitt saying a soldier will always choose death
  • Cut end of hanging Filitt’s shouting so it sounds like he’s about to swear: “Get me down from here, you…”
  • Removed end scene marriage proposal - it's now a more ambiguous possible engagement ring
  • Removed "play list" statement from Valerian
*There is a small continuity error in one shot with seatbelts but it is present in the original film as well.

**The other info sounds like getting an update since they were last there, the demographics part just sounded like exposition for the audience)

***The most troublesome scene to edit - seriously, an extended death scene where we’re supposed to feel sad about a character who got introduced like what, fifteen minutes ago? 😅 Hopefully I've smoothed over the cracks now so its removal isn't too noticeable.

I’ve left in the Emperor’s daughter’s spirit bonding with Valerian but removed earlier mentions of the dream - I think it still kind of makes sense in that Valerian knows something isn’t right and the Pearl’s spirit uses him to get back to her people and guide his actions throughout the film. I tried removing it completely but wasn’t satisfied with the resulting Emperor’s story time sequence. With that section back in the film it made sense to reinstate Valerian's earlier talk about the "princess" on the bridge - Laureline's reaction is like she’s just hearing about this princess for the first time and perhaps she’s thinking Valerian is concussed or something (now removed in 2D version)

I’ve watched the edit on my 3DTV (3D & 2D versions) and also in a virtual cinema with a Quest 3 VR headset and I think it works well - the film feels more brisk without Valerian being a bit of a creep all the time and the pair have some decent banter with the sense that they do actually care for one another.

There are still a few edits that need tinkering with - mainly audio transitions that could be better (I don’t think I’ve got the skill or software knowledge to fix them 😅) - but I think I’ve got the story how I want it*. After more playing with the software I’ve figured out how to blend audio transitions and I’ve polished all the cuts I’ve made. A 2D version of the edit is available as well as a 3D side-by-side file.

Edit: after deciding to recreate the edit with a 2D rip, I've revisited a few scenes, tweaked all audio transitions, and updated this post with all changes.

Film length 02:01:58 (minus fanedit opening text) (original 02:16:39)
 
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I’ve been experimenting with the editor software I’m using and found how to better blend audio - towards the end of this clip the countdown now plays over earlier footage, cutting off Valerian before he manages to make a fool of himself 😁 All talk of dreams/marriage/honeymoons has been excised.

There is a small continuity error with seatbelts but this was present in the original film too:

 
ArtisDead said:
Can you fix the aspect ratio of the clips? It's very distracting.
Click to expand...
Side-by-side video is meant to be viewed on displays capable of 3D - I use either my 3DTV or my VR headset.

With the Quest 3 I can use the Meta Quest Browser to view the video in 3D on YouTube, though there has been some loss of quality in uploading. The YouTube VR app does not work with side-by-side 3D videos for some reason 😅
 
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I’ve ripped my 2D Blu-ray and replicated my edit with it - in the process I’ve also tweaked a couple of scenes and made 2 further (very minor) cuts:
  • the Big Market shopping couple man no longer says “Civilised…sure”
  • when Valerian recruits Bubbles the scene ends with “…the best I ever saw” and Rihanna smiling.
I’ve had another go at the problematic Bubbles death scene - I’ve flipped some shots to try and make it look like Valerian has a quick look around for her and misses her raised hand before Laureline leads him away. It’s less than ideal but still preferable to the original 😅
I'm now happy with the edit as it is 👍
 
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Now that I've finished messing with the film, here is my attempt at a simple poster for the title:

V-L-WTA.jpg

EDIT: added poster image to the OP
 
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This edit is currently being previewed prior to submission for approval. All interested parties who own the appropriate source material, are welcome to contact the editor via pm to request access to the workprint (at the editor's discretion) and offer preview feedback! Please post your feedback on this project thread so that the editor, all previewers and the official reviewer may assess it into their consideration. Thank you!
 
That's an absolutely amazing poster! I can tell that you put a lot of thought into it. I would move it to where the other one is now so that it's the first thing people see.
 
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I’ve made a few further minor edits:
  • The nebula after the title sequence has been replaced with a plain star field
  • Slightly zoomed in Valerian looking around in the trash scene first time
  • An extra “Bubbles, where are you?” inserted into the trash scene, hopefully implying Valerian & Laureline haven’t seen her hand and reluctantly decide to continue on the mission
  • Removed dialogue from the bridge*
  • Removed Valerian’s “told you so” when it is revealed he is carrying the soul of the Pearl Princess
*Now the audience finds out about the Princess’ soul at the same time as our main characters.

There were a few seconds of graphical corruption in the last version, possibly from when I compressed the file for upload - I’ve not spotted any in this new file 👍

I’ve spotted (or rather heard) a pair of minor audio issues towards the end of the film in the current version I have uploaded, these will be solved in a couple of weeks once I get back to my PC.
 
The second poster looks great. Will this be released in 7.1 surround sound?
 
AriochRN said:
The editing software I’m using is not capable of providing surround sound (I’m using VSDC by Flash-Integro) so this edit is stereo only I’m afraid.
Click to expand...
Stereo isn't the end of the world of the edit is good.
 
Hello @AriochRN ! I want to help you get this edit approved. I saw your post in this thread and I wanted to reach out, watch a workprint, and hopefully provide feedback on the road to getting approved.
 
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