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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: THE COMPLETE HD EDIT 148min

Wraith

Wraith

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A couple of years ago I completed my umpteenth edit of CE3K, the first being on VHS TAPE TO TAPE tooooo many years ago.

ADGITALMAN's edits were the longest versions out there, but SD.

The only HD fanedit version includes a selection of the scenes to create a good version but not a complete one, so I will share this one from my archive of "Completed but unavailable" for all to enjoy. It is 148 min and includes all available HD material.

In addition, I have gamma corrected that last 25 mins to match the theatrical exhibition of these movies (there are 3 official versions at 133, 135 and 138 minutes). What do I mean? The biggest issue with CE3K BD was the color timing at the end. The theatrical versions flooded the auditorium with white light, washing out deliberately the images under the Alien intense illumination which made you feel you were there AND it obscured (deliberately) some of the alien detail so you could not see too much thus preserve the mystery. The BD dialed it down and it looks shit. coz you can see the rubber models and even the alien glove sleeves the little girls wear. I have used the 1979 fotonovel as a guide, the stills having been taken from a 35mm print, and of course my own recollections since I saw this in theatres literally dozens of times, over and over and over.

Here is what I am "talking" about.

mega.nz

File on MEGA

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Apart from that (and couple of very minor lens flares added for consistency where they were left out), I did restore the original end credits music too, and manged to create a hybrid opening scene of the Neary family using the alternate versions. Scenes are also placed in the order of the Theatrical version, Then Special edition and yes, we do go into the ship.

I will also include as a special feature CE3K WORKPRINT 168 min containing ALL AVAILABLE scenes, in SD but unlike previous fanedits, this has had some color grading attempt (difficult due to poor source material and not ideal) and the music meant for those scenes has been added to "complete" them (from a rare CD were the unused cues are named per the scene, so leaves little room for doubt). I have also completed foley/sound work for scenes that needed it. But this is SD, please note.

Other "Completed but unavailable": Separate Thread

IT'S TIME TO ENJOY...& VOTE!
 
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I should add, this edit also contain my first use of lower right markers to indicate where the material came from and an extended end credit roll with all uncredited staff in IMDB receiving an on acreen credit for the first time. This allowed me to use both versions of the end credit music, with some judicious edits to fit.
 
There are 28 differences between the 3 versions of this film. I will detail these tomorrow together with the additional tweaks I made.

I will formally submit this over the weekend.
 
UPDATE:

So here are the 28 differences:

THEATRICAL VERSION - Unique items
- Opening scene at Neary home has different opening
- Neary at Power station
- Neary in truck longer
- Old man comment about UFO fly by
- Roy and Ronnie row is longer
- Silent entrance to dinner table
- Roy climbing back thru the window
- Roy building tower longer/outside
- Dog and gas mask man
- Roy and Army chat
- Longer helicopter escape
- Longer shot of Lacombe watching Neary

SPECIAL EDITION - Unique items
- Neighborhood establishing shot
- Near intro at home v different
- UFO Shadow over truck
- The infamous billboard closeup
- Re-Sequenced firing and village
- The Cotopaxi
- Lacombe conference scene longer
- Neary in the shower
- Shorter Ronnie leaving
- Man with dog and gas mask, different scene
- Scoring difference as Roy walks up ramp
- Mothership interior
- Scoring difference as cut back to Lacombe
- Gamma dialled back down in key sequences.
- Rescored end credit roll

DIRECTOR'S CUT
- Nothing unique

SCENES THAT WENT, AND CAME BACK
- The press conference
- The Powerstation

ALL the above are in the COMPLETE VERSION plus the following fixes:

ADDITIONAL FIXES
- Newly created stable opening credit roll with the correct font (per my Godfather fix)
- New hybrid opening scene at Neary home incorporates all material, in a new way
- Theatrical sequencing of scenes used, not Director's cut
- Hybrid dog and gas mask man
- Hybrid Roy at rail station
- I say "Gamma correction" but in fact, I used virtual light sources placed where the ship light source would be to actually add light rather than brighten, which would nook very poor. This was done to all scenes where the light from the mother ship is overpowering. Where a camera move is present, the virtual lights are match moved using regression trigonometry.
- When Jillian is taking photographs, some of the shutter sounds are missing. These have been added back.
- In two shots as the mothership ramp opens and light passes up peoples faces, in two shots, the shadow of the light moving is missing. This has been corrected. Where a camera move is present, the virtual lights are match moved using regression trigonometry.
- Color correction of red uniforms washed out in the color grade of the 30th anniversary BD
- The scoring glitches when Roy enters the ship, have been redone from scratch using the Collectors Edition CDs. and rebuilding the ambient sounds
- When the Aliens emerge, virtual lighting returns the scenes as were originally viewed in 1979 using various reference materials for confirmation.
- Closing end credits score restored from Theatrical version.
- Portion of Special edition credit roll score used for addition of newly created UNCREDITED Crew added to this version so everyone who worked on ALL 3 versions, gets their on-screen credit
- Some very subtle lens flares added in the same style as Douglas Trumbulls work where they were clearly missing due to either budget or production timing constraints. These should not be noticeable, but I know where they are. Drop me a PM if you think you spot any. :)

MISSING SCENES IN WORKPRINT with completed audio work and un-used intended scoring from Special Edition CD
- Longer opening with the war planes
- Lacombe in car on way to airport
- Govt official board plane
- Roy on way to Crystal Lake
- Roy at Crystal Lake
- Roy at Police station
- Roy on roof of house
- Roy Barbeque
- Lacombe is awoken by assistant
- Roy and Jillian stop for gas
- (apologies for the font issue at the opening, it was 13 years ago)

WORKPRINT has a NEW OPENING and all the audio fixes and lighting work from above

SUBMITTING TOMORROW
 
i would like to see the close encounters edit and the looper edit please.
 
Just saw...thanks so much.
Given how often you've seen it, I assume you saw it in cinemas? If so, I'd love to know what you think about the virtual lights added to correct the effect of the light pouring from the ship on peoples faces....It took so long to get right matching to 35mm grabs from a 1979 print.
 
Wraith said:
Just saw...thanks so much.
Given how often you've seen it, I assume you saw it in cinemas? If so, I'd love to know what you think about the virtual lights added to correct the effect of the light pouring from the ship on peoples faces....It took so long to get right matching to 35mm grabs from a 1979 print.
Click to expand...
You're welcome!! Yes, I saw it in cinemas a many times. Recently, The theater near me (when it was functioning normally) has screenings of older films weekly and CE3K is shown once or twice a year. The latest I seen in theaters was a 4k restoration. Though the sound went dead a couple times so I was pissed lol. Fortunately I own a 4K setup in my living room which gave the lighting of your edit a major boost. Especially with the lights off, the picture was stunning.
The visual presentation (at least on my TV) is flawless 'almost' surpassing the 4K disc quality. Given that the film has been 'touched up' through the years since its initial theater release, there is much to compare. When comparing your edit, I was very pleased. I only have one flaw to mention....I noticed a slight bleed of color during the scene when Barry opens the door. When the door opens the color of the lights looked way to red for a few seconds. Other than that I didn't notice anything to complain about.
 
Thanks for the feedback. I keep all my edit files and resouces so I can load up and have a look to see what the cause is and if it can be fixed. Being red/green color blind I tend NOT to screw about too oftne with actual color grade.

It's one of those films I wish I could see for the first time, again....(that would be a good discussion thread)....

FILMS I WISH I COULD SEE COLD FOR THE FIRST TIME, AGAIN.
 
Personally for my own sake I wouldn't harp over my given flaw that much, for it didn't interrupt my enjoyment factor. But most of the time I am very anal when it comes to getting things done correctly. So for one such as you who prefers their hard work to be presented as good as possible, it's definitely a good trait to have.
 
I'm patient zero when it comes to OCD.....The thing I'm teasing now, took me 18 months to get just right. Nothing other than perfect on that one (the Hangman thread), would do.... Very much a Marmite pair of edits.
 
Well, here we go again.

Someone pointed out a music crossfade issue in the movie. Interestingly its NOT of my creation . It is the clumsy cross fade from the Theatrical version to the Special edition as Neary goes up the ramp. I even noticed it in the theatre when the movie came out coz I had worn out the LP.

Well, I had a look at what was pointed out and after all the fixes in the godfather I did, I thought, lets dig into my 4 versions of the CDs.., I may be able to improve it.

There is an unused cue from the special edition which is identical to the lead up to Neary going up the ramp....Just as he looks back at Lacombe, I tested cross fading to the unused cue...so its undetectable, and then the music that plays is slightly different. The orchestral cue continues and cut for cut, as he walks up the ramp and into the ship the music is perfect. BUT, it drowns out the ambient audio. Clearly, a late decision was made to rescore the entrance with much quiter music, resulting in that very poor last minute cross fade in the released movie. The unused cue may be able to be repurposed, but I need to transition to the quiet interior...so I'm playing around with it for now. My edit stands, since the crappy music segue belongs to the filmakers...but I'm gonnna try to fix it.

From now on when I see a Score with UNUSED CUE, I will think, Hmmmm Last minute rescoring, cue dropped thus something changed in the movie edit.....

I will post a TEST render of what this scene looks like with the Unused cue, which is track 26 on the 1998 Collector's Edition TITLE: "26 - The Visitors-End Titles The Special Edition [Not Used In Film]"
 
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If enough people would like this edit WITHOUT THE INTERIOR of the ship, let me know. Room is tight, but if enough say YEA, I will do the required.....so to speak since it already exists ( rendered in case I ever got pissed off with it)....

W
 
OK I will say YEA. This is one of my fave movies and I've found all the tweaks over the years interesting, except for the inside of the ship. I thought of asking you for your extended version and then trying to cut out the ship interior myself, but I know you would do a better job than I could.
 
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