LOST I - Genesis is now showing on info
LOST II - Numbers is now showing on info
LOST III - Acts is now ready for preview screenings. PM for details
LOST IV - John is in conversion to HD. Release is imminent.
LOST V - James is in pre-production
LOST VI - Exodus is in pre-production
LOST VII - Chronicles is in pre-production
LOST VIII - Judges is in pre-production
LOST IX - Lamentations is in pre-production
LOST X - Revelation is in pre-production
Ever since the first season of LOST came out almost ten years ago, people's major complaint has been that an otherwise compelling story was systematically obfuscated by an overly complex and redundant amount of filler material.
Since that time, I have been editing down the series' 121 produced episodes of television into a series of films that would tell the story of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 in a compelling and concise way. For a long time, I used the DVDs that had been released in Australia; but recently I acquired the Blu-Rays and have been upgrading my cut using that footage instead.
This has been a labour of love, and I have spent probably thousands of hours editing the show's episodes down into a thoroughly-planned out series of ten films.
Each film has been rigorously checked for plot holes, and streamlined into a watchable length. I have already produced a 90% rough cut of all ten films, and now that I have arrived at a 100% complete cut of the first film I now feel like I have done enough to present my work for your consideration.
I am currently in the process of uploading the first film of the series (entitled Genesis), and will be happy to provide the links to the project as soon as it has been approved by one of this site's administrators.
For those who might have some (understandable) reservations about committing to watching such a long series of films, please understand that I have already pretty much finished all of them.
All I need to do is upgrade them to the high definition source, and go over them with a fine-tooth comb to make sure all the audio and edits are exactly right.
To give you a rough idea of how much has been cut, I will now outline some of the relevant numbers:
The first film (entitled Genesis) has a length of 218 minutes (3 hours 38 minutes), and covers the events of the first season of the TV Show (which was originally approximately 1070 minutes or 18 full hours of television). The amount of time cut from this film is therefore approximately 800 minutes (or 13 hours) of footage.
The entire series once completed will add up to about 27 hours, divided into 10 films of varying lengths.
To give you an idea of the time cut, the 121 produced episodes of television originally took up about 80 hours of time. This amounts to a saving of about 53 hours.
But more importantly, this series of films will finally provide LOST fans with an easily-accessible, plot-hole free series of films that tell the story of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 in a compelling and concise manner.
If there is sufficient interest in my work, I will also create a series of full-length commentaries for each of my films after the publication of the final movie.
My reasons for doing this are two-fold. First, it will allow me to maximise the picture and audio quality of the DVDs I upload. And second, it will allow me to speak freely and with absolute confidence about all aspects of the series in each of my film commentaries.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And remember that this is a project that is dear to my heart, and you can be certain that I WILL finish it. So get invested if it interests you, and rest in the knowledge that you won't have wasted your time.
Again, feel free to ask me any questions you might have. And thanks for reading.
Yours, Radzinksy.
PS, anyone who can guess why I chose that user name wins a prize.
PPS: Just to update those who haven't followed the thread all the way through, I've decided (in response to the demands for an HD version) to bump that up on my schedule. So I'll have a 720p or 1080p mkv uploaded within the next day or two (AKA before the end of July 2013). I might have to let Neglify watch that version before I give out the links to the HD video, but given that he's already seen the DVD5 I uploaded, I might be able to skip that step. Stay tuned for more details.
Just an update on this edit (27-28 July, 2013).
I've rendered a 1080p version of the first movie that should be done uploading in the next few hours. After it has been approved, I'll be happy to provide links to anyone who wants them. There is also a DVD5 version already uploaded for those who want it.
The 1080p version clocks in at around 5 GB for a 3.5 hour film. This amounts to about 1.5 GB per hour. I am pretty satisfied with the picture quality of this version, though those looking for a completely perfect copy will have to wait until I release a 10 - 20 GB version some time in the far-flung future.
Just a quick point of interest. Periodically throughout the film, there do appear some in-show credits over the image. Anyone who is familiar with LOST would surely agree that as TV show credits go, they are extremely non-intrusive.
My first priority when making this edit was to create a version of LOST that I enjoy. I have therefore decided that short of manually painting over every instance of the credits that appear in the show, no other method of removing this text would be a better solution for me than leaving them in. LOST is an inherently cinematic show, and I don't feel that cropping the image to remove the credits is worth the picture that would be lost in doing so. Please understand that I have not left them in for any reason other than my desire to present the show in its best possible light.
Laziness or a desire to "get the edit over with" has not played a part in my decision to leave them in - unless you count an unwillingness to manually paint over thousands of frames of credits as "laziness."
Again, these credits are unobtrusive and very rare (probably taking up little more than a minute or so of screen time across a 3.5 hour film)., and so I don't view them as an issue at all. However, I thought that I should let you all know about it before you download the film - just in case it is an issue for you.
Update (29th June, 2013)
Neglify has just approved the 1080p version of my film, so anyone who wants to download it (or the DVD5 version) can PM me for the links.
I'm just in the process of creating a poster and trailer for the film now, and so if all goes well the edit should be listed on IFDB by next week.
For those still interested in the first movie, it *might* now available in the usual location.
