Star Wars silent film by TMBTM

[TMBTM]

Star Wars The 30's Serial Edition
Part1 episode 1-2-3 = 132 min.
Part2 episode 4-5-6 = 148 min.

So, my first fan-edit project is done (you'll tell me!)

EDIT: (rapidshare links for DVD part1 now available, seek further in this topic. Part2 soon to come)

It's a 4h40 long silent Star Wars movie (only Williams score), black and white, with dialogues cards.
Maybe I should have called this "20's serial edition", cause the 30's were the great debut of sound and color,
I thought 30's sounds better... anyway...

Quality has been hugely improved, compared to the first part DVD released last month
(few cuts were also made here and there)
and, thanks to Ripplin: no more bad french/english translations and horrible grammatical faults in the text cards.
I think you can now watch this without laughing about my poor english.
Each episodes are now chapitred.

Even if there are more than 8 hours cutted out of the originals, it's the same story but tell in a different and very shorter way.
My goal is to give the same old movie feeling to the whole saga that can now be watched as one big movie.
Of course you have to like Williams score to enjoy this edit because there is no voices or sound effects
to prevent you from falling asleep!
You'll find some PT score in OT, and some OT score in PT.

I can't detail all the cuts, but you don't have to care if Han shoots first or not anymore:
he does not meet Greedo at all.
There is no opening crawl on part2 cause it's all one movie and so the crawl is on part1.
But before each episode (that can be watched separatly by the main menu) there is a "Ten years later" type of card,
then a text explaining the events between the episodes (some of these texts are from the original movies text crawls).

No Obi/Ani/Dooku/Yoda fight in EP2.
No Yoda/Sidious fight in EP3. I like this fight, but I needed to cut it (time issue)
The only moment Yoda is holding a saber is at the end of order 66.

The only thing that really bother me is that this edit don't show Vader killing any imps officers.
(I always liked to see the ultimate bad guy killing more imperials than rebels in the OT!
There's really "still good in him" I suppose!)

I had a very hard time working on the music synch.
I did my best even if some transitions are still a bit rushed. I don't think I can improve it a lot more.


This edit is something I needed to do.
Like... I don't know, saying goodbye to a world that I really like but that I somehow need to leave.
I don't say that I'm done with Star Wars, I'm a huge fan and I still have some hope for the live tv-series.
But I had to do this edit first to have a completely free mind on other projects.

Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info

 

[Ripplin]

Silent film version! How cool is that? He put some true laugh out loud lines in it, too.

I'm downloading Part 1 right now. It'll be a while, but I'll add a review of it after I've watched it. And I'll try not to be biased, since I had a small hand in it.

 

[stomachworm]

Will there be single case artwork for those of us who need to conserve shelfspace?

 

[TMBTM]

Will there be single case artwork for those of us who need to conserve shelfspace?

I did not even think about that! Yes, of course I could do one artwork for the whole thing.

I'll also try to do DivX versions this week end, if I have the time.

 

[TMBTM]

If there's no more seed now it will come back in 3 hours or so.

 

[Remixed by Jorge]

have you considered mailing a disk to boon for rapidshare upload?
4+ hours as a torrent is quite a chunk to swallow. and in need of approval as well.
I'm confused. Is it one movie or several short movies?
And I agree: "30's serial edition" is much better than "20's serial edition".

 

[TMBTM]

I'm confused. Is it one movie or several short movies?

Well it's all up to you!
You can watch each episodes separately (via the main menu)
You can watch only the PT DVD, or the OT DVD.
You can watch the entire saga,
(although I agree that 4h40 long is still a bit long for a silent movie!)

If I remember (cause I'm at my job now...) the lenght goes more or less like this:

TPM = 43 min.
AOTC = 37 min.
ROTS = 52 min.
ANH = 46 min.
TESB = 47 min.
ROTJ = 55 min.

I will see what I can do for the rapidshare thing.
I think I'll try to do DivX versions this week end if I have the time.

 

[Remixed by Jorge]

This is already for the Uber-fan: a trimmed B/W silent popcorn film that runs 5- hours? :shock:
If it was up to me I would like your most successful single episode as an 700mb AVI. I'm pretty sure a single episode is all that I could handle.
As is, this is quite the mouthful to QC and give feedback on.

 

[TMBTM]

I guess I could do DivX for each episodes. And Maybe just one separately in full DVD quality.
You're right about that KBM.

Each PT and OT DVD don't runs a lot more than a standard Star Wars movie,
and each episode don't runs a lot more than a TV-series episode.
You don't have to sit through the 4h40 movie if you don't want to.

The goal was not to make it more dark, or from a character point of view or things like that.
It really was to show the actual story but in a old style and in a shorter way. (although it don't have midichlorians or
some other things like that, so the story obviously change a bit).
Of course to do that I had to change the music order, to make some new dialogues, and not only to cut big scenes
out, but to cut meticulously each scenes left in the edit, to change scenes order, and sometimes adding bonus scenes,too).
So it is not a "cut big scenes and put some random music on" thing. At least I hope the edit does not has that feel.

So maybe it is not something interesting for the masses, but the result is almost what I had in mind when I started
this project. But I'm all open to criticism to make it better, if I feel the need to do that later.

 

[TMBTM]

I would like to say that when I compiled my DVD with DVD Lab Pro I found out that the picture looked quite darker and contrasted. I liked that, I thought it gives a kind of old feeling to the edit.
But now I've just tried to watch my DVD .vob files on VLC player and the brightness is the same as my original mepg2.
The same .vobs files look darker and more contrasted on some others player, like window media player.
I would like to know how can the brightness and contrast can change from one player to another?

 

[boon23]

Every player has different settings and also a different visual quality. They are using different video engines. Same goes for DVD players. The same movie can look quite different on another DVD player.

 

[TMBTM]

The DivX torrents for Episode 4-5-6 are now online.

Since I keep my other DVD and divX torrents alive, the speed could be a bit slow. But they are small files.

 

[Ripplin]

Having just completed watching the entire saga as edited by TMBTM, I am impressed! Here are some specifics on what I saw and heard:

Plot

Most people on this forum--and its sister site, originaltrilogy.com--know the Star Wars movies inside and out. That being said, no matter what a faneditor does, we know the story behind it and what originally happened. In the case of TMBTM's edit, it is by and large a case of subtraction rather than addition or alteration. Despite cutting a large amount of footage in order to make each episode fit a 30-40 minute standard, the story still makes complete sense. Even the prequels. Consideration was given to how scenes would play out in the future having removed certain things, and it all fits together very well. The dialogue cards were concise when possible and went into more detail when necessary. (I will get into the dialogue cards more later on.) I laughed out loud several times when reading the editor's notes and thought 'oh, people are going to get a kick out of this!'

I give the plot 4/5, the subtraction for perhaps not going far enough outside the original plot boundaries as I may have liked (very subjective; I do see how it should be quite close when doing a silent film version of something, as well), and for the fact that no matter how well one tries to explain the prequels, it can never fully be done. I don't think I'll ever fully understand them, anyway.

Image quality

For a long time, I had wondered if anyone had made a silent film version, completely done in black and white. Only a couple of months after I had posted my thoughts, I found out about this edit. I must say, these movies look great in black and white, especially the prequels. At ot.com, astromech said the following: "...turning the movies to black and white has actually taken a lot of the cartoonish nature away from the [CG] work." That statement is very accurate, especially as far as the prequels are concerned. I've always felt they went overboard with color and light at times, and having a lack of color like this sort of mutes everything. There are times when it gives the scenes a very classic feel; the duel between Vader and Luke in ESB looks especially nice; elegant, even! Sometimes, the image is a bit too bright, but that is not the editor's fault. It mostly happens in outdoor scenes in the PT, and to change it may have created more problems than it was worth.

Having said all that, some have mentioned that adding film grain to this may have given it more authenticity, rather than the excellent DVD quality image this edit presents. But it seems to me that that process can be hit and miss. TMBTM can certainly do this if he wants to return to this edit in the future, but I think it's fine the way it is. Others have expressed concerns about overall brightness, but I saw no issues with this. Everything looked consistent, and the fact that these were sourced from the 2004 DVDs must be taken into consideration.

I give the image quality 5/5.

Audio quality

This is what this edit is all about; enjoying John Williams' beautiful film scores in a unique way. And that music is in fine form; crisp and clear. There are several excellent cuts and substitutions present. One example is using music from ROTJ suring the pod racing scene, which seems to have been timed just for that scene, especially towards the end! The timing during the droid ship destruction and the addition of "Jedi Rocks" into AOTC were also very well timed. My favorite cut for the sheer cleverness factor may be during ROTJ right after Jabba says he likes Solo right where he is. You'll see. The only problems I heard were a couple of times where the volume seems to ramp up for a split second, and a couple of fades and such that were a little hard.

Overall, the music selections show that a lot of thought went into them and the songs sound great. I rate the audio quality 4.5/5.

Difference to the original

Lack of color, altered dialogue, substituted/edited music and shortened sequences make this one quite different from the original, which is good. As I mentioned earlier, the thought of a silent film version of the Star Wars movies is something I was already hoping to see before I'd heard of this edit. When all the good ideas had seemingly been done, along comes one that someone has actually made that I had a vision of beforehand. I must have had the biggest grin on my face when I read about this one.

Overall, I will give the differences a 4.5/5. If the storyline had been more significantly altered, that may have been a 5, but that's just me.

Overall presentation

I find this whole edited saga shows a great deal of consideration. I can't imagine how much time and effort went into planning! I even put several hours into it, thus making this the first fanedit I've worked on. (My review is still unbiased, however.) I proofread and made alterations to the script/dialogue cards, most of which were implemented. Since the editor's first language is not English, I wanted to make it seem as if it is, basically. There are a few spelling and grammatical mistakes that were missed once put into the movie (I had no advance screening, so I couldn't help at that point), but all are small and soon forgotten.

The menu is simple, but effective, as are the dialogue cards. I kept thinking of things he may have been able to do to change them, but after a while, I thought 'no, they're fine the way they are.' To gussy them up too much would be distracting, I think. The only thing I might have done was try and get the outline--including the Star Wars logo--a little smoother looking. As for amount of time the cards are on screen, no problems there. The viewer will always have plenty of time for reading, with no feeling of 'get on with it' at any time. One thing that made me smile a few times are some of the wipes he used. Pretty clever at times. I especially liked one that went from Vader's meditation chamber to the battlefield of Hoth.

I rate overall presentation 4.5/5.

All in all, it's hard to believe this is TMBTM's first fanedit contribution to the site. It is a definite winner, and any fan of these movies should have it in their collection. I see no reason to delay adding this to the FE.org main page. If TMBTM wants to return to this edit and do some small tweaks, he's more than welcome, but for now, I say this edit is:

P.S. I think that's 300 words or more. I didn't count.

 

[boon23]

great review, Ripplin.

 

[Ripplin]

Thanks, boon.

 

[TMBTM]

I'm glad you like the edit Ripplin!
I'm pleased with your comment about the amount of time the cards are on screen. I think I don't read english as fast most people here, so I wondered if the result was good or not. I don't think I could have been able to present a decent final version of this edit without your help this past 2 or 3 weeks. Boon23 and Ghoscut also were a great help at some moments. This edit was a learning process so I'm proud it did not turned into a fiasco.

I understand what you said about the plot. At first I wanted to change the separatists into the begining of the rebellion, that sort of things... But finaly I liked the way the Emperor manage to divide and rule, creating a war to take control. I like the prequels story, it really just was the bad dialogues (and too many useless scenes, and sometime lifeless acting...) that kind of killed part of the fun of these movies to me.
So the goal of this edit was more to tell the same story in a different visual way than to make it "mine".

I agree about the astromech comment on the CGI looking better in black and white. I think CGI looks more part of the real world that way.

I'm planning to do a french version of this edit. And maybe later a "dusty" version with some "old movie" type filters. But for now I will take some rest, spending time with my girlfriend, and drink some beers watching movies I did not see 1000 times! :razz:

Maybe I will send the DVDs to Boon23 for having rapidshare links too.

 

[TMBTM]

Here is a part of an interview with John Williams:

I.
George often talks about his movies as, " silent movies." Obviously they are not "silent movies", but he sees himself as working in the spirit of silent movies. What does that mean to you as a composer?

JW.
When George refers to his movies as "silent movies", I think he is speaking about several aspects of the genre. He writes scripts, and they have dialogue, they have a text, but there is a hurtling forward in the editing and in the conception of the thing that is really cinematic. It is not a literary expression, even though there is a literary aspect to it. And so, when he says "silent film", I think he is referring to a kind of rhythmic and visual energy - so that you could almost remove the text and it would still hurtle forward. It is the kind of rhythmic and kinetic expression that speaks - and that is what music is about really - events in time and events in a certain speed, or lack of speed. So I don't think that George means "silent movie" in terms of the fact that the movie doesn't have sound, but more in terms of the spirit of the action movies of the silent period that didn't depend on a literary text, but action, visual effects and timing, and probably music.

People have observed that even the silent films of the 1920's, the films that we refer to as being silent, were never really silent. An orchestra was always in the pit or an organist or some music from the classical repertoire was being played at the same time as the movie. And that is still really the part of the tradition of what we do. George links strongly with that past. I am very fortunate to work-with a director like that because music is kind of a sensual (or essential?) pulse of what he does Cinematically. It makes my role an important one, or an integral one, to the real spirit and heartbeat of his films.

You'll find the entire interview here:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/f ... rview.html

 

[Ripplin]

I may as well out my replies on both forums, too:

Nice find. One thing I like about having the PT in silent mode is that it hides some of those HORRIBLE sound effects! Some of them bugged me even more than Jar Jar! Specifically, it's that stupid warbling thing Ben Burtt seems to have become obsessed with. I can't stand it. Even the stupid creatures in the arena do it.

 

[Traxx]

I'm planning to do a french version of this edit. And maybe later a "dusty" version with some "old movie" type filters.

Those are TWO GREAT IDEAS !!!!!!!

 

[spence]

Just watched the PT edit and it was great!

Aside from all the music editing that was obviously good, i like how you cut the Kenobi/Maul fight so that Kenobi never falls down the pit. In the midst of the fight, he just leaps over Maul's head and shanks him. Truly awesome. If I ever decide to do an episode I edit, I'm totally stealing that.

Can't wait to see the next one!