This is a re-edit to the ending of The Last Jedi with an eye toward what if this had been the beginning of Disney Star Wars.
I want to talk about my choices in the edit.
We open up on the fortress as it does in the original. I then edit around the shuttle's crash because I'm going with the idea that we haven't met Finn or Rose yet. I use when everyone is looking out the window (originally at when Luke is being bombarded) as a part of showing them being trapped.
One mistake I haven't fixed yet is Finn leaning in the shot when we jump to the next scene of them setting up the command center. I want to keep the dialogue, but I don't know how to edit around him yet. There will either be compositing involved or his character will become a part of the Rebellion from the beginning.
On that note, this edit assumes the Empire survived the Emperor's passing and so we're seeing the original Rebellion on its last leg as opposed to Disney's confusing Resistance plot.
The soldiers fill the trenches and engage the Empire. I edited around the speeders as best I could because I don't happen to like them and remember I'm reordering when we meet the main cast.
So, like in the original cut, the trenches are overwhelmed and Luke enters the scene. There is a subtle change in the dialogue that passes between Luke and Leia. I avoided Leia saying right out it was her son.
Then while Luke is outside the bunker I edit around any shot of Kylo Ren's face. Obviously, I can't make the audience unsee his face, but if you'll pretend with me, this version assumes Kylo Ren has yet to put on the helmet for the first time. So maybe in my edit when he puts it on he can keep it for longer than he did in the original.
I don't have much material to edit a new fight, but I can tell you that I'm assuming Luke is present in the scene. He's not a Force projection.
Those of you who already watched the prologue will notice that I included Rey, though, this is imagining a new beginning for the movies. That's because I've made a major change to her character where she is Luke Skywalker's last surviving student from Kylo Ren's betrayal. She therefore comes into the story with some training.
I still have to figure out how to edit out Luke's lightsaber on his first
close-up. So, again, please pretend with me. But around here we reveal the tracker on Leia's wrist. I'm suggesting Luke gives her that instead of the dice. And I edit around Rey's close-up lifting the rocks because I'm undecided if I want to say Luke is doing that at a distance, but we still have a long shot of her where it could be Rey doing it.
I then keep the reaction shots where Rey and Leia can both feel what is going on. And the last shot we get on Rey's face I don't want to interpret being solely focused on Kylo, but rather I think in her change of character she could stand to be angry with Luke for sacrificing himself for Kylo Ren.
What do you think about that last idea? I think it leaves room to add much-requested depth to her character.
I like cutting between when Kylo's foot slides to walking into the bunker because there are a lot more red tracks on the ground, which is a good visual que that the bloodshed is not about to stop with Luke (and removes the unnecessary shouting from the villain).
It gives me no pleasure to kill off Luke, but I think this is the best way forward while employing the materials at hand. I hope to edit elements from all three movies into one that might give all the characters a better treatment with a less conflicting plot.
One of the biggest future hurdles is that Snoke doesn't speak very much across the movies and I'm looking to make a major change to his character.
To anyone interested in Project Hindsight, would you be terribly upset if I copped out with a narration of my new treatment of the characters with some casual editing or do you have your hearts set on a brand new edit of these movies into one? I'm hoping there's some interest out there for it either way.
On top of that, let me know if you liked the edit breakdown.