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Star Wars Phantom Menace 1.1 Editor Speaks
guinnessy writes "Studio 360 interviews the person who carried out Phantom Edit 1.1. You can listen to the interview here if you have Real Audio. It's quite interesting and explains why he hated Jar Jar Binks so much and what he did."
to explain why someone would hate Jar Jar so much? I figured most people over ~12 would understand his feelings completely.
Yeah I could if i Had real audio. Anyone will to write down the conversation and post it some were so those of us who don't have real audio can read it?
The Phantom Editor's Website!
which highlights JarJar's zany antics and removes the parts that advance the story. I call it the JarJar Yes-Pleasy-Yessir Phantom Meesa-Likie-Likie Edit.
Probably because you can start listening nearly instantly, vs. waiting for the whole file to download first.
Also, Real has some nice streaming features. They can dynamically change the bitrate of the audio depending on your ability to download it.
I have no doubt that MP3 or OGG could be used to do the same thing, but consider that Real is a big player in this space.
"Derp de derp."
well, he pretty clearly speaks with some sort jamaican accent, and might as well be wearing blackface as far as i'm concerned.
and the trade federation was pretty thinly-veiled racism against the japanese.
to be fair, i also thought lotr has some racist undertones as well...i mean, the book is especially bad on this score, equating darkness of skin with evil, and fairness of skin w/ good. imagine how that makes someone with dark skin feel...when really it's all a function of evolution and differential exposure to radiation over time...
-------- -praktike
Sorry, but I think you've been had there.
i ke-the-most?" film series. It's a pretty faithful (so far) movie adaptation of what's commonly regarded as the best book of the twentieth century.
The "Lord Of The Rings" movie trilogy isn't your average Hollywood "gee-what-kind-of-ending-did-the-test-audiences-l
The second book in the trilogy is called "The Two Towers". And the title isn't a prescient, Nostrodamus-like reference to the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center but (shock, horror) a reference to two, uh, towers, that appear in that book as Frodo and Sam continue on to Mordor and the rest of the fellowship take part in an assault on Isengard.
Now, unless I'm truly living in an Orwellian society (which, ironically, is how I perceive the revisionism that Hollywood seems to be obsessed with whenever it turns its hand to historically-based entertainment), those are the historical facts. (Unless, of course, the Ministry Of Truth truly has tracked down every copy of LOTR, had them destroyed and replaced with "corrected" copies that aren't as offensive to The Party. Who knows, this could have happened. It might explain why my copy of LOTR has gone AWOL.)
I can't vouch for him personally, but Peter Jackson strikes me as a man of integrity. In every interview I've read or seen his love of the original text and his desire to bring it to life as faithfully as possible is clear. And I very much doubt that he's going to presume to meddle with Tolkien's masterpiece by changing the title of the second film.
The irony that he'd even be asked to do so is dripping - is there any way the world of Tolkien could possibly be further away from the world of September 11th?
The Hollywood suits asking for a name change are probably the same ones that were so vocal in the aftermath of last year's tragedy, spouting (script-written?) lines about how they couldn't produce another violent movie after what had happened yet barely waiting more than a heartbeat before rubber stamping the release of movies like Black Hawk Down and Collateral Damage.
All this while the Israeli army, funded by the US tax payer ($4 billion of US military aid per year, total military expenditure $7 billion per year), murders people in their homes with US-built, US-supplied hardware while the Bush administration vetoes any attempt by the United Nations' Security Council to condemn Israel's actions.
(When Israel kills, the world complains but the US pretends that nothing's happened. Ditto when the US military kills allied personnel in "friendly fire" incidents.)
Change the title of "The Two Towers"? How about changing the damn record instead?
(Go ahead, mod this down. Like I give a damn about karma.)
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
The most interesting part of that pathetic interview was the discussion afterwards, without the phantom editor, about Memento. That the England dvd release will have an easter egg that you can watch it in chronological order.
"he wants the kids involved so they stick through all 3 new movies and hopefully watch the other 3."
Don't forget that Star Wars movies = release of some really cool toys. Go to your local Toys R Us and see what companies such as LEgo are doing with Star Wars. It's pretty impressive.
I have no doubt that Lucas had kids in mind when he made Jar Jar. He even said so in this month's Issue of Maxim.
Is this a bad thing? I agree that Star Wars would be more interesting if it were geared more towards the adult world, but the kids spend more money on it after the fact. The truth is that we can fully expect more kiddie stuff as Star Wars trickles out. Look at the preview for AotC. Anybody catch the flying R2D2 scene?
There is some hope, though. Older people are buying more video games these days. It's possible we'll see Star Wars tuned more to the adult audience in the next couple of movies, because now the older people have a reason to buy Star Wars merchandise.
At least that's what I'm hoping for. I'm not holding my breath, though. When I see AotC, I fully expect to see some silly moments that'll make the kids cheer. The best I can do is try to enjoy it. I know I thought the Ewoks were cool when I was 6.
"Derp de derp."
The "Lord Of The Rings [imdb.com]" movie trilogy isn't your average Hollywood "gee-what-kind-of-ending-did-the-test-audiences-li ke-the-most?" film series. It's a pretty faithful (so far) movie adaptation of what's commonly regarded [guardian.co.uk] as the best book of the twentieth century.
I'll have to dispute with you on that one. LOTR was a damn good book. Undoubtedly the best book of the Fantasy genre ever. However, there are books such as Ulysess, 1984, The Grapes of Wrath, The Old Man and the Sea, and of course Brave New World that I think edge out ahead of LOTR.
I think the poll in your article is skewed to favor LOTR because it is just a poll of regular people. Many of whom have heard about or seen LOTR at a theater near them. Many of these people have not heard of books like The Old Man and the Sea, or Ulysses.
Basically stated, what I'm trying to say is the recent publicity of LOTR has skewed the poll in the article you linked to. Most critics consider Ulysses to be the best book of the century, with Brave New World in second.
So... a spyware free version of kazaa...
interview with the phantom editor...
All in the same day?!
muahahahah!
> Anakin's flitting slave-owner is supposed to be vaguely eastern European / Jewish, near as I can tell (accented, haggles over money, big nose -- I mean, Jesus Christ!).
Yeah, but Jesus Christ is rarely portrayed with a big nose, despite the stereotypes.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Sorry for everyone's mispelled names...
Kurt: This is Studio 360, at my desk is the film editor Doby Dorn and we're talking about all kinds of editing. Millions of "Star Wars" fans were lukewarm about the 1999 prequel "The Phantom Menace". But one disappointed fan actually did something about it. He calls himself the Phantom Editor. And with his personal computer he entirely recut the movie on video and started giving it away. This new phantom edit has become a global phenomenon thanks to the Internet and we invited him to speak publicly for the first time about why he did what he did.
[Starwars soundtrack]
PhantomEditor: The very first day that Phantom Menance premiered that...that afternoon I was thinking "Boy this movie needs a re-edit." I don't know, that afternoon I went up there sat next to a few people who had saw it when they were kidding about bringing their little kid in to see it. I thought "Wow this is really cool." And then the movie started and that sorta went right out the window.
[Jar-Jar-Binks]
PhantomEditor: On the screen there was so much extra material on there that I thought if they could remove some of this extra stuff THAT would actually make a better film. It's not that George Lucas didn't have the technology to do what he wanted to do, it's that he did. And somehow the movie became more about the technology then the storytelling aspect of it. The things that I...I was concerned with... uh... in my edit were the story redundancy, the over-abundance of Jar-Jar antics that didn't seem to carry the story forward, and the presentation of Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker.
[Anikin: "You mean I get to come with you in your staaarshiiip?"]
PhantomEditor: He ends up being the evil character Darth Vader in the other "Star Wars" movies and the actions don't really seem reflective of that character. The blowing up of the droid control ship within the "Phantom Menace" was actually done as a... you know... an accident, where he hit the button and physically he says the word "Oops" at the end of it during the explosion.
[Anikin: "oops"]
PhantomEditor: Instead of letting him be heroic he ends up being a fumbling goof. All the happy accidents are now diminished.
PhantomEditor: Uh... throughout the whole movie from that battle sequence on Anikan's actions are now motivated by his heroic character. There are no oops's, there are none of the yippee's either...
[Anikan: "yippppeee!"]
PhantomEditor: There's an excessive amount of Jar-Jar antics, and what I mean by that, is the little examples which are almost a showpiece for the ILM special effects... where it takes you out of the story lets him participate in some little antic, and then you have to fight to get back into the story again. By removing alot of those things, I am not taking away from the story, I'm actually helping it by keeping people involved.
[Jar-Jar]
PhantomEditor: Initially when I did this it was for the audience of me and it really started out pretty harmless. The offering of a few copies to friends, who of course had friends who worked somewhere else who wanted to see it, and it began to get talked about. I mean, there was a point where I was getting over 200 emails a day. The first time I got one from New Zealand, that's what really scared the hell out of me, because I'm like "How did you see this?"
[Music swell]
PhantomEditor: First I remained anonymous because I guess that's originally what I wanted to do. You know, it was really a joke between friends, and I'm sure alot of those people knew who I was anyway. But when it got really huge like that it became really overwhelming for somebody like me who had edited this on a low end computer sitting on a $40 computer stand in my apartment. And then I didn't know the legal terms of it. All I knew is that I felt really safe because I wasn't making any profit off of that, but it was becoming aware to me that other people out there were.
[Deathstar music]
PhantomEditor: Initially George Lucas had said in public at the MTV awards that he did want to see it. But then later they put out a press statement that he would not ever watch it. Actually, I do think he should watch it. I just think that those people are making movies with their wallets. And might need a little kick in the butt from somebody like me who is completely at the other end of the scale which is similar to the message which is in the "Star Wars" films, that the underdog, the Luke Skywalker character overpowers the Empire.
[Music swell]
Kurt: Mike J. Nickels is the phantom editor and our story was produced by Michael May. Dody, you know the phantom editor I understand?
Dody: Yeah I've met him a couple times, and I have a copy of the "Phantom Edit". Is that what it's called?
Kurt: That's what it's called yeah.
Dody: [Laugh] and uhh, but I've never watched it.
Kurt: What do you think of... of what he's done? I mean the idea of... of a mere civilian taking a piece of, you know, zillion dollar entertainment and... and by his lights improving it?
Dody: Well, uhm, I think if it's an irrepressable urge.. uh.. uh.. there's no reason why somebody should stop doing something that's an irrepressable urge. I mean why? Why should he, I mean, he's not try to, as he said, not try to make any profit from it. Uh... I understand the irritation of the person who did make it. I... I understand it. But I don't have an answer for that. I don't really have an answer for whether he... I mean, what are the options? Could they come and put him in jail for having done that? I mean, there are over... over time there are examples of.. of other films... I think it's "Once Upon a Time in America" that had the European version where the time structure was all over the place, and then they made an American version that was... much uhm.. I mean obviously these were the people who owned the film, but I doubt seriously if it was the film-maker who wanted it to completely rearrange the time and made it much shorter. And people were critical of it. So I think when something like that is done that it opens... that its a forum for discussion.
Kurt: I understand that "Momento" in a European DVD form was in risk, or is going to be reorganized entirely, is that true?
Dody: Not exactly, uhm... the... I think it's the DVD release in England has an easter egg on it where you can play the film in forward chronology and Chris and I actually have never put the film in forward chronology. So while we were working on "Insomnia" we rented [laugh] the film, and digitized it, and put it in forward chronology. And we were so shocked by the change in how you experience the film; it was a completely different film. Uhm.. the character of.. of Lenard Shelby was now a really bad guy and in the structure that is Chris's design, he is someone who is avenging his wife's horrible murder. So he is a sympathetic character all the way through. And part of the purpose of that in telling the story that Chris wanted to tell is that it is an anti-revenge revenge tale. Because you spend the whole film thinking this is a good guy that we have empathy with who is going to avenge his wife's murder and at the end, or the middle of the story you realize, oh, maybe he is just a psycho.
Dody: And then it makes you question, I'd like to think it makes you question, the whole idea of revenge. Ah... because it's suddenly your perspective has shifted.
Kurt: And when you re-edited it as technology allows us to do and put it in the normal straight forward fasion, it's like you turn a beautiful, amazing, oragami construction into a... just a piece of paper.
Dody: Right, exactly, and it felt suddenly just like a... uh... uh... low rent, you know, film noir.
Kurt: Dody Dorn, thank you very much for joining me today in Studio 360.
Dody: Been alot of fun.
Kurt: Starting next month, you can see Dody Dorn's work in the new movie by Christopher Noland "Insomnia". It stars, Al Pacino, Hillary Swank, and Robert Williams. For more information about Dody Dorn, or about anything else you've heard on our program, visit our website, studio360.org.
Kurt: Studio 360 is produced by WNYC along with PRI, public radio international. The production team includes, Julie Berstein, Cary Hillman, Peter Clowny, Jocelyn Gonzolas, Steve Nelson, Michelle Speagle, Lisal Muhas, Andy Lancet, Lou Alcasky, Micheal Rayfield. The music is by David Vantiegams. I'm Kurt Anderson, and I do hope you'll join us next week in Studio 360.
Announcer: Studio 360 is co-produced by WNYC radio and public radio international, and is supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Tiffany and Company Foundation, and the Horith W. Goldsmith Foundation.
[PRI sound]
It appears Ockham lost his razor and grew a beard.
This whole racist obsession people have is kinda ridiculous. Colors aren't hidden racist subtext.
White is fascinating and black is scary. This makes sense. Think about it. The dark is "black". If you go into the dark, you can't see things and this is bad. Things can eat you in the dark. There are Grue's in the dark. Everyone naturally is warrier in the dark, even someone with "black" skin.
On the other hand, bright light is white, and it reveals everything that was hidden. Light also conquers darkness.
So if you're portraying a character who's evil and nasty you could (if you're wanting to make it blatantly obvious) dress them in black and have them hide in shadows. Dangerous things lurk in shadows, so the connection is obvious.
For an example. I, as a kid, was scared of the dark long before I'd ever seen a black person. I liked flashlights because they got rid of the darkness. This was long before I knew that I was "white" by comparison to anything else.
This is seperate from the skin color of the characters. It's just to explain that Gandalf the White and Sauron the Dark aren't necessarily racial comments in any way. Feel free to read anything you want into the skin colors of the orcs and the "good guys".
I am glad though, that they didn't throw in a token black character. They were dealing with small isolated populations. You likely wouldn't get someone with a really different skin color so it'd be a blatant "Don't hate us, here's your token minority" gesture. Now on the other hand, if they'd made (for instance) the wood elves dark (or the Rivendell ones) that would have made some sense because they were a seperate population. But it's unthinking knee-jerk PC gestures that stick out like a sore thumb. And in my opinion these do more harm than good because they bring the issue of skin color to mind, instead of ignoring it as the non-issue it is.
No people are not justified in being offended. This thin skinned bleeding heart crap has gone too far. If I were to make a movie, I sure as hell would ignore ANYONE who told me my bad guys couldn't have dark skin, or light skin, or speak with this accent or that. You read too much into it. And the people who generally whine about this sort of thing are the people who look for it everywhere.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
It'd be nice to define a way to re-edit a film from DVD footage, such that you can redistribute the edit as simple "score" information. You just list the edit segments as references to timed slices of the original data. The resulting file would be tiny, and you're not sharing any copyrighted information. When you "play" the edit, the DVD player just skips around the source movie playing the edits in order.
More complicated editing techniques like the separation of audio and video tracks (to maintain music continuity for instance) could be implemented by having separate edit information for each. The player software must become a little smarter at this point though.
This mechanism could also be used to implement the "amateur commentaries" that Ebert talked about a little while back. You just include the commentary information in a separate file, which would be much smaller as you would have to provide only the actual commentary, not all the "dead air" between comments. The edit score would play the appropriate comment at the right time, with nice crossfading if you prefer.