Revenge of the Sith - 15th Anniversary

ReverendSpooky wrote:I freakin love that fanmade duel.  In every other sense, I really think the original trilogy is perfect as is, but holy crap, that's is so well done.  They imbue the fight with such an intensity.  It's vicious.  And we see 2 masters really throw down.  I love seeing them actually using the force like that, and it just so captures how destructive a light-sabre really is.  As Skywalkersaga pointed out above, it actually conveys so much about the characters too, and so effectively it's crazy.  I'm sure it's a controversial opinion, but it's the only time I've ever seen something that genuinely is an improvement on the original. And I don't mean that as a diss of the original at all.  I totally get it being a product of it's time, and it's actually crazy how well it actually does hold up all these years.  It just blows my mind that this is fan made, when I've rarely ever seen an actual Hollywood film do a fight that well, and convey so much in it.

Completely agree, Rev! You said it perfectly. It's one of those rare pieces of fanfiction that captures the spirit of the canonical story and characters so well I don't mind absorbing it into my own 'headcanon'.

I love how the super intense fight contrasts Han's meditative  Death Star experience. xD

I really think Mark Hamil and Ewan McGregor should reshoot some of the old scenes, elderly Hamil starring as whiny young Luke and Ewan being himself.

Just had a chance to re-watch the fan video again on a bigger screen -- and oh my Force, I forgot just how good that is!!! The duel itself is well-choreographed and very in-character -- they even included that lightsaber-throwing move that Anakin does in the Clone Wars [also of course a reference to the final RotJ duel]. The way it's edited especially, how they cleverly spliced some of Vader's lines from Rebels in order to get more actual James Earl Jones voice-over in there. Also, the fact that they reinforced some of the key moments with remembered dialogue from the Obi-Wan vs. Anakin Mustafar duel was just perfect and gave me chills. And finally, how he senses Luke there at the end.....wahhhhhh my heaaaaaaaaaart. Quintessential 'Vaderkin' moment!!!!  :''))

Yeah, that is pretty cool (the fight, I mean). i didn’t really care for the “remembered” dialogue from the prequels, but if they had included that fight sequence in the original film that would have been pretty cool. Unfortunately, without the technology available today — it just wouldn’t have been possible.

Stryker2011 wrote:Yeah, that is pretty cool (the fight, I mean). [...] if they had included that fight sequence in the original film that would have been pretty cool. Unfortunately, without the technology available today — it just wouldn’t have been possible.

 

Yes, for sure. I don't knock the original duel at all -- as you say, it was the best they could do at that time. In the case of this fan-film, I appreciated that they edited it in a way that it could be seen as more like a 'missing moment' off-screen than total replacement for it.

skywalkersaga wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Yeah, that is pretty cool (the fight, I mean). [...] if they had included that fight sequence in the original film that would have been pretty cool. Unfortunately, without the technology available today — it just wouldn’t have been possible.

 

Yes, for sure. I don't knock the original duel at all -- as you say, it was the best they could do at that time. In the case of this fan-film, I appreciated that they edited it in a way that it could be seen as more like a 'missing moment' off-screen than total replacement for it.

Agreed. It’s like watching the Extended Cut of a film, where they cut stuff for time, but then add it back in for the DVD release. As long as it doesn’t change the overall tone, context, characters, of the picture, but instead adds further details that enhance, or explain things better, I’m all for it (like the LOTR, or the original Conan). Too many things were unfortunately altered (not for the better) in the SE of this OT (but this sequence I wouldn’t have minded).

Yeah, it works perfectly either as a reimagined/hypothetical part of the original canon, or as a really awesome fanfiction. :')

Thanks again everyone for the excellent contributions re: awesome lightsaber duels, both canonical and re-imagined.  


I started this thread intending to gradually add a bit more to it as I went along, since I was too busy in the lead-up to the actual RotS anniversary to shoot and edit all the photos that I'd originally wanted to do in honour of it. So here are a few additional image+quote combinations for the time being ... with hopefully more to come later. 

This time I wanted to illustrate a moment from early on in the RotS novelization when, in the midst of the Battle of Coruscant (but prior to his duel with Dooku), Anakin has a flash of Force-vision in which he sees himself defeating Dooku and thereby ending the Clone Wars. Unlike the far darker reality that is about to come to pass, this vision-scenario plays out in a positive and unquestionably heroic manner, giving him a sudden, heart-wrenching moment of hope: 






" Clouds lifted from his heart: clouds of Jabiim, of Aargonar, of Kamino, of even the Tusken camp. For the first time in too many years he felt young: as young as he really was.


Young, and free, and full of light. "


—Matthew Stover, Revenge of the Sith 


This passage gets to me so much—other than the beautiful reunion scene with Padme in which he finds out he is going to be a father, it is probably one of the few truly uplifting moments for Anakin in RotS, made all the more painful by the terrible irony of how the events of his vision *actually* pan out. The Hot Toys sculpt has that perpetually furrowed brow which can be a challenge to work around at times, and I ended up taking about a hundred photos in an attempt to find just the right angle to convey the almost desperate feeling of hope and longing that comes over him in that moment when he thinks he might finally be able to do it after all—to end the war, there and then. 


And I’ll leave off for now with two (unabashedly romantic) edits made using a couple photos I already shared on the 'Death and the Maiden' thread. I suppose I could have posted them there, but I wanted to include them here alongside the rest of images inspired by the RotS novelization. :') 





"Everywhere he looked, he saw only the face of the woman he loved beyond love: the woman for whom he channeled through his body all the love that had ever existed in the galaxy. In the universe."

—Matthew Stover, Revenge of the Sith



and





"....and now he felt her, really felt her in the Force, as though she could have been some kind of Jedi, too, but more than that: he felt a bond, a connection, deeper and more intimate than he’d ever had before with anyone, even Obi-Wan; for a precious eternal instant he was her…he was the beat of her heart and he was the motion of her lips and he was her soft words as though she spoke a prayer to the stars."

—Matthew Stover, Revenge of the Sith 

Beautiful imagery and cool effects!

Nice shots. I like the mostly silhouette image of the two of the them the best.

The new shots are really killer! I love the dark clouds, and galaxy layout on the 2nd looks really nice (I really like the shadows on that shot as well). And they all go really well with the quotes you picked!

Thank you, guys!  

And Rev, Stryker... I agree that, aesthetically, the second one is probably the best edit of the three. I love the dark shadows in that one too... it brings to mind the noir-ish feel of their Coruscant scenes in RotS. 

My photoshop/editing skills are not that great to begin with, and are further limited by the very basic programmes I have access to. The first one perhaps didn't turn out exactly as I'd hoped, but that moment of his vision is just so heartwrenching to me I just had to try to do something to illustrate it. Not to mention I had to do something with one of those hundreds of photos I took in the attempt.  

The final one is just a crappy gif I made as an experiment, but I thought it did kinda work alongside the quote. 

I have one more set of photos I'd like to do in honour of RotS, but since it will require an entirely different photoshoot for each individual image, it might take me a while to find the time/energy to finish those.... :3

Did you do something to his eyes in #1? He looks like he is daaanciing with has tears in his eyes.

Have to agree with what was said about that..star border...universal...across the stars picture, it's so beautiful in his silhouette...ness. like some real people there! 
There is so much potential in this, like that balcony +skyline on a screen you plan. Really like that orange silver Coruscant dawn light. They really mailed it in that old 'Old Republic' game.

I get a nice early 2000s 'homepage' vibe from the sparkle gif. <3

Ovy wrote:Did you do something to his eyes in #1? He looks like he is daaanciing with has tears in his eyes.

I didn't do anything to his eyes in this instance, it's all the natural lighting of the original photo. The only editing on that part of the image is simply imposing him onto the background [which is itself a composite of a screencap of the Battle of Coruscant and some random stock image of light streaming through clouds]. In fact, my whole aim with that one was to try to capture a particular emotion without using any kind of FaceApp, only the existing expression on the headsculpt shot from certain angles. So, ah, yeah, really glad to know it came across as being so 'emotional'. Makes me think a bit about that effect ReverendSpooky was mentioning on your thread the other day. :') 

Ovy wrote:Have to agree with what was said about that..star border...universal...across the stars picture, it's so beautiful in his silhouette...ness. like some real people there! 

Wow, thanks! Great that it brought 'across the stars' soundtrack to mind. And there are many instances of Anakin and Padme as 'silhouettes', so maybe it's fitting to them... :')

Ovy wrote:
There is so much potential in this, like that balcony +skyline on a screen you plan. Really like that orange silver Coruscant dawn light. They really mailed it in that old 'Old Republic' game.

Hope to be able to do that at some point. Need a big enough screen. Would love something like this... just....sooo pretty: 





And yes, I didn't play the Old Republic game, but I had friends who did so I know a bit what you mean. I love views of Coruscant like that... in the PT films... in the Clone Wars... etc. In those, you get these gorgeous sunset scenes that evoke the era itself... the 'Twilight of the Republic', indeed:

Ovy wrote:I get a nice early 2000s 'homepage' vibe from the sparkle gif.  <3

Hahaha, yasss. If you couldn't already tell from the title of the thread, my nostalgia for the 2000s is showing....   

epic thread, fun to come back to over and over!

GregT wrote:epic thread, fun to come back to over and over!

Many thanks, GregT! Makes me happy to know you have enjoyed it. 

Amazing looking photos!

BAD WOLF-787 wrote:Amazing looking photos!

Thanks, my friend!

Ha, yeah, Spookies 'Russian sounding' effect, Kulshov?
I think the shot makes perfectly clear why glaze effects on the eyes contrasting the more matte skin are so important for a realistic illusion.

Beautiful gifs there, very atmospheric. Imagine the figures silhouettes in front of a skyline with moving lights and ships. In SWTOR, I had more fun to just soak in the atmosphere than playing the actual game. The ambient sounds and soundtrack are really great and atmospheric. While the game had it's light moments, it's a rather melancholic mood and theme. Instead of separatists the Republic faces an overwhelmingly mighty Sith Empire and the dark lawless corners of the galaxy like the Hutt planet or it's city moon Nar Shadda have a dark moody atmosphere. Those game music composers do really great jobs, capturing the Williams vibe without copying . Lost track of what they do over the past years though.

Here one of the ambiences


Busy midday mood (its always busy)


You probably know this
Nighttime Apratment vibe with droids.



Combine one of it with Swtor's beautiful Coruscant theme soundtrack. The composer was inspired by some short snippets/cues heard in Ep2 when the boys where using the elevator.
r

Here an extended version focusing on the more emotional part of the theme

The new Scenes are wonderful, Sky. Maybe You could show the figures arm in arm in front of a Background of that sunset Gifs ? Sunset Gif or a picture like that on a USB Stick this one in the TV port so You have a " Widescreen " and than a picture with a Camera ? So i did the " Shark " Pictures

Thank you so much, Ephiane! : ) Those are all good suggestions!

Ok... Ok... we get totaly OffTopic. I know. But i watch this with Headphones on and volume regulator on high. Oh my God. What a sound. I thought You SW Guys here need to hear that