Ah, it's been good to be away. Had a wee vacation there. Nice.

Anyway, I was thinking about that 'fan edit' contest and was digging out a DVD copy to send over to their judges....I sat down and watched it to make sure it played allright, didn't skip, etc. Ended up spotting a couple of minor things I wanted to fix. Now I find myself working on version2....sigh.

Most of the changes are subtitle related, since there were rushed a bit and I had complaints that they were too small for some people. Also, I'm debating whether to cut out that Architect scene alltogether. I spent a lot of time editing it, so I'm hesitant to let go...but it doesn't really fit anymore in my version.

In reference to a couple of questions:

- Yea, I cribbed the opening WB logo from CONSTANTINE. I tinted it green to fit the mood...

- The Federal Building Lobby Destruction scene from THE MATRIX was tweaked a little to shorten it. In the 1st cut I made, I had that scene 'cut to black' just as the cops opened fire. Then there would be the sounds of the fight over the dark screen for about 15 seconds, then would cut back in just as Trinity drops her gun & picks up that duffel bag. I like that, but since I had cut the similar scene from the beginning of REVOLUTIONS, I decided to put this one back in. ( I was removing to much of the bang-bang action scenes)

- There is no definitive meaning as to whether Neo is dreaming or not. I liked the (murky, vague, not-spelled-out) idea that maybe he dreamed everything because suddenly he is given the chance to choose 'red pill or blue pill' again. Knowing the result and choosing again is the true test of a good decision...

- The music  from the CHOCALHO DA MORTE logo is by guitarist Ali Farka Toure.

OK, it’s been about 6 months now and the dust has settled. I heard from a friend that someone at Warner Brothers had a copy & it was making the rounds. Just want to state for the record that I LOVE Warner Brothers. What a great, easy-going, non-litigious group of folks that is…

Also, I noticed a DivX version of what appears to be my edit has popped up on some torrents. Turns out there was a another MATRIX:REGENERATED  fan edit out there, only limited to the 2^nd & 3^rd films. This created some chatter I think, but up until this week I hadn’t seen mine leak out yet.

Obviously, anyone reading this now will realize that the previous posts here were all put up on the same day, as I thought it would ultimately be helpful for someone else wanting to try a similar project to see how someone else did it. And I wanted a publicly accessible spot for information (without linking it to my own website, obviously).

Also, I was curious as to how a rabid MATRIX fan would take my version. People seem really passionate about the ‘sanctity’ of an original, but REGENERATED doesn’t make a claims against that or even generate any profits. My version is at least mutated enough (Chinese dubbing, false subtitles) that no one would rightly mistake it for the originals or even use it as a substitute for the others (i.e. “I just downloaded this for free, why would I buy it?). It does feel like a different film, not some bastardized version...

So, I'd be happy to respond to comments from anyone who's taking the time to sit through my editing exercise...

I sent copies on DVD to a few of my Matrix-luvin’  friends and have had lots of kudos. Also sent some copies out on VHS to random friends-of-friends and contacts who I knew would enjoy…

Finally finished the thing. Looks good, I think.

Ok. So, I made a final edit. Running time is 4hrs17min, including end credits (which are all 3 films combined). Using the Divxland Subtitler, I’ve set the timing on the new text and exported it to the proper file type. This basically meant watching the film and pressing a button and holding it for the duration of a given subtitle. I noticed a few visual problems doing this and was able to make corrections there as well.

I did output the audio in a 5.1 ac3, but did not go back & remix it to create any panning (you know, sounds swooshing from side to side…) effects. I did lay in some new music here and there to soften transitions and unify some actions.

I decided to use Sony’s DVD ARCHITECT to produce the menus. Mainly because I’d never tried it before, but also because I knew it would allow me to link the files, create custom buttons (if I wanted), and could handle the subtitle stream easily.

            As it turns out, it was this last feature that was most handy. It lists each title as a separate event and allows you to change the font, style, size – etc, of each…as well as to tweak the timing. So, I was able to correct some mistakes & make last minute dialogue changes easily.

            I created some menu backgrounds, then added chapter stops, named them, and created the links for the “scene selection’ menu. When the whole project was compiled (about 47min), I had a 12gb size DVD file one my hard drive that I could test. A nice bonus to DVDA is that if you make minor changes to backgrounds, links, font, chapter stops, etc. in your project, it only recompiles the changes & not the whole thing.

            All in all, I was very pleased with the outcome. However, I did notice that some of the timing on the subtitles was skewed when the project was finished. Titles would ‘stick’, as if they were repeated.

            I did have to compress the DVD about 67% to fit it on a dual-layer 8.5gb DVD-R. It played in my home player, my PS2, and my PC. Quality was pretty good, & I didn’t shed any tears over the video degradation. The subtitles did get messed up, though. Some are only on the screen for a second & others stay for minutes, bumping others out. Once I’ve got that corrected, I’m done.

            Made a few more ‘style’ cuts and have really entered into the ‘fine-tuning’ stage – snipping a few seconds here or there and smoothing out some of the audio’s rough patches. I’m really getting much better at using Vegas and have become a fan. It’s very easy to make titles, professional transitions, etc. You can nest several projects together and perform some really complicated actions. It outputs mpeg files of comparable quality to other encoders, and can create ac3 compression audio tracks as well.

            One thing to mention is the working pace. It may seem pretty slow, but consider that each time I decide to encode the most current edit, it takes about 3hrs to encode the first section, and another 6hrs to encode the second. I pretty much work in my spare time & let the computer crunch video overnight.

            I had to make a couple of tough choices recently: it occurred to me that the ‘Flight of the Osiris” sequence starting off the second half is mostly unnecessary. It makes a nice ‘vision’ for Neo to have & I spent quite a long time editing it together (only the ‘chase’ parts of that episode into a 2min piece) but as a viewer you get the gist that the machines are tunneling down toward Zion without needing to see the Osiris discovering that fact & being chased. I cut it out, and replaced it with a flashback of Neo waking up in his pod from the first film. Then I cut that part from the first section, goosing the original film along.

            I’d say that the actual editing of the film is 98% done. I’m going to sit through the whole thing again from start to finish to look for mistakes and minor adjustments, but it’s definitely the home stretch.

            I noticed this big ULTIMATE MATRIX set when it came out last winter, but since I already owned each film and the Animatrix (twice, if you count the Chinese bootlegs) I didn’t pay much attention. However, I was so irritated that the look of the first film on my dvd copy was much different from the sequels (its ‘warmer’ with less contrast and brightness) that I had been toying with trying to correct the footage I was using.

            Then I noticed this reviewof the set that mentioned that the first film had been remastered to bring the look closer to the others. Sigh. Weighing the cost of DIY versus getting the box set, I went ahead & spent the cash. Just got it yesterday & have ripped new video, but (ack!) when I created my frame-served files there was a 21ms time difference, so I had to go back & adjust each edit involving the first film by 21ms. Ugh.

            But, I’m happy to say that the whole thing does look much better.

            I’ll soon be reselling 2 of my 3 collected Matrix sets, so keep an eye out for bargains on that certain online auction site.

Ok, so I got into proper video technology up to my elbows and have completely changed my working methods. I’ve switched to using the ‘frame serving’ method, which boils down to creating a sort of placeholder file that represents the actual footage. That smaller file is readable & edited in Vegas. Then, when it comes time to output to mpeg2 video for dvd, the original source files are never degraded. Each successive version will have the same quality output, despite the constant tweaking. Of course this meant going back & re-creating each of the already edited sequences, but in the end it was well worth it. The ‘chunks’ that I had been using were originally created with some clumsy editing software and have benefited greatly from being re-edited in Vegas from the start. Most of the transitions have been improved and the ability to mix the audio simultaneous with the video creates some much more seamless editing.

            I’m far enough along that it’s time to get serious about subtitles. They’ll have to be some significant changes to the original scripts since I’ve made some drastic cuts. Subtitles are actually kept in a separate text file that can be overlaid over the video (so you can turn them on & off). Since the commands to start & stop each line of text are keyed to the running time, they can’t be finalized until the actual cut of the video is completed. I’ve already downloaded the original subtitle files from the net, converted them to a single text file, and then re-arranged them roughly to match the current shape of the movie while making dialogue changes. Obviously, they cannot be finished until I’m satisfied with the video.

            I’ve discovered a nifty little program called DIVXLAND MEDIA SUBTITLER that lets you tweak a text file as you watch the video, then can output to the format associated with actual dvds. I’ll use it to create the new subtitles for the full-length version. For the DivX encode to watch on a computer I’ll burn the subtitles directly on to the video itself as it encodes (using VirtualDub).

Current cut, 4h24m20s at 11.827GB (with surround sound in ac3 format). In order to fit on a Double Layer disc I’ll need to compress it to around 68%...