M: Energy's re-cut ending of The Golden Compass

[sfsraffie]

... E-man?

[AlexSP]

first mention sept 30 2009 "Because this one has been useful for my edit"
nov 27 2009 "The ending in itself is probably around 15 minutes in full - my edit pieces together a total of close to 10 and there are gaps in."
dec 7 2009 "As for seeing more of my cut, soon, very soon. I'm working on two very exciting scenes at the moment"
april 11 "Soon. Expect rerelease of both the ending and the scene of Lyra being taken to bolvangar. Both will be released exclusively here. There's scanning and more involved for the ending sequence."
april 13 "Just a final technical issue with the edit. Won't take long... promise! ^_^"
april 16 "This weekend is looking pretty empty, so hoping to get a finalized scene done"
april 29 "Sorry feel like i keep breakign promises..."
may 4 "Should have a big update soon"
july 7 "What you should have soon is a revision of the ending with a few extra bits in, plus a trailer of the new edit."
august 23 "The new vid will be here very soon..."
september 15 "Just doing a trailer (as a nice touch to show what's coming) to go on the end of new ending video and it will be up. New images, clips and more storyline...."
september 21 "Gonna try and get something out this weekend"
oct 6 "I had hoped for this weekend to have wrapped things up, but... ... There is a lot comming I promise."
oct 27 "So hopefully if harmony has got a bit of extra time we'll be giving you an exclusive look at the ending."
nov 10 "I've almost run out of research resources - once done a final edit will be unvieled. Keep an eye out Christmas time."
nov 13 "All will soon be revealed."
dec 1 "Getting very much into the editing and I'm really happy with what I have so far... Christmas launch is a cert!"
dec 6 "It's coming...I was hoping to put something up yesterday as a teaser (considering yesterday was the movie's birthday!) but I think something will go up tomorrow instead, the movie's US birthday..."
dec 10 "Currently looking at the 23rd or 24th Dec for release"
dec 22 "Getting close... just waiting for the final versions of the images Harmony has and I'll be able to finish it for a dec 24th upload"
dec 24 "I'm going to push the launch back to 31st December"
jan 9 "So next weekend is now my finl deadline"

...

[Balthamos]

Nice little timeline, but what's the point? So yeah, we're all waiting, yeah, the excitement turned into perplexity, but it's not like we are scam victims.

[sfsraffie]

lol!

[AlexSP]

i put money on it! just kidding. i don't care very much,, it's more humorous than anything else.

[Energy]

I'm here - not going into what happened. There have been issues. Nothing related to the video or HDM so not going into it. Wasn't going to keep coming here and and promising things until I knew it would happen. The video is not 'dead', and I have been wrapping a few bits up with the small amount of spare time I have this weekend.

[Energy]

Sorry for the double post - but just to hint at how close, a version went out to private 'testers'. Already had a little feedback (one audio and two still image issues). Very close.

This will be the only place that you can download it from... everywhere else will be a youtube link.

[Michael555]

Glad to hear it's going to be soon!

[Energy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWM3XrnlNTU

Please enjoy - I look forward to discussing the video with you

(fixed - new link inserted) argh just noticed that the version that's gone up on youtube hasn't scaled properly so there are issues with the still images showing black around them! Might have to reupload it... but it's there for the rest of the day)

[Balthamos]

I love the video! The new footage is great, great job on the editing. I also liked the outtakes, nice to see some more unseen stuff. It was also very cool to mention us in the credits, thanks for that.

[Energy]

I love the video! The new footage is great, great job on the editing. I also liked the outtakes, nice to see some more unseen stuff. It was also very cool to mention us in the credits, thanks for that.

Well you guys were the ones who took interest even after all this time. I wanted to say thanks.

There will be a downloadable version posted in this thread tonight. As you may notice on the video there is an issue with images. So I'm going to reupload with everything fixed and make the current youtube video 'private' etc.

There are a few more outtake images so I'll be posting them in due course. I won't talk about the content of the video for a little longer so that people get chance to see it without it being spoiled.

[Energy]

Sorry for the double post (again)

But just letting people know that a slightly updated version of the video has now been uploaded on to youtube with the aspect ratio's a bit more fixed so that it will flow better with the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWM3XrnlNTU

BTS Exclusive: Download the video (300mb MP4)

Also don't read this if you haven't watched it... but...

Spoiler:

What do people think about how Will would have appeared in the movie? Assuming he is the boy in the bridge? How would have the subtle knife compensated for this? Cut Will's beginning? Ideas?

[sfsraffie]

(Did you get my PM on the FE board? As I said, I'm Gaith over there, so I'm totally honored to have been thanked twice. )

Very nice work, and thanks tons for the secret download! You have my total respect and admiration for so much hard work over so long a time.

Still, I gotta say...

1) The book discussion of Asriel's parenting skills, though apparently moved to the ending by NL, doesn't work at all coming after Roger's murder. There's a dead kid feet away, and Lyra's talking about her own feelings? Oh, hell no! It's only her fear of Asriel and recognition of her own powerlessness that keeps her from attacking him right then and there.

2) The promo pic of smiling Lyra right at the end, I fear, sticks out like a sore thumb. Your earlier draft finale and fade out were considerably more poetic.

3) Your earlier use of "Gravity of Love" was so mind-blastingly perfect that I can't help but wince at its loss!


Now as, for the spoilery stuff, here's my take...

What, Lyra walks into the sky and meets Will straightaway? Hells no again! It makes no sense, either narratively (so Asriel lands in the village also?), emotionally (from dead kid to new friend in minutes?!) or poetically (and this is where I really start to question CW - he definitely had his heart in the right place, but even given studio interference, there's a lot of shoddy choices made all over the movie).

I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt in that he/someone wrote that in a synopsis/treatment to get the suits used to the idea of Will, but that he never intended to actually put him there. (Whether NL would've forced him to is, I guess, another key question...) No, it sucks on at least eight different levels...

... and is another reason I preferred your earlier fade to credits/Gravity of Love finish.

Thanks again for everything!

[Energy]

(Did you get my PM on the FE board? As I said, I'm Gaith over there, so I'm totally honored to have been thanked twice. )

Only just got the PM because for some reason FE never notifys me of new PMs. I did realise that you were on both boards but I wasn't certain of your name on this board. I thought it was better that you appeared twice, than I missed someone out. So enjoy being on their twice! hehehe

Very nice work, and thanks tons for the secret download! You have my total respect and admiration for so much hard work over so long a time.

Thank you, I've only had one person give a negative response so far, so I'm pretty happy with it. It has had a lot of research put in to it, and nothing is down to chance in the video. Although some points that I know cannot be got across on the video... I was tempted to do a commentary to go with the video and cover some extra bases but I didn't know who would be really interested.

Still, I gotta say...

1) The book discussion of Asriel's parenting skills, though apparently moved to the ending by NL, doesn't work at all coming after Roger's murder. There's a dead kid feet away, and Lyra's talking about her own feelings? Oh, hell no! It's only her fear of Asriel and recognition of her own powerlessness that keeps her from attacking him right then and there.

I agree, realistically this does not work. Unfortunatly I'm bound by the preproduction video to keep things in that order. I wanted the video to be as close to the real thing as possible. One thing that has to be remembered though is how the post 'death' scene is played out in the preproduction video is a very somber event - in the movie as evident in the clips shown it's a more dramatic shouty afair. There is also even more to this as I will address it next to the spoiler - but in the movie version Roger may not be considered 'dead'. Look at the pictures he's done an obi wan kenobi.

2) The promo pic of smiling Lyra right at the end, I fear, sticks out like a sore thumb. Your earlier draft finale and fade out were considerably more poetic.

Again agreed. Technically I prefer the previous version (minus a few of the new shots - gotta love the walk into the bridge and stelmeria.) but this version scoops as much of the material that I could fit in and it still be comprehensible. Whether that shot was just a promo pic or not I'm unsure. I do hope the film, after such a dramatic ending, didn't end with a smile like that....

3) Your earlier use of "Gravity of Love" was so mind-blastingly perfect that I can't help but wince at its loss!

Not lost, just removed from the stand-alone project - still in the full fanedit. Youtube put a copyright notice over the previous for using it. I decided to avoid that again and didn't put it in. Instead I got a copyright notice for using the movie's theme at the beginning. Can't win!

Gravity of love is amazing, and I seem to remember one of the first posts on this forum was me saying it would have been good for the movie. At least for the Amber Spyglass, as it seems very relevant.

Now as, for the spoilery stuff, here's my take...

What, Lyra walks into the sky and meets Will straightaway? Hells no again! It makes no sense, either narratively (so Asriel lands in the village also?), emotionally (from dead kid to new friend in minutes?!) or poetically (and this is where I really start to question CW - he definitely had his heart in the right place, but even given studio interference, there's a lot of shoddy choices made all over the movie).

I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt in that he/someone wrote that in a synopsis/treatment to get the suits used to the idea of Will, but that he never intended to actually put him there. (Whether NL would've forced him to is, I guess, another key question...) No, it sucks on at least eight different levels...

... and is another reason I preferred your earlier fade to credits/Gravity of Love finish.

Thanks again for everything!

Again you are spot on. Now lets wizz back and look at the bigger picture and theorize how Will appearing at the end may have resulted in the movie studio having a reason for their cut. That one paragraph may be the crux of downfall of 'The Golden Compass'.

So we have Roger in the machine. He doesn't 'die' like he does in the preproduction video. The descriptions of this event are clear. Roger vanishes into dust. The dust swirls up towards the bridge. You can see in the shots before the explosion that there is dust streaming from him to the machine, from his daemon to the machine. The machine stores enough Dust using this to break into the other worlds. Not quite right but that seems to be what happens. Roger becomes Dust.

So now we have a confused Lyra as her friend has just done a vanishing act - but him turning into Dust may mean he's still alive (where as the preproduction makes it very clear, there is a dead boy right there). Lyra (as seen in the picture just before she walks through the bridge) notices that the Alethiometer has now got visible Dust moving the needles and streaming to and from the bridge. She follows the Dust in search of her vanishing friend.

That's pretty much how the film descriptions boil it down. She looks into the bridge and she sees the silhoette of a boy. She decides to walk into this new world to discover more about Dust and see who this boy is. Could this be Roger? Fans assume Will. What do non-fans assume? Roger.

What was the reason that the movie studios gave for cutting the ending? Two fold, one they wanted a happy ending, two - test audiences didn't quite grasp the bridge at first and assumed Lyra was walking into heaven.

Non fan audiences confused the shadow of Will with a non-dead Roger. Possibly leading to justification for the end being cut. Leading the film to be reedited and possibly everything stripped out to make it more happy.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but that is why I see that paragraph as vitally important for the movie reconstruction. I want everything, warts and all. I think Chris Weitz made good and bad decisions, I just feel from a fan persepective the film would have been so much better prior to the over the top cuts. His egarness to make fans happy and tease about the subtle knife could be the thing that pulled the movie apart.

[Haku]

Hi Energy, and thanks for your hard work which combines all those elements we could see everywhere but never alltogether... and those we had never seen at all ! And thanks for mentionning me. This is also a very nice dedication you insert at the beginning for Mr Weitz.

This just let me wonder and get angry once more about this chainsaw massacre and removal of the final we saw in theaters.

So, nice achievement. Thanks to you again.
If ever it could give (good) ideas to some producers...
*dreaming*

[sfsraffie]

Unfortunately I'm bound by the preproduction video to keep things in that order. I wanted the video to be as close to the real thing as possible. One thing that has to be remembered though is how the post 'death' scene is played out in the preproduction video is a very somber event - in the movie as evident in the clips shown it's a more dramatic shouty affair.

Well, now we're getting into some metaphyscial stuff. That dialogue may well have been there in some preproduction stage (I guess the audio is from the audiobook?), but who's to say whether it would actually have made it to the final film?

If you take the approach of "putting in everything possible CW/NL appears to have considered putting in", I totally respect that decision. I do hope, however, that the fan edit itself will cut a bit more aggressively.

Technically I prefer the previous version (minus a few of the new shots - gotta love the walk into the bridge and stelmeria.) but this version scoops as much of the material that I could fit in and it still be comprehensible. Whether that shot was just a promo pic or not I'm unsure. I do hope the film, after such a dramatic ending, didn't end with a smile like that....

Aye, those shots are great. But the Lyra shot definitely looks like a promo pic to moi.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but that is why I see that paragraph as vitally important for the movie reconstruction. I want everything, warts and all. I think Chris Weitz made good and bad decisions, I just feel from a fan persepective the film would have been so much better prior to the over the top cuts. His egarness to make fans happy and tease about the subtle knife could be the thing that pulled the movie apart.

While this is interesting speculation to be sure, again - unless you're aware of something I haven't yet gleaned (CW's original script, for instance) - I see no compelling evidence to believe that the "boy in the distance" was anything other than HDM 101 for execs/marketers. And even if there was such a boy in the original cut, it'd be a cinch to remove him, but that would still leave the issue of the non-upbeat ending that everyone said was the impetus for the last-minute change in the first place. The specifics of this may be beyond our knowledge/research-ability... but so long as you keep the star-bridge/Gravity of Love fade-out in the fan edit, I'll be a happy camper.

[Michael555]

Thank you SO MUCH for the dedication at the end!

That clip of her walking into the aurora was absolutely fantastic...that was worth the wait ALONE. How on earth did you manage to get a hold of that!?! I've I loved it. Thanks so much for all your hardwork!

And I know I wouldn't mind hearing a commentary!


A little O/T but why didn't Chris Weitz's script never leak? That's a bit odd.

[Energy]

Thank you SO MUCH for the dedication at the end!

That clip of her walking into the aurora was absolutely fantastic...that was worth the wait ALONE. How on earth did you manage to get a hold of that!?! I've I loved it. Thanks so much for all your hardwork!

And I know I wouldn't mind hearing a commentary!

Not a problem with the credits at the end. You guys have waited long enough!

As for the clip *taps nose* my little secret. heheh. Took a lot of effort to find it (talking about a month's combined work) and finding it was by chance. Was very happy when I did.

Hmm might do one then - just to go over things as they happen. Will record one this weekend and see how it sounds. If I like it I'll put it up.

Well, now we're getting into some metaphyscial stuff. That dialogue may well have been there in some preproduction stage (I guess the audio is from the audiobook?), but who's to say whether it would actually have made it to the final film?

If you take the approach of "putting in everything possible CW/NL appears to have considered putting in", I totally respect that decision. I do hope, however, that the fan edit itself will cut a bit more aggressively.

The audio, video and music (well the Romeo & Juliet song Kissing You) towards the end of the video is from a preproduction video of the movie that got leaked. It was a 30 minute long video that was made by the team to encourage people to get on board. The video is full of preproduction art, early cg shots (some which actually made it to the final film, a few appear in the sizzle reel that leaked). It's quite telling that this video is 30 minutes long and spends 7 minutes showing the ending.

The video works as skeleton to hang everything else on. It was definetly at a point of time, a representation of the script. New Line eventually removed the video off the 'tubes' because it represented a time when Anand Tucker was in charge of the movie. Chris Weitz would have tweaked but the structure is unlikely to have changed dramaticly. Acording to posts Tucker actually 'won' the project with the 30 minute video (which in the version shown had 5.1 sound, played in a theater and came with a 20 page treatment).

Aye, those shots are great. But the Lyra shot definitely looks like a promo pic to moi.

I think promo most definetly if not I'd be very worried.

While this is interesting speculation to be sure, again - unless you're aware of something I haven't yet gleaned (CW's original script, for instance) - I see no compelling evidence to believe that the "boy in the distance" was anything other than HDM 101 for execs/marketers. And even if there was such a boy in the original cut, it'd be a cinch to remove him, but that would still leave the issue of the non-upbeat ending that everyone said was the impetus for the last-minute change in the first place. The specifics of this may be beyond our knowledge/research-ability... but so long as you keep the star-bridge/Gravity of Love fade-out in the fan edit, I'll be a happy camper.

This description appears in very few places, but the one I gleamed it from was the Panini Sticker Book. It is obvious that Panini were handed a workprint of the movie and told take your images from this. I honestly remember a pre-release interview with Weitz where he said there was a hint to the Subtle Knife at the end of the movie. Desperatly trying to find this, as I feel that would pretty much prove it had been intended.

I don't think that it's the sole reason, but New Line had to convince Weitz that they were doing it for the best of the movie. What would convince you? 'We need the movie to end happy'... or... 'It would be better if the movie ended on a happy note, as people currently don't understand the endingff. People think Lyra's going to heaven. Why not save that bit for the Subtle Knife so the audience doesn't have to wait for an answer - they can then only be confused for a few minutes...'

So I'd not say it's the sole reason but it may have been the crack that they wedged into...

A little O/T but why didn't Chris Weitz's script never leak? That's a bit odd.

Tell me about it - would save me a lot of time and make things more acurate!

[Michael555]

This description appears in very few places, but the one I gleamed it from was the Panini Sticker Book. It is obvious that Panini were handed a workprint of the movie and told take your images from this.

.....workprints have leaked

But do you think a work print exists with all the cut scenes intact?

[Energy]

This description appears in very few places, but the one I gleamed it from was the Panini Sticker Book. It is obvious that Panini were handed a workprint of the movie and told take your images from this.

.....workprints have leaked

But do you think a work print exists with all the cut scenes intact?

Oh I wish a workprint did leak...

If a workprint leaked I think you'd get a video that had a lot of changes, alot of unfinished special effects, but I don't think it would contain 'everything'. By looks of the panini stickers their workprint (or at least what's sourced from) would have very few bear scenes - the ending sequence would just have a green-y blue background. Heck the scene where Mrs Coulter and Fra Pavel are talking at the magestrium building doesn't have any building in it at all, it has some skyscrapers... lol. the order of the story would be correct and a few missing scenes may appear. Would love to see the death of the Galivespian Spy....

A workprint would be amazingly interesting but would not be able to replace a theatrical copy. You could probably mish-mash them and get something half decent. It would be a good Christmas if one did leak tho...