Sacrilege to loyal fans, maybe. But I edited my LoTR trilogy into one loonnng movie (3hrs 30mins)- bits I preferred and cut the scenes etc I didn't.
Has anyone else done this, or with other franchises?
Oh, you meant, like, you made it a third of the length. When I read the title I basically thought, "Why not just pop all the films into your DVD player back-to-back?"
Uh...yeah, the concept of it being one movie isn't sacrilege, but as a big, big Tolkien fan, I'm baffled as to how it would maintain the power of the novels if done that way. I'm not saying it couldn't be a good, fun movie, but I think you'd miss a lot. Even the extended edition lacks a lot of the nuance and delight found in the world of the books, so to go from 11+ hours down to 3.5 seems like it just wouldn't work...
I can't pass complete judgement without seeing it, of course, because maybe it's a slam-dunk editing job and you're a brilliant editor who made it "flow" and feel like a good story, anyway.
Bottom line: I would consider it impossible to hit the heights of the novel and a long (looooong) shot for such an uncompromising edit to do anything but fall short of the original films, but I wouldn't be surprised if you managed to pull together an agreeable action-fantasy film.
Do you have a scene breakdown that you might type up here? So I could get some feel for what you've kept in?
Oh I'm an amateur and not a loyal fan, unlike my GF who knows every detail in the books and films.
I simply used Movavi to edit out certain scenes and fade/blur. Simplistic really when compared to some guys that pay for professional programs.
Still not a bad job, but my GF won't watch my result because she would agree with you, that I've left out too much nuance and relevance. She would probably say I've butchered the trilogy, as I probably have with other films (Bourne etc)
I mean, as an exercise it's an interesting one, so I'd probably watch it. But, I'd definitely be skeptical about the possibility of success. Still...if ever there's a metaphor for Lord of the Rings, isn't it a person with little to no experience trying to do some massive task well beyond him that's almost destined to fail...? If that's not rolling out Frodo-style, I don't know what is...
But, I'm also fascinating by stuff like editing and how it works. Editors are really under-appreciated in the film business (even moreso than writers - and that's saying something), so when people try stuff like this, I find it interesting from a filmmaking standpoint.
Did you make your cut available online? I have heard of the fan edits of The Hobbit movies - which sounds like a painful process, so much dreck to slice through - but not of anybody cutting down LOTR.
shareNo I didn't, it's not a masterpiece, but merely watchable.
I don't have the sophisticated editing apps and programs that the fanedit guys use.
I made the extended edition trilogy into one long movie fit for my Sony Ericsson P800 the moment they were available. That was what, 15 or 16 years ago?
shareI'd kind of like if Stanley Kubrick took a stab at it if he was still alive.
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