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Mortal Engines: Mature Cut
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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie/Show Title:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2018
Original Running Time:
128
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
122
Time Cut:
6
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
Cut out what I felt to be some childish moments and unneeded exposition, hopefully helping those who have a soft spot for this ambitious flop enjoy it a little more.
Intention:
I really enjoyed Philip Reeves' "Mortal Engines Quartet" as a child, and was thrilled when I found out many years later that Peter Jackson would be producing an adaptation of the first book. I rather enjoyed it, and was disappointed that it grossed so little (estimated loss of $100-175 million) that the prospect of a sequel is dim, but still felt that a few things could have been done differently. Only took four years, including one doing easier edits, to put this into practice!
The main issue as I see it is that several characters (mainly Hester and Tom) were aged up from the book but some of the action and dialogue seemed to have not been adjusted accordingly. At other times it felt like the script was playing down to the audience with awkward "humour" and clunky exposition, the latter of which was often repeating information that had already been given more naturally.
These moments have been cut to my taste, a couple of scenes have also been rearranged to what feels like a more natural order (letting a segment in one setting play out fully before moving onto the next). Regraded to slightly boost saturation and contrast then applied luminance-dependent grain, all to give the image more life and make it look less digital.
The main issue as I see it is that several characters (mainly Hester and Tom) were aged up from the book but some of the action and dialogue seemed to have not been adjusted accordingly. At other times it felt like the script was playing down to the audience with awkward "humour" and clunky exposition, the latter of which was often repeating information that had already been given more naturally.
These moments have been cut to my taste, a couple of scenes have also been rearranged to what feels like a more natural order (letting a segment in one setting play out fully before moving onto the next). Regraded to slightly boost saturation and contrast then applied luminance-dependent grain, all to give the image more life and make it look less digital.
Additional Notes:
For fun, I also made a version with identical editing but graded to try and simulate the 2-colour Technicolor systems, combining this with much heavier grain to produce a “Retro” look. No explicit in-story justification for doing so (being the far future rather than the 1920s), just wanted to see what results I would get, but I suppose that it could be interpreted as technological regression of filmmaking processes in this post-apocalyptic world!
Special Thanks:
Many thanks to ScottCrane for not only inspiring me to do the edit but previewing the edit (right after releasing their own take) and pointing out both technical errors and areas of improvement. Thanks too to DonkeyKonga for starting the thread regarding more realistic simulation of film grain, getting a much nicer texture than I had earlier!
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
• Exported 1920x804 H265 with 5.1 audio, total runtime of 122 minutes with 3.61 Gb file size
• This edit features my first time utilising muting of the centre channel to remove dialogue, need to apply this when I revisit my back catalogue!
• This edit features my first time utilising muting of the centre channel to remove dialogue, need to apply this when I revisit my back catalogue!
Cuts and Additions:
• 0:00:00 Added fanedit disclaimer and personal plate
• 0:06:52 Cut the shot of Clytie Potts steadying the "American deities" with a goofy face, wish I could have cut this bit completely but could do so cleanly
• 0:07:17 Cut a shot of after Tom bumps into a couple of Londoners, felt like the action paused
• 0:11:15 Removed Tom saying “There were dozens of them.”, felt superfluous
• 0:11:18 Removed shot of Katherine saying “My God!”, she now says it over a shot of the screen she is watching in lieu of Tom's now-deleted line
• 0:11:22 Removed Katherine saying “…so scientific…”
• 0:11:30 Removed crash drive exposition, it is introduced later and feels forced at this point
• 0:12:33 Removed Melliphant saying "You're just a skivvie from the lower tiers with no family and no prospects." and a shot of Tom, there is a similar one of him shortly after and I wanted to keep Katherine’s reaction
• 0:14:57 Removed Tom’s continued remarks on Anna Fang
• 0:17:16 Removed Valentine remembering that Tom wanted to be an aviator, this idea felt forced and is now gone from the edit
• 0:17:22 Cut Valentine hesitating and repeating “these”
• 0:23:24 Shortened scene where Katherine finds Valentine overlooking the waste chute, felt that Katherine originally spent too much time unaware of what happened to Tom, did a little mixing of audio and video from different sections to achieve this (fortunately the lip-sync matches quite well)
• 0:24:29 Cut section where Valentine spells out Katherine's beliefs for the benefit of the audience, she was already expressed them much more naturally (to Tom, just before bumping into Bevis)
• 0:27:47 Cut Chrome's exposition during his video call to Valentine, we already know how important the latter is from his position on the bridge and his face on display around London
• 0:28:08 Cut after Valentine says “He’s trying to hang onto a way of life that doesn’t exist anymore.” to him and Katherine going outside, needless exposition that duplicates things already heard
• 0:28:40 Cut out the (previously) second scene of Tom and Hester in London’s tracks, where he fails at navigation and she mentions Southies
• 0:29:05 Cut “All the Old Tech comes to you.” and associated shot of him pulling out the fusion inverter cell, felt like a case of spelling out to the audience
• 0:30:40 Cut Hester’s comment about what fluid Tom would rather drink, made me immediately think of the episode “Potato” from Blackadder II
• 0:31:13 Cut Hester saying what the foodstuff is and Tom replying that it is over a thousand years old, post-apocalyptic product placement drags one out of the moment, used video of her saying “It’s an Inkie.” over audio of her saying “Doesn’t matter.”
• 0:31:38 Cut Tom telling his backstory, we know enough from his conversation with Valentine in the Gut and it features his (now deleted) past wishes to be an aviator, wanted to maintain hostility between them a little longer
• 0:32:33 Cut Hester saying “Too close!”, she now responds to him falling on her and saying “That was close!” with “Get off me!”
• 0:35:32 Cut dialogue aboard Scuttlebug about where the algae for the tea is grown
• 0:36:11 Cut Bevis saying that “The first rule down here is keep your mouth shut!”, beyond stating the obvious it feels like a present-day expression
• 0:37:49 Cut doorway chatter
• 0:38:17 Cut Hester saying “I was eight.”, this is an answer to a question Tom posed in a now deleted segment, now it goes that she is deciding to open up of her own accord
• 0:44:03 Cut Tom saying that they are locked in, right after saying that the door is locked
• 0:56:20 Brought forward the scene of Hester and Tom on the Jenny Haniver balcony, concludes the segment rather than interrupting it with Valentine and Melliphant
• 1:01:30 Cut dialogue after Hester finishes telling her story
• 1:01:46 Now showing the scene of Valentine and Melliphant, followed by Katherine and Bevis in the Museum
• 1:02:40 Cut Bevis saying “Cat’s Cradle?”, he now immediately says “I thought it was a myth.” and gaps between phrases have been shortened
• 1:02:53 Cut Dr Pomeroy saying “They came in this morning.”, the scene reordering with this line would imply a large jump in time that clashes with the visuals, now appears that the later event occurs just after the earlier
• 1:04:23 Cut Anna saying “You’ve done this before?” and Tom’s “Yeah, a bit.”, in this cut he hasn’t so let’s just assume that flying an airship is easy!
• 1:32:02 Cut shots of Tom looking longingly at aviator coats during launch sequence
• 1:37:14 Cut section showing that the crashed pilots have survived
• 1:49:40 Cut section showing somebody surviving a crash only to get flattened
• 1:51:40 Cut conversation on the Jenny Haniver balcony, felt that what they are feeling is better conveyed through looks and music alone
• 0:06:52 Cut the shot of Clytie Potts steadying the "American deities" with a goofy face, wish I could have cut this bit completely but could do so cleanly
• 0:07:17 Cut a shot of after Tom bumps into a couple of Londoners, felt like the action paused
• 0:11:15 Removed Tom saying “There were dozens of them.”, felt superfluous
• 0:11:18 Removed shot of Katherine saying “My God!”, she now says it over a shot of the screen she is watching in lieu of Tom's now-deleted line
• 0:11:22 Removed Katherine saying “…so scientific…”
• 0:11:30 Removed crash drive exposition, it is introduced later and feels forced at this point
• 0:12:33 Removed Melliphant saying "You're just a skivvie from the lower tiers with no family and no prospects." and a shot of Tom, there is a similar one of him shortly after and I wanted to keep Katherine’s reaction
• 0:14:57 Removed Tom’s continued remarks on Anna Fang
• 0:17:16 Removed Valentine remembering that Tom wanted to be an aviator, this idea felt forced and is now gone from the edit
• 0:17:22 Cut Valentine hesitating and repeating “these”
• 0:23:24 Shortened scene where Katherine finds Valentine overlooking the waste chute, felt that Katherine originally spent too much time unaware of what happened to Tom, did a little mixing of audio and video from different sections to achieve this (fortunately the lip-sync matches quite well)
• 0:24:29 Cut section where Valentine spells out Katherine's beliefs for the benefit of the audience, she was already expressed them much more naturally (to Tom, just before bumping into Bevis)
• 0:27:47 Cut Chrome's exposition during his video call to Valentine, we already know how important the latter is from his position on the bridge and his face on display around London
• 0:28:08 Cut after Valentine says “He’s trying to hang onto a way of life that doesn’t exist anymore.” to him and Katherine going outside, needless exposition that duplicates things already heard
• 0:28:40 Cut out the (previously) second scene of Tom and Hester in London’s tracks, where he fails at navigation and she mentions Southies
• 0:29:05 Cut “All the Old Tech comes to you.” and associated shot of him pulling out the fusion inverter cell, felt like a case of spelling out to the audience
• 0:30:40 Cut Hester’s comment about what fluid Tom would rather drink, made me immediately think of the episode “Potato” from Blackadder II
• 0:31:13 Cut Hester saying what the foodstuff is and Tom replying that it is over a thousand years old, post-apocalyptic product placement drags one out of the moment, used video of her saying “It’s an Inkie.” over audio of her saying “Doesn’t matter.”
• 0:31:38 Cut Tom telling his backstory, we know enough from his conversation with Valentine in the Gut and it features his (now deleted) past wishes to be an aviator, wanted to maintain hostility between them a little longer
• 0:32:33 Cut Hester saying “Too close!”, she now responds to him falling on her and saying “That was close!” with “Get off me!”
• 0:35:32 Cut dialogue aboard Scuttlebug about where the algae for the tea is grown
• 0:36:11 Cut Bevis saying that “The first rule down here is keep your mouth shut!”, beyond stating the obvious it feels like a present-day expression
• 0:37:49 Cut doorway chatter
• 0:38:17 Cut Hester saying “I was eight.”, this is an answer to a question Tom posed in a now deleted segment, now it goes that she is deciding to open up of her own accord
• 0:44:03 Cut Tom saying that they are locked in, right after saying that the door is locked
• 0:56:20 Brought forward the scene of Hester and Tom on the Jenny Haniver balcony, concludes the segment rather than interrupting it with Valentine and Melliphant
• 1:01:30 Cut dialogue after Hester finishes telling her story
• 1:01:46 Now showing the scene of Valentine and Melliphant, followed by Katherine and Bevis in the Museum
• 1:02:40 Cut Bevis saying “Cat’s Cradle?”, he now immediately says “I thought it was a myth.” and gaps between phrases have been shortened
• 1:02:53 Cut Dr Pomeroy saying “They came in this morning.”, the scene reordering with this line would imply a large jump in time that clashes with the visuals, now appears that the later event occurs just after the earlier
• 1:04:23 Cut Anna saying “You’ve done this before?” and Tom’s “Yeah, a bit.”, in this cut he hasn’t so let’s just assume that flying an airship is easy!
• 1:32:02 Cut shots of Tom looking longingly at aviator coats during launch sequence
• 1:37:14 Cut section showing that the crashed pilots have survived
• 1:49:40 Cut section showing somebody surviving a crash only to get flattened
• 1:51:40 Cut conversation on the Jenny Haniver balcony, felt that what they are feeling is better conveyed through looks and music alone
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