[Fan edit] Ruling Class - Hunger Games

[sixtysix]

• Title: Ruling Class - s01e01 (first film)
  
• Subject: The Hunger Games : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392170/
  
• Screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/oOlsq
  
• Trailer: https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/commen...it_s01e01/
  
• Released: s01e01
  

Description (ALL SPOILERS AHEAD):
The Hunger Games is a series that suffers from some thematic and execution issues. This is a light-touch edit, meaning that I tried to keep it as subtle as possible to keep viewers immersed. Sloppy scenes were cut.
This is the completed s01e01 announcement.
About Fanedits

• Most of the problems with any given film or tv series cannot possibly be corrected with a fanedit because those problems reach deep into the material or premise
  
• Fanedits can omit troubling sequences, bad acting, poor concepts but only if these sequences are not tied tightly to the overall premise
  

Headscratchers & Story Changes
These are discussed only with the film in mind. The book may or may not explain away some of these or raise other concerns.

• Most of the time, tvtropes.org Headscratchers can shine a light on things in a project that don't make any sense; sometimes a fanedit can correct these issues, but many of them are either explainable or too tied to the overall premise to be adjustable
  
• The Games are an Empty Threat: problem is that the games are limited as the Capital can't wipe out all the districts so the districts could refuse to participate in the games; however my personal view is that any totalitarian regime will physically, emotionally and psychologically abuse their residents into cooperation -- that's why it's totalitarianism as the governed are under continual threat from a ruling class that could diminish food supply, use elite troops to crack down, execute rebel leaders...etc.
  
• Tribute mines were set off by apples; why wouldn't a tribute throw something at their neighbour's mine during the countdown? My feeling is that after 73 other Hunger Games, someone tried this and their mine too was blown up, so it stays in.
  
• Battle Royale ripoff: I can't do much about this. I've viewed both films and certain elements appear in both films, and Battle Royale was released much earlier than HG. No fanedit could really address this, except to perhaps suggest that they both exist in the same universe. Perhaps we could consider that Battle Royale's government in Japan simply followed Panem's example, or vice-versa? A crosscut fanedit between franchises might be interesting however the older technology used to make Battle Royale probably makes this a big challenge.
  
• Tributes are mostly law abiding in the games apart from taking stuff from one another and also killing one another. There isn't really anything I can do about this, and I agree that things could be far worse in a more realistic portrayal of 24 teenage kids setting out to murder one another. What would stop them from gang rape, torture...etc. I feel that this may have occured in previous games and the government probably cracked down so hard on the tributes doing that shit (forfeits etc), that everyone is probably way too afraid to go there. Remember, these teens are all living under totalitarian rule and also their parents ARE WATCHING.
  
• Population Control: Birth control is probably used by nearly everyone and children are probably a result of failed attempts to prevent conception. Every new mouth is another source of food with lottery, but having too many kids would certainly cause that family to starve. There is probably a limit on the number of kids a family can have as well. There isn't much a fanedit could do about these kinds of thematic ideas, since they are not directly dealt with.
  
• Career system: The idea that every district should appoint their next tributes and train them so that everyone else can take extra food and supplies without any concerns (extra tickets issued etc). There is nothing a fanedit could do to resolve this except to take the approach that perhaps districts tried this in the past and the assigned tributes decided not to volunteer, thus damning everyone else to much higher chances of being selected as tributes. Either that or perhaps the district would have to meet a supply quota to achieve that status and no other district but 1 & 2 could achieve that?
  
• Two Winners: The original had the gamemaster change the rules to distract everyone from riots in d11 and in other places. Last minute he changes it back to ONE WINNER only. I thought that played rather poorly, so I removed every aspect of it, including the berries. They just win. After viewing this, I think the flow is much better in my edit than the original.
  
• Nightlock: The criticism is that it was too fast acting. I thought the whole plot surrounding Nightlock was very propped up, plus it was not used by anyone. Had I found a poison in the games, I'd have started baking poison cookies and leaving them at the Cornucopia. But anyway I got rid of it and I think the pacing is better without it.
  
• Tessera System: Everyone should enter maximum tickets for rations but they don't. If everyone does it, then the whole district would live very well and everyone's odds would be the same. This is much like the career headscratcher, but it adds a dimension that cannot be addressed in a fanedit. My take is that probably in some of the games in the last 73 years a district or two tried to do this and for whatever reason, the Capital punished them heavily for trying to game the system. A hidden quota system also works. Crime in the districts isn't discussed much but I think if a family had a family member abusing the rations, they would probably kill them and it doesn't look like the Capital would even care about that stuff too much. Therefore everyone takes as few tickets as they can in order to keep their family safe.
  
• World Beyond Panem: The series doesn't say whether Panem is the last remaining civ or not. My feeling is that there are other countries on the other continents but for whatever reason Panem can't get there or won't go there. A few explanations are that perhaps the other civs left Earth. It's far enough in the future that it's totally possible. Another explanation is that perhaps diseases/viruses exist from all the wars, so the pop of Panem is susceptible to plagues from other nations. The other possible explanation is that for whatever reason, any attempt to leave the continent ends in death and mayhem. Perhaps other civs are far more advanced and xenophobic? I like to think Battle Royale exists in the same universe, so perhaps Japan has heavily fortified their nation enough to prevent Panem from trying to go there. Also, the Capital is very rich and therefore doesn't need anything else from other countries as it has a slave population doing everything for it. Perhaps slavery is illegal in other countries and maybe Panem doesn't want to start anything? Nothing I can do in a fanedit about that.
  
• Why not volunteer? Tributes are viewed as corpses by everyone else, so this would make it very unpopular to volunteer. Maybe nobody knows about the luxury before the games? The Capital might just spring this on them as a bonus, or perhaps the luxury is the continual state of affairs for Capital citizens and the impoverished tributes see it differently. Like how you'd see a cracker if you were starving... or a loaf of bread.
  
• The Girl on Fire: Why wasn't Peeta known as the Boy on Fire? I think this has to do with the hype over Katniss volunteering for her sister and breaking everyone's heart doing so. She has a much higher profile than Peeta who was a baker's boy and therefore born with a silver spoon considering everyone else from 12. Peeta was less popular than Katniss, too.
  
• The Capital Rushes the Games: Fireballs at Katniss, the Cornucopia bloodbath..etc. There is a LOT of discussion about this on tvtropes. My take on it is that the Capital wants violence and it is a tv show. They can't have everyone die of starvation or disease, so they push confrontations. It makes sense to me, given the totalitarian regime's other methods.
  
• Peeta the Cake Decorator: cut that shit -- it was terrible. Sure he can decorate cakes but the execution of this in the film was dreadfully bad.
  
• Gale, Peeta, Katniss Love Triangle: This was pretty dumb in the films. I've played it down somewhat but certain shots stayed in because they do add to the story a little. Cut Gale's first sequence with Katniss because it seemed too forced that he would follow her out to the woods like that... and a little creepy. Katniss shrieking over a piece of bread was distracting because bread was available and Katniss could sell her wares for some bread probably weekly... so it was overacted, imho. Gale could have volunteered for Peeta if he really loved her and wanted to protect her but he didn't do that because he'd have to die. Therefore Gale's affections are not top-tier, wheras we find that Peeta's are.
  
• Toy Sword: I removed the scene where Haymitch watches some boy get a toy sword because I felt it revealed something out of character for him to be disgusted by that. He's a drunk. Drunks don't care about much except their next drink. I would have left it in if it wasn't for Haymitch's reaction.
  
• Foxface: She knew the berries were poisonous as we see her studying plants early on. Therefore her death is cut and since we don't know how all the tributes died, we can assume she died in some other way.
  
• Clove: She could have let the axe fall on Katniss but she kills the boy about to kill Katniss. She missed Katniss with the knife and she never misses. Clove did nothing when Katniss was cornered at the tree. She monologues when she finally has a chance to kill Katniss and then fails. These were left in because I think Haymitch explains this with his comment about arrogance. Clove was arrogant.
  

Intended Changes:

• Visual appearance changed to be more old-timey
  
• Sound edits made with a few added music tracks that I feel lift the associated sequences
  

[Evit]

Seems odd to leave out the entire subplot of the poisonous berries since they are a vehicle to show how desperate the kids are at the end, when they would rather kill themselves than let showrunners have it their way. It also shows that the authority of Panem is actually more precarious than the characters and audience could imagine at that point (if we consider that a minor disobedience of a couple of teens caused a stir at the highest levels!). I can see how the film would flow better without the "one winner" last-minute change but it feels essential to the whole story.

I think that Gale didn't volunteer because Katniss' family would have starved to death without him. I'm not sure if that's clear in the film but her family basically survived only thanks to her illegal hunting, without her they were basically doomed. I'm sure they mention Gale taking care of her family at some point.

I guess there is no fan edit that could really fix the whole series since the book themselves are flawed to begin with but your list is interesting, I'm reading it and imagine how it would play out. Are you planning to cover the sequels too? I only really liked the first film, it felt more authentic, the sequels had that big budget Hollywood look plastered all over them that the first film never had.

[Jetrell Fo]

Odd to see a fanedit being advertised here.

[CSchmidlapp]

Odd to see a fanedit being advertised here.

Yes.
I'm not opposed to it thou, I love Fan Edits.
But its own section is needed for them I think.

[PDB]

Agreed

[sixtysix]

Seems odd to leave out the entire subplot of the poisonous berries since they are a vehicle to show how desperate the kids are at the end, when they would rather kill themselves than let showrunners have it their way.

Perhaps I can convince you. For 73 years, there must have been other tributes who threatened a suicide pact, when it came down to three or four of them left. The Capital would have reacted to this. The use of that premise in the 74th Hunger Games failed to consider that a tyranny plans for all contingencies and therefore could not be tricked last minute like that. That was my thought.

It also shows that the authority of Panem is actually more precarious than the characters and audience could imagine at that point (if we consider that a minor disobedience of a couple of teens caused a stir at the highest levels!). I can see how the film would flow better without the "one winner" last-minute change but it feels essential to the whole story.

That notion too appears to perhaps ignore previous games where this must have happened. It probably happened once or twice over that long period of time, as the kids bond and grow affection for one another fighting off the other tributes, to kill them all off and be left there at the end of the games refusing to select a victor among those allies. There are also many ways a group could commit suicide as well; even in the 74th games, Katniss and Peeta could have thrown themselves to the dogs along with Cato. Or they could tie rocks to themselves and jump in the lake. They could have both fallen on swords. Poison berries are just another in a long line of possible methods.

What was essential to the propped up version of events was Katniss' defiance, however the following films flow better if she is not that defiant and more of a typical teenager, who would not sacrifice herself so willingly but who views the Capital's tyranny with disdain.

That's just my own view, however I felt it demonstrated that the Capital was willing to do anything to stop the riots. TWO victors? That's new! They might stop for a moment and see it as a kind of mercy from the Capital, which could distract everyone from the rioting for even a moment.

I think that Gale didn't volunteer because Katniss' family would have starved to death without him. I'm not sure if that's clear in the film but her family basically survived only thanks to her illegal hunting, without her they were basically doomed. I'm sure they mention Gale taking care of her family at some point.

Katniss' family can still take food. Gale's mining work could certainly pay for some things and his other extracurricular activity as well but it's not clear from the film if Gale could do much for them or not apart from a little help here and there. Prim has a goat and can sell cheese, which is probably very valuable. As well she is a bright kid who could adapt and survive without anyone at all as we see later on when she joins the District 13 medical team.

I guess there is no fan edit that could really fix the whole series since the book themselves are flawed to begin with but your list is interesting, I'm reading it and imagine how it would play out. Are you planning to cover the sequels too? I only really liked the first film, it felt more authentic, the sequels had that big budget Hollywood look plastered all over them that the first film never had.

Thank you!

I am currently about a few hours away from a sequel fanedit to this one that will include Catching Fire and BOTH Mockingjay films. The lighting effects are the same and there are many new montages in there too, where I felt the dreadfully slow pacing has improved dramatically. You see, the way that the Hunger Games franchise tried to milk the material for three films after the original was horrid. It cause a LOT of pacing and irrelevant sequences to become entangled into the story.

I've viewed the sequel to this Ruling Class fanedit and I'm making a few more changes before it will get released. I'll announce here as well as on the reddit fanedits sub, once it is complete.

Thanks for your feedback and I'm interested to know what you think of my response!

[sixtysix]

Odd to see a fanedit being advertised here.

Yes.
I'm not opposed to it thou, I love Fan Edits.
But its own section is needed for them I think.

I have created a few fanedits so far. The others are for The Walking Dead and Dexter, as both of these projects have severe problems in the original work. The Walking Dead had major pacing and story issues that can be neatly cut out. Dexter had brutal story and technical issues. For the Dexter edit, I use a similar monochromatic filter to give it more of a film noir visual aspect. Also, I cut Rita and the kids from the fanedit completely. Dexter's ongoing internal dialog is silenced or reversed to sound somewhat demonic or as if he is psychologically devolving... as perhaps a sociopath or psychopath might, given the levels of stress.

I can post these here or in a new forum if the board decides that would be cool.

I hope the mod team here likes fanedits, because I see that as technology improves this will become more and more frequent. In Canada, this falls under fair use as it is for educational purposes - to demonstrate visually how a project could be improved over existing material. Maybe that is arrogant of faneditors, but perhaps it's just a way of us showing we love the source material enough to try and improve upon it.

Hollywood executives make choices that can damage creativity and in any of my fanedits I set out to correct some aspects I felt detracted from a better story.

[Jetrell Fo]

Odd to see a fanedit being advertised here.

Yes.
I'm not opposed to it thou, I love Fan Edits.
But its own section is needed for them I think.

I don't know. This isn't a fan-edit site. They already have one (fanedit.org), lol.

https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/

Looks like people there do those youtube mashup videos and such. I consider the "fan-trailer" edits that don't tell you in the title they are a "fan-trailer" as click bait.

[spoRv]

Don't know... even if we mainly treat fan preservations and restorations, a fan edit is always "part of the family"; indeed, there are also extended editions and so-called special projects on fanedit.org.

At the end, we did some projects that could be considered fan edits as well - talking about mine, open matte versions come to mind.

So, the only thing I'd like to see is a clear [Fan Edit] in the front of the thread title (I could always add a prefix for it); what do you think?

Back on topic: happy to have you here, sixtysix; it's the first time a newbie come here and in his debut thread introduces a project!
Don't know if people would appreciate it or not, but IMHO you should continue to do that mainly for yourself; then, if people would like it, it can be rewarding... if not, you did it for yourself, after all!

[sixtysix]

https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/

Looks like people there do those youtube mashup videos and such.  I consider the "fan-trailer" edits that don't tell you in the title they are a "fan-trailer" as click bait.

I'm a mod at that subreddit.

We require users to flair their posts as trailer and I do a lot of cleanup there to try and make sure people know the youtube video clicked is a trailer and not a full feature fanedit. We don't allow linking to full feature fanedits there because reddit is pretty strict about copyright etc. But we do have a small place on our disccord for reviewing user made edits and providing feedback.

Mashup videos are occasionally really great, but usually not so much -- you're right!