Batman Forever: The Virtual Workprint

[Bad_Replicant]

Heyyy everybody. As I'm sure some here know, there's long a been a heap of evidence re: everything cut from Batman Forever before it was released. Some of it finally made its way onto the DVD box set that came out in 2005, though there's still more buried in WB's closet.

The idea behind this edit was to realize what an earlier cut of the movie might've played like, with as much extra footage included as possible, as well as restoring the original narrative. Think what Charles de Lauzirika did for Alien 3, only with some guy on an old Macbook Pro running Final Cut 6 and a movie not as many people care about. All deleted scenes from the DVD are included, along with alternate shots from the trailers. Some of the additional material is tweaked to help it flow, as it appeared to be lifted from a very rough cut. A lot of care was taken in making the transitions as seamless as I could, especially with sound and music. I utilized selections from Elliot Goldenthal's scores for Forever and Batman & Robin to complete the soundtrack -- one of the big differences between this and other edits out there, most of which use Danny Elfman's themes to up the Burton-factor. I also did some minor tinkering with the theatrical footage to reflect some of the other differences one might find in a workprint.

As a side note, I'm not an overly technically savvy person. Looking around here, I'm clearly out of my depth in terms of being on point with specs and such. I did do a few things to downgrade the quality of the theatrical footage so everything could bridge together more convincingly. Most of the decisions in this respect were just based on what 'felt right' at the time. This also goes for my encoding/exporting which I'm sure is goofy, though I think the roughness around the edges kind of helps. It's in SD, and everything was taken from the 2005 DVD with the exception of some of the trailer shots which had to be sourced elsewhere.

The only problem was a framerate issue that cropped up in some of the deleted scenes when ripping, only effecting certain shots within the footage. I tried to get to the bottom of this several times to no avail (this was several years ago), so I'm not sure if it was an issue with the program or me just not being able to troubleshoot it successfully. At any rate, I don't believe it detracts much.  

/end spiel

It's online for viewing and/or download. If anyone wants a link, let me know!

[Image: 226c73505655020f26c3524d4350efab.png]

[Bad_Replicant]

A few screens:

[Feallan]

Not really into superhero movies, but it sounds interesting. I'd like a link.

[spoRv]

That seems an interesting project!!!

[Bad_Replicant]

Not really into superhero movies, but  it sounds interesting. I'd like a link.

PMing doesn't seem to be working for me right now, but I'll gladly shoot it along when I can. Wasn't sure if posting links in the thread would be allowed. 

[spoRv]

Not direct link, but just "suggestions", like myinternalorgan, paradoxical place, blue torrent etc.

[jerryshadoe]

Honestly, if you just google "batman forever: virtual workprint" the site where the original info is posted about this project, along with some samples

On that topic... I found and watched this cut and must say VERY IMPRESSED. What you did makes for a much better paced, more coherent, enjoyable storyline/film. Thanx for all the work you put into it, the results are awesome, and I highly recommend for ANYONE to watch this

[Bad_Replicant]

Yeah... guess I forgot about how easily searchable it is.

Thanks for the nice review!

[Jetrell Fo]

I'm hoping to see a higher quality version now that you have proof of concept covered. It really does make for a far more interesting movie with what you've done. I really enjoyed watching it this way.

Cheers!!!!

[captainsolo]

I found this elsewhere and loved that you created a better realization of the original cut flow. The idea to use B&R score elements for transitions along with trailer bits is spot on.

A better upgrade would be nice, and in order to do so I would suggest starting with the source untouched.
http://www.caps-a-holic.com/hd_vergleich...ltiID=2646

I always thought the differences were bigger but looking at all three side by side they appear to share the same master overall. The LD and DVD were a bit noisier and more colorful on CRT. The SE DVD spruced it up a bit and the BD may have tweaked the contrast.
In order to better match the video footage the old DVD might work better as it's noisier and closer in quality to the excised footage. But the SE lacks all the heavy video noise of the older disc so you may just want to use that untouched and not worry about the quality jumps.

What I would absolutely recommend is using the 2.0 PCM track from the LD. This would make the mixing easier so you wouldn't have to constantly jump back and forth from 5.1 to 2.0 or worry about any upmixing-plus I've said for years that I think the 2.0 matrixed mix is better handled as it doesn't have the annoying emphasis on all the heavy ADR dialogue in the center channel plus it sounds beefier and better in the low end.