Part 10: Price of Perfection(ism)

I noticed this big ULTIMATE MATRIX set when it came out last winter, but since I already owned each film and the Animatrix (twice, if you count the Chinese bootlegs) I didn’t pay much attention. However, I was so irritated that the look of the first film on my dvd copy was much different from the sequels (its ‘warmer’ with less contrast and brightness) that I had been toying with trying to correct the footage I was using.

Then I noticed a review of the set that mentioned that the first film had been remastered to bring the look closer to the others. Sigh. Weighing the cost of DIY versus getting the box set, I went ahead & spent the cash. Just got it yesterday & have ripped new video, but (ack!) when I created my frame-served files there was a 21ms time difference, so I had to go back & adjust each edit involving the first film by 21ms. Ugh.

But, I’m happy to say that the whole thing does look much better.

I’ll soon be reselling 2 of my 3 collected Matrix sets, so keep an eye out for bargains on that certain online auction site.

Part 9:

Ok, so I got into proper video technology up to my elbows and have completely changed my working methods. I’ve switched to using the ‘frame serving’ method, which boils down to creating a sort of placeholder file that represents the actual footage. That smaller file is readable & edited in Vegas. Then, when it comes time to output to mpeg2 video for dvd, the original source files are never degraded. Each successive version will have the same quality output, despite the constant tweaking. Of course this meant going back & re-creating each of the already edited sequences, but in the end it was well worth it. The ‘chunks’ that I had been using were originally created with some clumsy editing software and have benefited greatly from being re-edited in Vegas from the start. Most of the transitions have been improved and the ability to mix the audio simultaneous with the video creates some much more seamless editing.

I’m far enough along that it’s time to get serious about subtitles. They’ll have to be some significant changes to the original scripts since I’ve made some drastic cuts. Subtitles are actually kept in a separate text file that can be overlaid over the video (so you can turn them on & off). Since the commands to start & stop each line of text are keyed to the running time, they can’t be finalized until the actual cut of the video is completed. I’ve already downloaded the original subtitle files from the net, converted them to a single text file, and then re-arranged them roughly to match the current shape of the movie while making dialogue changes. Obviously, they cannot be finished until I’m satisfied with the video.

I’ve discovered a nifty little program called DIVXLAND MEDIA SUBTITLER that lets you tweak a text file as you watch the video, then can output to the format associated with actual dvds. I’ll use it to create the new subtitles for the full-length version. For the DivX encode to watch on a computer I’ll burn the subtitles directly on to the video itself as it encodes (using VirtualDub).

Current cut, 4h24m20s at 11.827GB (with surround sound in ac3 format). In order to fit on a Double Layer disc I’ll need to compress it to around 68%...

Rough Cut

Sized up a rough cut of the complete version. Start to finish clocks in at 4 hours & 39 min. Feels a bit jerky in the climax though…

Part 8: Diminishing Returns

The farther along I get the more that my past mistakes are irritating me. All of the constant encoding, editing, & re-encoding has degraded the image quality in some of the more action-packed scenes to the point where I’m really distracted by it. I was intentionally encoding to 2 single large files and them slicing them back up & then encoding them again to other large files, but I really should have kept re-using the original parts. It was a lazy way out & now I’ve got some shitty footage in parts. Once I have an edit locked down I’ll see about re-creating the shots with fresh rips of the material.

I’ve yet to add any more animated shots to the second half, mostly because I’m reluctant to add any more running time. So there’s that, a final audio mix to smooth out some dead spots and add mood music, then subtitles. Then figure out how to jam it on to a DVD and create menus as well. I’ll probably create 3 versions – the full single DVD, and 2-disc set, and then a DivX encoded version to watch on my laptop.

Part 7: Trials & (mostly) Errors

Was finally able to burn a complete single version on to a disc. Even compressing down to 8gb to fit on the dual-layer disc takes away some of the visual quality. I also noticed several disjointed edits and some sequences that feel too rushed. I’ve tweaked the end a bit more as well. [Running time, 4hrs 20min.]

I’ve pared too much away from the middle third of the story, relying on fades to transition between scenes. I took some dialogue scenes from the “cutting room floor”, and inserted them in new spots. The transitions are much improved and there’s more flow to the story. I’ve decided to cut out almost all of the brief scenes in Zion in which Zee and Charra scamper around launching missiles at the giant drill. Since I cut most of Zee out of the story, there was little reason for them other than to show some action during the battle…
[Running time: 4hrs, 18min.]

Part 6: Moving Along

I’ve re-edited the last 45min of the story and it flows much better. Of course now that I’m truly beginning to appreciate the editing program, I’ll have to re-do the first few hours to tighten it up. I’d like to hit as close to the 4 hour mark as possible. I have been reluctant to remove much from the first film, as it sets up the basic framework of a really good story, before the 2nd and 3rd devolve into action sequences, but it seems that I might be able to re-arrange or weave those events around the action…

Also, I had mixed in quite a bit of footage from the “Animatrix” episodes into the first section, but virtually none into the action-heavy final two-thirds. It really added some punch and vitality when done right, so I’m going to search for appropriate footage for the later events.
[4 hours 27 minutes]

For the new subtitles, I’ve found fan transcripts of the 3 films, combined them, and have re-arranged according to the edit so far. The next step will be converting those into a subtitle file, but that will have to wait until the final edit is locked down.

Part 5: Second Thoughts

Wow. Several months since any progress. Some family issues and then the holiday season kept me away from the project for some time, and then a new job robbed what little free time I had after that. Anyway, on with the show…

I had completed a rough cut of what should be the first half of the project, encompassing the first film. I trimmed most of the later scenes and even did rough cuts of the major sequences.

A friend let me use his computer recently and I spent some time playing with Sony’s “Vegas Video”, which seemed to be basically a slightly more user-friendly version of Adobe’s Premiere. Even so, it seems a real step up from the free editors I was using and based on my preliminary experiments it will help me give a more polished look to the project. My expectations have expanded as well, and I will hopefully be able to create a 5.1 surround audio mix when the visuals are completed.

Of course, during that time I realized I was going about the process in a slow & inefficient way.

The more professional way to prepare the footage would be to rip the files into AVIs & then ‘frameserve’ those into Vegas…however, I’ve already created all of these little mpeg segments so I’ll live with those, even though they are a less than desirable when using a higher-grade system.

Moving along now.

The entire first two thirds of the story are edited to a reasonably solid state.

We’re all the way up in the story to the climactic final sequence, in which Neo battles Smith, the Hammer races back to Zion, and the city is battling the machine army. Instead of leaving those in sequence, I’ve reworked them to all occur simultaneously. Obviously the most complicated editing in the project…