Jobilt Hobbit
Once again, I have definitely totally finished my Hobbit edit, for real. I found a more sophisticated way to edit the audio, and that lead me to another round of tightening up. I now have my preferred Theatrical Edition (2:42), a richer Extended Edition (3:45), and a brisk Ludicrous Edition (2:10). Keep in mind that the credits are 13 minutes long, so playback is considerably shorter.
My edits refocus three sprawling films by:
-Focusing on Bilbo’s story, neither slavish to the book nor indulgent of Jackson’s additions. -Cutting the goofiness, gore and dread for a consistent tone balancing the book’s exuberance and the sequel films’ grit. -Unifying the narrative with fewer flashbacks, cross-cuts, establishing and reaction shots. -Closing dozens of plot holes, inconsistencies, implausibilities and redundancies. -Mining all three Extended Editions for character moments and visual storytelling.
I reviewed seven other fan edits before and during my process, and took bits and pieces from all of them, most notably Dustin Lee’s. My edits are particularly lean on Bard–now just a roguish archer–and Thorin, whose corruption is more natural and human. Unlike most other edits, I kept Gandalf’s side quest and Thorin’s beef with Azog (except in the Ludicrous Edition).
My innovations include a new Misty Mountains montage, a simple, timeline-coherent warg chase to Beorn’s house, having Azog’s army march over the hill rather than explode out of the ground, and a much clearer climax where Gandalf realizes that Ravenhill is a trap, sending Bilbo through the battle to try to help his friends. For the Extended Edition, I have a hand-masked background replacement for a peaceful reception at Rivendell, the origin of “Oakenshield” overlaid on Thorin’s interrogation by the Great Goblin, and a tense cat and mouse game through Erebor without the nutty forge sequence.
There are many other incidental–but painstaking–edits morphing one shot into another, color correcting Beorn (who went from black to brown between movies), flipping shots, retiming, changing subtitles, etc. There are several new transitions I’m proud of, but I am even happier with the twenty or so dialog scenes subtly re-cut to move the story along.
Above of all, I want to thank Jackson and his amazing team, who created a world rich enough for my obsession. The brilliant pieces make every minute of my months of tinkering worth it. Please make sure you have paid for the original films before viewing fan edits.
