Audio Extract Problem with Sith bonus DVD

[joetesora]

Just got the (absolutely brilliant) bonus DVD 'Musical Journey' that comes with the CD soundtrack for 'Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith'. I want to make mp3s of the audio for CD/iPod use, because they are unique edits with dialogue and sound effects that I think are way cool. However, using the system I use for ALL my DVD ripping (SmartRipper-->DVD2AVI-->TMPGEnc) I get picture... but the sound is simply muffled static. The disc itself features the music in 5.1 or PCM (your choice) but that shouldn't matter, right? I have no problem doing this sort of thing with any other disc. What am I doing wrong? Does anyone else on this board have this DVD? Do you have the same problem? Would love some advice. -JT (tesora@thrillfactory.com)

[bloss]

I don't know what going on with your situation, but one thing I noticed on the DVD is that the 5.1 mix is all screwed up. The PCM sounds just fine but when I switched to 5.1, the rear channels just spewed static... no kudos to the mixers on this disc.

[WorkShed]

Yeah, it's pretty weird. When I played it on my TV, it worked fine. But when I threw it in the ol' DVD-ROM, I got the static issue. Oh, well. At least the PCM works well and it's a free DVD. I guess I can't get too worked up over that.

However, the editing sucks on most of the videos. I think that my friends and I at the University of Iowa would have come up with more compelling music videos than what Lucasfilm put out. There are some issues with single frames being popped in there for no reason. I wasn't a fan of the overuse of conceptual and poster art, either.

My favorites would have to be "Dark Forces Conspire,"A Fateful Love," "A Hero Falls," the amazing first half of "An Unlikely Alliance" before the Cantina music, and "A Life Redeemed." They could have been a lot better, and "A Hero Falls" shouldn't have used so much pre-edited trailer footage. Rushed release but still makes for a good time.

[editman]

"A Hero Falls" shouldn't have used so much pre-edited trailer footage.

Isn't the video the same edit as what's available on the official site?

(My copy hasn't arrived so I wouldn't know.)

[WorkShed]

Yes, it's the same edit.

It starts great at the beginning. Some amazing edits and great new footage.

I can tell you that the major problems that I have with it are solely due to footage being used from the trailer...

-At 0:45, after Mace says, "I don't trust him," there a frame of a ship that was shown as the next scene in the trailer.
-The one I see the most is at 1:22 after a shot of Obi-Wan looking up (used in the teaser), there is a frame of Palpatine that is used exactly from the teaser edit.
-At 1:33, there is a frame of the ship falling to Coruscant that has the "firetruck" ships putting the water out that was scene in the trailer.
-At 1:43, after Palpatine says, "Are you threatening me, master Jedi?", there is a black frame (exactly at the cutoff moment in the trailer).
-At 1:44, after the shot of the rolling tank, there is a frame of the space battle above Coruscant (as seen in the trailer).
-1:46, after a wookie jumps at the camera, there is a black frame (exactly at the cutoff moment in the trailer).
-At 2:35, there is a frame from the end battle with lava flowing, as seen in the trailer.
-Not even a second later, there is another frame from the end battle from the trailer of the lightsabers clashing in the hallway.
-At 3:01 after "You are the chosen one!" there is a red flash, that was in the trailer.
-At 3:03, there is a frame of Darth Sidious after Yoda re-ignites his saber (as seen in the trailer).


Most people probably wouldn't notice these moments, but I'm an editor and these little goofs are what I train my eyes to see. I have no problem with using trailer footage in the music video (in fact it works quite well in most of the video), but leaving frames in the final piece is just plain sloppy! My teachers would dock me down to a C- on a project if I turned in a piece as sloppy as this one!

[editman]

This is already evident in the QT version of the video.

And yes, it sucks watching something like this with an editor's eyes. But then we don't know if the editor was given enough material to fit with the music. (Yet again, could have used some slow mo if the clips are not long enough.)

[WorkShed]

This is already evident in the QT version of the video.

And yes, it sucks watching something like this with an editor's eyes. But then we don't know if the editor was given enough material to fit with the music. (Yet again, could have used some slow mo if the clips are not long enough.)

However, we're talking about less than a second worth of material here. I'm sure that some moments could have been given a second. It's just being sloppy.