Remember how I said there was a problem with the soundtrack for the original cut of ReDeath? I must have made it up. After hearing Misato’s dialogue in the OC just fine on my comp, I checked the DVD to see if the issue was really there. Lo, her lines are all present with all the fidelity of the audio cassette tape that they were recorded on. I can imagine why I really thought there was a problem. Much of her dialogue only comes out of one speaker (I opted not to fix this for the DVD in order to truly preserve the orignal cut of ReDeath), so when I couldn’t hear her lines, it must’ve been because whatever room I was in at the time wasn’t rigged for stereo. Can’t complain, less work for me is always a good thing.

So after I test the DVD encode of Nesca 1.7, my next project is to recap the deleted scenes for Fanboy Bebop. The audio is way overblown. Then I will consider the subtitle options for all three. Doing ReDeath was such a tedious chore, I’m not looking forward to doing subs for the longer FBBB and the even longer Nesca. I’d ditch subs altogether had I not seen how well they worked at Fanime last year. Reminds me, “songs only” for ReDux…

Though I’m still ironing out a few things, it looks like version 1.7 of Nescaflowné is locked at a runtime of 60:13, about 10 seconds longer than version 1.0. MPEG-2 encoding of the new stuff should be done by tomorrow night.

This week. Nescaflowné should be done this week. Feels great.

As mentioned previously, one of the new scenes for the final cut is something meant to give resolution to the Head and Miwanna subplot. In the script, this scene occurs just before the final confrontation with Khan. But having watched the climax in its current truncated form for nearly four years now (holy crap I’m lazy), it’s clear that putting that scene in its intended place would slow things down. But since I still want to tie up that plot thread, I decided to move the scene to just before when Hitmi returns to Japan. The problem is that the recorded dialogue explicitly mentions its orignal context, in which Miwanna had a role (also cut) in Head’s rescue. So it’s a matter of trimming some of her lines and redoing a couple of Head’s.

After I finish the new stuff, there’s some touching up to existing scenes I might do. There’s one shot in particular I’d like to add to enhance a joke and I’m also considering a couple more pacing trims. And then it’s on to the DVD authoring, starting with ReDeath since most of the work is already done.

I’m quite pleased with the new Nesca footage so far. Don’t want to spoil nothing for nobody, but it’s absurd and it’s quick and I love it. It looks like the final cut of Nesca will have around two minutes of new scenes total. I have about 90 seconds done that need just a bit more polishing, and only one more quick dialogue bit after that which should be easy to edit. The hard part’s done. My estimated date of completion is… screw it, it’s bad luck when I pretend I’m on time. It’s soon though, honest. 

This I Declare: The DVDs for ReDeath, FBBB and Nesca will be done… uh… at some point. Yes, I know I’ve been talking about this forever and haven’t made real significant progress in forever and it comes down to this: I’m too much of a perfectionist to simply call it a day and put them out as is, but at the same time I’m too busy with real work (and lazy with my free time) to focus on them as much as I’d like. Still, I’m really, really close, I swear, I just gotta bite the bullet, be a man and finish the damn things. Here are the facts:

Evangelion ReDeath -
The first DVD of ReDeath is officially discontinued (not that we let too many copies get out anyway). It’s soon-to-be-replaced by a new version that features a slightly trimmed version of ReDux, a mostly unseen outtake reel and a fixed soundtrack for the original cut. I only discovered recently that many of Misato’s lines in the old version are completely inaudible and so I will have to remix her lines back into the soundtrack. Since no one else noticed this, I can only assume that no one with this disc watches the original cut. C’est la vie.

Fanboy Bebop -
The main video and extras are prepped. It’s simply a matter of authoring the disc.

Nescaflowné -
So yeah, the original climax to Nesca was a bit longer in the script, answering a few of the plot holes (heh) that exist in the current cut. Why did Ziggy bring Hitmi to Java? What exactly did Hitmi do that made Juan thank her for saving the world? What happens to Head and Miwanna’s relationship? I believe Nesca will be richer with those questions answered, since constructing a fairly tight plot was one of the joys of that project. I have about half of the new footage ready at this moment. Also, since I still have all the audio that was recorded for Nesca, I have thought about making an extensive outtake reel. I don’t think dub bloopers are too funny myself but if I find enough good material, it may be worth the effort.