Synopsis:

I wanted to make one large film, with a cohesive story and good pacing. In recent years, these films have been largely forgotten; I really love these films, so I hope that this edit will draw attention to the original films.

Intentions:

I wanted to edit out scenes which didn't add much to the story, or took the focus away from the main characters, plus I wanted to get the runtime down to a reasonable length. There are secondary stories which, whilst they were well-written and acted, I cut simply to redirect the focus of the story on only a few characters. At the same time I was careful to not ruin the atmosphere of the film; it's a balancing act between trimming a few frames and shots, and not ruining the story and atmosphere.

Change List:

A list of changes: Ring 1: Opening credits: I've done a much shorter opening, plus used different footage of waves at night time, with no credits aside from the name of the fan-edit. Young girl being interviewed: removed her looking at the camera, and the cameraman pausing and telling her to not look at the camera. Reiko reading the newspaper: after she finds the story, I’ve cut the conversation with Okazaki. At the wake, I’ve removed Okazaki calling Reiko, since the information he provides is later revealed when Reiko sees placards from Tomoko’s school. Reiko driving to Izu, and staying at the Ryokan: I’ve rearranged it so that once Reiko arrives, she finds the cabin, then goes straight to the reception area. This removes the other scenes of her eating dinner, and sitting around the living room of the cabin. To accommodate this change, I have altered the time of day, so there isn’t an odd shift in time from daylight to suddenly being night time. Trimmed a few frames after she leaves the Ryokan, to improve the pacing. Ryuji watching the tape: removed a shot of the roof of a nearby house when Reiko goes to the balcony. Removed a scene at the newspaper office, where Okazaki gives a list of people to Reiko. Nothing is done with this list, so this shot can be excised. Reiko and Ryuji at the newspaper office: some small trims when Ryuji is playing the tape, to improve the pacing. Ferry trip: slightly trimmed them debarking the ferry (pacing improvement). Ryokan: trimmed the shot of Reiko sitting on the floor prior to Ryuji coming in. In ?shima, I’ve inserted a different approaching storm, in order to make it look more realistic and ominous. At the well: in order to improve pacing, I've trimmed a few shots of Reiko emptying the water from the buckets. Small trims to her fainting, to make it very slightly faster. Removed the shot of Reiko and Ryuji turning around to have one last look at the cabin. Relocated the shot of Reiko on her balcony with the date shown. Removed the scene of Reiko in her bedroom, staring into the distance; the shot now goes straight to Ryuji. After Reiko takes the videotape, trimmed the end of the shot to improve pacing. Removed the voiceover exposition as Reiko is driving to see her father. I’ve replaced the sky at the end of part one, so that it looks more realistic, and ominous. End credits removed. Ring 2: Opening credits removed. Removed the reporter mentioning that the curse can be lifted if a person copies the videotape. Okazaki and Mai looking around Reiko’s apartment: a few small trims to improve the pacing. Removed the overly dramatic zoom-in to Mai’s balcony. Removed the story about Okazaki and Kanae Sawaguchi; even though it’s a good plot, for the purposes of this edit it’s better to focus on Mai and Yoichi. Relocated the scene in the morgue of reconstructing Sadako’s head, to after Mai first meets with Reiko. That way, there is a scene in-between her talking with Reiko, then playing with Yoichi. This helps me remove the scene of Okazaki with Kanae at the newspaper office. Removed the scene of Mai on the train, reminiscing about Ryuji. I’ve left in the shot of her spotting Yoichi and Reiko though. Removed Okazaki interviewing Kanae. Cut to Okazaki and Mai in the car, talking about the four teenagers who died. Removed Kanae visiting Okazaki at the newspaper office. Hospital: removed the shot of Mai and Okazaki looking at the patients in the recreation room. Newspaper office: removed Kanae calling Okazaki. After Reiko is killed, I've removed the tunnel spirit world scene where, as there is repetition of dialogue from part one, plus this scene doesn’t add anything significant to the film. Removed Okazaki watching the video of Kanae. Trimmed some shots of Mai & Yoichi travelling on the ferry. To accommodate this change, I've added in some background ambient SFX to smooth out the audio. Removed Okazaki in the hospital. Relocated the end credits for part 1 to the end of the edit. Following that there are the credits for part 2. Added different music for the end credits.

Other Sources:

I own the Blu-ray release from the company Arrow, which served as the basis for the video and audio. I also utilised portions of the original soundtrack to help fill in sections where I have cut or trimmed the video and audio. I sourced some footage in order to replace two sky shots; the CGI from 1998 of the skies in two shots for this very low-budget film aren't as convincing as they could be. I rotoscoped the video, added in and colour-corrected the new footage.