Synopsis:

This is a trimmed down and dynamic version of the extended version of An Unexpected Journey. This fanedit is great for someone who has never seen LOTR. It doesn't give anything away from the later films and creates an exciting movie that doesn't pander to the audience. I wanted this to be a movie where someone can start from, not a prequel just for people that are LOTR fans.

Intentions:

Around 30 minutes have been chopped from the running time of the EE and some elements have been moved around, changing the narrative structure. This fanedit is conservative in the cutting. I didn't cut any entire scenes that weren't Azog related, but almost every part of the movie has been altered except for “riddles in the dark”. I tried to use as much footage as possible as long as it fit my goals. This version of the film doesn't bash you over the head with too much information related to the Lord of the Rings, and tells the story in a more timely fashion. Big changes to the tone of this edit comes by the deletion of all the mushy speeches, except for Bilbos at the very end. I think these speeches violate a basic rule of good story telling: Show, don't tell. These speeches are gimmicks to get the audience to feel a certain way, but really they just slow down story telling. If the story is told right the audience will be able to feel the intention of the film maker instead of being told what to feel. Also, the role of Azog has been reduced, and improved, to maximize his presence in the movie, and turn him into a meaningful enemy. This cut is honest to both the source, and to Jackson's vision. It uses the strengths of Jacksons vision, while taking out the worst parts. The way I edited the beginning of the film is radically different and I think improves the first half of the movie considerably.

Change List:

-Prologue-moved/recut- the prologue is pretty much gone, we jump right into the plot of the movie. Information is given to the audience through the film, no need to spell it out right away. -Frodo eliminated rom film. -Bits of Bilbos dialogue removed for pacing. -All flashbacks to Erebor moved to other areas of the film. -Dwarves dinner cut sparingly, makes the dwarves less outright insulting. -Insertion of Erebor flashbacks during Dwarve planning. I love the way this turned out. flashbacks cut for pacing/context. -Moria scene cut to eliminate azogs "oath". -All other major scenes with Azog cut from film. -Radagast introduction cut 90%, some of it moved to his second appearance. -Gandalf/Thorin arguments about elves edited to make less of a big deal out of it. -Extended action cut from troll scene. -Radagast pipeweed lines eliminated. I kept the stick insect one. -Chase of the wargs mostly cut from the film. -Circling of elves on horse around dwarves shortened. -Bilbo checking out the picture with Saurons ring removed -White council scene cut to remove foreshadowing to LOTR. -Galadriel psychic communication edited out. -Gandalf/Galadriel one on one scene cut .cheesy and ruins the flow. -Stone giants are still in the film, but the ridiculous aspects of the scene removed. -Bofur-Bilbo conversation about homelands removed. -Fall into goblin town shortened. -Entrance of the ring, falling from Gollum, removed. -Ridiculous physics elements edited from goblin town escape. -goblin escape scene shortened overall -“strange physics” ring twirling on Bilbos hand removed -Bilbo speech removed before out of frying pan. -Out of frying pan edited to remove some Azog shots and make it about the wolves. -some out of the frying pan scenes rearranged -Gandalf/moth nonsense removed. -Smaug Outro removed -music from the OST replaces two themes in the climax scene. very badass stuff (shout out to kerr for inspiring this change) -Elijah Woods removed from credits.

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Lord of the Rings OST by Howard Shore

Special Thanks:

DominicCobb njvc