Synopsis:

The edit removes the bookends of the treasure hunt, this edit is purely 1912. It cuts down on the Rose/Jack name calling, and Jack egging Rose on so much. Him calling her stupid is removed. Some deleted scenes are added to add depth where Old Rose voice over has been removed, and there is a newly constructed ending.

Intentions:

I love Titanic. It remains one of my favourite films, even though certain aspects of it have taken some shine off in the intervening years. This edit has been created to remove the things that now bother me, and give me something I can rewatch without occasionally cringing.

Change List:

- So we start on Titanic, 1912, everything previous is cut. - New titles added. - Rose’s entrance to Titanic, trimmed and VO removed. - Deleted scene added - Rose and her maid talking about the ship being new. This was added to show she is not happy in the engagement, previously we relied on VO to tell us. Audio of Cal interrupting them was bad, so audio trimmed to remove the worst of it. - Fade from that scene to Titanic at sea. Arrival of Molly Brown removed as it is mostly VO. - Jack and Fabrizio at prow of boat trimmed to remove excessive ‘woohoo’ing. - Rose at dinner audio altered to remove VO saying how trapped she was. - Deleted scene added - Rose having a meltdown in her stateroom. This is again to emphasise what has been removed from the VO. - Ruth meeting Jack for first time trimmed and audio reworked to remove VO. - Jack being introduced in the dinning room trimmed to remove VO. - Deleted scene added - Singing Josephine and discussing how insignificant the ‘powerful men’ on Titanic are compared to the stars. Nice scene that has some nice foreshadowing of the fallibility of man. - Jack and Rose in the gym. Trimmed and slightly reworked to minimise repetition and names. - Transition from Jack and Rose kissing on prow of Titanic to the stateroom where Rose wants to be drawn. This removes ‘present day’ interlude. - Transition from Rose being drawn to Jack signing the drawing. Again, to remove ‘present day’ interlude. - Jack’s ‘arrest’ trimmed to remove repetition and names. - Rose’s finding and rescue of Jack trimmed and audio reworked to remove repetitive name calling and Jack being too bossy. Also removed ‘how did you know?’ moment, because it was corny. - Trimmed the axe taking off the handcuffs, removing another name call. - Audio edit as Jack and Rose emerge on deck, removing a ‘come on Rose’. - Trimmed Rose jumping back onto Titanic to remove more Name shouting. - Trimmed Jack and Rose reuniting to remove the condescending ‘you’re so stupid, Rose’. - Audio edit as Jack and Rose run from gunfire to remove another ‘Come on, Rose’. - And again as they leave the dining room. - Audio edits to remove name calling as they’re swept up in water. - The gate scene slightly trimmed and rejigged to give Rose more active role. - Deleted scene added - Cora’s fate. We opened on Cora and even though this scene is hard to watch it felt right, and powerful, to see what became of her. - Audio edit to remove another Jack urging Rose on moment as they climb up Titanic. - Trimmed panic in water to remove more name shouting and Jack urging Rose to keep swimming. - Audio edit to remove ‘Jack’ as she gets on door. - Deleted scene added - man suggests trying to get on the door. Added this to demonstrate that Jack felt there truly was no room on the door without risking Rose’s life - to counter the ‘he gave up too easily’ argument. - New ending - Flashcards and extra footage from Carpathia deleted scenes used to show what happened to everyone. This is to replace VO, and have enough flashcards to feel like something deliberate. - All audio replaced with music except Rose giving Dawson as her name which is isolated with rain sound effect added. - Deleted scenes colour graded to more closely match the original shots. - The final afterlife scene is removed, it felt superfluous in this cut. - Main credits altered to remove actors that are no longer present and add fan editor credit. Scrolling credits left as is, life is too short.

Additional Notes:

For the most part, the film remains intact. The first key challenge was removing the voice over of old Rose. This caused some narrative cold spots where young Rose just came across as a spoiled brat with no explanation of why she tried to kill herself. The addition of deleted scenes hopefully replaced some of that narrative, and other moments of voice over were edited around or the channel was muted and replaced with other sounds. The second challenge was the ending. Once Rose is rescued it very much relies on the modern day story to finish the film. Using the deleted scenes of the Carpathia and some flash cards I was able to draw out what happened without needing the great Bill Paxton. But even having done this, something felt off as I tried to have my cake and eat it. The final 'afterlife' moment where young Rose rejoins the crew and passengers who died just didn't work with this new structure. So it was removed. If in doubt, cut it out.

Other Sources:

Titanic OST

Special Thanks:

Thanks to Q2 for advice regarding the ending. Sinbad for his comments after a workprint viewing. And TM2YC for his new Fanedit.org intro.