Synopsis:

Key Improvements and Changes: Improved character performances (Katniss' emotional breakdowns largely cut, Gale relationship moments cut) Improved narrative including powerful and exciting new beginning and more emotional thought provoking ending Altered score allowing for new scenes and transitions that would otherwise not be possible including new Hanging Tree track 171 minute runtime (goal was 160 minutes, catching fire runtime was 146 minutes).

Intentions:

"The Hanging Tree" is a combination Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2 edit completely reworked to make the strongest Hunger Games finale possible. Nearly 90 minutes of Hollywood excess has been cut from the original feature while maintaining story continuity and narrative vision.

Change List:

Mockingjay Part 1 Cutlist Mockingjay Part 1 original runtime 123 minutes has been reduced to 61 minutes. The beginning of the movie has been completely changed, I have merged the track "Remind Her Who The Enemy Is" from the Original Score with the track "The Hanging Tree" to produce the score for the beginning of the film. The film begins with a quote from "The Treaty of the Treason" just like the original Hunger Games movie did. The quote used for the original movie was invented for the film. The text was marked as being sourced from The Treaty of the Treason whose text never appeared in the books. The text that I have written to begin this film is: "From the Treaty of the Treason:" "And the peace will be a contract. Each district will supply the Capitol in return for order and security. Refusal to work will be an act of treason punishable by death." This is a condensed version of President Snow's speech from Mockingjay Part 1 that has been cut in this edit. The movie then begins with the attack on the Hydroelectric Dam in District 5 followed by the titles "2 Months Earlier" "District 13" The movie then begins as normal The titles for Mockingjay Part 1 have been removed After Katniss collapses after witnessing the corpses in District 12 the next scene is Katniss awakening from a horror dream Plutarch's insinuation to President Coin that Katniss is The Mockingjay only when in costume is cut All scenes concerning Prim's cat have been cut Coin's speech to District 13 announcing her arrangement with Katniss has been cut The first interview with Peeta has been inserted after Katniss is shown Cinna's Mockingjay designs The filming of the first "propo" using the green screen fx has been reduced to a minimum (i.e. there's only one 'take') The talk about District 8 being a relatively safe place to send Katniss to film "propos" has been cut so that there is a sense of danger in the proceeding scenes Snow's reference to his cut speech has been removed Katniss hunting with Gale in the woods and Peeta's second interview have been cut completely Katniss' second trip to District 12, her relationship elements with Gale, and her singing cut completely The rebel attack in the woods leads directly to Peeta's third interview where he speaks about the rebel attacks on the grainery and dam. Peeta is not shown images of Katniss singing during this interview, he betrays the Capitol seemingly of his own accord The bombing of 13 has many scenes cut including Katniss with the cat and Katniss with Finnick The power failure during the bombing scene leads directly to Katniss hiding in the tunnel, the discovery of Snow's roses and the proceeding "propo" shoot is cut completely Haymitch tells Katniss that a rescue operation is already underway to free the victors and this leads immediately to Katniss waiting with Finnick anxious for the return of the rescue mission volunteers The Zero Dark Panem sequence is cut completely Coin's speech that ends Mockingjay Part 1 is cut completely Mockingjay Part 2 Cutlist Mockingjay Part 2 original runtime 137 minutes has been reduced to 110 minutes. The opening scene where Katniss' swolen neck is examined is cut, her injury is much less severe in this edit to allow for a believably faster recovery Mockingjay Part 2 titles are cut and replaced with a unused shot (reversed) of Peeta struggling against his bonds taken from Part 1 The scene where Coin tells Katniss that she cannot send her to the Capitol has been reworked to indicate that Coin wants to keep Katniss under her thumb where she can be controlled. Some audio adjustments were made to blend this scene with Katniss' second meeting with Coin The entire sequence where Katniss and Gale travel to district 2, Katniss gets shot, Katniss recovers from her wound in the hospital have been eliminated The dinner scene at Snow's mansion has been tweaked and now follows Peeta's attack on Katniss. The scene now appears to show Snow speaking of Katniss' death by Peeta's hands instead of by the rebels in district 2 The scene where Katniss speaks with Peeta in the hospital has been cut Plutarch's mention of Katniss' gunshot wound has been cut Cressida's annoying "directing" of Katniss' actions have been cut The scene where Snow is made aware of Katniss' being caught on video alive following the tar trap has been cut along with the first indication that Snow is dying from the poisons in his body. This reveal works much better as a surprise to the viewer at the end of the movie, humanizing him at a time where he has already lost all of his power. Katniss' self loathing after the death of Finnick has been reduced to a minimum The scene where Gale and Peeta discuss who Katniss loves is cut. There is no indication in this edit or in the trilogy of movies as a whole that Katniss would have ever ended up with Gale, it was a terribly developed plot device throughout, and has been rightly eliminated. The idealistic ending where poor CG.

Additional Notes:

Programs used: Sony Vegas Handbrake TSMUXER MKVTOOLNix Megui DVDFab ffmpeg Lagarith Codec VirtualDub.

Special Thanks:

Don Skonecki for creating the disc artwork. Zannierer for making great subtitles.