Justice League (2017) v Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021): A

documentary in video editing AV Sheet

Audio Visual
Copyright free background music A Clip from the 2017 and a clip from the
Justice League v Zack Snyder’s Justice 2021 version of the film playing side by side
League: A documentary in video editing.

During this documentary I will be focusing Cut to black, fade in picture of Joss Whedon
on the two different versions of the film and then fade in picture of Zack Snyder.
‘Justice League’, one by Joss Whedon, and
the other by Zack Snyder.

‘Justice League’ was released in 2017, was Cut to picture of the Justice League, fade in
the 5th film in the ‘DCEU’, a term which picture of ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Batman v
started as a joke by Entertainment Weekly, Superman’, ‘Suicide Squad’ and ‘Wonder
but was then soon referred to by the fans Woman’.
of live action DC universe.

Unfortunately, after shooting had finished Fade into black, fade collage of pictures of
for the film, Zack Snyder ended up due to Zack Snyders family
one of his children’s suicide.
Fade to black cut to picture of Warner
Following his exit, the studio Warner
brothers logo, fade in pictures of shooting
Brothers, who were releasing the film,
around the logo, fade out all pictures and
seized the opportunity to change the film
fade in picture of Joss Whedon and
as they were unhappy and confused with
negative film reviews of the 2017 cut.
the current version of the film, and without
him there to protect his vision, the studio
bought in Joss Whedon to ‘fix’ the film,
which lead to some drastic changes, and a
rather negative audience perception of the
film.
Fade to black, fade in Videos of people
After the original films release, a campaign protesting and posts about releasing the
to release Zack Snyder’s original version of Snyder cut. Fade in picture of Warner
the film had started, which lead to the Brother’s announcing the Snyder cut.
hashtag ‘ReleaseTheSnyderCut’ being used
on just about every social media platform
by thousands of fans demanding the films
be released. This lasted for almost three
years before the studio announced they
would be releasing Snyder’s version, and
after around a year of waiting, Zack
Snyder’s Justice League was released.
Fade to black, fade in positive reviews of
The films reviews were vastly different from the Snyder cut.
the 2017 version of the film, and was
perceived by the fans as being vastly better
and a much better cinematic experience.
Fade to black, fade in picture of Joss
To understand why the two director’s Whedon and Zack Snyder working behind
versions of the film were so different, it the scenes of different films they have
may help to look into their past work to see worked on.
how their experiences lead them to be so
different.
Fade to black, fade in video of ‘Dawn of the
Zack Snyder directorial work includes films Dead’, ‘300’, ‘Legends of the Guardians:
like ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘300’, ‘Legends of The Owls of Ga’hoole’, Justice League’,
the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole’, as which were ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman v
well as 3 DC movies, two of which precede Superman’ and ‘Watchmen’, as they are
the ‘Justice League’, which were ‘Man of said in a 3 across 2 down pattern.
Steel’ and ‘Batman v Superman’ as well as
‘Watchmen’, which takes place in its own
universe.
Fade to black, fade in videos of ‘Buffy the
Vampire Slayer’, ‘Much Ado About
Joss Whedon’s directorial work includes
Nothing’, ‘The Avengers’, ‘Avengrs age of
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, ‘Much Ado
Ultron’ play as they are said and fade out
About Nothing’, as ‘The Avengers’ and
when ‘editing choices’ is said fade out and
‘Avengers Age of Ultron’, and due to his
fade in behind the scenes video of Joss
work with Marvel many viewers suspect his
Whedon working on the avengers and
editing choices were because of the
slowly turn it grey.
mindset he was used to whilst working at
Marvel, which ultimately left DC fans
unhappy.
Fade to black, fade in picture of Richard
Pearson and fade in videos of 'Ironman 2',
When it came to editing the film, Joss
'Red Dawn' and 'Maleficent'
Whedon worked with three editors the first
being Richard Pearson who has edited films
such as 'Ironman 2', 'Red Dawn' and
'Maleficent', so he is no stranger to working
with action or visual effects and was
probably used to the Marvel style of film
making that Joss Whedon was perhaps
used to also. Fade to black, fade in picture of Martin
Walsh, fade in videos of ‘Wrath of Titan’,
The second editor on this film was Martin ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Wonder Woman’.
Walsh who has edited films such as 'Wrath
of Titan', 'Cinderella' and DC’s 'Wonder
Woman'.

Fade to black, fade in picture of David

The third person to edit the 2017 cut was Brenner and Zack Snyder, fade in videos of
David Brenner, who had worked previously ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Batman v Superman’ and
with Zack Snyder and edited all of his DCEU ‘300’, fade to black, fade in pictures of the
movies prior to ‘Justice League’, as well as two versions movie poster.
his film '300', but one thing that is different
about David Brenner then the other editors
was that he also worked on the 2021
version, returning to work again with Zack
Snyder.
Fade to black, fade in picture of Carlos M.
Zack Snyder like Whedon had three editors Castillón, fade in videos of 'Ironman 2',
which as you know now David Brenner was 'Spiderman Far from Home', 'Justice
one, and his second editor was Carlos M. League', 'Man of Steel', and 'Batman v
Castillón who has edited for a very large Superman'
amount of superhero movies for both
Marvel and DC. Those films include
'Ironman 2', 'Spiderman Far from Home',
assistant editor on the 2017 'Justice
League', 'Man of Steel', and 'Batman v
Superman' before ultimately becoming an
editor for the Snyder cut. Fade to black, fade in picture of Dody Dorn,
fade in videos of ‘Ben Hur’, ‘Fury’, and
Dody Dorn was Zack Snyder's final editor ‘Power Rangers’, fade out, fade in video of
for the 2021 cut, and has edited films such ‘Army of Dead’.
as the 2017 'Power Rangers', 'Ben Hur' and
'Fury' and she also went on to work on
Snyder's first project after 'Justice League',
titled 'Army of the Dead'. Fade to black fade in picture of aspect
ratios.
From a technology standpoint, there are a
few differences in how the film was made,
the most obvious one being the aspect
ratio. Fade to black, fade in picture of 1:85:1 ratio
on the left side, fade in video from Justice
The 2017 version was released in the League (2017) over the top.
standard widescreen ratio, 1:85:1, which
are generally used to show more of what’s
going on in the scene. Fade in picture of 1:33:1 aspect ratio on the
right, fade in video over the top from
But the Snyder version was released in the Justice League (2021).
1:33:1 ratio, which was what most shows
between the 80’s to early 2000’s was
released in before TV formatting changed. Fade to black, fade in picture of Zack
Snyder, Fade in quote above the picture.
Snyder’s intent was to have ‘the entire film,
play in a gigantic 4:3 aspect ratio on a giant
IMAX screen. Superheroes tend to be, as
figures, they tend to be less horizontal.
Maybe Superman when he’s flying, but
when he’s standing, he’s more of a vertical.
Everything is composed and shot that way,
and a lot of the restoration is sort of trying
to put that back. Put these big squares
back… it’s a completely different aesthetic.
It’s just got a different quality and one that Fade in picture and videos from behind the
is unusual. No one’s doing that.’ scenes of Zack Snyder filming in his Garden.

Another difference between the two films’

technology, was that Snyder managed to
shoot high-quality green screen shots for
the film in his own garden, showing he
Fade to black, videos from 2017 and 2021
wasn’t afraid to experiment to achieve the
of superman vs the justice league.
shots he needed.

Moving onwards, a lot of editing techniques

were used to drastically changed how the
two ‘Justice League’s’ looked. The most
obvious differences in the films, were the Fade to black, fade in picture of Joss
lighting, the colour grading, the continuity Whedon. Fade in picture of justice league
and also how the shots were cut. posing at the end of the battle in 2021,
fades to posing from the 2017 version.
When Joss Whedon was asked to 'fix' the
'Justice League', the studio wanted him to
cut the films screen time to fit more with a
generic superhero film time, so it would
appeal more to audiences who didn't want Fades to black, video of batman warehouse
to or couldn't spend over 4 hours in a fight on the left next to video of avengers
movie theatre. New York battle from 2012 avengers’ film

He wanted to keep it more light hearted Fade to black, fade in video of flash running
and comical, similar to what he had done back in time from 2021 version.
with his two 'Avengers' films.

This led to Joss Whedon reducing the

length from 4 hours 2 minutes to 2 hours,
which lead to shortened or cut scenes,
which is why a lot of the feedback of the
film was it felt completely different to the
2021 version, as everything was happening
so quickly and out of order that the
audience had no time to process what they Fade to black, fade in comparison picture of
were witnessing, unlike Snyder's version ‘Flash’, ‘cyborg’ ‘Aquaman’ and
where it feels like there is more weight and ‘Steppenwolf’.
sacrifice to the characters choices.

The flow of the 2021 version makes more

sense to audiences and gives them more
time to be introduced to new characters
such as the 'Flash', 'Aquaman' and 'Cyborg'
and the main villain of the film Fade to black, fade in side-by-side
'Steppenwolf', which in Whedon's version comparison videos of the final battle from
they had a couple minutes introduction both films.
scenes and straight away fighting.

Additionally, the colour grading Zack Snyder

used was duller and darker which made the
film feel more serious and like there was
more at stake, whereas Whedon, colour
graded his with more vibrancy and brighter
Fade to black, fade in video of green
colours, which gave more of an inclination
lantern oath scene, fade in trailer.
that the heroes were going to win, rather
than there be the possibility that the
heroes may lose.

To show that colour grading, lighting, and

continuity made a lot of difference when
editing visual media, I decided to re-edit Fade to black, fade in question ‘How do you
the trailer for 2011’s ‘Green Lantern’, from feel that the cutting of each shot makes a
something light hearted and comical to difference to how you feel about the film?’,
something which was a lot darker and a lot fade in video of answer, fade to black, fade
more serious. in question ‘How do you feel the colour
grading in each shot changes the tone of
To get some more insight in how editing each of the shots?’, fade in video, fade to
changes the tone of a film, I decided to black, fade in question ‘What do you think
interview Paul Ralph, a specialist in video Joss Whedon version did better than Zack
production, and asked him the following Snyder?’, fade in answer, fade to black,
questions to get his thoughts on the fade in question, ‘What do you think Zack
different versions. Snyder's version did better than Joss
Whedon's?’ fade to answer, fade to black,
fade in question ‘Which version do you
prefer?’. Have b roll of things he talks
about.

Fade to black, fade in text ‘to conclude’

fade in videos of Zack Snyder directing and
Joss Whedon directing

Fade to black, fade in picture of Zack

To conclude, it is evident that a director’s Snyder, fade to black.
vision on how to edit a film together and all
of their creative choices, make up a very
large part in whether a film will be
perceived well… or not by audiences.

One of the most important things, I think

that come from this documentary, is that
studios should put more trust in the
creatives they hire to do the job they were
brought in to do, as they are the people
who truly understand the art to creating
cinema.