Cutscene Problems

As part of adding finishing touches, I've decided to try include all my planned cutscenes to really mimic the original game. Though after a lot of testing I'm still having issues.
I have a total of 5 cutscenes in this little project, so far only 2 of these work how I would like them to. This is both due to my skill set and engine limitations, for example the biggest issue I'm having by far is actor postitioning and rotation.
While recording movements I can place the player in a starting position and give them a direction to move in. If I add rotation this then originates any recordings to 0,0,0 and I have to re-record placement. Which then will ignore any rotation I've done. So unless I need a straight line following then this is unfeasible and would require manual animation in Max.

On top of this, many, many times will it bug out and cause the player to go flying off screen and fall forever!

As you can see here, the first half of the video shows the player dissapear and it's gizmo can be seen way off into the distance. Then the second half shows how it should look.

So, as it stands 2/5 work fine. I'm working on a third now which is challenging and I'm having to alternate it from the original game, just to make it work and feel right in this project. So while the scene isnt exactly 1:1 it still conveys exactly the same, it's just not animated at all, so it's now more gameplay.
After this the fourth is a simple camera swap, but it's on an angle so as mentioned before the rotation doesnt work. So I will have to change this a little.

The final cutscene is the very lenghty conversation in the diner after Harry wakes up. This I'm afraid may have to be missed completely. It's out of my skill range to re-animate this frame for frame and is very time consuming. Time better spend on polish.