11 March 2001

I have been a die-hard science fiction fan all my life.  And ever since  I saw the original Star Wars: A New Hope (and yes...old enough to have seen the original release), I wanted to be a part of it.  This was of course a fanboy dream and I would have to drudge on through my workaday life.  All that changed when I got a cable modem and logged onto a site called TheForce.Net

I had seen "Troops" before and though I was impressed and thought it funny, it really didn't rattle my world.  I mean, where was I going to get Stormtrooper armor and special effects like that? (I know now.)  I figured "Troops" was a one-shot anomaly, like "Hardware Wars" (possibly the original Star Wars Fan Film).  How wrong I was.

 I quickly discovered many more Fan Films, but the one that changed my life was  Clay Kronke's "The New World".  The story was simple, but well executed, and was basically a re-enactment of Nick Gillard's fight choreography from Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  More importantly, it looked like it had been done "on the cheap" by some seemingly ordinary guys (and one girl).  The fanboy side of me cried out, "This is it!  Go to Alderaan with Ben!"  Now I could have my own lightsaber!  I would try to make my own fan film (somewhere Yoda echoed, "Do or do not, there is no try").

 I started out with crude still pictures scanned into Photoshop and began experimenting with several different effects.  Then I took my little Logitech web cam and made a 2 second movie of me swinging a toy lightsaber around.  In post, I added the glow and some parried blaster bolts.  Then I watched it.  It was AWESOME! (not really...but at the time it was.) The exhilaration I felt was like the first time I saw Star Wars.  I had caught the bug!

Over the next 6 months, I bought Adobe Premiere and Aftereffects, a digital 8 Sony TRV320 camera, and a Matrox G400TV analog capture card.  I got MAGIX Music Studio to help me do sound and music editing.  I got a Glidecam 2000 Pro as a stabilizer (my lamentable efforts at building my own were laughable at best).  And went to work trying to teach myself how to make a fan film.  At the same time, I bought several books on special effects and Industrial Light and Magic.  (All the while, AmEx, Visa, and MasterCard, were laughing all the way to the bank.)  I started scanning the special FX boards on LikeAStory and the prop making forums on TheForce.net and SWFans.net.

I made my own lightsabers, but somehow doubted that they would stand up to the rigors of staged combat.  So I called up ParkSabers and got several of their models.  (Though their product has changed since then and I don't know if the ones they sell now could be used in the same way I did).  Well, once they came in, I dragged my poor brother and girlfriend into the backyard and went at it.  My first lightsaber duel!  And it turned out awesome (at least for then)...I was on my way.

Several hundred hours of FX tests and props later, I decided that this was going to happen.  I called up some friends from high school and actually got them to agree to flying down here to Florida for the shoot.  I wrote a pretty good script, based on some articles that I had read off of Space.com called "Phantom Heresies" and I grabbed some quotes from JediAcademy.com .  The articles took a critical academic look at the Star Wars universe, and Episode I in particular, and they ranged in topic from the nature of the Force and the philosophy of Star Wars, to whether or not Jar Jar might be a Jedi.   The philosophical articles intrigued me and I centered my script to cover similar points.  It would be  about a debate between the Jedi and a Sith regarding the nature of the Force.  And then I started learning to sew so I could make the costumes.

THE PRODUCTION

The news started to roll in.  Not all of my friends could make it.   Some could make it, but could only stay for the weekend.  I developed a plan.  They would fly in on Thursday, we would shoot my meticulously planned and storyboarded script on Friday, then Saturday and Sunday we would all relax by going to Disney or Universal Studios or something.  It was all going to work, it would be good.  The only thing that could not happen...was that it could NOT rain.  If it rained...the entire project would be sunk.  (Insert ominous foreshadowing music here).

As principal photography neared, there was way more to pre-production then I had guessed.  I had to get a permit to shoot at the Enchanted Forest, since it is regarded endangered land.  I submitted a package which had to be reviewed by the Brevard County Committee for Endangered Lands for approval.  It seemed like they took forever to review it.  I remember thinking, "I refuse to stand by and let my fan film die while you discuss its fate in a committee!!"  (In actuality, I think that they only took less than 2 weeks...but it seemed like forever.  Especially, when you find out about the permit you need at the last minute.)

My "real" job began adding pressure.  Lots of work was burning me out and I was not having enough time to get the storyboards, props, and costumes done.  Each day brought the shooting day closer.  I decided to forego the storyboards (a big mistake), and press with the props and costumes.  After all, I had seen the film over a hundred times in my head.  I knew every shot.  Every saber move.  But Storyboards would have been monumentally helpful in aiding me to communicate my vision to cast and crew.

PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Shooting day came.  That Thursday, I made several trips into Orlando to pick up arriving members of the cast and crew.  I showed them some fan films and some quick stage combat moves.  Friday morning arrived.  Some friends from work joined us in order to augment the cast and crew.  We packed everything into our cars and headed off, bright and early for the shooting location.  I couldn't believe this was actually happening!  That's when my car window exploded.

Or should I say, imploded.  A car accident several months before had left my passenger side window with a crack beneath the door frame...a ticking time bomb.  When Brian (Lennark Angratine) closed the door the window shattered, covering all of us in broken glass.  Dave (Jedi Master Rhikkid Stor) who is a paramedic, quickly assessed the situation.  No one was hurt.  We pressed on!

We got to the Enchanted Forest.  Dave Rich, president of the Friends of the Enchanted Forest, opened the park for us.  We had it exclusively!  What a huge help!  We moved in and began setting up for the shoot.  We were running a little behind schedule but the day was overcast and we were hoping that it would burn off as the day went on.  As we setup, we realized that the $120 Sony stereo microphone I bought to capture sound didn't work.  It had worked the day before on a sound check, but now wouldn't pick up anything.  I had no backup.  We'd shoot without it and ADR ("loop" dialogue replacement) what we could.  We pressed on.

The day wore on...and got more overcast.  Added to this problem, which was now dramatically affecting our lighting, was the fact that The Enchanted Forest is located near the end of a runway.  All the planes in the pattern flew directly over us.  It was like trying to film during an airshow.  My nerves started to crack.  Still we pressed on.

When it got time to do the fights...several props started to break...and it started to rain!!  Now the fates weren't just against us...they had pissed us off!  Still we pressed on.  Shortening the fights immensely and cutting them down to just the bare minimum.  We kept having to stop to wipe water off of the lenses and dry the cameras.  But finally, at about 5:30 PM.  "Sith: Apocalypse" for better or worse, was "in the can".

The cast and crew retired to Red Lobster for some good food and adult beverages.  They had more than earned it.

EPILOGUE

Of my cast and crew, all I can say is that they were supportive and stalwart, working through adversity at every turn.  Any director would be blessed to have people so dedicated.  Sometimes I think they wanted this made more than I did!  They took a lot of abuse (and put up with a lot of my swearing....not at them...just at the cameras...the trees...the &*$@! planes....just about anything inanimate bore my abuse that day) and charged on, many times just trusting me to get the shot right.  And some of them had not seen the script until the night before!   My thanks goes out to all of them.  Without them...I'd be swinging a lightsaber in my backyard...and trying to find a way to justify about six grand of equipment and software.

Nobody ever said that you couldn't shoot a Fan Film in a single day....but I don't recommend it.