By the Fans, For the Fans
By Boaz Kirschenbaum
6/22/99
There exists a nascent genre of film & video, using the latest streaming technology to beam moving images and sound through the Web and into your browser. Internet films, while primitive, are poised to change the way short films and documentaries are distributed. Although the quality isn’t even close to the cinematic experience of a THX theatre, filmmakers now have a powerful new way to reach a wider audience.
Star Wars lends itself easily to Internet filming. The core fans, most of whom have some sort of Internet access, are a built-in audience. Given the amount of Episode I trailer downloads (in March alone, at least 5 million), that audience grows every day.
Last year, Kevin Rubio made a hilarious send-up of the cheesy TV show "COPS" – appropriately called "TROOPS". Complete with visual effects, a "domestic dispute" between Owen and Beru, and a stormtrooper voice-over straight out of "Fargo", "TROOPS" made us laugh and looked professional at the same time. Even though it was shot in video, the costumes looked real, and the ten minute, 25MB movie has a great cinema-verite feel. And unlike Lucasfilm, no one made it for profit.
Two Internet movie events currently in production will take independent Internet filmmaking to a different level this year. They are completely different in theme. The first film, directed by Jeff Cioletti, is called Millennium’s End: Far, Far Away, and is a documentary devoted to the Star Wars fan phenomenon. It will feature interviews with fans and collectors, holding forth on subjects such as the role of the Internet, the so-called "rumor-mill", and how Star Wars has become not only a defining moment in childhood, but a part of daily life as well. The film features location shoots at conventions, the Smithsonian exhibit, and the recent Star Wars Celebration.
Millenium’s End addresses the unique subculture borne out of the Star Wars cultural phenomenon. Filmmaker Jeff Cioletti, a fan since he was five years old, calls his project a labor of love. A self-described well-adjusted adult, he sees his film as a testament to the saga’s relevance and to its legions of fans.
In the last days before Episode 1, the hysteria surrounding the prequel reached a fever pitch. For example, Cioletti tried to film an ecstatic crowd of New Jersey moviegoers, frothing in reaction to the first Ep1 trailer at Thanksgiving - but unfortunately, he was shut down by theatre management. From uptight theatre managers to suspicious border guards at a Montreal airport, this is guerilla filmmaking in the best tradition.
Cioletti has spent the past two years of his life shooting footage of fans, their collections, and their own take on SW. He feels that "labels only limit potential", and I hope this thesis will be the central theme of the film. I don’t really want to see endless footage of single white males under thirty. Fans range in age and gender, and if Cioletti has done his homework, there will be a cross-section of unique characters to entertain and inform us. There have been scores of books and analyses of the trilogy (and now Episode 1), usually one-sided, but to hear the fans’ direct point of view hasn’t really been done before. I think a documentary is a great way to sum up the fan experience and present many points of view – as well as a chance for us to see sides of fandom we otherwise wouldn’t be able to see. A visual medium such as film/video is perfect, because not everyone wants to surf the Web’s Star Wars sites all day to enjoy the culture. It is also easier for the neophyte to digest the world of Star Wars fans and their obsessions in a short film. This doc will probably trigger new waves of completism among collectors when they see some guy who’s actually got a radio-controlled Sandcrawler, or a rocket-launching Boba Fett, but along the way the film will attract new fans.
The second film is a work of "fan fiction", called Legacy. It’s a live action/CG "web serial" by Toronto’s Kevin Blades and his crew, and takes place 60 years after the Battle of Endor with all new characters, ships, and designs. Power struggles, hostages, remnants of the Empire…it’s all going to be there. Daring, difficult, and potentially cumbersome filmmaking could prove to be too ambitious a project on such a low budget, but the film’s creator remains confident and undaunted, and the website brims with enthusiasm and good-natured, self-deprecating humor. You want to root for this guy just because he is so earnest and is tries so damn hard!
The 2-hour Legacy will air via the Internet in 10-12 segments, possibly as early as late summer. Unlike TROOPS, it’s not a satire – it’s a full-blown production, with a dozen crewmembers, blue-screens, concept artists, and visual effects. However, there is only so much you can do without a professional rendering setup. Kevin Blades plans to use techniques (such as the bluescreen with models) that worked well in the first three films, and were done very primitively in A New Hope. As long as the story is there and the characters are real, audiences can look beyond the effects. Besides, even with today’s jaded moviegoer, who expects only the latest in cutting edge technology, the magic of the story itself is what captivates us – not necessarily the quality of the starships. On the site you’ll find a number of sketches by Justin Mattarocchia ("our very own Ralph McQuarrie", gushes Blades), blueprints, CG stills of the new ship designs, and background elements. The sets will be primarily digital but there will be location shoots for future "episodes. Blades wants quality presentation and is striving for a 15 fps (frames per second) frame rate, half of analog videotape’s 30 fps. Maybe. Sounds like a little bit of pipe dream to me, but an interesting project, if only to catch a glimpse at one man’s attempt to pull a feature film out of the ether and with an extremely low budget. It’s either cojones or blind faith – but with 250,000 hits, "who’s the more foolish – the fool or the fool who follows him?" Blades shares Lucas’ original notion that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to tell a story.
Lucas has always been cautious of how his original vision could be exploited.
But these films are not about exploitation – there is no profit motive. If Lucas were to see the work that has been done…well, he would have to be impressed a little. I wonder how he would react to Mon Calamarians as bad guys though?
Pretty soon, you just might hear "coming to a web browser this summer...the streaming video movie event of the year!" Dream on – maybe in five years it will be true. For now, we can sit back and watch this latest piece of Internet gadgetry unfold.
Both film sites are found at www.starwarz.com.
(Boaz
Kirschenbaum is a freelance writer and lifetime Star Wars fan, currently
working on a series of articles relating Star Wars with psychology and storytelling
techniques using mythology, visual effects, and musicology. His small collection only
takes up two cabinets...right now, that is.)