Yeah, yeah, another Star Wars fan film!

And even though many have come before with great ideas that never came to fruition, I'd like to head off any skeptcism at this point, because we're not the kind of fan boys (though, at heart we are) who can't act or operate their mommy's camcorder.

All of our gear is professional grade and so is our production team.

Unlike other fan film efforts, this one is being shot with a better than broadcast
quality camera and the resultant production can even be projected in theaters.

We have a better than average story, written by my two writing partners and myself, that
involves "remnant" Empire forces, dark and light jedi, a small jedi academy on an
obscure world, smugglers and bounty hunters, and most importantly, a jedi "mcguffin" (sp) for
all of them to chase after.

In any case, I want to know how many people with props, collectibles and costumes would
like to be part of a local effort (you're in Spokane, we're in Tacoma).

Your costumes and your props are quite excellent. You don't know it yet, but I have met
some of you and have seen your work in person (Norwescon?) I have always thought it
would be great to have all of you be in a fan film effort together.

By the way, I have been a fan since 1977. So I consider myself one of the originals.

If you're "not an actor" or feel that you'd be no good at it, don't worry too much. We
already have a few actors who do have some experience. And trust me, they're better
actors than that kid who played Anniken in Episode One. And the dialogue will be
markedly better than what was in Episode Two.

In fact, all but maybe two of the leads have already been cast, including an older
gentleman with a very cultured Brit accent who will play a high ranking Imperial
officer. Everyone else would be either a supporting player or an extra.

Though some might be disappointed, my 2 writing partners and I, who all have a bug up
our butts to do this, made the decision to make this story entirely new and original and
won't include any of the popular characters.

That is not to say they won't be mentioned.

Also, we thought it might be a fun gag to include Jar Jar so that he can be hacked down
by lightsaber by saying the wrong thing to a dark Jedi in a cantina brawl, meaning no "harmie" of course!

Additionally, it takes place well after the fall of the Empire, and in fact, somewhere
during the events of Jedi Knight: Dark Forces I & II, Outcast and Academy, the video
games.

The ONE character we thought about bringing into this is Kyle in a short scene, who has
been sent to this small Jedi academy by Luke to recruit a "promising" padawan and his
teacher for a "small" but important mission. We're not solid about Kyle's appearence,
but we wanted to distance our characters from the ones in the films and books and
thought it would be fun to include one that hadn't been featured in anything but the
games. We'll include the character of Kyle IF, and it's a BIG IF, we find someone who
looks "remarkably" like the character in the games.

Also, while there are a number of space battles planned, nothing like the big battles we
have seen in any of the films. Instead, the story is more centered around the adventures
of both the light and dark Jedi.

That means some kick-ass light saber duels. Any stunt people?

I know for a fact that there are plenty of stormtroopers costumes in this area (the 501st): I have
seen at least one or two platoons at Norwescon; was damn near mowed over by them, to be
honest!

Funny story; I had been playing Dark Forces II for about 3 weeks just prior to the con,
and had been developing that reflex to shoot Stormtroopers on sight, with extreme
prejudice.

Well, I guess that reflex was more ingrained than I thought, because the first thing I
did when I saw these guys at the con was to reach for my non-existent blaster!

Strange how the emotional reactions you have to a PC game seem to seep into your real
life when you least expect it.

It might go without saying, but we're going to need some serious 3-D modelers

(Repost from the Seattle forum)

I know a lot of you have been waiting for this, so here?s a synopsis, embroidered with notes on sets, props and costumes in brackets [].

Most of the characters have not been named, partly because I thought it would be fun if the people who created characters for cons could use the names they have come up with. Therefore, characters will be referred to as ?Jedi Master 1#?, ?Bounty Hunter 1#?, ?Padawan 1#? and so forth.

I suggest that work parties be formed, just like the costume parties that you already do, only more of them and more frequently. I can advise you on how to get these things done cheaply (pennies) on the dollar and achieve stunning results; this is one of my fortes. Trust me you will be amazed by the results.

SYNOPSIS:

Two bounty hunters in a freighter are chasing a small, one man fighter being piloted by a ?dark Jedi? who has an ancient scroll with clues to an ancient Jedi artifact. In the firefight, both ships are damaged and need to land on a small backwater planet.

It was the New Republic who hired these bounty hunters because the artifact could undermine the rebuilding of the republic.

[My small team will take care of all the props and costumes for the two bounty hunters and the ship interior set for the freighter. The Dark Jedi?s ship interior is something else again; I was thinking this ship could be based on one of the ones used in the early episodes and/or the animated Clone Wars. Besides the two bounty hunters, there are also two droids, one an astromech (R2 unit) and an ex-imperial floater droid reprogrammed to assist in ship repairs. The floater droid is already built, actually. But the R2 unit will have to be a redress of one that is contributed to the production.]

Meanwhile, at a small Jedi Academy on another backwater planet, Kyle has been sent by Luke Skywalker to recruit a pair of Jedi to investigate a rumor about six dark Jedi who have recently been revived after being in stasis for five thousand years. Their mission is only to confirm if the rumor is true.

[The six dark Jedi are potentially a great costume opportunity for somebody, especially if you happen to fancy being a dark Jedi! The concept here is kind of a Darth Vader on steroids! That is to say, that the back story for these six, is that they were involved with the original founding of the ?Sith? cult. These six were the most feared and revered dark Jedi throughout the galaxy because they had no equal. Always working as a team, they never failed a mission. That is, until all six were simultaneously injured in battle. Then of course, they were repaired with similar technology that saved Anakin?s life and made him Darth Vader. If one Darth Vader is bad, then six are much, much worse! Each one is unique and different, all having different face plates but similar helmets. The costumer should not feel obligated to make them Darth Vader clones and they shouldn?t be for originalities sake. These six ?Darths? were given the very special task of guarding this ancient Sith artifact, put in stasis until such time as they and the artifact are needed again, according to prophecy.

My vision for the Jedi Academy is simple: something similar to a backyard Chinese garden, but with Jedi practice areas. The practice areas would be similar to the ones in the computer games (Dark Forces, Outcast, Academy), in that there are large, carved stones for Padawan to practice their abilities on. If you?re familiar with the games, then you know the stones I?m referring to. These can be made with cardboard and/or paper Mache or a combination of both. And painted to look like stone, and pulled by off camera strings. Sound effects of scraping stone will be added to the soundtrack. The costumes are what will be contributed to the production. The office of the Academy will be a small set, with SW universe type decorations and sundries, built in someone?s garage or other suitable space. Being a backwater planet, it need not be incredibly elaborate, as long as it looks like a place in the SW universe. The

It would be great to get all of Emerald Squadron, Alpha Base, Seattle Meet up, and Garrison Titan and even the entire Star wars community to be involved in this.

There IS power in numbers! And if every one of them put even a little effort into this, imagine the resultant production from all that effort.

I think that this fan community is so enthusiastic about Star Wars, that I'll bet they have built or collected pretty much everything you see in the films, including interiors, droids, landspeeders, ships and such. Aside from the larger things like star destroyers and a death star, which have been modeled in 3-D anyway.

MORE than enough to make a kick ass movie.

Anyway, here's something for somebody to sink their teeth into:

The six Darths of the Sith!

My thought is that this might be a job for the 501st, since they seem to have a plethora of Darth Vaders in their group. As a time saver, I thought that the costumes for these six new Darths could be built up using the same base costume as Vader. The ONLY parts that might be the same are the helmet, and the cape (boots, gloves, the pants and tunic could be altered, replaced or modified to be different for each one). To give each one of these Darths a unique look, the respirator for each of them would be unique to the ?damage? sustained by the individual, because I doubt that they would all been hurt in exactly the same way. One might have a more elaborate and larger unit, while another would have something smaller. Also, it might be interesting to not have them all centered in the middle of his chest. Maybe one off to the side, another with a unit that starts at his beltline, all the way up his chest to his neck. Maybe another has an entirely rebuilt chest.

What we don?t want is six Darth Vader clones, but to give each one his own unique look and character.

The mask, likewise, should be unique, as long as ?most? of the face is covered, particularly the eyes. It would be interesting to see one where the mask only covered the upper part of his face so that we could still see his real mouth.

Also, if it wasn?t too much trouble, it would be great to have additional variations of color and texture in the costume. Darth Vader?s costume looks mostly like shiny leather (or vinyl). But it would further remove these guys from Vader if their fabric was flat black. These six could each have their own variations, maybe having layers of dark grey or even navy blue.

In addition, each one would have a different preference for light sabers. One would be a two light saber dueler. Another would have a double, and another, with two blades, side by side. In fact, has anybody ever put any thought in blades with different shapes? Like, a broader, or flatter blade, or thicker or thinner, flat or broad. Who knows what light sabers looked like five thousand years before the current story.

But these six are the ORIGINAL darths, the founders of the tradition, if you will. Darth Vader is only a new version of this old tradition.

Also, each one?s killing style is different when using the force. While Vader uses force grip to choke, maybe one of these guys uses his force ability to cause his victims blood to boil, while another uses his to force his victim?s organs to be forced up through his throat, to be vommited onto the floor. The only criteria is that these six darths enjoy watching their victims suffer.

Grand Moff Tarkin had one Vader to do his bidding. The new Grand Moff has six!

Part two of the synopsis soon.

I'm all for encouraging interactions between various groups, but I must ask you to refrain from double and triple posting. Give people a chance to reply first.

...and I'm too lazy to read all of that (and the thread title doesn't really inspire). I'd also add that a lot of us are already involved in Fan Film projects and it would be counter productive for most of us to drop what we've already been working on to start a whole new project. I also know from personal experience that getting all of the washington groups together to do anything is pretty much impossible, so good luck with that.

Though I will say this, I skimmed the top of the first post and saw the word "smuggler". If you need an already developed smuggler character (with a 4 man crew), either Civil War Era or New Republic era... my crew and I are for hire, and my costume can be completed fairly quickly. (I know it may not be impressive, but I acted all 4 years of high school in lead roles, so I'm no stranger to playing a part, it can be done.)

This is an incredibly ambitious project, but Jarus and I are no strangers to such projects As already mentioned, the some of us have a project in the works. The only thing I have time to offer right now is ideas.
So far the synopsis is interesting enough for me to want to read more.
Also, same as Jarus, I acted in high school, so my acting experience is limited, but I'm always willing act when the time comes.