I created this short film as my senior project for my Digital Media Arts course.

Pre-Production

After having the idea for the film, I made concept art, wrote the script, and created storyboards. I made storyboards and scripts more loosely, so we would be free to experiment while filming.

Costumes and Props

Costumes were created with pieces I already owned, while the main lightsaber props were created out of LED light strips fit inside PVC pipes. Getting power to the LEDs proved challenging, since they required higher voltage than I could deliver with a standard battery. So after much experimentation I opted to use Ryobi battery packs with AC adaptors to power the LEDs. This did require concealing the rather large batteries, but the costumes were mostly able to cover up the packs. If I were to do this project again, I would deffiently opt for battery powered LED strips.

Location

The ideal location for shooting would have been in the snow, but due to the difficulties getting power to the LED strips, filming was postponed until early spring. Regardless, I found a suitably natural location that both suited the desired environment, and was legal to be in at night.

Concept Art

Storyboards

Production

During production, I acted as director, cameraman, and gaffer (this role was also taken up by anyone who happened to not be in the shot).

Hindsight

It was a lot of fun to work on the film, despite the freezing cold temperatures and light rain. I think that if I were to do this project again, I would like to be able to use a nicer camera more suited to filming at night, as well as generally improving the lighting as a whole. Microphones as well would have helped, as most lines needed to be dubbed over in post. I still think the perfect environment would be in the snow, since it would reflect more light. Regardless, I am still very pleased that I was able to achieve the effects I got.

Post-Production

During post-production, I was in charge of editing, sound design, music composition, providing voice acting, and visual effects.

I composed the music in Garage Band, created 3D assets in Blender, created 2D assets in Photoshop, sourced stock footage and sound effects from Pixabay, and composited the elements in Final Cut Pro.

Effects

One of my favorite effect is the hologram effect, I think it does a good job of replicating the look of holograms in Star Wars. The most difficult effect to pull off was when Rist (the villain) was force pushed into the tree, luckily with a completely black background the solution ended up being quite simple, mask out Rist and move him upwards as the actor jumps back.

Music Composition

While I do very much like the music I composed (having absolutely no background in music) I see a lot of way I could have improved it. Most noteably, I should have composed themes for each scene, rather than for each character/ place.

Shot Composition

All of the shots not set on the planet’s surface were composed of many types of elements. Ship interiors were created in Photoshop whit characters added via green screen. The planet and moon were both digitally hand-drawn, and the ships were rendered in 3D using Blender. The Meteor Monitor (the villain’s main ship) was designed by me using Onshape.

Conclusion

Despite the few changes I would make in hindsight, I had a lot of fun with my friends on this project, and I feel it did a good job of both showcasing and challanging many of my skills in the world or video production.

Music Sample

Documentary of the Fulton Robotics Team’s 2022-23 Season.

Documentary of the Fulton Robotics Team’s 2023-24 Season.