How many VFX artists made their own Star Wars fan film or created a lightsaber duel when they were young? Here’s mine:
CONCEPT: I had never seen a good Jedi battle another (blue vs green lightsabers) and wanted to see that in a red environment.
RESULT: I share this early work with some embarrassment. After one full day of frame-by-frame work, I gave up on doing more and recut the video to be shorter (hence the abrupt ending). And the lightsaber VFX work I did is quite far from what we see in the movies in terms of quality. I never knew I would do far more challenging roto, paint, and compositing in the future. I had no idea that someday I would work on an official Lucasfilm Star Wars project: specifically a lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.
My 2 actors accomplished much since we made this little film. Justin Eggert won over 50 gold, silver, and bronze medals and trophies in USA regional and national Wushu & Tai Chi competitions. He also became fluent in Mandarin Chinese, taught at Stanford, and opened his own martial arts school.
The other actor, Jimmy Chhiu, moved to LA and became a stuntman. He now has over 80 credits as a fight coordinator and stunt performer on such projects as: The Boys, Free Guy, Uncharted, Mulan, Terminator: Dark Fate, Deadpool 2, John Wick: Chapter 2, and The Mandalorian.
So please don’t give up on your dreams or let online trolls or jaded has-beens stop your efforts. We all start somewhere and have to learn and practice a lot to get good. Nobody knows how far you can go. KEEP GOING.
– Andrew
