J.R. Wagner's Author Blog: Want something done? Give it to a busy person. Heaping more stuff onto my insane schedule...just because My Star Wars Uncut Journey part 1

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Want something done? Give it to a busy person. Heaping more stuff onto my insane schedule...just because My Star Wars Uncut Journey part 1

By J.R. Wagner

My Star Wars Uncut Saga

So there is this project out there called Star Wars Uncut where...well, their website says it best so I'll quote them

Star Wars Uncut is a crazy fan mashup remake of the original Star Wars movies. It is the brainchild of Casey Pugh, a developer dedicated to creating interactive experiences on the web. In 2009, Casey was inspired to use the Internet and an ever-ready pool of passionate Star Wars fans to crowdsource the classic film Star Wars IV: A New Hope. This pet project turned into a labor of love and creativity on a large scale. Nearly a thousand fans came together to participate and the resulting movie is equal parts fun, kooky, and dearly nostalgic.

Anyway, the original is absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend you watch it! Link is HERE

The gist is the entire movie is broken down into 15 second clips and then offered up to fans to re-make in their own way. The result: brilliance! Funny, creative, intriguing...What a great concept!

They have decide to do the same for The Empire Strikes Back and, of course, I couldn't resist taking a shot at fifteen seconds of the best of the Star Wars films. So, I picked the scene below.

Easy, right?

Except I only have thirty days to complete it (and that began two days ago)

So far, I've broken my fifteen seconds down into shots.

All tolled there are six shots and my fifteen seconds is actually 15.22 seconds but whose counting.
Once I had the shots, I made some crude drawings so I know what kind of set designing will be required.

Here is another thing: I'm only giving myself 30 minutes a day to work on the project (except for the shoot) -yup, I'm one of those old school folks who likes crazy trinkets like an hour glass...but this is a half hour glass so it works perfectly!

So I figure I'd document my journey and see if I can pull this thing off. I believe my biggest challenge is going to be the set design -yes, I need set design because I'm neurotic like that and also finding a way to have Luke fall through the window...the whole gravity thing.

Here are my shot by shot drawings -remember, I said they were crude!