Our last Showcase went on a mission to find a Doctor Who fanfilm by people who actually still cared about Doctor Who. Tonight I decided to do the same thing with Star Wars. Star Wars fan productions have gone on almost as long as the franchise has existed, so it should be easy. However, most of the offerings were better served to the Daily Video than a standout for Saturday Night Showcase, until I stumbled upon a film called Wingman – A X-Wing Story by Michael’s Basement. Here’s how they describe it:
A rebel fighter squadron attacks an imperial transport. The new guy carries a heavy load and an ace pilot on a killing spree….
…Lock S-foils in attack position and enjoy 50 minutes of Star Wars meets Top Gun!
Seven years ago we, a bunch of friends from Germany came together and asked themselves why not make a Star Wars movie. So without ANY former experience in filmmaking, VFX, animation, writing, directing and acting, we gave it a go and here we are now! Enjoy the ride.
Not sure if the “ace pilot on a killing spree refers to the PTSD ridden pilot on the Rebels’ side or the sadistic TIE Fighter pilot, but what follows is one long but amazing space battle that manages to combine drama, suspense, and the kind of space dogfighter Lucas invented technology to make right in his movies. Now we can use computers, but it’s the end product that matters. Does it succeed? Watch and find out.
Hey. This is Michael. Thank you all for the amazing resonance we’re getting from you! 100k in three days!!! That’s far beyond our expectations! As this was mentioned many times: the reasons why dialogue and ADR are the weaker part of the film are that I had the great idea to change the script AFTER we finished shooting. So we had to put new text over existing footage, and English is not our native language. Also keep in mind, that none of the cast and crew had any former experience in filmmaking whatsoever. We are just some friends who came together and tried to make something cool. So again thank you all!!!
…and perhaps consider supporting our next project via Ko-fi.
Head to the video’s page (click on the “Watch on YouTube” on the title card before hitting play) and you’ll find a link to download the movie. Note that it’s 11 GB, so it’s a very big file. The video section of the channel also has some fun bonuses.
What’s interesting about this movie is that the Y-Wing fighters actually get to do some cool things even though the focus is on the X-Wings, especially our two mains. Luckily it doesn’t outshine the leads, but it’s still nice to see. This is some really good space battle footage for a bunch of supposed amateurs. It’s not too light on plot given the runtime and the story itself, but it does the job they wanted and I’m hoping they really enjoyed making it, and that you enjoyed watching it as much as I did. If this is what the amateur fans are doing, why can’t DisneyFilm do better?
BW Media Spotlight 