T w e n t y S i d e d

You may remember the post from a few days ago where I had a major geek-out and mused about how real lightsabers might be used.

If that didn’t seem too geeky for you, then you may want to check out this movie.

A couple of hobbyists got together and produced a five-minute feature of the two of them having a lightsaber battle. Unlike some of the fan-made stuff I’ve seen, this has a lot of polish to it and is really exciting. Their movements are quick and sure, and the special effects look professional. My only quibble is the location. They are in some sort of industial setting (which is good) but it looks a little too bright in there. The overhead fluro lights conflict with the lightabers in the forground. If the background lights could have been dimmed, this would look even better.

Having said that, it’s amazing what these guys accomplished. They play it mostly straight (this isn’t a parody) but they inject a little humor into things, along with a nicely varied fight that keeps things interesting.

It amazes me how cheaply this can be done these days. The other interesting thing is that right now the software required is going to cost a lot more than the hardware. In every fan-made lightsaber movie I’ve seen, they use Adobe Premiere for editing, which costs a lot more than the average consumer-grade video camera. Still, for a little over a thousand bucks you can get the tools required to make a movie like this. After that, all you need is talent, hard work, money for props, a couple of actors and a near endless supply of free time.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.