We’re fans of fan-made creations here at Geek & Sundry, and that includes fan-made films. Blood Brothers Cinema created “Rebel Scum” a fan-made short filmed on the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Ice Fields of Alberta Canada.
It’s not just the glacier that is ice cold in this film.
If it looks like the actors might be freezing, it’s likely that they were: the production had a custom thermal rig built to prevent the cameras from freezing in the -30c/-22F temperatures. The background and sets aren’t green screen; they’re real too. Like a true homage to the original films, nearly all the visual effects use traditional, practical effects using miniatures, stop-motion animation, and matte painting.
Josiah Swaim, the productions visual effects supervisor and lead animator, described why they chose to go with practical effects, like stop-motion animation, instead of CGI: “When you want to get to the roots and the soul of Star Wars, then it’s a good opportunity.” With such a small production budget, using all CGI simply wasn’t a viable option. Even if it were, Swaim observed using practical effects, “definitely has more soul to it.”
Along with the short itself, a behind-the-scenes film was also created. Check it out now!
Let us know what you think of the short in the comments below!
Featured Image Credit: Blood Brothers Cinema (Fair Use)