Fans coming to Star Wars: Celebration V, the biggest Star Wars convention of them all, this August will have the chance to see and meet actors from the films such as Carrie ““Princess Leia” Fisher. They’ll be able to buy authorized Star Wars merchandise, and even see Jon Stewart interview George Lucas live on stage.
And they’ll be able to watch a movie – a short film. The Solo Adventures is “the first ever 3D Star Wars fan film,” and it was produced by students and instructors at Orlando’s DAVE School – the Digital Animation and Visual Effects school at Universal Studios Florida.
“It’s a chance for us to reach out to the fans, maybe get the interest of some of them who might want to learn how to make movies with cool effects, not just watch them,” says Jeff Scheetz, the Hollywood effects veteran who founded the DAVE School in a single trailer on the Universal back lot.
Students at The DAVE School work collaboratively on the animation and effects on a short film at the end of their one year course of study. The Solo Adventuresbegan life as one such film, with 27 students working on it (and later polishing it) over a period of three months, says Daniel Smith, a DAVE School instructor specializing in 3D (stereoscopic effects). He co-wrote and directed The Solo Adventures.
John Armstrong, who voices Han Solo in Star Wars video games, is the voice star of The Solo Adventures, which follows Han and Chewbacca on a short, punchy smuggling misadventure. DAVE School representatives will be showing the film in a mini-theater, their “booth” at the convention – “to 30 people, potential students, at a time,” Scheetz says.
And 3D? “It doesn’t seem to be optional in animation” these days, says animator Jason Pichon, an instructor at the schoo and art director on the filml. With studios heavily invested in the technology and audiences flocking to 3D films, showing that the school can teach effects and animation artists in that medium is a real selling point, adds Scheetz.
In mid-July, the school moved to Stage 25 on the Universal back lot, taking over three floors of offices, an 11,000 square foot soundstage, complete with a huge green screen backdrop for digital backgrounds, and a motion capture animation stage where actors wear special suits, acting out scenes for such animated films such as The Polar Express with a slew of cameras capturing the performance from every angle and computers interpreting the movement and helping animate the scene.
The DAVE School currently enrolls 85 students a year in its intensive program, but is ramping up, Scheetz says, to 200 students per term.
Scheetz is hoping the school’s fan film convinces Star Wars fans who might want to get into film “to take a tour of the school” with an eye toward enrolling. Recruiters from special effects houses make periodic visits. “And we had eight students snapped up, right after finishing, a couple of years ago,” Scheetz says. “They went to work on this top secret 3D computer effects film for this guy, James Cameron.” Avatar, a 3D special effects extravaganza, became one of the biggest hits in Hollywood history.
Star Wars: Celebration V
When: Aug. 12-15
Where” Orange County Convention Center
How much: Single day admission is $48 for adults, $27 for children. Four day passes are $128 adults, $54 for children.
For more information and to purchase advance tickets: www.starwars.com.
