/Interview/ The brains behind: Star Wars: Uncut
22/06/2010 | Filed under Discover > Interview
Star Wars Uncut is a collaborative project that invited hundreds of fans to recreate Star Wars: A New Hope in 15-second clips. We talk to its creator, Casey Pugh
.net: How did you come up with the idea for Star Wars Uncut: A New Hope?
CP: As a developer I helped create Vimeo.com and became interested in people making videos and sharing them on the internet. It was a pretty natural jump to want to make a new technology that could let people make videos together. A movie like Star Wars that is internationally adored seemed the best choice to start this kind of experiment.
.net: How did you cope with the logistic and technical difficulties of such a mammoth project?
CP: I’m very lucky to have a working experience with online video at Vimeo.com and a few talented people working with me to manage the demands of this project. Jamie Wilkinson helped develop the video technology, Aaron Valdez edited the clips together into the final movie, and Bryan Pugh mastered the audio track and did sound design to pull it all together. Chad Pugh helped with the original site design, and Annelise Pruitt designed the new site we’re about to launch at the end of May and manages business for me. They all helped in their spare time. I couldn’t have done it without them.
.net: Why did you opt for 15-second scenes exactly?
CP: It’s just enough time for the re-enactments to be interesting and complete without being overwhelming. The combination of the 30-day deadline and the bite-size 15-second scenes prompted an explosion of creativity.
.net: How many people have taken part and what kind of submissions did you get?
CP: Over 1,200 people from 100 countries participated in the first movie. We got everything from professionally directed live action videos to incredible animations by designers to families using a camcorder. All of the scenes have their own charm.
.net: What’s your favourite scene and why?
CP: There are so many incredible scenes, but there are definitely a few that stick out. Scene 104 by Maltron decided to take the original scene where Luke takes C-3PO out on a search for R2-D2. Instead of doing an exact recreation of the original, he decided to produce the scene as if Michael Bay had created it. Constant explosions, shaky camerawork, everyone has guns and C-3PO is no longer a softie but a hardcore robot driving a stick-shift.
.net: How long did it take you to create the film?
CP: The film was created by Aaron Valdez (video editor) and Bryan Pugh (sound editor). It took them about two months to put it together.
.net: How did you finance it?
CP: We’re a tiny team donating our time and resources to this project because we love working on it and we love Star Wars. It’s financed by myself and a few user donations. We always welcome more!
.net: Did the fact that you left Vimeo and moved over to Boxee during the project affect it in any way?
CP: Yes it did. I started working at Boxee immediately after I left Vimeo. Devoting my time to two incredible projects that I’m in love with ended up being quite mentally taxing for me. With time, though, I’ve become better at managing both. Fortunately I have a small Star Wars Uncut team that’s able to help me out during my most stressful moments.
.net: How did the first screening go down?
CP: Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the first screening in Copenhagen due to the Iceland volcano ash disrupting air traffic! I heard back from the CPH:PIX team, who let me know that the 600-seat theatre was maxed out and that everyone was enjoying and laughing the entire time. There were even two Danish SWU contributors who were able to attend the movie premiere to see their work in person with a live audience. I’m delighted that it was so well received.
.net: What have you learned from the project?
CP: I’ve learned that people are ready to unleash incredible amounts of creativity given the chance and a little bit of direction.
.net: Now that the film is finished, what are you doing next?
CP: We’re planning more screenings in the US. We’ve just launched a brand new StarWarsUncut.com that will enable fans to explore the movie in a more fun and unique way. The new site allows us to support multiple Uncut films. We are keeping our next Uncut film secret, but I’m sure you could take a guess!
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Comments
Alec Butler / 23/07/2010 / 14:51 / http://www.tonicfusion.com
I'm a massive Star Wars fan and I love this. Its amazes me how creative people have been, they've picked it up and run with it :) Lucas should have done this for the Phantom Menace, it would of been better.
I look forward to the next Uncut film!
Oliver Bristol / 29/07/2010 / 13:16 / http://www.webdesign-gm.co.uk
I really like Star Wars and I think this is such a great idea. I will have to check out the site and see what the fans have come up with. I hope they make more of these as they could be really popular with other Star Wars fans.
