It was a semester project for a course titled "Science In Contemporary Culture" in which the reading list was a bunch of sci-fi novels. Rather than write a term paper, a couple of my buddies and I decided we'd make a movie and show it to the class. It was shot on 8mm film, edited the old-fashioned way by cutting it up and pasting the pieces together with film cement. As 8mm film had no audio capability, at the showing we supplemented it by playing 33rpm albums and narrating the story. |
8mm film -> AVCHD video conversion done by Retired Film Guys in 2020. Finally in 2023, it was edited using Adobe Premiere CS6. I left the original film pretty much the way it was, but did some color correction and then added audio. Some voices I recorded, and for the rest used AI text-to-speech with Talkia software. I've now completed Version 2, replacing all plastic model scenes with CGI*. *Computer Generated Imagery 3D models from TurboSquid, animated with Newtek Lightwave 11.6 |
This film pays homage to the following, and I extend my thanks to them for the inspiration. Gene Roddenberry, Edmond Hamilton, 'Ardra' (Marta DuBois) from STNG S4E13 episode "Devil's Due", Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, creators of "Back To The Future", Léon Theremin, "Hannie Caulder", "Forbidden Planet" ('United Planets Starcruiser C-57D' & Krell SFX), Patricia Neal and Michael Rennie, Mel Brooks' "Spaceballs", Ted Ancona's "Demise And Punishment". "Easter eggs" for all of these are abundant throughout. |
Running time 19:37 - 10/2/231967 8mm film - space scenes filmed using plastic models. |
Running time 19:37 - 10/2/23Version 2 - 2023 all plastic model scenes replaced with CGI |
Introductory space scene in credits shot with a plastic model |
Introductory space scene in credits replaced with CGI |
1967 8mm film - space scenes filmed using plastic models. |
Version 2 - 2023 all plastic model scenes replaced with CGI |
1967 8mm film - space scenes filmed using plastic models. |
Version 2 - 2023 all plastic model scenes replaced with CGI, dialogue to match |