Taking Internet Films up a Notch in the Digital Age: the Story Behind the

Making of Revelations

By Shane Felux, Founder, Panic Struck Productions

My wife Dawn Cowings and I proved just what the Internet can do to enable independent filmmakers to make their dreams a reality. We spent three years and $20,000 of personal funds to make our own Star Wars fan film, titled Revelations, distributed for free over the Internet. We also coordinated online with hundreds of people from around the world who contributed their time and talent to make the project a reality.

Dawn and I are huge Star Wars fans, as well as aspiring filmmakers and we wanted everything to be at the highest quality we could accomplish. We were incredibly pleased and humbled when Revelations was met with a landslide reception. The film premiered at the Senator Theater in Baltimore, Maryland on April 16, 2005 to a packed house. And, in the first three months after its release on the Internet, the film was downloaded more than three million times.

Taking fan films to the next level

My background is in acting and directing and my wife has a degree in TV/Film and writing. We were inspired by a number of fan films that have become popular online but we felt we could take our project up a notch, especially when it came to visual effects. We wanted to create a serious, 40-minute adventure film, complete with spacecraft chases, light saber duels, extraterrestrial cityscapes, treasuring-seeking Jedi, and, of course, Darth Vader seeking revenge. All the props, sets, and costumes were homegrown: it took us three months to build the cockpit of one craft in the film—all completed in our basement.

Revelations looks and feels like a professional production, but it is actually our first film. It was made by the little guy, just like you and I, using professional tools, yet everyone involved—200 people from all over the world: Sweden, UK, Canada, Australia, Lithuania and across the US—contributed to the film in their own time and not for profit.

We couldn’t have accomplished this feat without the Internet and generous contributions from artists worldwide. And, instead of using expensive, proprietary systems for editing the film and creating its DVD version, which would have made the project financially impossible, we used desktop filmmaking, effects, and DVD authoring tools—all included in Adobe Video Collection software.

Working with artists worldwide

Impressive visual effects, professional lighting and sound, scores of extras, and extravagant costumes and locations are the hallmarks of Revelations. The visual effects are among the film’s standout features.

We shot Revelations on miniDV and captured the video using a custom PC, Matrox 550 video card, and Adobe Premiere Pro software. A core team of eight CG artists from around the world contributed effects and compositions created in Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop CS software.  To create the effects, CG artists communicated with each other online, sharing work and progress. They used a variety of 3D software such as Bryce, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave, Cinema4D, and Maya, along with Photoshop CS for painting 3D models and adding textures. Other artists contributed 2D matte paintings of exotic locations, created using Photoshop CS.

Artists incorporated 2D and 3D elements into the film using After Effects, uploading their effects shots to the server or sending them to me on DVD. I edited all elements of the film together using Adobe Premiere Pro. I also used Photoshop CS to design the film‚s poster, program, DVD case, and tickets for the premier.

Putting it all together

Because of the complexity of the film, and the fact that its components were coming from sources worldwide, I needed a way to stay on top of the project and easily incorporate content from multiple sources and in a variety of Adobe applications. I used nested projects, the timeline, and bins in Adobe Premiere Pro to help me keep hundreds of elements and effects organized and bring the film’s elements together smoothly.

It was important to have a set of tools that provided compatibility and integration. With our team of CG artists and hundreds of people contributing from around the world, there was no way we could have pulled this off without the exceptional file compatibility and smooth workflow that Adobe Video Collection software provides.

Once the film was complete, a contributing artist used Adobe Encore DVD software to produce the DVD version of the film, downloadable free from servers as a disk image from panicstruckpro.com and other Web sites. I pressed 400 copies of the DVD to give away as gifts, but most people have obtained the film by downloading the DVD at no charge from the Internet. Users simply download the DVD disk image and, if they want, the DVD artwork from a Web server of their choice.

Achieving great things, digitally

I am now working on an original project and looking for investors. By making Revelations, I have learned I can make a movie for two or three million dollars that would normally cost $30 million or $50 million, and recoup the cost of the film in overseas sales and DVD sales alone.

The digital age and the Internet mean you can achieve great things. Desktop filmmaking technology has come of age—it is there, it is affordable, and it is capable of professional results. With the Internet, desktop software, talented people, some money, and a lot of energy, incredible things can be accomplished.

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