Star Wars: Revelations
Encyclopedia
Star Wars: Revelations is a fan film
released on April 17, 2005, created by fans of George Lucas's
Star Wars
saga. The film takes place between Revenge of the Sith
and A New Hope
, and explains why the Jedi Order was extinct in the original trilogy.
Compared to the average fan film, Revelations runs longer (47 minutes, 13 seconds) and was more expensive to make, with a final budget between $15,000 and $20,000.
declares martial law
on Coruscant
. As the Imperial presence spreads to most systems, Palpatine calls the scattered Jedi order ineffective. Their protests are denounced as treason, all Jedi are declared traitors, and are now fugitives of the Empire
.
The film centers on Zhanna—one of the Emperor's Hands—and Taryn Anwar, a Seer who had helped Zhanna hunt down the Jedi without knowing that Zhanna had turned to the dark side. Taryn seeks to redeem herself; her visions lead her to a dangerous ancient Jedi artifact said to give the bearer great power.
. Revelations was written and produced before the premiere of Revenge of the Sith, and inevitably there were discrepancies between what the filmmakers hypothesized would transpire in Revenge of the Sith, and what was eventually depicted in Lucas's finished film. Many of these inconsistencies revolve around the chronology of the destruction of the Jedi order.
, several scenes were shot on location, including the lengthy climactic sequence, filmed in Shenandoah Caverns
over three nights. The special effects were done by a scattered group of artists around the world, working on different platforms and pieced together in post-production. The film was released on April 17, 2005—just over a month before Revenge of the Sith.
Revelations earned critical acclaim for the quality of its computer graphics
and high production value for a fan film. It was produced by Panic Struck Productions and is available for download on TheForce.net
, iFilm
, and Panic Struck's website.
Though it was generally considered an excellent fan film
, it could not be entered into The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards because it was much longer than the contest's upper time limit, and that Lucasfilm only accepts parodies or documentaries as part of the competition. Due to legal reasons, they cannot allow serious fan fiction works into the contest. Despite this, director Shane Felux attended the fan film awards.
's Anderson Cooper 360°
and MSNBC's
Connected: Coast to Coast with Ron Reagan and Monica Crowley. The film was made available free for downloading online starting April 19, 2005, and in fact the volume was so heavy that Star Wars fan site TheForce.Net
was forced to temporarily discontinue offering it after two days because it overloaded their bandwidth. Independent online film site iFilm
also made Revelations available for download starting April 23, 2005. Within two weeks of the film being made available online, it was downloaded nearly one million times. http://www.digitalpostproduction.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=32218
For the most part, the media praised the film, especially for its special effects and story. Others noted that the film was quite ambitious for a production of its kind. Some even compared the production and ambition of the film to that of the original Star Wars film, A New Hope
.
George Lucas, though he admits he has yet to see Revelations, has said how much he appreciates the work and ideas of his fans on fan films in general, and enjoys watching them. He encourages productions such as these, which is something relatively rare for an owner and creator of such a series to do.
, Windows Media Player
, and several other file formats. For the DVD release, the DVD image was distributed from the official site, free of charge, just as the film was. Users can download the entire movie, plus a second disc of bonus features. The download is offered through the BitTorrent file sharing program, due to the large size of the files. Along with the disc files, users can download case art for their DVD case. A DIVX 6 version is also available to provide the same features as the DVD, such as chapter selections, subtitles, director's commentary and such, without the large file size.
Fan film
A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book or a similar source, created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more notable films have actually been produced by...
released on April 17, 2005, created by fans of George Lucas's
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
saga. The film takes place between Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology....
and A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
, and explains why the Jedi Order was extinct in the original trilogy.
Compared to the average fan film, Revelations runs longer (47 minutes, 13 seconds) and was more expensive to make, with a final budget between $15,000 and $20,000.
Summary
The destruction of the Jedi Temple was devastating. Accusing the now-defunct Confederacy of Independent Systems of the attack, Emperor PalpatinePalpatine
Palpatine is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Star Wars saga, portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in the feature films.Palpatine first appeared as the unnamed Emperor of the Galactic Empire in the 1980 film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back...
declares martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
on Coruscant
Coruscant
Coruscant is a planet in the fictional Star Wars universe. It first appeared onscreen in the 1997 Special Edition of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, but was first mentioned in Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Heir to the Empire...
. As the Imperial presence spreads to most systems, Palpatine calls the scattered Jedi order ineffective. Their protests are denounced as treason, all Jedi are declared traitors, and are now fugitives of the Empire
Galactic Empire (Star Wars)
The Galactic Empire is one of the main factions in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It is a galaxy-spanning regime established by the series' lead villain, Palpatine, to replace the Galactic Republic in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Galactic Empire is introduced in Star Wars...
.
The film centers on Zhanna—one of the Emperor's Hands—and Taryn Anwar, a Seer who had helped Zhanna hunt down the Jedi without knowing that Zhanna had turned to the dark side. Taryn seeks to redeem herself; her visions lead her to a dangerous ancient Jedi artifact said to give the bearer great power.
Canonicity
Fan films by definition are not considered canonicalCanon (fiction)
In the context of a work of fiction, the term canon denotes the material accepted as "official" in a fictional universe's fan base. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction, which are not considered canonical...
. Revelations was written and produced before the premiere of Revenge of the Sith, and inevitably there were discrepancies between what the filmmakers hypothesized would transpire in Revenge of the Sith, and what was eventually depicted in Lucas's finished film. Many of these inconsistencies revolve around the chronology of the destruction of the Jedi order.
Production
Production on the film began in 2003, with a cast and crew of nearly 200. While the production relied much on special effects and most scenes—especially urban and space scenes—are compositedCompositing
Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously called "chroma key", "blue screen", "green screen" and other names. Today,...
, several scenes were shot on location, including the lengthy climactic sequence, filmed in Shenandoah Caverns
Shenandoah Valley
The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...
over three nights. The special effects were done by a scattered group of artists around the world, working on different platforms and pieced together in post-production. The film was released on April 17, 2005—just over a month before Revenge of the Sith.
Revelations earned critical acclaim for the quality of its computer graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
and high production value for a fan film. It was produced by Panic Struck Productions and is available for download on TheForce.net
TheForce.Net
TheForce.Net is a Star Wars news site. It has material related the movies and associated games, publications, and other merchandise ....
, iFilm
IFilm
ifilm.com was an online archive of short films, movie trailers, and other video clips of interest. Ifilm.com was originally founded by independent filmmaker Raphael Raphael in 1997 as an independent film and media collective...
, and Panic Struck's website.
Though it was generally considered an excellent fan film
Fan film
A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book or a similar source, created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more notable films have actually been produced by...
, it could not be entered into The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards because it was much longer than the contest's upper time limit, and that Lucasfilm only accepts parodies or documentaries as part of the competition. Due to legal reasons, they cannot allow serious fan fiction works into the contest. Despite this, director Shane Felux attended the fan film awards.
Praise and criticism
Shortly after the film's premiere in April 2005, the director, Shane Felux, appeared on many news and talk shows promoting the film, notably CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Anderson Cooper 360°
Anderson Cooper 360°
Anderson Cooper 360° is a one-hour television news show on CNN, hosted by the American journalist Anderson Cooper. It is also broadcast around the world on CNN International....
and MSNBC's
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
Connected: Coast to Coast with Ron Reagan and Monica Crowley. The film was made available free for downloading online starting April 19, 2005, and in fact the volume was so heavy that Star Wars fan site TheForce.Net
TheForce.Net
TheForce.Net is a Star Wars news site. It has material related the movies and associated games, publications, and other merchandise ....
was forced to temporarily discontinue offering it after two days because it overloaded their bandwidth. Independent online film site iFilm
IFilm
ifilm.com was an online archive of short films, movie trailers, and other video clips of interest. Ifilm.com was originally founded by independent filmmaker Raphael Raphael in 1997 as an independent film and media collective...
also made Revelations available for download starting April 23, 2005. Within two weeks of the film being made available online, it was downloaded nearly one million times. http://www.digitalpostproduction.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=32218
For the most part, the media praised the film, especially for its special effects and story. Others noted that the film was quite ambitious for a production of its kind. Some even compared the production and ambition of the film to that of the original Star Wars film, A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
.
George Lucas, though he admits he has yet to see Revelations, has said how much he appreciates the work and ideas of his fans on fan films in general, and enjoys watching them. He encourages productions such as these, which is something relatively rare for an owner and creator of such a series to do.
Awards
- 2005 BalticonBalticonBalticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society . It has been held annually since 1966...
Film Festival: Best Film - 2005 Star Walking Film Festival (Australia): Best Live Action, Production Design, Editing, Visual Effects, Best Actress (Gina Hernandez)
- 2005 MassBay Film Festival: Best Fan Film
Soundtrack
Chris Bouchard composed an original soundtrack for Revelations, which utilizes certain Star Wars themes. The soundtrack, along with CD case art, is available for download in mp3 format from the official Revelations site and also from the composer's site: www.chrisbouchard.co.ukDVD Release
A downloadable DVD image of Revelations was released not long after its debut on the internet. Originally, the film was released via QuickTimeQuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
, Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
, and several other file formats. For the DVD release, the DVD image was distributed from the official site, free of charge, just as the film was. Users can download the entire movie, plus a second disc of bonus features. The download is offered through the BitTorrent file sharing program, due to the large size of the files. Along with the disc files, users can download case art for their DVD case. A DIVX 6 version is also available to provide the same features as the DVD, such as chapter selections, subtitles, director's commentary and such, without the large file size.
External links
- Official site – film downloads, DVD kit, music, trailers, and making of.
- Fanzine
- A shoot, reported by an extra
- More information
- Download mirrors
- Interview with Shane Felux on Slice of SciFi
- 'Star Wars' fan has 'Revelations' at USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...