Live Action Fan-Film “Odyssey: A Star Wars Story” Is Coming Soon
A collaborative group of film students are filming their very own unofficial Star Wars fan film, one that is set five years before the event of 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Yes, there are hundreds of fan films created every year, and while many of them aren’t worthy of media attention, this edgy and well-made film looks to be worth your time. Read on for more!
TheState.com has alerted us to a new Star Wars fan-film from students from the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, called “Odyssey: A Star Wars Story”. This intense, edgy and intriguingly looking action packed war drama was inspired by the recent Star Wars spin-off film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
“The story follows a young rebel named Quinn on his first recon mission outside of training. When Quinn makes a decision to ignore his orders of not intervening in civilian affairs, the situation goes from bad to worse. The small six man reconnaissance squad must fight for their lives and beliefs as both are threatened in an all out battle with Imperial Forces.”
Perhaps more remarkable than developing sets and cool effects that look like the real deal, “Odyssey” appears like it will deliver a genuinely compelling story with some intriguing characters.
“This short film will showcase the conflicts and struggles that are universal to any war story. It is a matter of what you want to fight for, and what you are willing to risk for the cause. Instead of rebel soldiers being dispensable characters on the screen, we want you to care when these men and women are at risk. We want to show you the humanity and fear in the fight against the empire. This film will be a Star Wars story like no other.”
For anyone already going through Rogue One withdrawal and the finality of it all, this fan film appears to offer somewhat of a continuation for those that enjoy that part of the Star Wars universe.
“These films are based on many principle themes and elements. Our challenge is to merge those classic Star Wars elements with a new and unique take on the classic war genre. To quote Rogue One director Gareth Edwards “If you’re too respectful of it, that you don’t do anything new or take a risk, then what are you bringing to the table?” That mentality is our guideline for the creation of this film. We all love the movies because it’s what we grew up with, but it’s our responsibility to show you something new and a view from a different perspective.”
Looking and feeling just like previously established Star Wars films was important for Odyssey co-writer/director and SCAD sophomore Mark Alex Vogt. Mark is also the owner and operator of his company called MAV Films, LLC.
“Given that it is a ‘Star Wars’ film, there is a certain look that we wanted to have,” said Vogt of the film, which is set five years before 2016’s “Rogue One.” “We wanted the audience to feel like this was a universe they still knew, but the action and story and cinematography had to go to new places. We had to be bold and say ‘what would it look like if we made a Vietnam style war movie, but with ‘Star Wars?’”
Sure, we’ve all seen plenty of Star Wars fan films on the internet in the past decade, but this one appears to be in a class of its own. If you want to see your favorite cinematic Rogue One: A Star Wars Story type universe brought to life, there’s only one place to see it, and that’s this fan made project.
Check out two behind the scenes looks at the Star Wars Story project film below, and please consider supporting this project here.
According to the films’ official site, the actual trailer for the fan film will debut on YouTube and its odyssey-film.com website, on May 4th. The film itself will debut online on May 25th, the same day the second chapter of the spin-off story, Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters. In the meantime, you can follow its production on their facebook.com web page.
May the force be with you….
Update!
Filming Continues….
A few people on social media have reportedly spotted Vogt and his crew filming “Odyssey” on Hunting Island State Park (SC). Here’s a couple of photos from last weeks shoot via some people on facebook.com.
Looks good, one of the cool things under George Lucas’ reign was the freedom to play in the sandbox, I really hope Disney does not go all CBS on SW fanfilms, I think they’ve already closed a couple of Lightsaber “schools” and they’ve sued kindergardens that were using their characters as decorations, so…
To be fair, CBS only clamped down after the whole Axanar debacle – CBS are within their right to stop the likes of Alec Peters profiting from their IP. But for the shenanigans of Peters, CBS would not have had to set out their guideline parameters.
CBS decision to use such harsh rules about fan content will only hurt the Star Trek brand. The real issue was the quality, the quality of Axanar was better then most star trek to date. While I agree on some level with CBS, it does show how out of touch CBS is with it’s core audience for Star Trek.
Same goes for Disney, if they crack down, especially now* on Star Wars, it will only hurt them in the long run.
* comparing quality from EU/Preq to new cannon/seq content…
Even the fan films are stuck in the post ROTS-pre OT era.
Probably the only way they’d be able to under Disney’s scrutiny.
It’s a very interesting era, so why not?
Make this happen I want to see it looks like this may be the best fan film yet
I met Mark Vogt last year at Celebration Orlando in line at 6am in the morning, which was funny cause i graduated from the same school and we got to talk a lot about our experiences at school and SW obviously.
Back then he gave me a flyer for the film and it was actually scheduled to be released the following month (May 2017) on the 40th anniversary of Star Wars.
Was wondering where it went. But now it seems like they upped the production value by a great deal and hence had to push by another year.
I’m very curious how it will turn out and wish Mark and his crew all the best! By the he looks of it it seems like we are going to get a hell of a ride 🙂
Great job for posting this article!
That’s awesome. Looks like a heck of a fan film.
the great thing about being a Student at SCAD is that it’s a pure Art & Design school with 40+ Creativity majors. So they can pull all the resources from various departments together (Filmmaking, Performance arts/Acting, Production Design, Visual Effects, Fashion, Product & Interface Design, etc.). So really you get the whole package, which looks like they are doing. That’s really great!
I myself graduated as a Product/Interface Designer, but unfortunately don’t work in the film industry. Germany is not the largest market for Sci-Fi and Fantasy, where most of my expertise would be needed 😉
This looks terrific so far – there’s been some fantastic SW fan films over the past couple of years!
It looks good so far; the story is set 5 years before Rogue One? As far as I know, Rebels is set about 2 years before Rogue One, or maybe three. 5 years before Rogue One, there should hardly be any rebel organization, should it?
I think rebellious groups have been around from the start of the Empire. In fact, there is a Clone Wars Arc with Saw Gerrera being part of one.
It’s just a case of these groups calling themselves Rebels, and if so, do they see themselves as an alliance yet?
Hrmm. I love everything I read but wasn’t big on the proof of concept. The armor was amazingly well done but I found the rest a little shaky. Pun intended 😛
I think R1 is rising up to be my favorite of the new films. It’s certainly my favorite on it’s examination of the universe. I’ll definitely give their real trailer a chance. I could watch Star Wars squad stories for days…
Though I’d love a decently done Stormtrooper point of view. I real look into how someone can be an imperial and stay one. Lost Stars the book was pretty good at that.
That would be an interesting take…from the time he starts his service, you go through all of his training and propaganda that he is fed.
‘The Last Flight of the Harbinger’ might be a good comic for you, then: it contains elite Stormtroopers and also shares some of their stories (even though the focus is still on Luke, Leia, etc)
And the kicker comes right at the end. They need money. Who on the SWWN team is in the crew? As you said, there are 100’s of fan films. Why so how this one out? Are they even allowed to do a Kickstarter for Disney project? Pretty sure that answer is no. Yet another project where the filmmaker assumes zero risk and allows fans to pay for it.
This is a great article I’m so excited to see the film spreading around! I did the concept art for the film, if I could be credited for my work posted on this article I would appreciate it!
Of course. Done.
Thank you very much!