No Star Wars backlash for S'pore fans who make lightsaber duel video
University students create video tribute to the movie franchise
Recent entries to the Star Wars film franchise have been met with harsh criticism from some quarters.
The Washington Post reported last week that a faction of irate purists have even launched a social media crowdsourcing campaign to remake last year's The Last Jedi.
Such an outcry is nothing new for Walt Disney, but the company is more vulnerable to attacks after a weak box office showing by Solo: A Star Wars Story and disappointing sales of Star Wars toys last holiday season - more evidence that even diehard fans are growing weary of the brand.
But the opposite is true for a trio of Singaporean undergraduates who have made a 21/2-minute special effects-laden fan video titled Star Wars: The Last Stand Into Darkness .
Mr Teh Ee Thai, 26, was inspired to create it after being disappointed by the lack of lightsaber action in Solo.
Stunning visuals in the clip include an impressive lightsaber duel and even a Star Destroyer emerging from hyperspace above Marina Barrage.
Mr Teh, a final-year computer science and business administration student at the National University of Singapore (NUS), roped in fellow Star Wars fan and NUS schoolmate Ryan Tan, 24, to play the hero in the video, which has received more than 1,400 views since it was uploaded on YouTube on June 2.
Mr Tan, a final-year computer science student, then invited his secondary school friend, Mr Phua Wen Yao, 23, from Nanyang Technological University, to play his Sith opponent.
Mr Tan supplied the red and blue prop lightsabers, which cost about $200 each from local company SaberMach, from his personal collection.
He said: "Unlike (other) toy lightsabers, these have sturdy blades made for full-contact action."
Mr Teh shot the video in January using his iPhone X and a DJI Phantom 4 drone within five hours over two weekdays.
But the raw footage was then swept aside as schoolwork piled up and exams approached.
After his exams ended in early May, Mr Teh edited the video for 10 to 12 hours every day for 31/2 weeks, using advanced editing software such as Adobe After Effects.
Mr Teh, who has been teaching himself video editing and special effects since Primary 6, said the most tedious part was manually adding the lightsaber effects frame by frame.
Even though the trio relate to the overseas Star Wars backlash they affirmed this passion project is just their way of expressing their love and support for the most iconic elements of the franchise.
Mr Phua said: "I joined partly out of interest in Star Wars and partly out of curiosity. I've got one friend who even said he wanted to join in for our next video after seeing this one."
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