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Ryan Vs. Dorkman 2: A Lightsaber Showdown
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The story behind this special effects extravaganza is epic indeed. A long time ago (2003) on a message board far far away (Fanfilms.com, a site devoted to Star Wars fan films), Ryan Wieber and Michael "Dorkman" Scott decided to participate in the forum's first-ever Lightsaber Choreography Competition. Playing upon their reputation as rivals within the Fanfilms.com community, the two friends spent three weekends choreographing and shooting the fight, using Premiere and After Effects to create an Jedi battle for the ages.
Ryan vs. Dorkman won the competition, but never really found an audience outside of the Fanfilms community -- until the advent of of YouTube several years later. "We had always intended to do a sequel eventually, but the audience for such a thing was small and stable, and so it had been on the backburner for several years," says Scott. "But after the original RvD was featured on dozens of high-profile web culture sites, we realized that the time had come to make a follow-up/sequel if we wanted to reach this larger, more fickle audience."
Ryan vs. Dorkman 2 went into production in August 2006, shooting for eight days at the Los Amigos Tortilla Factory in Atlanta, Georgia and then spending several months in post-production. "When we set out to do the film we put a request on our website for donations, so that we could add that much production value to the film," says Scott. "Ultimately we were able to afford not only the film's production, but also a professional score recorded with a 60-piece orchestra at Capitol Studios, Hollywood. The budget was about 40% donations, 60% out of pocket, and it wouldn't have been the same film without the help of our generous fans." The process behind RvD and RvD 2 is detailed thoroughly on the official website, including a fascinating making-of featurette and an extensive FAQ. (On the question of how they do the lightsaber effects: "We used Adobe After Effects to rotoscope the prop blades and add glows to them. Essentially the same way ILM does it.")
Both Scott and Wieber now work within the industry: Scott as a freelance DP and filmmaker, Wieber as a Emmy-nominated compositor and visual effects artist. It was actually RvD that helped Wieber break into the business -- the short attracted the attention of LucasArts, who eventually hired him to work as an effects artist on Knights of the Old Republic II and the Star Wars: Episode III game.
Despite being big fans of the Star Wars franchise, neither Scott or Wieber had had any martial arts or sword training when they began work on Ryan vs. Dorkman. "[We] just watched a lot of movies."
-Liz Miller
Michael Scott and Ryan Wieber
What began as a friendly rivalry between two effects artists explodes off TheForce.Net's FanFilms Forum and into the real world in a lightsaber battle royale.
Comedy, Animation
9:56
$2,000
Atlanta, GA
Himself : Michael "Dorkman" Scott
Himself : Ryan Wieber
Many, many fans
Camera Operators : Travis Boles, Brandon Flyte
3D Modeling and Animation : Anthony Ocampo
