Dark Resurrection

F A Q	The Secrets of Dark Resurrection

What is Dark Resurrection?

Dark Resurrection is an experimental Non-Profit movie inspired by Star Wars and split into two episodes lasting 60 minutes each.
Even if it has been realized with limited means and with a very low budget (approximately 7000 Euro) the LucasFilm itself, after having watched the trailer, defined it “Truly Amazing”.
Result of both digital technology and creator’s passion, this project has attracted the attention of the most important italian magazines (Ciak, Jack, XL, Panorama etc etc).

The cast is mainly composed by amateurs, but there are also several professionals who have been attracted by all the rumors generated by the trailer on the web. These professional actors decided to offer their collaboration for free. Between them, we recall: Sergio Muniz, Giorgia Wurth, Enzo Aronica, Riccardo Leto, Fabrizio Rizzolo. The narrating voice is from Claudio Sorrentino, the Italian voice of Mel Gibson and John Travolta.

Who is DR’s Director?

Angelo Licata, creator of guerrestellari.net, is the writer of the script, the director and the editor of Dark Resurrection. He also worked on the photography and on most of the visual effects, creating some new ones by himself. Moreover, he had supervised all the steps of the post-production, included the sounding and the soundtrack. This is his first movie.

Who is DR’s Producer?

Davide Bigazzi, other than producing the film, had realized and animated most of the elements in 3d graphics of the movie: architectural compound, settings, spacecrafts. Moreover, he realized the visual concept of the movie during the year that had preceded the starting of the shooting. He was also responsible for the choice of the locations and for the lighting of the green screen sets.

When and where has the Volume 1 been released?

The National Premiere of Dark Resurrection Vol. 1 took place at the Ariston Theater in Sanremo, the 7th of June 2007.
The event has also been a celebration for the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars: the theater was full house with 1800 spectators, the 501st Legion – ITALICA GARRISON and many special guests (such as Fausto Brizzi, Adriano Pintaldi and Walter Vacchino) were present. The show was introduced by R2-D2 and C3-P0, hosted by Giorgia Wurth and Fabrizio Rizzolo and ended after the screening of the backstage with all the cast presented on the stage.

When will DR Volume 2 be released?

Actually the producers are assessing a system to collect the necessary founds while the Director is writing the script. News concerning the production will be available directly on the home page of the website.

What about the storyline?

An ancient prophecy leads the powerful Jedi Master Sorran to start an obsessive quest for Eron, a legendary place able to give infinite knowledge to the one who will open its seal. Because of his obsession, many apprentices die and Sorran is repudiated and apparently killed by the leaders of his own council. After many years, he reappears as if he had learned a secret to deceive death, and he manage to find out Eron’s location with the help of a young apprentice and of the reinvigorated Imperial Forces.
Master Zui Mar and the young Hope, upon which a terrible secret waft, are dispatched on Eron to stop Sorran. The Council, however, decides to not reveal them the terrible destiny they are running into.

How can I see it?

The Volume 1 is actually available for free in streamingdirectly from the home page of the website in different resolutions.

Who are the protagonists of Dark Resurrection?

Marcella Braga : Hope [www.marcellabraga.com]
Maurizio Zuppa: Zui Mar Lee
Giuseppe Licata: Lord Sorran
Elisa Werneck: Organa
Grazia Ogulin: Nemer
Angelo Bigazzi: Zail
Andrea Buccella: Lord Drown

Who are the other actors in Dark Resurrection?

All the credits can be found here [credits].

Who was in charge of the Visual Effects?

Angelo Licata (compositing and matte painting), Davide Bigazzi (3d and visual concept), Riccardo Gallino (3d), Gianni Melito (compositing and matte painting): all these people are part of the LOI (Lords of Illusion). Paolo Percopo (compositing and smoke operator) was in charge of the editing and the effects of the backstage and lately he joined the LOI’s staff.

What is the LOI?

The Lords Of Illusion (LOI) was born together with the movie and it represents the original work group who accomplished the project “Dark Resurrection”. This project has gathered a staff composed by people with both passion and technical preparation.
LOI is actually involved in: video and motion-picture post-production, compositing, graphics, 3d, animation, DVD editing, sound effects, soundtracks, web design.

Who was in charge of the Soundtrack?

The soundtrack is composed by many international artists. Most of the music is by Robert Etoll (www.robertetoll.com ) on license by Machiavelli Music (www.machiavellimusic.com ). The Hope & Zui Theme and three other songs were composed by Pier Luigi Piucci, Gianluca Cerchiello and Mattia Panzarini.
Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi (www.pivioealdodescalzi.com ) have donated six unreleased songs for the soundtrack including the opening credits theme.
The trailers A and B contain a soundtrack which is a mix between the library of the Orchestral Fantasy and original pieces by Fabrizio Brezzo.

Who is in charge of the sound effects and editing?

Sound Effects and art foley are both by Riccardo Leto’s RCL Sound Studio in Torino (Italy). Sound editing is by Dario Mollo’s Damage Studio. Dario Mollo is a musician and an artistic producer, and also author of some projects at international level.

Who has realized costumes and props?

All costumes are self-made, realized by hand. All the seamstresses and the dressmakers are from the staff. There are a few important exceptions: Admiral Zail’s and Imperial Officers’ uniforms have been offered by Amedeo Tecchio and Stefania Zeni. Aron’s costume (Enzo Aronica) has been realized by “Stoker Costumi” . R2-D2, the droid that appears in the movie, which is the only conjunction with the original saga, it’s a life-sized and fully functioning model realized by Amedeo Tecchio.
Light Saber’s hilts have been realized with a lathe from a block of aluminium. Some of them, as the Hope’s one, can be fully disassembled. For Hope’s hilt, all the internal components have been realized and used for the opening sequence which finally shows the construction of a light saber.
The hilts of Sorran and Zui Mar are made by Piero Bockos while the other weapons have been realized in the US by “Rlsa Sabers”.

How have the explosions and the lightsabers been realized?

A long work with compositing techniques is needed to realize all the lightsabers with after effects. The method used is a frame-by-frame positioning of the light beams because an efficient tracking is made impossible by the speed of the movements, by the image flickering and by other problems that limit its precision.
This kind of work is called Rotoscoping and consists in creating mobile masks that delimit the area of the blade’s core to which a glow of the desired color is applied. It’s a work that requires much precision, but it is also very boring. The Explosions are realized almost completely with compositing techniques, but often it is possible to use video material specifically realized by shooting fire and explosions on a black or blue background. Some flying fragments and scraps, smoke and dust are a mix between 2d and 3d techniques.

How have the DR Vol. 1 settings been realized?

The extremely low budget didn’t allow the realization of real sets. All the indoor settings have been realized in 3d graphics: the shooting were carried out with the use of a greenback and after were elaborated and mixed with images created and animated by a computer.
Outdoor scenes have been shot in some particular locations on the west coast of Liguria, but all the scenes have required significant modifications with a computer to remove disturbing objects from the shots and add both 3d elements (such as architectural compound and spacecrafts) and compositing elements (dust, fog, smoke, clouds, volumetric lights). Some of the locations are the Roman Theater and the Calandre Beach in Ventimiglia, Mount Bignone in Sanremo.

Which Software programs does LOI use?

Why did you realize Dark Resurrection?

Because of passion and love for a genre of cinematography that is vanishing in Italy. The Director has been pushed by the wish of creating something personal, hoping to add something new to the master-piece created by George Lucas.
He conscientiously differed his narrating system and framework from the one adopted by Lucas, and in fact the movie’s style is very particular, but he kept unaltered certain rules of that universe which fascinated him when he was just a little child.
This project was born just for fun and, despite of the popularity it has gained, it remains just a tribute to Star Wars and its creator. DR Volume 1 has been released exactly 30 years after the release of Star Wars: Episode IV.

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English version by Marianna Moralis
Fabrizio Cardone and Giacomo Persi Paoli
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