If you’re a big Star Wars fan, or if you had paid a visit to Apple’s QuickTime Hot Picks page earlier this year, chances are you have seen Duality. It’s a short film inspired by Star Wars, featuring a lightsaber duel between two rivals. Writing for Apple, Nancy Eaton has talked with Duality’s makers, Dave Macomber and Mark Thomas, in a new feature called “Duality”: A home-made sci-fi epic film.
The short subject mixes together live action — primarily two martial artists going head-to-head — with a variety of computer-generated backgrounds and special effects. The final result is amazing, when you consider that it only took the two Star Wars fans about US$3,000, three days of studio time, four months of post-production, and, well, more than a year of pre-planning to produce the short.
The two aspiring filmmakers describe how Macintosh hardware and software was indispensable in the creation of their work. MiniDV cameras from Canon were used to shoot the raw footage, which was then transferred to Power Mac G4s via FireWire. Pre-production work was accomplished using Power Mac G3s and a PowerBook. Special effects were generated using Adobe After Effects, Electric Image, Photoshop, Commotion and Apple’s own Final Cut Pro was used to mix sounds and edit.
If you’re interested in learning more about how Macomber and Thomas put together Duality, check out Apple’s Web site at the URL above, and also take a look at the duo’s own Web site, which sports a making of Duality feature.