“Star Wars” in Crowdsourcing

May 19, 2010

In 1977, as George Lucas debuted his science fiction classic „Star Wars“ in theaters, he probably never dreamed what a worldwide impact this film would have 30 years later. And most certainly he would never have thought that the adventures of Luke Skywalker and Company would be the groundwork for a crazy crowdsourcing project.

But these are exactly the thoughts had by some especially creative heads in the Star Wars fan base and the results were even shown on April 19th at the Danish CPH-PIX-Filmfestival. „Star Wars Uncut“ will possibly even make it to certain theaters. In the meantime, everyone involved is waiting for an available DVD.

So what exactly is „Star Wars Uncut“? Simply put it is an exact re-filming of the original, scene for scene. Dialogue, settings and cuts – everything exactly as it is in its 1977 „big brother“.

And how does crowdsourcing come into play? Easily. Instead of doing all the new filming themselves, the project leaders cut the film into approximately 500 scenes, each of them about 15 seconds long. Then they made an open call to all the other fans who then selected up to three of these scenes to re-film. There were no directives in terms of style, scenery or technique; just the length had to match. That’s why in the finished film there are many different styles: Luke and Leia and all the other characters appear alternately as Lego figures, manga action figures, cardboard cut outs and real actors.

In one way, the manner in which this variety of ideas comes together in „Star Wars Uncut“ is an excellent example of how crowdworking can be used creatively. In another way it is a wonderful homage to a cult film parts of which a 5 minute teaser can be seen at www.starwarsuncut.tumblr.com, it doesn’t fail to put smiles on faces.

Or, as the wise Jedi master Yoda would say: „“Star Wars Uncut“, see it you must!“

Daniel Marz

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