The Dark Resurgence is another epic fan made Star Wars film

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Star Wars fan films have become a thing on YouTube and frankly, many of them are awesome. The Dark Resurgence is no different with some great camera work, editing, and special effects. Written, produced, directed, and edited by Mike The Marine, the project took two years to complete. As with many of these filmmakers, Mike has a life that needs tending to so editing and producing the film was a long process. Two years for a 13-minute film may seem insane but for the filmmakers, it is well worth it.

Check out the full film below.

Synopsis:

At the fall of the Galactic Empire, a secret Sith Order emerged from the shadows to seize control of the galaxy in the Empires stead.

The cast:

  • Lord Vycus – Daniel Sosa Porter
  • Jedi Raven – Christopher Louie Szabo
  • Cmdr Valkyrie – Kayla Sweet
  • Lt. Kor – Gerren Hall
  • Cpl. Gage – Erik Cram
  • Sgt. Irons – Mike The Marine
  • Sith Master – John Aviles
  • Stormtrooper #1 – Alexander Garcia
  • Stormtrooper #2 – Edgar Jiminez

As I mentioned already, I loved the cinematography and special effects but I was also very impressed with the costumes as well. Mike shot the film with a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and edited it in Resolve and Premiere Pro.

Overall I would say The Dark Resurgence is an impressive fan-made film. Even the films that don’t come out as nice as this gets kudos from us as it’s a large undertaking to produce something like this in the first place. Make sure you head over to Mike The Marine’s YouTube channel to subscribe and give his work a thumbs up!

From the filmmaker:

The process of getting this film made is actually one hell of a story. It all started in December 2015 when The Force Awakens was released. I had always wanted to make a Star Wars fan film. Recently, I had ended my active duty service with the Marine Corps and was finally free to pursue my filmmaking career seriously. As far as what inspired me to embark on the project…I literally just woke up one day and started putting it together- I wrote the story, auditioned local talent, found crew, etc…

I was very fortunate to find a group of people who were very passionate about filmmaking and Star Wars. If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to overcome the obstacles that would come later on. After casting all the main characters, we went over blocking, dialogue, and fight choreography for about a month.

February 20th, 2016 was our first day of shooting. The location was in the mountains east of San Diego and so every day of shooting, a few of the cast/crew members and I would have to haul tons of equipment, food, and costumes up a giant mountain in complete darkness. After around 6-7 trips of this, everyone was already worn out and it was only around 7-730am. Typical shoot days for me started between 3-4am to around 7-8pm.

February 28th, 2017 was our second day of shooting. After this day, we still had more shoots planned but due to scheduling conflicts with the original Jedi character, we had to postpone shooting until May. Once May arrived, that same cast member dropped the project and so I was faced with a huge setback and a decision- quit or press on. Quitting wasn’t an option for me. Some of the cast voiced their shock at this thinking that I would quit. Apparently, a lot of indie filmmakers never finish projects they set out to do when faced with difficult challenges.

So, during the summer, I recast the the Jedi character and taught him the lightsaber choreography with my lead Sith actor. We ended up shooting three days in July, three days in August, and one day in September. The hologram sequences were filmed in January 2017. That being said, principal photography took about a year.

For post-production, I was a one-man team. I did the editing, sound, coloring, and visual effects. Since I was going to school full-time, this process took much longer than expected. Toward the end of the post-production process, I hired a 3D artist and compositor with the help of a GoFundMe campaign to put together four scenes that were a little under 30-seconds to expedite the last bit of work that needed to be done.

All in all, the film took about 2.5 years. I gained a lot of invaluable experience on this project and am in the process of making a feature-length sequel. (I will be launching a huge campaign for this!)

Michael McCumber – Michael McCumber is a Marine Corps veteran going to school full time for Mathematics and Computer Science at UC San Diego. Originally, Mike comes from Florida and was stationed on MCAS Miramar from 2012-2015. After the Marine Corps, he decided to stay out in California and attend college. Upon graduation, he plans to pursue a career in filmmaking full time and build his own production company.

Daniel Sosa Porter – Daniel Sosa-Porter has been acting for 5 years and is an Honors Graduate of San Diego City College holding AA degrees in both Theatre and Musical Theatre. Recent credits include Billy Flynn in Chicago, Rocky in The Rocky Horror Show, Andrew in Spike Heels, and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Daniel is also an Equity Membership Candidate (EMC). For more, please check out his Instagram page @ikeepitrizzle.

Christopher Szabo – Christopher has been working as an actor professionally since 2015 and unprofessionally since the 3rd grade. He enjoys making others laugh and creating characters both on camera and on stage. When he isn’t acting, he enjoys hiking, traveling, seeing movies, and singing his heart out at karaoke.

Kayla Sweet – Kayla Sweet is a San Diego-based actress and model whose recent projects include TNT’s The Last Ship, TNT’s Animal Kingdom, and Fox’s pitch. She also is a successful spokesmodel who has sold products such as Kerotin Hair Care and Nora’s Nursery baby products. In addition to television and spokes-modeling, Kayla enjoys working on local projects such as The Dark Resurgence, In Situ, Convolution, and Tosssed Assside. When she isn’t acting, she enjoys her work as an author and as a high school teacher

Alexander Garcia – Alexander C. García, 37, was raised in Chula Vista, CA. His interest in acting began at the early age of 16 while attending Castle Park High School. Alex starred in many lead theatre rolls, including the role of Lysander in Shakespeare’s ‘Midsummer Nights Dream’, and Alexandre Dumas’s ‘The Three Musketeers. His interest in film began later after being accepted into San Diego State University. After graduating from SDSU in 2005 with a Bachelors degree in Spanish and English, Alex had a change of heart with his career and decided to pursue Real Estate. To this day, Alex continues to successfully sell real estate in San Diego while entertaining his love for short films.

What did you think of The Dark Resurgence? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.

Last Updated on May 10, 2018.

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