"A Star Away" 1996 Sci-Fi Short Film (A Griffith Pictures Archive)

If you like cheesy sci-fi, you came to the right place. This movie was made before computer editing was readily available. Picture and sound were cut on a flatbed and the sound was mixed 4 tracks at a time. This was the first UCSC to have computer graphics transferred and projected on film. It cost $2000 per minute to transfer CGI film, so I was budgeted 30 seconds of CG. So don't blink, the effects go by pretty quick.

"A Star Away" was my first UC Santa Cruz 16mm Film project started in 1994 and given a slight make over in 1996. "A Star Away" was a feature screenplay written by myself and David A. Cole, chronicling the adventures of a bounty hunter trying to turn his life straight. We weren't allowed to use school equipment to make a feature, so rather than choosing one scene and doing it right, we attempted to squash the whole story into a faux trailer / short.

The end budget was $10,000 (from a grant). Hey, movies cost more back in 1994! But imagine what that could do today?

"A Star Away" was a spin-off from my hourlong Sci-Fi movie "Starbuster 4000" (1992 shot on Hi8 video), which is part 4 of the "Starbuster" series. "Starbuster" was the first movie I ever made at the age of 7. It was shot on super 8mm film and I scratched lasers into the film with a razorblade.

If you enjoy this movie, I'll dig deeper into the archives.