Great Fan-Made Lightsaber Battles
1. Darth Maul: Apprentice - A Star Wars Fan-Film (T7Pro)
There are a fair number of Star Wars fan films. Now I know what you're thinking, what the heck would a bunch of random fans be able to do to even put a video in the same altitude as a blockbuster film made by hundreds of talented professionals? And the answer is, in many cases, that talented fans can knock it out into a neighboring asteroid belt. This one in particular struck me, it has a very simple premise that would absolutely fit in the canon of Star Wars films. In this short story, Darth Maul ambushes a group of Jedi on a distant outpost, and what follows is a series of lightsaber battles to satiate the geek craving. And you wouldn't think it, but it even generates some pathos and depth in what you'd expect to be purely a martial arts and special effects exercise. Add that with great locations, costumes, choreography, effects, and apparently way more time and effort than you'd expect for a free-to-watch video on YouTube.
2. Dark Legacy- an Unofficial Star Wars Story by Anthony Pietromonaco (Anthony Pietromonaco)
And here's another great fan film! Not really attached to any particular time or characters, the basic plot is still compelling. The protagonist doesn't have to say a single word and you get what she's going through the whole time. What I love about this video is that while many of these lightsaber battle films are very focused on showing off their gymnastic and martial arts skills, this brings it back down to using the battle to emphasize the plot. It actually reminds me a lot of the battle between Luke and Vader in Empire Strikes Back, especially in its use of lighting (or lack of lighting) to amp up the drama. Part of what's special about a lightsaber duel is that in near or total darkness the battle takes on new life. Usually we're rooting for action films to actually let us see the action, but here it makes perfect sense to use the darkness. Also love for the yellow lightsaber!
3. Star Wars Parkour Battle- The Flow Awakens (Ronnie Street Stunts)
All right, so this isn't a straight lightsaber battle. It's about half lightsabers and half parkour, which honestly for me is the best of both worlds. For me the skill of parkour is pretty close to a superpower, though one that can marvelously be earned through practice and self-confidence. If you've never heard of parkour, it's essentially the art of moving efficiently through obstacles in your environment. Doing so may mean incorporating jumps, vaults, rolls, and other movements. It has its origins in military obstacle course training, so it could be argued that it is related to martial arts. Traceurs and freerunners will also describe their best runs as being "in the flow", where they are able to react intuitively and instantly to their environment, essentially focused solely that string of moments. If you ask me that's pretty close to what the Force is all about. Many fan-made videos are limited in their gymnastics, but this one is able to showcase the Force-jumping and powers of a Jedi knight in a very grounded way. It's fascinating to watch, and has the added bonuses of great camerawork and effects.
4. We Trained to Become Star Wars Jedi (Buzzfeed Multiplayer)
While I don't follow most of Buzzfeed these days, they are still producing some good content. I particularly liked this video because they're actually able to talk to a fight choreographer who has studied and worked on a Star Wars film. If you surf YouTube you can find many videos of fan-made lightsaber battles and many videos picking apart the martial styles seen in the films. But what's best about this video is that it combines both to give us a behind-the-scenes look at the process of putting together these fights. The fight scene itself is very cinematic and fun to watch, so check it out!
There are a fair number of Star Wars fan films. Now I know what you're thinking, what the heck would a bunch of random fans be able to do to even put a video in the same altitude as a blockbuster film made by hundreds of talented professionals? And the answer is, in many cases, that talented fans can knock it out into a neighboring asteroid belt. This one in particular struck me, it has a very simple premise that would absolutely fit in the canon of Star Wars films. In this short story, Darth Maul ambushes a group of Jedi on a distant outpost, and what follows is a series of lightsaber battles to satiate the geek craving. And you wouldn't think it, but it even generates some pathos and depth in what you'd expect to be purely a martial arts and special effects exercise. Add that with great locations, costumes, choreography, effects, and apparently way more time and effort than you'd expect for a free-to-watch video on YouTube.
2. Dark Legacy- an Unofficial Star Wars Story by Anthony Pietromonaco (Anthony Pietromonaco)
And here's another great fan film! Not really attached to any particular time or characters, the basic plot is still compelling. The protagonist doesn't have to say a single word and you get what she's going through the whole time. What I love about this video is that while many of these lightsaber battle films are very focused on showing off their gymnastic and martial arts skills, this brings it back down to using the battle to emphasize the plot. It actually reminds me a lot of the battle between Luke and Vader in Empire Strikes Back, especially in its use of lighting (or lack of lighting) to amp up the drama. Part of what's special about a lightsaber duel is that in near or total darkness the battle takes on new life. Usually we're rooting for action films to actually let us see the action, but here it makes perfect sense to use the darkness. Also love for the yellow lightsaber!
3. Star Wars Parkour Battle- The Flow Awakens (Ronnie Street Stunts)
All right, so this isn't a straight lightsaber battle. It's about half lightsabers and half parkour, which honestly for me is the best of both worlds. For me the skill of parkour is pretty close to a superpower, though one that can marvelously be earned through practice and self-confidence. If you've never heard of parkour, it's essentially the art of moving efficiently through obstacles in your environment. Doing so may mean incorporating jumps, vaults, rolls, and other movements. It has its origins in military obstacle course training, so it could be argued that it is related to martial arts. Traceurs and freerunners will also describe their best runs as being "in the flow", where they are able to react intuitively and instantly to their environment, essentially focused solely that string of moments. If you ask me that's pretty close to what the Force is all about. Many fan-made videos are limited in their gymnastics, but this one is able to showcase the Force-jumping and powers of a Jedi knight in a very grounded way. It's fascinating to watch, and has the added bonuses of great camerawork and effects.
4. We Trained to Become Star Wars Jedi (Buzzfeed Multiplayer)
While I don't follow most of Buzzfeed these days, they are still producing some good content. I particularly liked this video because they're actually able to talk to a fight choreographer who has studied and worked on a Star Wars film. If you surf YouTube you can find many videos of fan-made lightsaber battles and many videos picking apart the martial styles seen in the films. But what's best about this video is that it combines both to give us a behind-the-scenes look at the process of putting together these fights. The fight scene itself is very cinematic and fun to watch, so check it out!
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