BTS – Episode #0002 – Dark Side Chat with the Cast & The Sounds of Star Wars

And we’re back with another episode of our “Behind the Scenes” podcast. This livestream occurs once a month on our @YouTube Channel where we take you along this incredible ride as we work to build and release our FAN FILM trilogy! In this month’s podcast we invited the Dark Side to talk about what it’s like to be, “Oh so evil!” We dive into the sounds that are so recognizable in Star Wars and what the process is in creating such amazing sounds in this trilogy of films. We have conversations with:

Christopher Altoft
Ross Morgan
Sharon Grünwald
Vincent Catalina
Josephine Sweet

We start with our Sound Designer and Audio Engineer, Christopher Altoft. The sounds of the dark side are among some of the most recognizable in the franchise. Who doesn’t immediately recognize Darth Vader’s breathing? Next to that is the flyby of TIE Fighters! Sounds make a film come to life and we talk about the process of creating these sounds for Chris and his biggest influences.

We had the incredibly talented Sharon Grünwald who plays the “other half” of our big bad, Ellian Zahra. Little known fact, @Ellian Zahra is a CANON character that was showcased in the @2020 comic series. She was fascinating when we read about her and knew we wanted to bring her into our film’s story. Her deep-seeded hate for all things related to Leia Organa Solo — most especially her son, Ben Solo — lead her to make very calculated, precise decisions to annihilate everything that Leia built and fought for. She serves as the brains behind the disembodied essences (similar to, if you guys remember, the “Voice” in SWTOR/KOTOR, and yes multiple essences) behind one of the greatest, most powerful Emperors to ever exist, @Emperor Vitiate, wonderfully evilly played by Ross Morgan, otherwise known famously on YouTube as @Xwing. His sole purpose is to gain dominion over all — this galaxy and beyond. A quest that has always motivated Vitiate to survive and transcend. His evil just cannot be quenched and we will see the incredible feats

Next to Ellian Zahra and Emperor Vitiate, we also had the actors that would introduce the Expanded Universe (or Legends) story of the @One Sith. The One Sith was formerly (in our story) led by @A’Sharad Hett better known as Darth Krayt — now led by @Darth Nihl, played by the incomparable stage/theater actor Vincent Catalina. Alongside Darth Nihl stands one of the most recognizable characters of the EU (rivaling the likes of Mara Jade) — the sexiest kitten to ever grace the pages of comic books in this franchise, @Darth Talon. This beautiful Twi’lek bares a rare coloring of her skin that bodes very well to her demeanor; red. But beyond that, she’s an incredible pilot; using the Force alone to pilot multiple ships at once, able to pick up any starfighter and immediately dive into advanced maneuvers. And most importantly is her proficiency with a lightsaber — 1-handed combat that equals Luke Skywalker. She is wonderfully and amazingly brought to life by Josephine Sweet. We didn’t get the entire cast yet, missing our @Darth Maladi played by the very talented Jonni Machado, but we will make efforts to highlight every one of them in future podcasts! But our guest panelists for this one was stacked!

If you have any questions or comments to the topics discussed in this episode of our BTS Podcast, leave them down below or on the comments section of our video on YouTube!