[Sci-Fi] Low Budget Fun

I've seen a couple of good yet very low budget science fiction films lately, and thought I'd comment. The first is my recent purchase of the DVD of "Primer", the winner of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Alfred P. Sloan Sundance award for films about science and technology. This is one of the coolest little indies I've seen in a while. Made for about $7000, it is the first film by Shane Carruth. What's more is it is a baffling puzzler, a HARD Science Fiction film (as opposed to soft scifi, science fantasy, or space opera). Not to mention the most compelling and well-done example of a scifi plotline that has all too often been (ahem) abused and badly wrought so many, many different ways. I won't say what kind of oft used theme lest I spoil the surprise. Worth a rental or even a purchase.

The other is "Star Wars: Revelations",
a low budget fan film taking place in the Star Wars universe. It is a free download and clocks in at about 46 minutes (about a 250 MB download). They even provide links to DVD images and artwork so you can burn your own DVD copy (including a behind-the-scenes making of bonus disc!). Not only was this a truly amazing example to me of what a few dedicated fans can do (and that nerds have a little too much time on our hands), but the characters were more involving than the flat and stiff offerings of the last two 'REAL' Star Wars films by Lucas, and I gotta say, even the effects sequences and chase come off as being more interesting and well executed than what even ILM has come up with, if perhaps a little lower res. And its FREE, so worth the time to download.

I guess this just confirms in my mind that all that is required for good scifi is a vision, some perserverance, a little ingenuity, but not necessarily a whole lot of dough.