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Entertainment

Fantastic-Looking Retro Sci-Fi Is Shot On Digital Cameras Using Traditional Special Effects

Derek Van Gorder and Otto Stockmeier’s C 299,792 km/s has great production design and a moody synth soundtrack.

If you’re a fan of retro sci-fi and your ears miss the synth stylings of a John Carpenter soundtrack, then you’ll enjoy this short sci-fi film C 299,792 km/s by Seaquark Films—Derek Van Gorder and Otto Stockmeier—involving a mutiny aboard a spaceship. Rather than floating screens and gesture-controlled interfaces, this takes us back to the bold neon colors and analogue equipment we’re all familiar with from TV series like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.

Instead of showy visuals, the low-budget film has an understatement about it. It isn’t about a lovingly realized CG environment but more about mood, driven by the actions and interactions of the characters. Shot on digital cameras in low light it forgoes green screens and After Effects for hand built sets and props, and special effects like split-screen, stop-motion, and miniature photography.

Using modern cameras combined with old style SFX, the film creates a distinctive aesthetic that has an integrity to it which can sometimes be lost on those big budget Hollywood cash cows.

@stewart23rd