CELEBRATION III
by David Cottingham
What an experience! I’ve never been to CELEBRATION. All I’ve seen is what the members only Fan Club allows you to see on starwars.com. What an experience! We were able to burn about 300 of the 500 disks we planned to take up to Indy on Saturday. I got 45 minutes of sleep while Dave Silvernell kept burning the disks in the morning. After that quick nap on a couch in the office, a quick run home for a shower, we were on our way to CELEBRATION at about 12 noon. We got there around 3:15, but with the help of time zones, we gained an hour. We arrive in Indy at 2:15. Here we go.
THE APPETIZER
Silvernell and I have brought two black bags with us that could hold about 40 disks each. So, we parked in the garage next to the convention, loaded up the bags, and went at it. Both of us were pretty worried about how CELEBRATION would handle two guys handing out free DVDs when everyone else was there to sell something in the enormous room they had there for people who paid for booths. So, we decided to stay outside and pass out the DVD. At first, we really were picky on who we wanted to have the DVD. We targeted groups of people and mostly people who were dressed up. We’re Star Wars geeks, so we wanted to make sure we handed out to geeks. But, unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the best for standing outside and being picky, although, it did benefit Silvernell. He was able to smoke whenever he felt it necessary. So, after about 30 minutes, we went back for another load of DVDs and then decided…we’re going inside.
THE SIDE SALAD
As soon as we walked in, it was breathtaking. The amount of people there was overwhelming, but everyone that I could see had something about Star Wars on them in some form or other. At first we thought, let’s be picky again, but after about 15 minutes of looking around, we realized that anyone there would appreciate and love a free DVD, especially a free DVD of a Star Wars fan film. And not only the film, but two versions of it, an audio commentary, a 22 minute behind the scenes featurette, outtakes, and a trailer, FREE. So, we walked around the place a little and noticed a really long line of people waiting to get into this exhibit. Silvernell took the front and I took the back. We started handing out the DVD and met in the middle. We were out within 5 minutes. So, off we went to the car again for another load. When we got to the car, we saw that we had about 120 DVDs left. We didn’t want to come back again since the weather was getting colder, so we decided, screw it; we’re taking the box inside the convention.
THE MAIN COURSE
We walked through the doors once again and started looking for a great place to set up shop. We found it in the most crowded hallway in the convention center. As soon as we filled our hands with the DVD, people flocked to us. In a matter of seconds, we were out. 120 DVDs gone. It was awesome. People started asking us what it was about, who was in it, where we were from, everything. I feel bad for not having more DVDs for the people who came up after we were empty handed but I think we accomplished our mission. And according to our recent hits on our website, I KNOW we accomplished our mission. Thank you to everyone who has checked out the site and passed it on to others.
THE DESSERT
We went up to CELEBRATION III to pass out our film, but when I was walking around I saw a sign that read, “Rick McCallum to show EPISODE III footage”. I had to see what Rick had. Silvernell and I got in line, and in about 30 minutes, we were seated and Rick came out from behind the curtain. Right away, without hesitation, he says, “Do you all want to see what I got?” The crowd yelled in unison, “YEEAAAAHHHH!” Lights went off, digital projection went on, and all I have to say is, “&^##*$%&”. The footage was unbelievable. What we saw basically was a 10 minute montage of the film in order to nothing but music, no dialogue. It was awesome. That is the reason why I love HD and the Digital format. It DOES look great. It CAN give a filmmaker his vision. I think I’ll always use HD and why not. So, in summary, we handing out 300 DVDs, saw incredible footage of Episode III, and saw thousands of fans who love Star Wars as much as we do. I don’t know if I’ll ever make it to another CELEBRATION but I do know, that even though the last Star Wars film is coming out, Star Wars will definitely go on in some form or other. There is just so much LOVE for it. And LOVE lasts forever.
What an experience! I’ve never been to CELEBRATION. All I’ve seen is what the members only Fan Club allows you to see on starwars.com. What an experience! We were able to burn about 300 of the 500 disks we planned to take up to Indy on Saturday. I got 45 minutes of sleep while Dave Silvernell kept burning the disks in the morning. After that quick nap on a couch in the office, a quick run home for a shower, we were on our way to CELEBRATION at about 12 noon. We got there around 3:15, but with the help of time zones, we gained an hour. We arrive in Indy at 2:15. Here we go.
THE APPETIZER
Silvernell and I have brought two black bags with us that could hold about 40 disks each. So, we parked in the garage next to the convention, loaded up the bags, and went at it. Both of us were pretty worried about how CELEBRATION would handle two guys handing out free DVDs when everyone else was there to sell something in the enormous room they had there for people who paid for booths. So, we decided to stay outside and pass out the DVD. At first, we really were picky on who we wanted to have the DVD. We targeted groups of people and mostly people who were dressed up. We’re Star Wars geeks, so we wanted to make sure we handed out to geeks. But, unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the best for standing outside and being picky, although, it did benefit Silvernell. He was able to smoke whenever he felt it necessary. So, after about 30 minutes, we went back for another load of DVDs and then decided…we’re going inside.
THE SIDE SALAD
As soon as we walked in, it was breathtaking. The amount of people there was overwhelming, but everyone that I could see had something about Star Wars on them in some form or other. At first we thought, let’s be picky again, but after about 15 minutes of looking around, we realized that anyone there would appreciate and love a free DVD, especially a free DVD of a Star Wars fan film. And not only the film, but two versions of it, an audio commentary, a 22 minute behind the scenes featurette, outtakes, and a trailer, FREE. So, we walked around the place a little and noticed a really long line of people waiting to get into this exhibit. Silvernell took the front and I took the back. We started handing out the DVD and met in the middle. We were out within 5 minutes. So, off we went to the car again for another load. When we got to the car, we saw that we had about 120 DVDs left. We didn’t want to come back again since the weather was getting colder, so we decided, screw it; we’re taking the box inside the convention.
THE MAIN COURSE
We walked through the doors once again and started looking for a great place to set up shop. We found it in the most crowded hallway in the convention center. As soon as we filled our hands with the DVD, people flocked to us. In a matter of seconds, we were out. 120 DVDs gone. It was awesome. People started asking us what it was about, who was in it, where we were from, everything. I feel bad for not having more DVDs for the people who came up after we were empty handed but I think we accomplished our mission. And according to our recent hits on our website, I KNOW we accomplished our mission. Thank you to everyone who has checked out the site and passed it on to others.
THE DESSERT
We went up to CELEBRATION III to pass out our film, but when I was walking around I saw a sign that read, “Rick McCallum to show EPISODE III footage”. I had to see what Rick had. Silvernell and I got in line, and in about 30 minutes, we were seated and Rick came out from behind the curtain. Right away, without hesitation, he says, “Do you all want to see what I got?” The crowd yelled in unison, “YEEAAAAHHHH!” Lights went off, digital projection went on, and all I have to say is, “&^##*$%&”. The footage was unbelievable. What we saw basically was a 10 minute montage of the film in order to nothing but music, no dialogue. It was awesome. That is the reason why I love HD and the Digital format. It DOES look great. It CAN give a filmmaker his vision. I think I’ll always use HD and why not. So, in summary, we handing out 300 DVDs, saw incredible footage of Episode III, and saw thousands of fans who love Star Wars as much as we do. I don’t know if I’ll ever make it to another CELEBRATION but I do know, that even though the last Star Wars film is coming out, Star Wars will definitely go on in some form or other. There is just so much LOVE for it. And LOVE lasts forever.
posted by Twenty One Productions at 7:22 PM
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