Feb 14, 2023

Kenobi vs. Vader | Recreate the Scene Project story Zandt Productions.

Guest blog by: Lars in 't Zandt - Zandt Productions

Kenobi vs. Vader | Recreate the Scene Project story Zandt Productions.

(scroll to the bottom of this blog to view the end result directly)

Who doesn't know it?

These days, there are few people who don't know Star Wars. Whether you grew up with the original trilogy, the prequels or the sequels, every generation has had something from Star Wars to grow up with.

My father first showed me Star Wars when I was young and I remember with what big eyes I sat looking at the screen.... Glued to the screen there began my great love which from then on grew into a huge Star Wars fandom! At that time the prequels were all just coming out and were still being watched on videotape. Revenge Of The Sith was on repeat almost every day, I couldn't get enough of it! Now, 17 years later I have seen just about everything there is of Star Wars and my house is full of Star Wars lore, props, replicas, lightsabers and other Star Wars merchandise.

This Star Wars fandom combined with my continuing education as an Audi Visual Specialist is the perfect combination to make my childhood dream come true. Namely, creating my own Star Wars scene. As an AV Specialist I immerse myself in everything from camera, lighting, sound to post production such as video editing, color editing and directing.

The Project

About three months ago the assignment was given by my training to recreate a scene from a movie or series of my choice. The choice was obviously quickly made, this was the moment I had been waiting for. This, of course, had to be a Star Wars reenactment scene. Ten weeks was given for this group assignment. As a perfectionist, I knew there were going to be complications and that it was going to be difficult to do the real scene justice, but I was determined and knew this was what I wanted to do.

The Scene

Growing up with the prequels and partly because of that, Anakin (Darth Vader) and Obi-Wan Kenobi as my favorite characters from Star Wars, it was immediately clear which scene I wanted to recreate: The new Obi-Wan Kenobi series was therefore really a highlight of Star Wars for me and really left its impressions, so I chose to recreate the battle between Kenobi and Vader from the Limited Series Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+. This iconic scene was instantly legendary and very impressive, fast-paced and full of emotion. The perfect scene to recreate!

The Production

I immediately wanted to take on the role of Darth Vader in addition to, of course, directing the project. For the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi I asked my good friend Max Pigmans who already has a sword fighting background, is a mega Star Wars fan and works as a goldsmith under the name Balthazar Design.

Furthermore, I asked some members of my project group to join my direction to do the camera work with the beautiful Sony PXW-SF7 camera and make sure that the set was adequately lit and the images came out well as they were intended.

The Location

The location was also quickly chosen. The original scene obviously takes place in a non-existent location, but to maintain the vibe of an alien planet, a location near the Loonse and Drunense Dunes was chosen. By the time the shoot was scheduled, it was a period unfortunately characterized by rain. This forced the project to divert and choose a new location. One that could be used both indoors and outdoors, but unfortunately could not give the same feeling as the Loonse en Drunense Duinen intended location.

KenJo Sabers

During lightsaber training with Max to learn the fight choreography, one of our prop lightsabers unfortunately broke down (no KenJo Saber). Because of this, we immediately had to look for a replacement to ensure that the schedule would not be delayed and there were good lightsabers to use in the official actual shoot.

In this search, we quickly came across KenJo Sabers. A Dutch lightsaber company that has low prices, offers lots of choice, various soundsboards options, great customer reviews and in addition can offer a before three o'clock ordered next day in house guarantee.

After reading some reviews online on Trustpilot and being in brief contact with one of the owners of KenJo Sabers, we decided to quickly order a new saber from KenJo Sabers. The Eclipse Premium RGB Baselit was the choice. Everything promised came true, the saber once received we were hugely impressed.

Fast Forward a few weeks and KenJo Sabers had meanwhile heard through Max what the new lightsaber was going to be used for and were very curious about this project. In fact, they were so positive that they indicated their willingness to collaborate on this project by providing sabers from their Legendary Category. We ended up getting to use the Mark - Two Weathered and the Darth Variant for the project. These sabers are based on replica designs from this actual scene of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Again, a dream this came true. These two sabers took the scene to a completely new level.

Filming

After about five to six weeks of lightsaber training with Max to learn the fight choreography, costume design, camera training, a screen test shoot and working on the matching intro for the film, the point was finally reached when we could do the official shoot.

The shoot took 's place on a somewhat rainy evening near a small lake and a beautiful willow tree. That evening we found a perfect moment when it stayed dry for a few hours so we could film the scene outside after all. From that point on, the shoot went great. Thanks to a tight schedule, everyone knew exactly what to do and what to expect and that's why it went perfectly.

The Result

Now that all the preparation and filming is done, it's time to edit the scene. I spent another two or three weeks editing the scene to make sure it was as perfect as possible. I used Adobe Premiere Pro for the rough cut, Adobe After Effects for the special effects and then a mix between Adobe Audition and Adobe Premiere Pro for the sound design and mixing.

The end result is something I am immensely proud of and so happy to share with everyone. This project was a dream come true and I am infinitely grateful to everyone who helped and made sure I was able to do this.