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STAR WARS TOY STORY FILM SELECTOR:

IV AWAKEN ROGUE SHADOWS

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A Star Wars fanatic decides to sell his toy collection to keep his overbearing girlfriend happy and salvage their relationship. An unbelievable adventure with his toys makes him realize that he doesn't need to change for anyone.

STAR WARS FAN FILM AWARDS

We created this 5-minute short for the 2015 Star Wars Fan Film Awards. We were lucky enough to be selected as one of 25 finalists featured on StarWars.com. Although we didn't win, it was an honor to be nominated for Best Visual Effects. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists!

VIDEO //

OFFICIAL TRAILER (HD)

THE FILM (HD)

CAST & CREW //

EDWIN FRANK ORTIZ

LUCAS

San Diego Native, Edwin Frank Ortiz has been involved in theatre since his senior year at Point Loma High School where he started out as a Breakdancer performing for talent shows. The acting bug bit him when a class mate asked Edwin to play a part in his film. After that, an aspiring actor was born. Edwin is mostly known for playing the wacky, hip, break-dancing Angel, Gabriel, in Teatro Magica's play, La Pastorela.

Edwin recently graduated with an A.S. Degree as a Cinema Production Specialist from Southwestern College and was the former President of C.A.M. (Cinematic Arts and Media) club SWC. Edwin enjoys producing, directing and acting in film. He currently lives in Los Angeles awaiting the application status for the Universities in LA.

TAYLOR KOSTER

ANNIE

What drew Taylor into acting was the exhilirating and challenging adventure of it all. She has worked in many film productions throughout San Diego, as well as commercials, industrials and productions in Los Angeles. When not working on a project, Taylor keeps busy taking scene study, improv and auditioning classes in order to bring new creativity and technique to each role. Keep up with her latest work at Taylor's Official Facebook Page.

ROBERT NIXON

HAN SOLO / DARTH VADER / OBI-WAN KENOBI / C-3PO

At the age of 5, Robert Nixon was the youngest professionally performing magician in the United States, and he hasn't stopped performing since. Robert is a professional actor and dancer based in San Diego, CA. He can be seen on stage as much as he can be seen on film. He is also a writer, director, and producer and runs a production company called King Of Hearts Films. You can see some of their work at www.KingOfHeartsFilms.com.

ROBBIE THARP

LUKE SKYWALKER
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY – BALBOA PARK

Rob Tharp is Co-Founder, Producer, and Cinematographer at Grijalva Films. He provides strategic management and facilitation to Grijalva Films while supplying creative direction to their productions. Tharp specializes in monitoring project timetables, budget and ensures the task at hand moves from conception to delivery with the upmost fluidity.

CARLOS GRIJALVA

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR – BALBOA PARK

Carlos is Co-Founder of Grijalva Films, which he directs with an innovative, unique and artistic approach. Carlos strives to evoke emotion in all videos he delivers. Additionally, Grijalva is currently teaching multimedia and cinematography classes at the new state-of-the-art Cinematic Arts Center at Point Loma High School.

RAYMOND MONTEMAYOR

PRODUCER / WRITER / DIRECTOR /
CINEMATOGRAPHER / EDITOR / VISUAL EFFECTS

Raymond is an engineer turned artist. He holds BS and MS degrees in engineering from Harvey Mudd College and UCLA, respectively, and spent 12 years designing communication chips for the wireless and cable TV industries. He founded PixelPlex in 2012 to pursue his interests in digital media design, providing services as a motion graphics designer, visual effects artist, and 3D animator. A lifelong Star Wars fan, Raymond has focused his love for art and technology to produce this Star Wars fan film.

EXTRAS //

BEHIND THE SCENES (spoilers)

FRAME

STAR WARS FAN FILM AWARDS

TRAILER | STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A TOY STORY

A PIXELPLEX PRODUCTION

SUMMARY: A Star Wars fanatic decides to sell his toy collection to keep his overbearing girlfriend happy and salvage their relationship. An unbelievable adventure with his toys makes him realize that he doesn't need to change for anyone.
MUSIC: "Main Title/Rebel Block Runner" by John Williams from the motion picture soundtrack Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Used with permission. The music was edited for this trailer.

STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A TOY STORY

A PIXELPLEX PRODUCTION FOR THE 2015 STAR WARS FAN FILM AWARDS

Nominee - Best Visual Effects | Star Wars Fan Film Awards (Apr. 2015)
Official Selection | San Diego CityBeat Five Minute Film Festival (Sept. 2015)
Official Selection | Zed Fest Film Festival (Nov. 2015)
Official Selection | Rhode Island Comic Con Film Festival (Nov. 2015)
Official Selection | San Diego Fall Film Festival (Nov. 2015)
Winner - Best Stop-Motion/Live-Action Short | Super Geek Film Festival @ Magic City Comic Con (Jan. 2016)
Official Selection | Geekfest Film Fest - Year 3 (Feb. 2016)
Winner - #TheForceAwakens Fan Video Challenge | TentSquare (Feb. 2016)
Winner - Best Animation | Fan Film Awards (Feb. 2016)
Nominee - Best Visual Effects & Spirit of San Diego | San Diego Film Awards (Apr. 2016)
Official Selection | FirstGlance Film Festival Los Angeles Shorts Online (Apr. 2016)
Official Selection | Phoenix Comicon Film Festival (June 2016)
Official Selection | The ZONE Sci Fan Film Festival (June 2016)
Official Selection | Gen Con Film Festival (Aug. 2016)

BEHIND-THE-SCENES | STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A TOY STORY (spoilers)

A PIXELPLEX PRODUCTION

This video captures some behind-the-scenes footage and outtakes from Star Wars: Episode IV – A Toy Story. And just for fun, we created a typical Star Wars movie intro including a PixelPlex logo in the style of the Lucasfilm logo and the prototypical Star Wars title crawl. Thanks to Ballyweg for their Blender template, which saved us a lot of time creating the 20th-Century-Fox-like logo animation.

FRAME

A PIXELPLEX PRODUCTION

Meet Patrick Conrad, owner of the Fast Frame in Solana Beach, CA. I met Patrick because I needed a professional to frame some beautiful Drew Struzan posters, which I wanted to use in our Star Wars fan film. Patrick was nice enough to let me film the entire framing process for my own edification. I learned a lot of wonderful technical details about framing, but the best parts of our discussion weren't technical at all and are captured in this video.