A Word from Chris Hanel
Co-Director of "THE FORMULA"

"What exactly is The Formula?!" - Many, many people

"Uh....." - Me, in my usual response

Finally, i get to answer a great, great question. The Formula represents what a fanfilm usually consists of in some way, shape, or form:

Good guy + Bad Guy + Forest = Lightsaber Duel

Not that there's anything wrong with that, in fact, it's what got me into this thing in the first place. A Question of Faith was the first fanfilm I ever saw. And i absolutely loved every second of fighting. I HAD to be a Jedi. Just HAD to.

But then, i watched the 2nd dueling fanfilm. and the 3rd. and 4th.... you get the idea. It was around number 15 that i decided i should proabably think of something else. It would end up being a girl i had a crush on that would bring me the inspiration... while asking about her thoughts on one particular (later thrown out) idea I had for a fanfilm, she looked right at me, laughed, and said, "I don't know, but watching you make it is going to be funny enough." As she walked away, the lightbulb appeared over my head, and we were on our way.

Everything about this film is an attempt to add to the fanfilm arena something we thought was badly needed: A new perspective of Star Wars, some actual dialogue between realistic characters, a plot that didn't center on somebody needing to die. A film about fanfilmmakers gave us just that. And it allows us to draw on sources that a traditional fanfilm just wouldn't allow; we had fun throwing in stuff from all over the world of cinema and science-fiction. And, we got to play out a couple situations that tickled us pink while writing... when someone asks how the hell it would ever happen in real life, our reply was always, "This isn't real life, it's a fanfilm, go away." Best tip for fanfilmmakers i could ever give: NEVER RESTRICT YOURSELF TO COMMON KNOWLEDGE.

And on that note, we dedicate this film to all fanfilmmakers, and i'm pretty confident that they over all others will appreciate this movie. Enjoy it, guys and gals, this one's for you. (You're the only ones that are going to get all the jokes anyway.)

Since we started down this journey in January of 2001, I have had the time of my life doing this... seeing the film itself develop, becoming one in a large group of friends on TheForce.Net's fanfilm message board, getting to meet other filmmakers, getting to help out with other projects, and learning more about my own abilities than i ever thought possible in such a short time. This film may not be the best in the world, but the next one, whatever it may be, will definitely be a lot better because of it.

May the force, or whatever spiritual force you believe in, be with you all.

Chris Hanel

Co-Director, The Formula