If you like the Fantasy/Medieval genre, you may really enjoy the Black Angel short film.
Black Angel was a short film that played in select theaters before the screening of arguably the greatest Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back.
George Lucas called upon Roger Christian (Set Designer for Star Wars and Art Director of Alien) to come up with an idea for a program to play before Empire. Christian shared with Lucas a story he had written, called Black Angel. Lucas enjoyed the story so much that, in Christian’s words, it was was “commissioned on the spot.” He received a grant to shoot the film but had to scale the story back to work within the budget. With a small crew, filming began in Scotland, on its beautiful and remote locations.
When the storage facility holding the film “went down,” the negative of the film was lost. Luckily, a copy of the film has recently been found, restored, and remastered!
To some people, this 1980 Fantasy short film may be boring. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I find the dark and gritty tone extremely acceptable. It adds a mysterious element that makes this film seem bigger than it really is. The cinematography is great, the scenery – absolutely gorgeous. Even the music in this short film was great, it really set the mood. I only wish that new modern movies felt like this sometimes! Today, film is too shiny and depends heavily on CGI. I miss the charm these older Fantasy films had. The characters are very interesting, although we don’t get into much character development. I would like to know more about what happened and why it happened!
I am thrilled that this short film found its way onto YouTube. The short film is now being adapted into a full feature film, coming soon!