A Word from Saeed Sadiq
Director of "THE TERRAN CONFLICT"

I must be one of the few people who didn't see Troops, the TFN website, or even The Phantom Menace before making their fanfilm. Then again, maybe if Hollywood saw fit to release its films in the UK at the same time as in the US... I had, however, seen the impressive trailer, and some TV programmes documenting the making of the film. I was inspired by the fantastic concepts from Doug Chiang and others like him at ILM, and intrigued by the prospect of digital film making, so I combined what little I knew about basic 3D design with what little I knew about film making, and decided to have a go myself

I used Infini-D on the Mac, which I find very user friendly, and the result was... not bad. Later on, upon advice from family and friends, I reworked the droid (the main star of my movie) and released my 'Special Edition'. By now, The Phantom Menace had been released, and I spent more time both in trying to design an original droid and make a more complex animation, and this time the result was... better.

This film, now nearly a year old, marks my first real attempt at CGI and rotoscoping (I know the lightsabre and the crawling animation don't look right) but was a great learning experience for me. I am currently working on the sequel, taking my time not to rush things, and so far the project looks promising.

Making The Terran Conflict has been good for me. Originally thrown together simply for fun, it has since been released on a magazine coverdisc, is on the verge of (hopefully!) winning me a copy of Adobe Premiere in an internet competition, and now will see pride of place at TFN FanFilms!

After receiving a mixed response from the British public, I hope that here at TFN my film will get the worldwide audience it deserves!

Footnote: 'Terra' is Latin for Earth, and is often used in science-fiction to refer to our planet, hence the title...

Saeed Sadiq

Director, The Terran Conflict