BackSpace Returns: Crafting a Sci-Fi Sequel
BackSpace Returns, the sequel to our award wining short film BackSpace, is the first sequel we’ve ever created. As creatives we are always excited about doing new things. Since we’d never written or directed a sequel before - it was really exciting to think about a continuation. One of the best parts of course is doing research into other sci-fi sequels.
BackSpace and BackSpace Returns are short films, we in no way want to say that this is like crafting a sequel to a feature - but what we did was analyze a lot of sequels that we enjoyed and tried to understand what we loved so much about them.
The first BackSpace is a really simple story. This was our first time jumping into Unreal Engine and we needed something small enough that we could wrap our heads around as we learned how texturing and lighting and just rendering were done in this software we’d never used. With this accomplished we started to discuss where else the story could go. Now that we could do even more this time around, we jumped in and started discussing the universe where this takes place. What are the rules of this world? And not just the fictional universe but the language of the film from the LUTs to the music to the sound design.
What we found in a lot of our favorite sequels, whether that’s Empire Strikes Back, Aliens, Back to the Future Pt. II, Terminator 2: Judgement Day or Blade Runner 2049, they expand the world in every direction but explored it through the eyes of the main characters. We get to go to new places and learn more about this thing that we already loved while staying true to the original. So that’s what we set out to do. Having these discussions and really digging in was an absolute blast.
The second thing that we really loved about a lot of sequels including The Matrix series and Star Wars series is that they end on cliff hangers. This tells you you’re no longer watching just a sequel, but that this is now part of a larger adventure. That was a really fun thing to come up with too! So with that said, enjoy BackSpace Returns and be on the look out for Part 3!