Patty Jenkins’ The rogue squadron The film has apparently taken a dip, but that doesn’t stop filmmaker Michael Koepff from killing it Wingman: An X-Wing Story to life. The action-packed film, which can be seen for free on YouTube, takes place entirely in agile starfighter cockpits. And for fifty minutes it goes faster than any Star Wars fan film I’ve ever seen.
Wingman tells the story of a complex attack by rebels on an imperial transport ship. In the opening scenes, a group of X-wings and Y-wings lie in wait for a passing convoy. They ambush it, take down the Imperial shuttle with ion cannons, then send a boarding party to claim the officer on board. It’s a complex, dangerous mission, but the film’s composition makes it easy to understand, telling the story of an extended battle sequence that’s easy for viewers to follow.
Good dogfighting sequences are difficult to film, mainly because the action is difficult to explain to the actors sitting under the hot lights in full costume. Koepff and his team do a fantastic job of integrating basic principles like maintaining proper eye lines and making sure actors shift their weight correctly in a turn. They extend those skills to more advanced elements, such as lighting and CGI effects. But then they go even furtherwith the addition of stylistic accents, including clever editing and editing techniques that very clearly refer to the original trilogy.
What really struck me is how much space there is Wingman makes in its cockpits. The camera appears to pan a little further than normal, revealing new and interesting perspectives never seen in any of the existing Star Wars films. The attention to detail extends down to the rarely seen X-wing control stick, which looks more like an RC car remote control than a traditional flight stick.
In total, Wingman doesn’t just look like a deleted scene Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I think it looks better. More information about the making of the short film can be found online, in German, with broadcaster SWR.