Sci-Fi Short Film “Sky Fighter” | DUST Exclusive
Two pilots fight a war in the distant future in their fighter-bomber spacecraft. But is the true enemy their alien opponent...or each other?
"Sky Fighter" by Lukas Kendall
#DUST #scifi #shortfilm
More About Sky Fighter:
In the 26th century: humankind fights a war in space against an unstoppable alien adversary. A pilot, John, awakens on the deck of his two-man fighter-bomber spaceship-with no memory how he got there. His copilot, Mo, tells him he was hacked (via his cybernetics) by the aliens, and she tried to save him...yet evidence on the ship points to HER being the one possessed by the enemy. Should he trust her...or the little memory he regains?
Director's Statement:
"This is a take on space warfare I've always loved (Star Wars, Robotech, Battlestar Galactica) with a Twilight Zone/Black Mirror/Memento twist. (Robotech fans: you'll recognize the voice on the radio.) Hopefully there's something to make you feel, make you think-and give you some candy for your eyes and ears. It's bread-and-butter suspense storytelling, grounding the fantastic in relatable human behavior. There is a moral to the story...but I can't give it away without ruining the ending." -Lukas Kendall
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Sci-Fi Short Film “Sky Fighter” | DUST
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The amount of tension and world building in less than 15 minutes is simply astounding. Absolutely amazing, fantastic job
The "FU-!" at the end with the orchestral climax was good. It took the edge off the tragedy and was somehow more fun sci-fi.
I was honestly waiting for him to turn the gun on himself at that point.
Why did he say fu?
@@johnwicked1132 Cause he realized he f'd up.
Homer but how? He shot the girl
Better ending would of been a sullen look or under his breath "you sons of bitches will pay for this..." from him then to have a few metallic foot steps and cut to the missile locks gaining tone and the hud turning green. But thats just my opinion, the cut off ending feels to much like the ending of a skitt to me.
500 years in the future someone will see this and laugh at what we in the 21st century thought the 26th century would look like.
I am the filmmaker. I appreciate your remark in good spirit. Just FYI, the opening title card is an homage to the opening card of one of my favorite movies, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I didn't want our card to say 22nd century because that seemed too soon. 23rd and 24th wouldn't work because those are Star Trek. And 25th is Buck Rogers. So that's how it ended up being the 26th! Thanks for watching!
Have a drink and just go with it. Before cars, syfi writers had in vision ed mechanical horses with legs not wheels. Orthocopters, flying machines with flapping wings instead of engines. And my personal favorite, huge farm animals to feed the masses, aka Food for the Gods.
@@RollingThunder69 have you watched the oldest know movie, A Trip to the Moon from 1902? LOOOL their idea of what the moon would be like is hilarious
@@chananahar992 i have seen most of what is available. Yes, it is funny but you have to factor influences from Edgar Allen Poe and the tales of Baron Munchousen (sorry butchered the spelling).
@@chananahar992 there is an older short film. It is hand painted so it's in color. Ladies dancing like butterflies. It is like watching the spirits of our ancestors beautiful funny and touching all at once.
Nobody: My alarm clock every morning: “ you gotta get back up”
xD
“You’re a good boy”
"fuuuuuuuuuu"
I feel this.
It's a ploy! Don't give into it!
Great film the actress was perfect it's hard to believe all story was contained in so little time. I came away feeling as if an hour had passed.
Seriously tho. Some of these actors and actresses need to be out in movies.
I agree, it did seem like an hour.
The Actress is Jess Gabor, and if you've watched Shameless(US-Showtime) you'd recognize her from that.
Caustis 1 never seen it.
Caustis 1 That’s where she’s from! That was bugging me the entire time!
“Get up. When life knocks you down you gotta get back up” Sounds like a gatorade ad
Just goes to show, you can do a lot with a little. One set, some computer graphics, a couple good actors and a solid story tightly packed into a 15 minute clip.
Everybody should try this at home: paint your windshield black, install a monitor in front of the steering wheel that shows a third-person view of your own car, it will enhance your driving skills.
Like in video games which can make you a pro driver in no time!!
It will also give you a ticket when the cops pull you over
Funny, I actually have a hard time driving in third-person. It's bumper-cam if I can't get driver's eye view.
Have you ever driven mercedes benz it has this type of feature . Mercedes GLS 4matic have this feature
Khalid
This video had more twists than a rollercoaster
This one did twists better than M. Night
I didn't need to see Memento in space but hey I sat through the whole fifteen minutes and was not bored. This was a well-directed, professional effort. Thumbs up Lukas.
Thank you! "Not bored" is our highest aspiration!
Better than the entire Assasin Creed movie
@@ZipyCoder Yeah, I saw that-thanks but faint praise my friend!
Ghost Rider are talking about the book memento
@@angelg4404 this film follows a similar plot device from the film Memento where the main character has lost his short term memory so he has written things down to remind himself so the "she lies" reminded me of that
The key takeaway from this story for me is that the more we connect to anything, the more it has power over us to control ourselves
Thanks for watching! I am the filmmaker. For me personally it's that men would rather trust a memory of their daddies than the real woman in their life. But there is no right answer! A secondary takeaway I wanted people to have is that I should have a directing career. Thanks!!!
My take away was that in the 26th century... Norton anti-virus 300.1 needs a serious update!
@@lukaskendall It sounds like you didn't have a good relationship with your father. Your father's advice is usually far more trustworthy, even if you don't always appreciate it when you're young. You are their genetic legacy into the future. Whereas women often have an agenda that is counter to your own best interests.
@@dalriada842 Not at all! But thanks for your opinion.
@@dalriada842 I definitely wish I'd listened to my parents much more than the women in my life!
I can't belive how good this is : You never know what to trust when........
“Ghost hacked humans are so pathetic, it’s a shame” -Batou (Ghost in the Shell:1995)
I am the writer/director. I LOVE Ghost in the Shell! I am honored by the comparison. Listen to the voice on the radio in our film-that's Richard Epcar, who did the voice of Batou in the "Stand Alone Complex" English dub!
@@lukaskendall Didn't Richard Epcar voice the Joker in the Injustice games? I thought his voice sounded familiar!
@@lukaskendall I knew that voice sounded familiar
@@prestonhurst His list of credits is so long-not sure of that one. I first heard him on Robotech in the 1980s!
@@lukaskendall You´re the best, I hope you make more of this. BTW nice choice of Voice Actor... and good taste in anime.
I feel so bad for the girl, she was telling the truth
She should have told him everything from the beginning, no hiding..
you bad bad
11 resets, she should have got the right earlier.
@@bryanfisk7904 not realy, fin of the cycle 12, reset of a new cycle.. :) waiting for it..
Well, have you ever played Among Us?
This is some seriously high quality stuff right there, ever considered a full length movie?
Thank you! Absolutely! In fact the feature film script is written and we're eager to get started-the short film was a proof-of-concept to help us raise financing, get awareness, etc. Thank you so much for watching and for your nice words!
@@lukaskendall Awesome! I'm so glad another DUST short is being made to a full feature length film like Prospect :-D
@hell block SO DO I! Trying to cast it now.
Please god not based on this?? ...it had some good points but the story wasn't one of them and not the SFXs either..
@@lukaskendall Oh we want a damn movie...Hollywood sucks
Both of these performances were really strong.
0:00 Video: "In the 26th century..." Me: "There's only war"
Well, I guess a nice Exterminatus would habe been more efficient against those aliens.
@@Furzkampfbomber aye, turrican!
And the laughter of the thirsting gods
@@DreamRanger Someone who still knows Turrican, yai! I am touched, no Exterminatus for you. :)
@@Furzkampfbomber Filthy Xenos!
The voice is Ben Dixon of the original Robotech!!!!!! I know that voice anywhere!!! Nice!! Huge Robotech fan here!!
The character who played Ben??? I'm a huge Robotech fan as well.
I remember playing that game, and watching the series
Holy shit, you're right! That's Ben the yellow jumpsuit guy! I loved robotech.
No better Veritech fighter pilot than Roy Folker
@@raymondyarosis4146 Honestly, I think Max was the best.
La musique au synthétiseur fait tellement années 70 !
I am glad that they gave this a resolution. So many do not.
Pilot: Jerks yoke hard right, hard right rudder. Ship: continues flying straight and level.
its in space so the ship wont change orientation inside, only out...
@@bradd5651 ...Obviously you didn't understand the reference.
@@astra.exe.1564 This had nothing to do with perspective... The yoke controls roll and pitch. The pedals control yaw. A hard right on the yoke and rudder would change the forward bulkhead roughly downward of its inertial trajectory. Since this is in space, it also means that their mass would still be moving the ship in the direction of its initial momentum unless they have one hell of an unplausible dampening system. In shorter words "P=MV". *mic drop*
As we used to say in the eighties during the Cold War trust but verify and who can you trust when even your own memories may be faulty, not not your own but someone's interpretation of them .... Happily surprised by this
As we said in the 40ies...duck and cover.
I've never heard that. I served in the military during the early 80's.
@@didndido3638, Ahh, yes... Good ol' Duck and Cover. A polite societies way of saying, "Stick yer head between yer knees and kiss yer butt goodbye!" ;^)
@@everready19373 it's a line from a speech that Ronald Reagan made while president
@@everready19373 It was a recommendation during the 40ies on how to survive an atomic attack...the turtle?! Never seen that one before?
The music that starts around 6:10.. so somber and achingly beautiful, a nigh-forgotten childhood memory scored with spacey keyboards.. a opus in itself. The most memorable feature of this little sci fi vignette. I wish the person who wrote the music all the success they deserve in future projects. Bravo!
Dust just never get any thumbs down! Cause it never deserves any!!!
This is the best SciFi and frankly the best way to tell a story. So often 10 minutes of plot is embedded in 120 min of movie. I really like this. Should be a "Twilight Zone" for SciFi with shorts.
Pretty good - they had a fixed budget and so worked around - told a complete story. A lot of big budget film creators could benefit from watching these types of films.
And voicing by the legendary Richard Epcar! Cool!
8:20, the shot coming back from a distance is incredible. Thanks
Wo! That gave me goosebumps towards the end; kept me at the edge of my seat. Very nicely done!
The twist at the end was one hell of a shock! Ouch! He got PWNED.
" .... YOU" is most likely how this ended with the realization of who the real enemy was. Great play upon words that trigger non-existent memories.
truth often looks like a lie ...
The truth is plain and old and easy but often seemingly impossible. Lies are the same, you know the difference if your raised right.
But lies are always designed to look like truth.
The most convincing lies are based on truth..
@@chancethompson8686 A little bit of truth mixed with a lie, makes it believable.
Thanks for this " Oh shit!! I'm screwed.", film. Dust always has the best sci-fi shorts. Beats the hell out of most network and studio crap coming out lately.
There was more plot in this video than the last four Dust videos I saw, combined. Outstanding job. Please make more!
I suggest watching with headphones. The Soundtrack really adds to the visuals. Great work all around.
The guys father was in the TV series "Over There". Played an excellent part. ( Sargent Scream !!! )
I would love for this to be made into a series
We are working on making the feature film version that will tell the whole story! Thanks for your interest!
If its a series you need a credible enemy
"i'm all natural" ...yeah right
Getting some serious Star Citizen vibes from this. Awesome!
80's action movie music! Love it.
Pleasantly surprised by the quality of acting in this short.
And the end twist was to good.👏👏👏👏 Great acting. Love this one 💯
Oh he’s dangerously cute! But seriously though, this is an excellent story. Felt like I was there. Both actors were amazing! Very well done! What a twist at the end!
Perfect ending
WOW...THAT WAS WICKED. 10/10 THE CONCEPT WAS BRILLIANT AF.
*my sins of a solar empire playthrough in a nutshell*
Almost asimov.
This was great! More!
This dude was gaslighted on so many levels, damn
It's like my childhood has returned...love it
Thank you so much. I was born in 1974 so was "of age" in the 1980s when the first wave of modern space sci-fi came out. I wanted to do something that had callbacks to that world (and honestly, "retro" was all we could afford) but more importantly had that feeling of just being so interesting and compelling, you wanted to see more of it.
Yet another excellent video, from Dust and all of its contributors, I hope that it will carry on for many years.....
All these DUST shorts never have a happy ending. Depressing af.
Such fantastic acting from these youg artists. Great Work!!
I want the sequel!!!
Sequel? Whole serries!
@@The0Stroy The creator told me on Twitter that there will be no sequel, but a full lenght film.
Second that ! ! He shot her through the shoulder they team up set nukes to auto destruct and head for the mother ship !!!
This film is like a miniature star wars.
I would be thrilled if we could obtain their miniature success! Thanks for watching!
@@lukaskendall star wars sucked but ya it made bucks....halo, battlestar, star trek, farscape etc. etc.
This reminds me of some of the episodes of the 1990's 'The Outer Limits.' 👾
Gotta love how in the future, with sophisticated space flight, we still have human beings manually flying everything lol. We won't even be manually driving our cars by then.
The female lead was a small role in Shameless, Carl's "friend"
The father was a border agent in "Transpecos", a good movie.
THANNK YOUU. It was driving me nuts.
This was absolutely amazing.the quality,the story line .I been binge watching dust since I seen this short video 😁
This is the way.
I like the ending... "FUUUUUHHH!!!" That's high quality $#!+
The colander and duct tape drone was unconvincing, but it was a great story. The other effects were top notch.
Thank you for your feedback! Our brilliant production designer Ben Ralston had a minuscule budget, so any shortcomings are entirely on me, not him! The "probe" was actually dipped in black latex, we thought it was super cool, but I welcome and appreciate all criticism. Thanks so much!
@@lukaskendall I noted the stuff he spoke to and was way cool with it, I mean the moon lander had tinfoil on it lol so....Really good flick. So hurting for space theme fighting\battle type movies REALLY...I think are the coolest! Hoping for more thanks!!!!!!!!!!! /;^) fyi→ 60yr old male, [boomer2.0] son of a NASA rocket scientist \engineer
The colander and "skin", I could think of as maybe what alien tech might look like. The human tech looking servos and wires, not so much. But hey, it's always hard to make tech that actually looks alien.. Very easy to overlook, considering everything else was excellent.
@@lukaskendall he's right about the probe. the fact it was obviously duct taped together together took me out of the film, especially considering it's function of penetrating and hacking the pilots is so crucial plot point. compared to the blue glowing spinning thing she was using to update him near beginning of scene i really wasn't expected the pivotal technology in the war to be duct taped. pretty much everything else set design wise matched each other.
@@lukaskendall but great work! could you speak to the budget crew size and timeframe to execute this whole project?
"Why hack the ship when you can hack the pilot?" Would you want to be connected to the internet with an implantable device? Who would control your thoughts, would you be constantly inundated with adverts, told who to vote for? Some day it will be possible and we will be lost in the digital realm controlled by someone else. Well done.
Agenda21 is coming to a nation state near you. Remote Neural Monitoring is already here, except it doesn't need a cable.
Matrix
someday is almost here. 5g + and inserted chip.
You already said it: "would you be constantly inundated with adverts, told who to vote for". That is already a fact in the present, no fancy technology needed at all.
plain old propaganda works just as well.
"shared memory - to make you part of a hive mind" what do we remember of the history?
This is the best platform to watch. It keeps me on the edge of my seat!
I would love to compose music for a movie like this!
Short stories and films are much harder to write than longer ones. It is very hard to show what is going on in a short time. Very few of Dust's films leave me with a clue. Sky Fighter tells its story clearly, one of the very few that end with me having an idea what is going on. Awards should be forthcoming.
Mark Horton I am the filmmaker. You just made me cry tears of joy. Thanks for your lovely words.
Reminds me of the old outer limits tv show. Great work!
The Psychology behind the plot is fucking phenomenal. My Dad is a Sociopath, with Multiple Personality Disorder, and is Bi-Polar, and has spent his entire life protecting his father who abandoned him at the age of 6, and has exiled anyone who truly made him question his father's love for him, unless he knows he needs them in his life to get strength from them he doesn't have for himself, in which case, he uses his mastery as a Manipulator in order to keep them in his life. It is absolutely serendipitous that I watched this tonight. I am so grateful that I watched that scenerio out on screen. Gave me a completely new perspective. Thank you and God Bless!
Several of my posts failed, ugh, KZhead! Anywho...after discovering the voice guy was from Ghost in the Shell and Robotech I was greatly pleased. Overall rating for this flick....7.1/10. Nice work.
This video deserves more likes and views than the Beacon....
That’s mental mate, mental
Love the Dr. Who style synth work.
Great film ..love the twist
very nicely done! I love the set. Strangely enough, I'm working on creating a spaceflight through an asteroid field at this very moment on my own film. Made me doubly appreciate the work put into this film!
Sean Foy Makes Movies wow, nice! Hope it turns out great for you.
What if everything you know is a lie how would you know?
All I know is I want to play that as a video game.
Outstanding! Great tension, some really nice twists and turns, and nicely acted.
Ok. From the quality, I would say this reminds me of The Outer Limits, which is a show I like! Good Job! :D
It was dumb luck I accidentally click this lol Main plot was super solid and easy to follow and always kept us on our toes without getting boring. Hope You make a mini series or get Netflix to pick this up
Thank you! Hope I have the dumb luck to make this for Netflix!!!
Now this called a high quality documantry. In this we can easily see how sky fighters work at sudden coming of enemy ...
One of my favorite things to watch is the dust settling
This reminds me of that scene of love death and robots where he on space route to mars and there some sorth of 👽 tech all over
DUST I LOVE YOU!!!
The girl from Shameless. This was another good one. Keep them coming!
I take back the concern I voiced in the preview. It was actually pretty compelling. Nicely done.
The probe with a connection to his port was the evidence she should have cited to convince him. If still not convinced, should have made course for home, out of the battle.
Very nice. Except for the drone. That was way too human, with the recognizable wires and bolts and nuts. Good story though, felt like a cliffhanger every two minutes.
One of the better for sure, good job.
Really enjoyed that one , and of course it’s awesome to have a unhappy ending ! Makes it more realistic
Great stuff. I would like to see more of this story.
Thank you! We are working on the feature film version! Hopefully coming to a theater, or streaming channel, near you soon!
Who do you trust when both sides are saying the other is lying to you?
You trust neither. Sadly if they hack you, you can't even trust yourself :/
Listen to your heart (since it can't be hacked), brain may be hacked.
A Kumar but clearly his heart was hacked. That’s why he has fake memories of his dad ya?
Kind a like the elections, huh?
The beautiful lady
Great work! A big fan
Love the end hahaha, what a great short.
Very well done. Would be interesting as a slow burn full length
Damn the new star wars movie looks lit
Marvelous.
This was completely awesome! Some "Memento" vibes, really high intensity from start to finish, really nice!
where the full length 😭 this is so good
Trying to get it made! Thanks for watching!
love the plot twists all in such a short time! excellent acting too, and the retro music! Just loving it. Always wonder why Americans never seem to be able to shoot a leg or an arm, though.
American here. You always aim for center mass. Always.
When the director says "Robotech", is he talking about the Macross, awesome, 1980's animated "Robotech"? My all time favorite cartoon growing up!
The one and only!!!
Now THAT was a sci-fi short!
Getting Blake's 7 vibes on that score. That's a good thing!