Is it really over?

The last day of Celebration III felt about the way this one does: sad, very sad.

It was a good last day, though. The creators of "The Force Among Us" gave the last panel discussion. This is a brother-sister team, born in 1975 and 1977, who work day jobs but took the time to create their first movie, a documentary looking at fans and their motivation. Unlike "Trekkies," which the creators referenced, "Force Among Us" is by fans and is all about breaking stereotypes. A sociologist who will be featured in the film, due by the end of June, interviewed 3,500 "Star Wars" fans and found the image of social losers who can't get dates is nonsense. From the looks of the trailer, it should be a good film. It's being marketed through the movie Web site, www.theforceamongus.com, and has been priced at $14.95 per copy. I just finished a company DVD, and I saw similiarities with the price -- the same as our DVD -- and hearing the creators talk about "17 working days" to produce the copies. In other words, these really are just two highly motivated people who had a few connections -- they were able to work with pros for much of the production -- and decided to do something.

These two must know about the 1976 "Star Wars" guerilla marketing campaign. They were out on Thursday passing out T-shirts. They put up their own posters, too. And even though they would have been at CIV on their own, they said they attend just about any event they're invited to, large or small. So far that includes Celebration Europe and an event in Mexico. It's all about persistence, connections and hard work. Plus a bit of money to get started. They financed it themselves and with an investment from a company. One of the creators works "70 hours a week" at her job, which invovles presentations in corporate boardrooms, though she didn't elaborate. The other is in the music industry. And from the looks of their clips, they've got talent in film, too.