“The young criminal newbie named V is captured by gangsters while on a rescue mission. Now his employer, Johnny Silverhand, has to intervene to end the mission to free Alt Cunningham. A search and an endless fight against an almost infinite number of adversaries begins. “
Does this scenario sound familiar to you? No? Then you haven’t seen the unofficial, but all the more impressively recorded, Cyberpunk 2077 fan film, which has been available on YouTube since December 5, 2020. Because the situation described above is of course not about the conditions of the hotly debated role-playing game by CD Projekt Red, but a fictional representation devised by enthusiasts in the world around Night City and Co.
The creators around the production team of T7prodution and Maul Cosplay insisted that the project was not designed for profit, was created solely for fun and passion and the characters depicted naturally belong to 100 percent CD Projekt Red.
The background
With the framework conditions now known, we come to the background of how the film came about at all. We were allowed to take a look behind the scenes, got information and pictures about locations, protagonists and the recordings themselves. We would like to share these with you in this post.
Vi-Dan Tran, who and his team T7prodution became best known through the 2016 Star Wars fan film “Darth Maul Apprentice”, and Ben Bergmann – better known to many by his stage name Maul Cosplay – have combined their skills to to implement a project which in the end can show an action-packed and optically opulent result.
From daily project to annual production
Originally it was just supposed to be about meeting for a day and writing a simple storyline. Silverhand, embodied by Maul Cosplay, was supposed to go to a criminal hideout, fight there and get his guitar back in the end. This day’s action turned out to be … a bit more extensive than initially planned.
In total, the team worked on the project for a year and shot on 20 days to get all the scenes “in the box” as one imagined. Until then, however, you had to ask for support and overcome several hurdles. The two project managers actually got more help than they had asked for in order to turn the simple scene and the fun project into a film with a story and a red thread.
They didn’t want to simply leave the new capacity behind, so they sat down and worked out further ideas – the script was expanded and expanded. After a bumpy start to filming, Bergmann and Tran described the production of the material as a “dream”.
Corona and sponsors
Of course, the team behind the “Phoenix Program” project also had to deal with the circumstances during the shooting in 2020, which plagued us all a lot. As a result, production stopped in March and the future of the fan film was uncertain. The break was used to look for sponsors who were willing to bear the fixed costs of the project.
After all, such a bloated project also entails significantly more costs – hotels, meals, costumes, SFX material, to name a few keywords. Hotels? Clear. All the protagonists and people behind the camera were in a total of five locations in three different cities in Germany.
You could also win other artists for the project out of passion during the forced break. Now you had the money and manpower to make the film what it became in the end. When the circumstances allowed it again, production was continued – of course, taking measures to be observed – Corona-compliant.
The team – 150 passionate artists
The two heads
If you’ve seen the film, you might wonder how a hobby project can achieve a quality standard like this. This is mainly due to the experience and the network of the director, author, cameraman, producer and editor of the film, Vi-Dan Tran.
Although this is an independent filmmaker, but also not a no-name in the film industry. He is a member of the Jackie Chan stunt team, worked in the stunt field on films such as “Dune”, “Skyfall”, the series “Into The Badlands” and as a director and cameraman in Germany. There he is involved in many music videos for Lena Meyer-Landrut and Motrip, for example. He is also currently Fight Coordinator for the TV series Halo, which is filmed in Budapest.
Ben Bergmann not only served as the main actor, executive producer of the film and internationally known influencer. He worked on the concept of the film with Vi-Dan Tran, made his costume and several weapons, and also took care of his own makeup. His wife Maja Felicitas Bergmann always supported him in all of these tasks.
He also performed almost all of the fight choreographies and stunts himself. Unfortunately, contrary to his own hopes, he was unable to do everything himself due to an injury to his shoulder and neck. He sustained the injury during a wirestunt on set when his head and shoulder hit a couple of metal-sheathed containers and not the upholstery attached there as planned. Then Sefa Demirbas took over all stunts that would have put a lot of strain on the shoulder.
The many other supporters
As already indicated, the two idea providers and project managers were supported by a number of supporters. Vi-Dan Tran put together a team of producers and assistant directors who provided active support in the organization, communication and planning from pre- to post-production.
More than 150 passionate artists from all over the world have joined the major project over the past few months. Even before the pandemic and a budget, countless extras (already in their own costumes) came from four different countries just to make the party scene believable and lively.
Thematically appropriate influencers were also asked – nationally and internationally – for help, whereby quality was always more important than quantity in the form of reach, according to those responsible. These could not be asked twice. Stylouz Cosplay made the long way from Switzerland to Germany to play his role as V.
Gong Bao was cast as one of the villains because he is not only an influencer, but also an actor, filmmaker and a good friend of the project manager. A friendly and pleasant atmosphere on set was, as the people behind “Phoenix Program” emphasize several times, always an important factor. The film music was created by the famous composer Vincent Lee, who was also responsible for the great score by Darth Maul Apprentice.
Post-Production
In post-production, other people from all over the world joined in to help. Among them, for example, the American actress Kimberly Leemans (Spides, Walking Dead), who is the voice of Alt Cunningham, or Reuben Langdon (The Last Of US, Devil May Cry) who spoke the voice of Johnny Silverhand. VFX artists, some of whom did VFX for Game Of Thrones, Justice League or Harry Potter, were also there.
But there was also plenty for previously unknown faces in the film industry, such as Darc Mavid (Producer & 1st AD) and Benedikt Marcowka, who as Art Director and Production Designer and his team were responsible for props, costumes and set design to do. For producers like Markus Hiller (Producer & 3rd AD), who is still studying film, the shoot was a perfect place to let off steam and prove yourself in this field.
The well-known cosplayer Florence Heyer (also known as Bakka Cosplay) contributed to the film through her original training as an SFX Make Up Artist. In addition to many wounds, tattoos and cyberpunk makeup, she also worked on characters such as Big Bao (Gong Bao) or Miyamoto Arasaka (Andy Long).
“So people who don’t even need the Phoenix Program as a kind of career start just wanted to help,” said Vi-Dan Tran and Ben Bergmann.
They add:
“We became a real team, even if some of us only met on social media and never in real life. That’s the most incredible part for us. Working with a team that was driven entirely by passion and love for the project. Each and every one of these people is the most important person on our team. “
Here the gratitude of the project managers becomes clear once again:
“Every stuntman, every VFX artist, every cosplayer, every actor, every set runner, every makeup artist, every lighting technician, every coffee maker, every set photographer … EVERYONE is an important stone that has built this gigantic structure of film.”
More impressions in the gallery
The big goal
Those responsible explain that the film was ultimately created out of the frustration of many actors in the film industry. According to this, almost no “tangible” action is shot in Germany, especially not in a sci-fi setting. In addition, you just wanted to do something of your own again. Even if the plot is set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, the story is of course completely detached from the actions and stories of the game.
In addition, it was extremely important to the project managers to give talented people the space to work together with those with industrial experience and to get to know nice people. In the end, however, there is also an interest in getting attention through the “Phoenix Program”, admit Vi-Dan Tran and Ben Bergmann. “Anything else would not be honest,” they explain. This has already been successful, as can be seen, for example, in the short film “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: The Hunt”, which was created for Ubisoft.
Ultimately, however, it is a film made by film and video game lovers for exactly the same target group. The film should both entertain and set an example: If you dare to dream, have a clear goal and don’t give up, then you can do anything. Poetic words at the end and before the film starts.
Cyberpunk 2077 – Phoenix Program (Johnny Silverhand Fan Film)
The “Phoenix Program” titled fan film about Johnny Silverhand has now received over 269,000 views on YouTube and has received extremely positive feedback. The next time you have 40 minutes left and are interested in cyberpunk, you should definitely invest this time here:
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