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Film Description: In the year 5000, Earth’s army is flattened by a hostile alien force. With General Zach (Zach Tibor) being one of the few remaining solider’s on Earth, he risks his life by using an experimental time machine to go back in time. His mission is to find the two fabled alien hunters, Chad (Chad Troftgruben) and Nate (Nate Kostelecky). With their help, Earth’s future may have a hope. Film History: This is one movie I have been dying to write about for a while now. This movie is many good things rolled into one big sloppy piece of garbage. As some of you may have guessed, this movie is part of the infamous Aliens series created by Nate Kostelecky and myself (Chad Troftgruben). But why is this one labeled Chapter 1 when there’s another Chapter 1 (Aliens- Chapter 1: The Alien Base) in the series? This movie was supposed to be a prequel to the entire series, but since it had no solid plot, it just didn’t turn out that way. First of all, when Nate Kostelecky, Zach Tibor and I decided to make a movie, I suggested the prequel idea to the Aliens series. Nate and Zach seemed to like the idea and I explained how I think the plot should go. My idea was that in the distant future, Earth is crushed due to a hostile alien invasion. This invasion started in the late 20th century (which is why in the other three “sequel movies”, Chad and Nate fight aliens). But in the third movie in the “sequel series”, Chad and Nate are cryogenically frozen and unthawed in the distant future to defend the future (I know, it’s a stupid idea, but that’s what Aliens- Chapter 3: Alien Apocalypse was all about). Since Chad and Nate were taken out of action to be preserved for later, the Aliens marched in and their forces increased. If Chad and Nate were never frozen, chances are they would have been able to keep fighting the aliens, and prevent the huge invasion in the year 5000, which almost destroys Earth (I think in the year 5000 we should be worrying about global warming killing us and not aliens, but that’s an argument for another day). So that’s why General Zach comes back in time, to prevent Chad and Nate from getting frozen. Phew, did you get all that? Well, Zach and Nate didn’t. I don’t blame Nate and Zach for the quality of this movie. It was just a bunch of miscommunication on our part. Because during the movie, Zach came up with an idea on how he thought the plot should be. Between his dialogue and mine, the movie made absolutely no sense. We were both thinking of two separate plots and the result was endless talking scenes, bad camera angles, and a long drug out story that had absolutely no substance. See, I should mention that during this time, we didn’t bother to write scripts. Why? Laziness. And we also thought not writing scripts made the movies feel more natural. But it just made our movies shitty instead. But wait! I said that this movie was “many good things rolled into one big sloppy piece of garbage”. So what are these good things? Well, let’s set aside the story and acting for a while. Believe it or not, if it weren’t for this movie, I probably wouldn’t be making films today. This was the first movie we specifically made to be digitally edited. I had just purchased my new editing software, ALAMDV, and was ready to try it out. This program allowed me to make simple digital effects (such as lasers, explosions, sparks, ect) with very little effort. When I first started to edit the movie and integrate these effects into the film, I was blown away. The scene where General Zach goes back in time is a piece I will never forget (it was the first scene I ever used a special effect in). The laser fight with the invisible army of aliens may suck by our standards today, but back in 2001, it was ground breaking. When this movie was finished and I recorded the final version onto tape, I knew this hobby would never be the same for me. It’s a hard feeling to describe, it was almost like subconsciously I knew I wanted to go into filmmaking for a career someday, but just couldn’t admit it until a few years later. When the movie was shown to our friends and family, the reaction was equally as impressive. And above all else, Nate, Zach and I had a blast filming the movie. It’s a time I wish I could go back to and experience again. This movie spawned a remake and two parodies (yes, we parody ourselves). This just proves how Aliens- Chapter 1: The War Begins has affected I.M. Independent. Hate it or love it, the memory of this movie will never die. Film Information: Title: Aliens- Chapter 1: The War Begins
Genre: Sci-Fi
Released: 2001
Available: I.M. Independent Productions Volume 4
Director: Chad Troftgruben, Nate Kostelecky, Zach Tibor
Writers: Chad Troftgruben, Nate Kostelecky, Zach Tibor
Cast and Crew: Zach Tibor as General Zach
Chad Troftgruben as Chad
Nate Kostelecky as Nate Videos: 
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