Student Merges Engineering and Art in Sci-fi Film
A chat with student engineer, film director Crew Parker
May, 15, 2024 - Mechanical engineering senior Crew Parker is heading to Lucasfilm after he graduates. This month, he hosts the premiere of Meridian, a 35-minute sci-fi film he wrote, filmed and directed. Most of the cast are UC Irvine engineering students. He believes the arts and engineering are closely connected.
How did you start in film?
Since I was little, I’ve been stealing my parents’ cameras and breaking them. I started writing my film in the 5th grade with my friends and we never stopped writing it.
Tell me about your upcoming sci-fi short film Meridian.
The story can be understood by imagining if Luke Skywalker took over the Empire after Emperor Palpatine. The moral question is: can even the most well-intentioned person hold that much power?
We’ve been producing it for two and a half years and it premieres on May 26 (ISEB 1010, 5pm). There are 50-100 UCI students involved, and most are engineering students. We’re talking with Amazon and Netflix. We have enough content for a three-season arc.
Why did you major in mechanical engineering?
It’s so widely applicable. I have too many interests. It leaves the door open for me to pursue any of them.
How did mechanical engineering help your pursuits in film?
Filmmaking is a lot of problem solving especially in sci-fi. Someone hands you a script and you need to come up with technology to make it happen. Mechanical engineering is at its core problem solving.
What’s the relationship between the arts and engineering?
I think they’re directly correlated. I think engineering requires the utmost creativity. To think of something abstract that’s never been solved before requires a lot of that creativity. Most of my peers in engineering also have a passion for some form of artistic expression.
Why did you want to participate in E-Sonic, the upcoming UCI competition to invent new musical instruments?
I’m all for Dean Magnus’s push to show that there is, in fact, so much creativity in the world of engineering. I felt that this competition was a great way to show the inventive, creative side of our engineering department. (RSVP here for E-Sonic, the free event on May 20.)
How did you get your internships at Disney and Lucasfilm?
At Disney, I worked as a production assistant on film sets. While I was doing it, I made sure to talk with everyone in the room and made sure they knew my name. I followed up on LinkedIn and asked them who they knew until I got where I wanted to be.
What’s your dream job?
In June, I’m heading to Lucasfilm in San Francisco for an internship to help manage the canon of Star Wars video assets. My dream is to be a director of a feature-length film.
Why do you love Star Wars?
I just love that there’s so much freedom in creating the stories that the technology will always be catching up, so whenever a new story is written, a new technology is developed.
– Natalie Tso
