This August, “Rocket Man and the Aerial Fortress,” the fourth installment in a series called “The Adventures of Rocket Man,” will premiere. The movie was co-written, directed and produced by Bellevue College’s own Michael Korolenko, a film and communications teacher as well as the film club adviser at the school. In addition to Korolenko, several people have been a part of “Rocket Man” since the beginning, this includes Wade Chitwood, who has worked on special effects, acted, directed, co-written and produced throughout thee series, and Rob Mullin, who has played Rocket Man in every film.
“The Adventures of Rocket Man” is a series featuring the protagonist Rocket Man and his many adventures in battling evil. The first film was made in 2002 and after its success at various film festivals, two more installments were made in 2005 and 2007. The saga has shown Rocket Man travelling into both the past and the future as well as starring in a musical.
“Rocket Man and the Aerial Fortress” is the newest addition and has Rocket Man travelling once more into the past to the year 1918. This time, however, Rocket Man is transported into an alternate, steampunk reality where America is attacked by a Prussian air ship. As Rocket Man is the only one with the technology to access the ship, it is up to him to save America.
The “Rocket Man” series is particularly unique because of the strong participation of the BC community. “It’s very much a Bellevue College project.The school was extremely helpful,” Korolenko said, citing help from the drama department, Advanced Track and several BC instructors. In addition, all of the films had BC students helping. “Rocket Man and the Aerial Fortress” in particular had about 12 students that were constantly on set; Korolenko said that “for some of them it’s like being thrown into the deep part of the pool not knowing how to swim so it was a challenge [but] they were so professional, they took their jobs so seriously. They were wonderful to work with.”
The cast and crew for “Rocket Man and the Aerial Fortress” was a mixture of professionals and students. Students helped in every department including makeup and scoring the music for the film. The film itself used a green screen and was shot in various places in the Seattle area.
“Rocket Man and the Aerial Fortress” will screen at 1:30 p.m. on August 10, 2013 at the Roxy Theater in Renton. Tickets are free and can be obtained and printed out at http://rocketmanhq.eventbrite.com/.