Ada Rising is a Resident Evil fan film by Anime Matsuri.  I had the opportunity to email director John Leigh and ask him about making a fan film and all the challenges that go with it!

  What inspired you to make a fan film?

I like to shoot, I try to shoot as much as I can when i get the time to do it. And I like Resident Evil. Between the games and the movies, there’s a lot of material out there, but I wanted a different take on it.

Is this your first fan film?

Yes :)

How did you find people to participate?

I called my friend Yaya Han who I knew had cosplayed Ada in the past and talked her her about the concept. She loved the idea and told me she was on-board from the get-go. Bryan T Brooks was also a good friend of mine with acting experience here in Houston was I thought would work in the film. Everyone else I just kinda asked nicely and hoped they would say yes.

What were some of the challenges you encountered during the creation of the film?

The greatest challenge in something like this is always managing the project. I wrote the script with my friends Nicole Hoo and Leon Keyes and we knew Yaya would be in town for a short period of time so we we were limited in time. We had to cut out a lot of scenes because of time constraints.

Tell us a little bit about the plot of Ada Rising.

It’s our take on how Ada became mixed up with Umbrella, her motivation, her drive. She gets double crossed on a prior mission and left for dead but is saved by Umbrella. In exchange, they ask her to work for them in tracking the same person who double crossed her.  She realized she has been injected with the t-virus, which is slowly taking over her body. She slowly follows the clues to find out what really happened to her and to find an antidote before it’s too late.

What advice would you give to anyone wishing to make their own fan film?

Just do it. Get some paper, write a story and shoot it. Don’t get overwhelmed or let anyone discourage you.

Where can people contact you or view more of your work?

animematsuri channel on youtube

Thank you so much for sharing your insights and time!  I look forward to seeing more of your work!