Steve Olander, Director of Photography (Cleveland)
Steve is a self-proclaimed movie nut, needing to know how it’s done, since he was 13. "I had to know how George Lucas did it in Star Wars." Thirty-one years later he is still into it; learning first about special effects and prop construction, then compositing techniques and then set construction, cinematography and film making in general has been his lifetime hobby.
He has built his own Star Wars replica props, most from the same origins as George Lucas’ people did, as well as building lightsabres out of 1930’s Graflex flashguns and an E-11 stormtrooper blaster out of British Sterling MK IV L2A3 submachine gun (demilitarized). You can’t get these kinds of replicas in any store. His latest prop is a 1:1 scale working replica of the Mad Max Interceptor as seen in the original Mad Max movie. He imported an Australian car of the kind used in the movie to do so in 2004! This is a work in progress.
In 1995 Steve decided to get into screenwriting. "I wrote my first story, a sci-fi horror/adventure story, without any knowledge of script format. I was at least going to get the story down. However, due to my compulsive hobby ambitions I moved on to yet another interest before learning script form at that time. I have one screenplay finished, registered, and copyrighted and I am presently marketing it. I have a website about it which you will find in the links. The site includes a short teaser I made myself. I am currently in production of a trailer that includes actual scenes from the script. This will be replacing the teaser when finished. I am in the first rewrite of another script. It’s a family oriented movie disguised as a car movie. " In 2009, he entered the Doritos “Crash The Superbowl” commercial contest. Though he didn’t make it to the Finals, people really loved the entry. The video, along with others, can be seen at his web link: The artworks of Steve Olander .
He has been into muscle cars since a teenager and this greatly influences his story ideas. Trained in Shaolin Su Kempo Karate, along with techniques from several other styles, for four years and martial arts. "This experience has changed me forever and also drove me to research Eastern culture and philosophies. It is also the basis for yet another script that is waiting to be written and I also have an off-the-wall comedy idea. I have studied stand-up comedians most of my life. Besides dissecting their performances I also read their books and also was a member of the first class of The Second City School of Improvisational Humor when they opened their Cleveland, Ohio location. I’ve written probably 50 pages of comedy material while finding what my voice is. In the meantime I didn’t even realize that it lay in the characters I created for fun in my daily life. One day I will be up on stage on an open mic night."
Steve is married to his "very tolerant wife Kim for 24 years this coming April. We have 3 children, one of each. Our son is the oldest at 23 years old, and we have two daughters, aged 18 and 20 with the 20 year old being a full time student at Bowling Green State University. I’ve lived in the same 25 mile radius in Northeast Ohio all my life. A friend of mine labeled me a compulsive hobbiest, and I believe this moniker fits me well. I am into fishing, backpacking, muscle car building, oil painting (sold a few), air brushing, created my own driftwood art, and many other assorted interests."
Steve became involved with Ghost Walk Productions to help create the upcoming Ghost Walk video trailer.
