What's your take on fan films?

Brian_Rice said:
he/she just needs to make something relatable and saleable.
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I think most people still limit their imagination to crappy Star Wars fan films (bit weird tbh... there's enough "lore" by now to make something superb even out of Star Wars).

But the qoute sums it up. In fact, it's *any day* easier to "sell" a fan film than ANY original idea -- because, there's no such thing as original ideas anymore. And if it is, those ideas never leave the local theatre festival screening.
 
LOL, currently working with the guys that did the Machinima stuff "The Codex". Very impressed, and changing my mind about "fan films".
 
But the qoute sums it up. In fact, it's *any day* easier to "sell" a fan film than ANY original idea -- because, there's no such thing as original ideas anymore. And if it is, those ideas never leave the local theatre festival screening.
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Dracula, Romeo & Juliet & any of the great works have all been remade countless times, some better than others. I'm sure at some point in the future a Star Wars fan film will be made and will stand on it's own as a great piece of work.
Actually thinking about it, Star Wars itself is a fan film. It threw together Saturday morning cinema series with the great mythological sagas and worked as something new.
 
how could you put romeo & juliet, dracula and star wars on the same level?

an italian tale, an exaggerated myth, and a scifi adventure, that's a very slippery slop. you may find the prequels or transformers series at the end of that decline.
 
I should become a fan of one of my own films. Then make a fan film of that film... oh, wait... that's called a sequel... :Drogar-KnockedOut(D

Kholi said:
: I am in the YES camp, in fact... I am in a "you had better do one" camp.

I wouldn't spend more than 1K on an original short film, but I would spend 10-15K on a good fan film without batting an eye, if I had the money.

The internet's a vastly different place than it was three years ago, and thanks to the fans people are getting green lit left and right.

Take the portal fan film here (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-Z3UBA&usg=AFQjCNEl2SExSepDA63qs7WwSQgl2Z-yEA) -- these guys did this and it's not terrible, but it's a one location deal for the most part and pretty tame.

Thanks to that, he's now doing his original feature not-based-on Portal with a major studio backing: http://www.slashfilm.com/portal-esc...ct-scifi-heist-movie-crime-century-universal/

IMO, the problem with doing your own original short even if it IS this cool is that without the name, it doesn't travel. And the gatekeepers (major film blogs) won't even bother for the most part if you aren't already someone with accolades or have whiffed some sort of success.

I've been DYING to do a fan film, and if I could raise the money to do one now I'd be spending my time doing that instead of a feature. My thought, though, would be to take on something that no one else has done before and bring it to that fan sector.

Yes on fan films.
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+1

Martin Oller said:
...there's no such thing as original ideas anymore. And if it is, those ideas never leave the local theatre festival screening.
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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Memento, Transsiberian, A Serious Man, Inception, 21 Grams, Buried, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Jacket, The Man Who Wasn't There, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Dark City, The Prestige, A Scanner Darkly, The Darjeeling Limited, Four Lions, O Brother Where Art, The Sunset Limited, The Final Cut, Rendition, Primer, The International, The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Henry Poole Is Here, The King's Speech... those are pretty original.
 
Kholi said:
Take the portal fan film here (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-Z3UBA&usg=AFQjCNEl2SExSepDA63qs7WwSQgl2Z-yEA) -- these guys did this and it's not terrible, but it's a one location deal for the most part and pretty tame.

Thanks to that, he's now doing his original feature not-based-on Portal with a major studio backing: http://www.slashfilm.com/portal-esc...ct-scifi-heist-movie-crime-century-universal/
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I absolutely agree that a fan film can help generate views simply based off of its source material rather than doing your own original. And I don't think this was part of your point, Kholi, but I feel like it needs to be pointed out that Dan Trachtenberg is not exactly an unknown (just like Kevin Tancharoen from the Mortal Kombat short). I knew of him before Portal and while his IMDB resume is slim, he apparently has been busy directing commercials as well. There's also Sandy Collora (Batman: Dead End and World's Finest) and John Fiorella (Grayson) who apparently haven't been able to turn their online fan films into something bigger. And, as an antithesis, there's Neill Blomkamp, whose original shorts landed him a budget for District 9.

It's tricky. You never know what will carry you to the next level, and the only sure thing in life is that there isn't any "sure things". Still, an interesting discussion.
 
Gary Huff said:
I absolutely agree that a fan film can help generate views simply based off of its source material rather than doing your own original. And I don't think this was part of your point, Kholi, but I feel like it needs to be pointed out that Dan Trachtenberg is not exactly an unknown (just like Kevin Tancharoen from the Mortal Kombat short). I knew of him before Portal and while his IMDB resume is slim, he apparently has been busy directing commercials as well. There's also Sandy Collora (Batman: Dead End and World's Finest) and John Fiorella (Grayson) who apparently haven't been able to turn their online fan films into something bigger. And, as an antithesis, there's Neill Blomkamp, whose original shorts landed him a budget for District 9.

It's tricky. You never know what will carry you to the next level, and the only sure thing in life is that there isn't any "sure things". Still, an interesting discussion.
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Yeah, I know Trachtenberg had a little show going, etc. I know they aren't unknowns, but you can see the projects that pushed them into the area where they could begin to really see some progress in their careers.

That's mostly what I meant.

At a time like now, for me, it's a good move to make. However, I'm broke. :D
 
kylevant said:
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Memento, Transsiberian, A Serious Man, Inception, 21 Grams, Buried, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Jacket, The Man Who Wasn't There, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Dark City, The Prestige, A Scanner Darkly, The Darjeeling Limited, Four Lions, O Brother Where Art, The Sunset Limited, The Final Cut, Rendition, Primer, The International, The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Henry Poole Is Here, The King's Speech... those are pretty original.
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Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Sunset Limited, A Scanner Darkly and The King's Speech are based on either past works or, in the last case, a true story (with liberties).

The marketing advantages of fan films are obvious, and to say that creating a work within someone else's world is low level writing is a major insult to every television writer out there and most film writers who aren't selling on spec. It's still your story, and there is a lot more to writing and producing than creating a unique world. There seems to be a sense that fan films are just rehashing things that have already been done, but they aren't. The point of a fan film, properly done, is to take an existing franchise in a direction that hasn't been done, creating an original story. Not a remake.

Even if it were a remake, we should be able to respect the work that goes into production as creative and effective regardless of the originally inspiration.

Personally, I'm looking into creating a high end fan film for a certain franchise that no longer has new material being created and probably never will. The sizable fan base wants to see something, as do I, and there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. And in response to Kholi's post, there's more than a marketing advantage. Excited fans can really help with being broke, both through donations and passionate crew members who are excited as you are to be working on something they love just for the sake of doing it.
 
Cassius said:
Personally, I'm looking into creating a high end fan film for a certain franchise that no longer has new material being created and probably never will. The sizable fan base wants to see something, as do I, and there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. And in response to Kholi's post, there's more than a marketing advantage. Excited fans can really help with being broke, both through donations and passionate crew members who are excited as you are to be working on something they love just for the sake of doing it.
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I'm afraid to kickstart a fundraiser for a fan film. I don't think we would have much success with copyright holders like the RED VS BLUE guys did. =[
 
Jawa Ex Machina said:
Did you contact Lucasfilm to get permission to show it theatrically? What were the conditions of that?
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Yeah, I know some of the Lucasfilm guys, cause I shot and directed the opening film of the European Star Wars convention - so I had a door opener.
Actually I don´t know much about the conditions, would have to ask the producer if you are interested.

Frank
 
Cassius said:
Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Sunset Limited, A Scanner Darkly and The King's Speech are based on either past works or, in the last case, a true story (with liberties).
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You're right on that! I actually just went through my list of favorite films and tried to pick the most modern, most original ones I could find. Those ended up in there. But my point remains, there is original content still getting distribution.

Kholi said:
I'm afraid to kickstart a fundraiser for a fan film. I don't think we would have much success with copyright holders like the RED VS BLUE guys did. =[
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The Fallout Web Series guys raised nearly $30k. Now they're big buddies with the game developers... how long that will last remains to be seen (until the legal department has a fit?).
 
kylevant said:
You're right on that! I actually just went through my list of favorite films and tried to pick the most modern, most original ones I could find. Those ended up in there. But my point remains, there is original content still getting distribution.



The Fallout Web Series guys raised nearly $30k. Now they're big buddies with the game developers... how long that will last remains to be seen (until the legal department has a fit?).
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Guess you don't know til you try, right? Feels like the most you'll get is a cease and desist. Slap on the wrist.
 
It seems like a better option to send a small amount of money to some talented individuals to make professional-looking short films for your video game IP, rather then send it to Hollywood where it will get completely butchered and do next to nothing for that brand.
 
Gary Huff said:
It seems like a better option to send a small amount of money to some talented individuals to make professional-looking short films for your video game IP, rather then send it to Hollywood where it will get completely butchered and do next to nothing for that brand.
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+1 We all dream...
 
Brian_Rice said:
To me, unless you are specifcally trying to raise funds to make a feature length version of your short, the *only* kind of short film a person should make is a fan film. Fan films are what short films used to exist for back when all we had was film to make them. Now that everyone everywhere can make a movie with their iPhone, it's imperative that all of your hard, professional work not go unnoticed. That's why fan films are the only thing that make sense anymore. No one I know outside of the indie community watches short films online or off. Everyone I know has watched at least one fan film. It's *that* dramatic.

Also, nearly every big property has given the okay for fan films. Star Wars, Star Trek, DC, Marvel, Capcom, etc. Most even have stand alone competitions for fan films. There's no such thing as "too good". Check out Bat in the Sun's last two fan films.

Creator-owned short films are pointless in this enviornment unless they apply to the above stipulation. Whatever you were going to do in your short film can be applied to a fan film.
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I tend to agree with that because really the only people who watches short films are 'film' people. Whether it's a aspiring filmmaker, film students etc. If you make an original short film it's because you want to show it to other filmmakers, but a fanfilm will get you 'real' people to watch it.
 
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