Here’s a few Star Wars-related goodies, and unusually, two of ‘em are musically inclined….
MANDALORIAN DANCE
This 51-second flick, Mandalorian Dance, has been out for a little over a month, and I’ve been meaning to post it—a stop-motion animation fan film featuring Boba Fett shakin’ it loose, Flashdance-style. Made by Patrick Boivin, this had me cracking up, plus it actually builds to an ending.
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There’s nothing like a massive, runaway blockbuster film to inspire tributes from fans. Sometimes they’re pretty stupid, and other times, they’re just cool.
Take, for instance, Silent Shadow of the Bat-Man—a retro, 1920s Dark Knight short, made from editing together a slew of vintage silent films, such as The Bat (1926), The Man Who Laughs (1928), The Cabinet Of Doctor Caligari (1920); Edison’s Frankenstein (1910), The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (1910), and a tad of the sound-era Batman serials from 1943. Read the rest of this entry »
Remember that incredible Star Wars fan film set I wrote about the other week? Here’s the software equivalent: Folks, the Star Wars Title Sequence Generator is a steaming hot plate of awesome! I like this thing so much, I actually debated whether to write about it, ’cause I selfishly wanted to keep it secret and use it on the fan film I daydream about making someday. There’s no way it’ll stay under the radar for long though—this thing is just too cool—so it’s time to spill the beans.
SWTSG is Mac-only freeware by Darel Rex Finley that does exactly what the name implies: It lets you create an opening sequence for your fan film that will mirror the beginning of the Star Wars movies. Now, you might say, “Big deal; even iMovie can do text like the opening crawls. So what?” Buddy, that ain’t half of it. This program replicates all of the openings! Read the rest of this entry »
It’s every fan filmmaker’s dream these days—make a flick that’s got that extra spark, that certain something that makes it blow up, going from a little video shared with your friends, to the next multi-million-view hit on YouTube. How do you get there? Well, a lot of friends and some software to game the page counts are probably a good start, but if you’re a fine, upstanding citizen (and of course you are, right? Yeah, me neither), you’ll want to take the high road.
As you’re sweating it out on that hike, perhaps you’ll want to take a look at a new book (and it’s not even mine!): 15 Minutes of Fame: Becoming a Star in the YouTube Revolution by professor/producer Frederick Levy. Read the rest of this entry »
The popular The Dark Knight Project fan film keeps on keepin’ on. Regular FCT readers may recall the flick as the one shot on the same Chicago streets that appeared in the feature films as parts of Gotham. As a result, the flick has the look cold, aided by sweet props like a Gotham City Police car used in the features. The flick was made entirely before The Dark Knight hit theaters; based on hints of plot released on the official movie’s website, the fan tribute was written so that it could fit into the features’ timeline. Read the rest of this entry »
Mike O’Hearn, who I’ve written about a few times, appears as “Titan” on NBC’s American Gladiators, but fan film fans know him as Superman from Sandy Collora’s World’s Finest faux trailer fan film from 2004. Now Slashfilm has reported that O’Hearn is in the running for big-screen reboots of Conan The Barbarian and Captain America.
While the news has lit up the comic book blogosphere, somehow I doubt that it’s going to happen. Respectfully, I’d think that if the Hollywood machine was in motion to cast the guy, they wouldn’t want him blabbing all over the place until they formally announced the various films—much less to a radio show in Omaha, Nebraska, which is where O’Hearn reputedly spilled the beans. Read the rest of this entry »
Everyone has a talent in this life, even the people you can’t stand (they have a knack for pissing you off, after all). Movie fan Bob Dullam’s special talent, on the other hand, is to make your jaw drop, and if you don’t believe it, consider this: He built that Dark Knight Batmobile (AKA The Tumbler) in the photo there. By hand. By himself. Without a kit or blueprints. And it’s drivable. Dude, this thing belongs in a fan film.
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Lots of fan films say they’ve been “long awaited,” but this one means it: The Italian video game tribute, Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy, has been in the works since 2002. The team behind the effort had promised this summer would finally see the release of the first installment in a planned trilogy; with one major scene still slated to be shot, however, now it appears the fan production will tenatively bow next winter. Read the rest of this entry »
This is one of those ‘you gotta see it to believe it’ situations. The German Star Wars fan film, Tydirium, has been in on-again / off-again production for years, keeping such a low profile that most fan film fans thought the project had been abandoned. Nope—instead, the filmmakers were building a massive set: the interior of a Star Destroyer. The results are nothing short of phenomenal. Read the rest of this entry »
American mass-entertainment has a stranglehold on fan films. I mean, amateur tribute flicks are made all over the world, as noted just the other day when I wrote about the Australian fan flick Suburban Knights, but generally, if a franchise is getting a homemade rendition from a fan, odds are that it’s an American franchise…unless you’re talking about Doctor Who.
While the long-running BBC show has a presence in the U.S. on SciFi Channel and has a legion of followers in this country, Doctor Who is an undeniably English creation, and simply doesn’t have the following in the U.S. that, say, Battlestar Galactica does (or even my late, lamented pet series, Journeyman). It’s ironic then, that due to that gap of awareness, most U.S. fan film followers don’t realize that Dr. Who is the subject of more fan films than any other franchise except for Star Wars. So then—where to enter the world of the legendary show’s fan films? Read the rest of this entry »
Clive is the author of
Homemade Hollywood:
Fans Behind The Camera,
the first book about fan films.
He also wrote Crank It Up,
a book for aspiring roadies.
Clive's Personal Site:
www.cliveyoung.com
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