Fan Films

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

I have noticed lately that the "Role playing and fan fiction/ films" thread, almost has no threads about FAN FILMS. So to any fans of fanfilms out there, LETS WAKE UP !!!! :eek:

There is discusion about everything on this board, except fanfilms. It seems like it has died down or something. Maybe it was never alive, but lets resurrect it!

So has anyone seen or heard of any good fanfilms coming out soon?

Recently I have watched Duality, part of Broken Allegiance, Duel of the Fakes, part of Essence of the Force, and part of The Dark Redemption.

You can find Duality at http://www.crewoftwo.com/
All the others I listed can be found at http://www.theforce.net/theater/

Personally I want to share info about these wonderful creations because none of my freinds are interested. So I thought that maybe I could find some fellow fanatics here.

So lets start talking! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/scratchchin.gif :saber: :grouphug:

[Nathan Butler]

I think part of the lack of Fan Film discussion comes from a combination of two things.

1.) Neither StarWarz nor JediNet are considered places to look for Fan Films. Legacy is generally considered a "big name," but it's dead now. Second Strike is considered the major audio drama project in the genre right now, but we get most of our traffic and interest more from people who follow me and/or Chris Hanel to the site from our other work away from the site. The Fandom Menace is here, but also at TFN Fan Films. Silent But Deadly is here, but also at AtomFilms. There's just nothing to really draw people to our Fan Film board at the moment.

2.) Coming soon: There are several major ones still in the works. Prelude to Hope is in the final music composition stages. Way of the Force is MIA, but out there somewhere. A Rising Threat is in post-production. And there are several fan audio dramas in the works, including Second Strike, Resurrection, Rise of Nobility, and JediEd.

3.) Duality was pretty good. I had a major falling out with Mark Thomas, one of the two guys behind it, but Dave's calmed to the point where he's not being considered a part of Mark's idiocy anymore. If you liked the film, you might check out their earlier work in Duel.

4.) Broken Allegiance is, hands down, my favorite in-universe SW Fan Film. I was lucky enough to have been able to be the guest on Digital Llama Radio when they reviewed the film.

5.) Duel of the Fakes was okay, but I've never been much into cheesy parodies. If you liked it, you might check out the first episode in the series, PA Wars.

6.) Essence of the Force was great for its production values, but it simply utilized the same gag that Legacy of the Jedi pioneered. In that sense, I was disappointed.

7.) The Dark Redemption is one of my old favorites. Its Mara was better than Baska, in my opinion, and it was nice to see an actual ANH actor back to reprise his role. However, it was also one of the first to get a C&D from Lucasfilm, and one of the prime examples of TFN and certain portions of the fan community thumbing their noses at some of LFL's decrees.

8.) If you're really interested in the films, you might be interested in this . . .

The fan film community is growing exponentially, but the ability of fan film makers to share their work is drowning in a sea of slow or overloaded servers, lack of free server space, and so on. TFN Fan Films, for instance, has had server problems to extremes. In order to fix this problem, several of us, mainly led by me, Chris Hanel, and a few others, are working to create a SW Fan Film peer-to-peer file sharing network. I just purchased a 120 GB external hard drive this weekend specifically for the purpose of acting as a definitive fan film library for such a P2P network.

However, right now, we are limited in how we can do this. We can do so through AOL's Instant Messenger file sharing ability. We could use Kazaa, but not make it a community-based setup. Our best bet, the thing we really thing would work quite well, is Direct Connect.

However, we have yet to find anyone with the server space and willingness to run a DC hub on their server. I have tried to set one up off of my own computer to no avail. I have spoken to T'Bone from StarWarz and Jeff Yankey from TFN Fan Films both, and neither have the resources to spare.

So, there is definitely a new sharing community that will be up and running soon to make sure that films can be found by those looking for them, regardless of server problems, but we don't know yet what form it will take. If you know anyone willing to run the hub, let me know.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Thank you for responding Nathan. I have now completly seen all the fan-films I have listed so far, and would like to make a few comments.

If you have not seen any fan-films and are wondering what we are talking about just head over to http://www.theforce.net/ . When you get there click on their "TFN FanFilms" link. I think you can handle it from there. I would suggest reading the story discription first, to see if you are interested in it.

Broken Alligiance-
Definately my favorite so far. They put a lot of work into this movie. Darth Vader looks and sounds real! The lightsaber fighting scene is a little slow, but still very good, it doesn't compare to the new Episodes, but is faster paced than the Classic Trilogy. Definately download this one.

Duality-
Not much of a story line, but if you are looking for a fast paced lightsaber fight, you have found yourself the right movie. They have an elaborate lightsaber fight all layed out with impressive moves. This is as fast as Episode 1, they aren't Ray Park, but they put up an ausome performance. I definately recommend this one.

Duel of the Fakes-
This is on the list of slightly comical slightly serious fan-films. It is rather corney in a few places, but they did do fairly well in setting up a fight sequence. This is not supposed to be a serious film at all, so if you are looking for seriousness don't look here. I enjoyed the lightsaber fighting in this film, not much else is really impressive, but I don't think anything else was supposed to be.

Essence of the Force-
Good effects... short but sweet lightsaber fight. Karate seemed to be the overriding theme in this film. Overall I liked it, but it was lacking something. I don't want to deture anyone from watching it, it was pretty good.

The Dark Redemption-
I give it an A for effort, but I was disapointed in this film. First off, the screenshot for the film wasn't even in it. Mara had a terrible green lightsaber (as far as effects go), it was advertised with a vibrant purple one. She only uses it for like 3 seconds. I just felt misleaded by this film. Stormtroopers are good, Boba Fett, aliens, Imperial uniforms, ships, etc.. are all good. The blaster, saber, and sound effects are terrible, and I know that probably has to due with the age of the film, but they were terrible. Like I said, A for effort, but I didn't care for this film.

There are many more fan-films there so check them out! Not to mention there are many more on the way, that look really good. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif

[Nathan Butler]

Okay, others to definitely check out now:

Knightquest
The Formula (my favorite parody)
Tripping the Rift
Troops
Millennium's End: The Fandom Menace
Legacy
Silent But Deadly
Star Wars MacBeth

You should also check out the Digital Llama Radio shows, especially after you see The Formula, Broken Allegiance, and Knightquest.

Also, if you get a chance, TFN has our Prelude to Hope trailers up, and there's a preview of our Second Strike audio drama on our page that is linked from the SWT-G's page in my sig.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Thanks Nathan.

The Jedi Hunter-
I have just watched this film today. It is twisted with "The Crocodile Hunter". It is hilarious, and has pretty good effects. Join Boba and Teri Fett, as they track and hunt down Jedi. If your looking for a laugh, download this fanfilm. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif

[RedMirax]

Silent But Deadly is very funny!!! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[Seanakin]

Gotta go with SBD here...

And not (only) because I think the T'Bone rocks. :look:

[Nathan Butler]

Swamprat: I got a chance to meet the Jedi Hunter creator, John Hudgens, last weekend. He and several others were at DragonCon. I ended up hanging out some with him, Chris Hanel (The Formula, Digital Llama Radio), and Tony Colucci (Sins of the Jedi). I saw Jedi Hunter for the first time on VHS in my living room. That was a fun evening.

Speaking of DLR, look for the next one to feature the segments the four of us recorded at dinner. Heh.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Wow, thats cool that you get to meet all these people Nathan. I will get around to those radio shows eventually, but right now I'm trying to hit the major movies. (Mostly)

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Maru-
This wasn't very creative. They stole, basically line for line, Luke and Obi-wan's dialogue from A New Hope, and Luke and the Emperors dialogue from Return of the Jedi. They quoted that and added their own fight sequence to those lines. It was ok, the lightsaber fighting was pretty good, and the acting was good. It was all to familiar already, and seemed a little underdramatic. I know people put a lot of work into this, but they could have got a bit more creative. See it though, it is a very small download, and if you don't like it, it won't have wasted very much of your time.

[Nathan Butler]

Swamprat: Read the "word from the director" for Maru. It'll make a lot more sense then. They were basically doing Maru as an effects test to show what such low-budget tools could do.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Alternate Lightsaber Duel-
I liked it a lot! It is short and sweet. It is about what might have happened if Dooku didn't hit Anakin at the beginning of the fight. I personally am trying to learn the art of the saber, so I can say that what the guy that plays Dooku does is very impresive and hard to master.

Challenge of the Sith-
This is long... ranking in at 47 minutes long. Overall it was good. I enjoyed the saber fights, and the storyline was excellant and had a good plot. The acting was very rugged sometimes, and they could have had some better props. However, I looked past the crued acting, some cheesy props, and saw an excellant movie. If you can do that you will enjoy it. I still want to know how they managed to film part of it on a submarine. You could see the torpedo tubes behind them in one shot, among other things.

PA Wars-
Good. Funny. It filled in a lot of things I was wondering about from the sequal (Dual of the Fakes), obviously. It wasn't as good as the sequal, but I think they were intended to be watched as one film, not juged independantly. This is a slightly funny fanfilm, so if you are looking for a serious film, this isn't what your looking for.

Knightquest-
Good, very good. Definately one you want to download. It has a nice storyline and plot. It feels more like a movie, than a regular fanfilm. Good effects, acting (minus a certain Jedi master), and an all around good fanfilm that ballances music, storyline, characters, authanticity, humor, and of course a lightsaber fight.

Crazy Watto-
Funny. It is like a commercial for Watto's business. It slightly bashes on Star Trek. Like I have said before, if your looking for serious... its not here either. Pretty good though.

Legacy of the Jedi-
Good effects. Nice location where it was filmed. Good, but short, lightsaber fight. However, the major "plot" twist at the end will throw you for a loop. Pretty good one though.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

In case anybody is still wondering what I am doing, I am posting reviews of the fanfilms. Kind of giving a second opinion on them, so people know if they might be interested in one. I wouldn't mind others opinions either, this is a "discusion forum" after all. However, it appears me and Nate are the only ones blabing in here, so feel free to jump in and add your 2 cents.

By the way, thanks Nathan for helping me keep this thing alive. If it weren't for you I would be in here talking to myself. Hopefully we can open the eyes of our fellow Star Wars fanatics, and get them to watch a few fanfilms. Thanx again. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif

[Brian]

I just watched Duel, Duality, and Crazy Watto.

Duel was short, but the light saber duel was good.

Duality had some nice special effects for amateurs and once again, had a good fighting sequence.

Crazy Watto was kind of funny. Makes me want to break out the toys again. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif

[Nathan Butler]

Swamprat: Hey, anything to keep the community alive. I've been part of it for about 5 years now, and I'd hate to see it die.

On a related note, there's a new preview scene (well, a revised one) of our Second Strike audio drama up now over at http://www.starwarz.com/timeline/2s but most people haven't realized it's up.

[Brian]

I just watched Broken Alliance and it was great! What kind of budget were they working with?

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>I just watched Broken Alliance and it was great! What kind of budget were they working with?[/b][/quote]

Yes Broken Allegiance was good. If you liked that one, you will like Knightquest as well. Since you liked Duality, I would also suggest "Alternate Lightsaber Duel." It is just a simple fight scene that is really nicely done, and if you have any background in sword play, you respect the guy that played Dooku's moves. Just some suggestions.
I don't know what kind of budget they had, but it had to be pretty expensive, unless it was all volunteer work, but I highly doubt that.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Troops-
This was set up, and shown like COPS. Except in this version you tag along with Imperial Stormtroopers, for a look at their day, and how they run things. It is funny, not by making jokes and things, but by instances that occur. Involved is an interpretation of events that occur during the beginning of A New Hope. Definately worth downloading, everything looks perfesionally done.

Two-ness-
This was making fun of Duality the entire time. A fan film that mocks another fan film, pathetic. It is the worst one I have seen by far, a total waist of bandwidth and my time, in my huble opinion. There were a few funny things, but not woth it, as far as I'm concerned.

The Formula-
This fan film was ausome. It was about a group of freinds making a fan film. Good acting, effects, Trekies, Matrix scenes, the works. One of my favorite fan films now. Definately download this one.

Bounty Trail-
This was ok. If you like comics you will probably go nuts over it. I'm not a big comic fan, but enjoyed it. Not a bad little movie. Boba Fett seemed to be presented very well, to me anyways.

Brains and Steel-
This movie is good. I liked it alot. There is a nice saber fight. Although the saber glows are about the only thing in the film that is Star Wars oriented. The movie explains where the story came from, and so on. The sword fighting is more fencing and "earth" based swordplay, you won't see much in the saber fighting that resembles much in SW, and to the untrained eye looks repetative and boreing. Let me tell you that what they are doing is hard, and much more complicated than it looks. Good movie though.

[Brian]

I have Knightquest, The Dark Redemption, PA Wars, and Duel of the Fakes downloaded, but I will have to watch them later.

Hey, this fan film thing is cool. Makes me want to try to make one. The only thing is, the bar is kind of raised high now, so a sucky film would.....suck.

[Nathan Butler]

Just do what we're doing now that me and Clear Concrete Productions are about done with Prelude to Hope and Chris and Digital Llama are done with The Formula: do an audio-only project.

[Martini]

i saw one fan film, and it was the worst thing i ever saw. i downloaded it off of Kazaa. i think it was between EP3 and EP4

[Nathan Butler]

That certainly narrows it down. The vast majority of fan films are either in that period or just after ANH.

So, out of several hundred films, one random one turns you off completely? I'm glad we as a society don't take that track with dating. One bad relationship and we'd all be single for life and the species would die off in a generation.

[Darth Vegas]

I've seen several fan films, and I must say some of them are pretty good (The essence of the force, Christmas Tauntauns are my favorites) but for the most part, they have not been that good, but most I have seen were really interesting.

But what do you expect for fan made films with such low budgets, and minimal resources? They cannot be perfect.

I have two films I wanna make:

Chewbacca: Intergalactic Wookie of Mystery, and Toy Wars, which is basically a Star Wars version of Toy Stpry with a Han Solo doll replacing Woody, and the Jango Fett ultimate villian doll replacing Buzz.

The whole thing is that the kid is obsessed with Star Wars, mostly the OT, but when AOTC comes out and he gets the Jango Fett doll for his birthday, the room suddenly changes from a Hal Solo theme, to a Jango Fett theme, and of course Han loses his spot.

Even though the budget is basically zero$, I know that they'll turn out just fine, thanks to computers and digital cameras.

[Nathan Butler]

One word of warning: A fan film *series* called Toy Wars already exists. Just so you know.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Well, I'm going to try to "resurrect" this thread again. It has been a long time since I have posted here. Last I checked I had over 3 gigs of fan films. So I have seen many. Too many to post reviews on them all, I lack that kind of motivation. Fan fic is dominating this part of the forum, so if anybody wants to discuss fan films, LETS CHAT!!! Any feedback is welcome.
I will post more later. I leave for vacation for a week, but I will be back, and see where this goes.
So anybody see any good FF (Fan Films) lately? style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/w00t.gif style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif

[Blizzard]

Yes... see my signature!

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Well, one responce, that is poopy. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/crying.gif Anyone into FanFilms at all???? Well this will bump it up at least. ANYBODY OUT THERE?!?!?!?!?!?!? style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blush.gif

[Nathan Butler]

I think when this board degenerated into RPing being the predominant activity, the true fan film fans fled.

[Blizzard]

Please forgive our members for having fun.

[Mann]

Originally posted by NathanButlerSWT@Jul 10 2003, 06:29 AM
I think when this board degenerated into RPing being the predominant activity, the true fan film fans fled.
i would hardly call it degernating to RP onthe internet.

[Nathan Butler]

By degenerate, I mean changiung from the intent. Look at the board title:

"Coruscant Theater: Fan Fiction & Films." When the board began, that was the intent--discussion of written fan fiction stories and fan films.

In fact, as those who were here may recall, back when the new combined GS started, we had a LOT (and by we I mean the mods, as I was one) of trouble trying to figure out what to do about threads there weren't so much "fan fiction" but "role playing." It was tossed around from board to board until it was finally decided that it might as well be left here on the "Fan Fiction" board rather than on the gaming board.

As soon as that happened, this board, in a matter of weeks, became something different, and, looking at the original intent, less than what it was intended to be. It went from "Fan Fiction and Fan Films" to "Fan Fiction, Written and RPed," which was not at all what the original intent had been.

Since then, the board has essentially "died" as a fan *film* discussion area. It has "shrunk" (hence the use of the word "degenerated," as in reverted to a smaller form than the original intent). Fan film threads die quickly, and many, particularly announcements about non-written fan projects end up with very few responses or even views.

Examples:

There's a thread for the audio drama "Doubts Cast" that I put up, as I know T likes for me to promote stuff from StarWarz here, even though it's not the main draw for the projects. How many responses did that thread get? None. How many views? One.

There are threads for Second Strike's last two acts. Number of responses total: 11, *all* of which are either me or Brien Bell, who is part of StarWarz/Timeline to begin with.

Then look at this very thread here. It's the *only* dedicated Fan Films thread aside from the release threads for Silent But Deadly, and it's had a grand total of under 30 posts in the span of nearly a year! And, frankly, until I pissed some RPers off, who was posting? Again, mostly just two people: me and Swamprat.

The board's name no longer matches the board's actual contents. I could create a message board called "Star Wars and Hulk Discussion," but if 99+% of that discussion is Star Wars and Hulk threads vanish without many people even bothering to read them, that's not a "Hulk" board in anything but name, just as this board is, at least as far as how the fan film community views it, only a fan film board in name, cerrtainly not in actuality.

*That* is why fan film makers and the fan film community in general does not tend to post here. The board has morphed far away from its original intent and become what should most rightly be called an RP gaming board, or at the very least, a Roleplaying Board, certainly not a "Fan Films" board. The two are so vastly different, and the balance here is so highly twisted toward RPing, that the fan film community doesn't even consider this board most of the time. It simply isn't a "fan film" board.

So, yes, it *has* "degenerated." It has changed into something lesser in scope and far less structured than its original intent before RPing was officially allowed on the board. Fan Films were the Native Americans here, and RPing became the Anglos. Now, fan films don't really have much of a place here, and the board is dominated by a group that originally was not meant to be on this board, but simply has no place else to go in the board's early days.

If that pisses some people off, that's, quite frankly, too bad. Truth hurts. It *has* changed, and it's *not* a fan film board anymore. Just how it is.

[Nathan Butler]

I should probably also note, though, that this is being worked on. The next time StarWarz goes through revamping, we'll probably see a much more stratified structure.

[T-bone]

Yes, everything's being taken care of and soon RPG will be in its own home. many changes are coming so stay tuned. Please note that Nathan did not mean in any way to imply anyone is a degenerate or anything like that.

I was also slightly insulted when I read "into" that but you have to look at the face value of what he said from HIS perspective and respect that.

Combining all the Fan stuff like fic, rpg (which i think is fic) and films and all this was an idea I had that I thought no one would mind but it seems that these "communities" get sort of offended when you mush them all together.

SO - I'm going to try to make this all right with everyone and separate them out soon. Audio will be featured as well.

Stay tuned and please do not attack Nathan. We talked and he does not hate these boards or anyone here. Don't read into what he said. Please remember, I call him Mr. Literal. Look up any words he uses in the dictionary style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

T

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

You made an excellent point Nathan. It is a shame that our fellow FanFilm friends have fled, but I don't blame them. I did as well, for a long time. Perhaps, later, when things get divided apart again, we shall have our FanFilm conversations. However, as for now, I see no point to keep "resurrecting" this thread. No offence, (and I did enjoy chatting with you), but I don't want to talk to JUST you about FanFilms alone. I greatly appreciate your input, and you kept me from talking to myself a lot. So, with patience, I will await that day when FanFilm'ers will emerge and have their discussions.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>the board has essentially "died" as a fan *film* discussion area.[/b][/quote]
style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/crying.gif

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'> Yes, everything's being taken care of and soon RPG will be in its own home. [/b][/quote]
style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsup.gif ............. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sly.gif

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>SO - I'm going to try to make this all right with everyone and separate them out soon.[/b][/quote]
I greatly await this day. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/satisfied.gif

LONG LIVE FANFILMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nathan Butler]

Don't forget "Fan Audio." You'll be seeing a lot of that with what's coming.

Ah, being cryptic is fun. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

Viva la fan audio, or whatever "fan audio" is in French!

[bluemilk]

congratulations to Jeff Cioletti & Lou Tambone on winning the Spirit of Fandom Award and Trey Stokes for winning the George Lucas Selects Award! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hehe.gif

[T-bone]

Hey thanks!

(There's an SBD thread, by the way style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif
hehe

[Nathan Butler]

Sonja, T, and me. The dream team. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif

Wait a sec....

::blinks::

I'm a mod again? I did not know that. heh

::looks at mod options panel and wonders if it's for one's own posts or all...been too long::

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! THE DAY HAS FINALLY COME!!!!!!!!!! Well, a few days ago, anyway. That was quicker than I thought it would be.

Hopefully more people will be attracted to this, and we can grow a fan base here.

I'm downloading some new Fan Films tonight, after this, I will speak of them later. I see one (Resurrection) features our own Nathan Butler. Although it looks to be a Fan audio, hummm.... it was in the Fan Film section under the announcements style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/scratchchin.gif ... oh well.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Ok, I saw (or heard) 3 new films a few days ago.
Resurrection (audio drama), pretty good. Very interesting plot, and some cool dialogue.

Batman:Dead End. Why the heck it was in the STAR WARS FANFILM SITE, I have no idea. It was good, but I thought it would tie to SW some how.

Ryan vs. Dorkman. My favorite of the 3 (no offense to certain parties). Although it lacked a storyline, plot, wardrobe, pretty much everything SW except the lightsabers, it had some kick butt saber action, especially for "amateurs". They do some neat stuff, and I have great respect for their abilities, since I have tried to learn the art of the saber myself. Definitely a good download. I just have one question though. Does anyone know why there is a second Ryan at the end that kills Dorkman? I understand WHAT happened, obviously, but why did they do that? I have a couple theories, but that is all they are. Anyone have any insight into that? I'm missing something. Everyone I have talked to about it so far, wonders the same thing. ???

[T-bone]

Swamp - why don't you start threads for each of these in the right areas and post your thoughts in them.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

Will do T. I just didn't know if it would be appropriate to create tons of different threads, for each individual one.