Trendsurfing: Fan films (The Times Magazine)
By David Rowan
If you don't fancy sitting through the latest Star Wars movie, here's a newly fashionable alternative: make your own. Amateur films that pay homage to big-screen blockbusters have suddenly become a mainstream entertainment phenomenon, with millions downloading them from the internet and special screenings being held at Cannes. As digital cameras and editing software become cheaper, home-made tribute movies are moving from the geekish fringes to become a popular creative hobby. Lacking the budget of a George Lucas epic, directors are making do with imagination, humour, and the charm to persuade their collaborators to give their time freely. And don't tell Lucas, but the best are winning far greater critical acclaim than Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
The genre is known as the fan film, and it goes far wider than Star Wars. With a broadband connection and a free afternoon, you can enjoy polished home-grown remakes of The Matrix, Star Trek, Tomb Raider and Doctor Who. But, ever since a 13-minute parody called Hardware Wars emerged in 1977, Star Wars has been the fans' main focus. There is now a gangsta rap version, as well as Sith Apprentice, in which Darth Vader assumes the Alan Sugar role. One fan film site, theforce.net, currently lists 89 hit titles, from Matrix Jedi to Beer Wars. And as long as they don't make money, Lucas seems happy.
But in recent weeks an extraordinary 40-minute fan film has brought the trend to wider attention. Since it went online on April 16, a home-made movie called Star Wars: Revelations has been downloaded a remarkable three million times, with critics gasping over its special effects, from spacecraft chases to lightsaber duels. As word spread, a million people watched it in the first week alone, according to director Shane Felux, a 33-year-old graphic artist living in Virginia. "This is as close as you get to the real-deal Star Wars - minus the big money, of course, and Uncle George's involvement," he says proudly.
Felux, the father of two young children, spent three years making the film, which you can find on his website, panicstruckpro.com. "I'd come home from work each night, maybe eat and pat the kids on the head, and then work till 3am," he says. It cost him around $20,000, most of which went on a new computer, a digital video camera, and enough new hard drives to edit around a terabyte of data. "You can't replace the money or talent of a big-studio film," Felux reflects, "but fan film is undergoing enormous growth because of the speed at which the technology is advancing and becoming more affordable. Film-making used to be restricted to the elites in the major studios, but now all you need is your home computer and an editing package."
The internet also played a central role. Felux used it to recruit his volunteer actors, to liaise with a special-effects team stretching from Britain to Australia, and to co-ordinate location shoots which involved up to 180 people at a time. "It's about living a childhood dream," he says.
Still, isn't he secretly hoping that Hollywood will come calling? "If it can be a springboard to making an original movie, then great," he says. "But I'm not holding my breath. We're still a bunch of nobodies."
(The Times Magazine, June 11 2005)
. . . AND READ MORE TRENDSURFING COLUMNS HERE . . .
If you don't fancy sitting through the latest Star Wars movie, here's a newly fashionable alternative: make your own. Amateur films that pay homage to big-screen blockbusters have suddenly become a mainstream entertainment phenomenon, with millions downloading them from the internet and special screenings being held at Cannes. As digital cameras and editing software become cheaper, home-made tribute movies are moving from the geekish fringes to become a popular creative hobby. Lacking the budget of a George Lucas epic, directors are making do with imagination, humour, and the charm to persuade their collaborators to give their time freely. And don't tell Lucas, but the best are winning far greater critical acclaim than Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
The genre is known as the fan film, and it goes far wider than Star Wars. With a broadband connection and a free afternoon, you can enjoy polished home-grown remakes of The Matrix, Star Trek, Tomb Raider and Doctor Who. But, ever since a 13-minute parody called Hardware Wars emerged in 1977, Star Wars has been the fans' main focus. There is now a gangsta rap version, as well as Sith Apprentice, in which Darth Vader assumes the Alan Sugar role. One fan film site, theforce.net, currently lists 89 hit titles, from Matrix Jedi to Beer Wars. And as long as they don't make money, Lucas seems happy.
But in recent weeks an extraordinary 40-minute fan film has brought the trend to wider attention. Since it went online on April 16, a home-made movie called Star Wars: Revelations has been downloaded a remarkable three million times, with critics gasping over its special effects, from spacecraft chases to lightsaber duels. As word spread, a million people watched it in the first week alone, according to director Shane Felux, a 33-year-old graphic artist living in Virginia. "This is as close as you get to the real-deal Star Wars - minus the big money, of course, and Uncle George's involvement," he says proudly.
Felux, the father of two young children, spent three years making the film, which you can find on his website, panicstruckpro.com. "I'd come home from work each night, maybe eat and pat the kids on the head, and then work till 3am," he says. It cost him around $20,000, most of which went on a new computer, a digital video camera, and enough new hard drives to edit around a terabyte of data. "You can't replace the money or talent of a big-studio film," Felux reflects, "but fan film is undergoing enormous growth because of the speed at which the technology is advancing and becoming more affordable. Film-making used to be restricted to the elites in the major studios, but now all you need is your home computer and an editing package."
The internet also played a central role. Felux used it to recruit his volunteer actors, to liaise with a special-effects team stretching from Britain to Australia, and to co-ordinate location shoots which involved up to 180 people at a time. "It's about living a childhood dream," he says.
Still, isn't he secretly hoping that Hollywood will come calling? "If it can be a springboard to making an original movie, then great," he says. "But I'm not holding my breath. We're still a bunch of nobodies."
(The Times Magazine, June 11 2005)
. . . AND READ MORE TRENDSURFING COLUMNS HERE . . .
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