Fan Film, Fan Films

Fan Cinema Today To Close

2 | July 2nd, 2009 | Posted in Amazon, Analysis, Author, Books, Continuum Books, Dan Poole, Education, Fan Film, Filmmaking, George Lucas, Gray Areas, Hardware Wars, History, Homemade Hollywood, Libraries, Mainstream Media, News, Publishing, Review, Spider-Man, Star Wars, TV, The Green Goblin's Last Stand, Writing, science fiction

FAN CINEMA TODAY is calling it a day.

Since its debut in January, 2007, FCT has presented the latest news in the emerging international fan film community. Many—including myself—doubted that the site would even generate one story a week, but most of the time, it featured a new post every weekday, providing news, analysis, criticism, interviews and more.

Last month, FCT had its most readers ever, with more than 18,500 individual visitors combing its pages. For a niche blog, those are great numbers, achieved with no advertising and barely any promotion (only because I didn’t have time!). That means the site gained notoriety the old fashioned way: It earned it, hopefully due to fun topics and perhaps some decent writing along the way.

However, while the site’s growing success has been exciting to watch, it has come at a price, because FCT became far more work than I ever expected—indeed, far too much for a hobby that was supposed to be an occasional diversion. As a result, and after months of deep contemplation, I’m shuttering FCT as of today.

Thank you for reading Fan Cinema Today. I hope you found it worth your while. I appreciate the support of everyone who commented, suggested, criticized, laughed and contributed. You made this a vibrant place and I’m grateful for your help.

While there won’t be any new content, you can get your fan film fix by using the Search box on the site—there’s nearly 500 different posts on FCT, so there’s bound to be something here you never saw before. Also, I’m still be on Twitter () and please visit my own website, CliveYoung.com!

Since the blog is now over, here’s a going-away present:

hhsplash2

It’s summertime—time to hang out and take it easy. Whether you’re going to the beach or tying up the bathroom after a dozen BBQ chili dogs, you’re gonna need something to read. Naturally, I recommend the only book on fan films, Homemade Hollywood: Fans Behind The Camera, by me. And just in case you don’t actually own it, here’s the present:

THE HARDWARE WARS CHAPTER FROM HOMEMADE HOLLYWOOD!

Download it right now and discover:
• Why George Lucas calls it his favorite Star Wars parody of all-time!
• Why one of the filmmakers says Lucas is lying!
• How Oingo Boingo and Sesame Street influenced it!
• What happened when 20th Century Fox lawyers cornered the producer!
• How Francis Ford Coppola took the follow-up, Porklips Now! (Hint: Badly)
• And lots, lots more!

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you won’t kiss any bucks goodbye, ’cause it’s FREE!


If you like it, pick up Homemade Hollywood at your local bookstore, Amazon, or other highly esteemed outlets. All those rave reviews on the right side of the screen can’t be wrong; give it a shot and see for yourself. Think of it as my way of saying thanks for reading the blog.

All the best—Clive

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Ghostbusters Video Game Gives Fan Films A Shout Out!

0 | July 1st, 2009 | Posted in Amazon, Analysis, Fan Film, Filmmaking, Gray Areas, History, Horror Movies, Mainstream Media, Monster Movies, News, Public Screening, TV, Video Games, , ghostbusters, science fiction

The recent release of Ghostbusters: The Video Game for , , and has been a big hit. Most of that’s due to the reunion of almost all the original cast to provide voices for their CGI counterparts, with Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman; Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz; Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler; Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore; Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz (their receptionist); and William Atherton as Walter Peck (the jerk politician).

For fan film enthusiasts, however, there’s an additional perk to the game—a veiled reference to two popular Ghostbusters fan films: Freddy Vs. Ghostbusters (2003) and Return Of The Ghostbusters (2007), both produced by Hank Braxtan.

SEE THE REFERENCE, PLUS TRAILERS FOR RETURN OF THE GHOSTBUSTERS AND THE VIDEO GAME, AFTER THE JUMP! Read More »

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Get PAID to Work on a Halloween Fan Film!

1 | July 1st, 2009 | Posted in Fan Film, Filmmaking, Halloween, Horror Movies, Monster Movies, News

halloween homecoming fan film
is still putting the finishing touches on his first fan film, Halloween Homecoming, but he’s already hard at work on a sequel, Halloween: The Eyes of a Psychopath. In fact, he’s so gung ho about it that he plans to shell out bucks for a crew, according to a recent online ad.

SEE THE AD AND THE HALLOWEEN HOMECOMING TRAILER AFTER THE JUMP! Read More »

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Blinky Productions’ New Non-Fan Film: Adjusted

0 | June 30th, 2009 | Posted in Amazon, Author, Blinky Productions, Books, Comic Books, Continuum Books, Fan Film, Filmmaking, Gray Areas, History, Homemade Hollywood, Horror Movies, Mainstream Media, Monster Movies, News, Publishing, Superheroes, TV, Tawnya Manion, Uncategorized,

AdjustedChris Notarile of Blinky Productions is likely the most prolific fan filmmaker ever (as profiled in my book, Homemade Hollywood). While he’s well-known for his performances as (and for bringing us Tawnya Manion as ), not all his flicks are fan productions. In fact, Notarile’s latest movie, Adjusted, is an original horror short that was inspired by the last few minutes of Psycho II (yes, the sequel) after he caught the movie on TV recently.

When mild-mannered David Britman comes home to find his wife not only sleeping with another man, but packed and ready to leave him, it sends him on a downward spiral into delusion and madness. In the style of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Adjusted can be considered a modern-day noir thriller about love, lust and murder.

SEE ADJUSTED AFTER THE JUMP! Read More »

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Buy A Shirt, Feed A Fan Filmmaker!

0 | June 29th, 2009 | Posted in Fan Film, Filmmaking, Gray Areas, Mainstream Media, News, Review, Star Wars, TV, , stop motion animation

movietitlefonts

OK, filmmaker Adam Bertocci isn’t starving, although I don’t know that for sure (after all, he might’ve skipped a meal). Nonetheless, he’s always working on a new flick—sometimes it’s a fan film like Run Leia Run or Brooklyn Force; other times, it’s original work.

Raising cash to make those movies, he’s started MovieMakerMerch, a New Line of t-shirts that are of Universal, Paramount importance, for Fox sake (see what I did there?). They’re aimed at filmmakers, both pro and am, as well as fans, and they’re pretty cool.

The graphic above is from my favorite of the batch, but there’s plenty of others to choose from, so take a look (don’t forget to look for the special fan film design). And for the record, no, I don’t get a cut or a referal fee. Heck, I don’t even get a “I referred millions of readers to Bertocci and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” t-shirt (maybe just as well—little too meta there). Go look at his site before this post gets out of control.

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Michael Jackson Fan Film: Thriller…With Legos

0 | June 26th, 2009 | Posted in Fan Film, Filmmaking, Gray Areas, History, Horror Movies, Mainstream Media, Monster Movies, News, Review, TV, , science fiction, stop motion animation

With his passing yesterday, Michael Jackson left behind millions of saddened fans—and of course, where there’s fans, there’s fan films. As with most things connected to the self-proclaimed King of Pop, amateur tribute flicks devoted to him are as over-the-top as the man (in the mirror) himself.

Now, sure, there’s a lot that comment on his (ahem) troubled private life, but none of them can hold a candle to this shot-for-shot, stop-motion animated remake of the famous “Thriller” video, done entirely in Lego. Much like the original, the showstopper is the group zombie dance segment, but I gotta say, damn if a bunch of plastic bricks don’t make for a better actress than Ola Ray, too.


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G.I. Joe, Spider-Man Fan Films Get Great Graphics

0 | June 26th, 2009 | Posted in Amazon, Comic Books, Fan Film, Filmmaking, News, Spider-Man, Superheroes, TV, marvel comics, science fiction

Remember Jeff Hayes, the guy FCT called “The Chip Kidd of Fan Films” due to his magnificent poster work for various fan productions? He’s at it again, and has cooked up some sweet graphics for some flicks that recently appeared here on the site.

First up, a nifty poster for GI Joe: Battle for the Serpent Stone—a fan film that is coming out as part of the in July. It’s a major improvement over what they had before, and it gives the flick a graphic to match the production quality of the short itself.

GIJoe_BftSS_72dpi

Following that up is a poster for the feature-length Spider-Man flick, Peter’s Web, a fan film that’s the first in a series of nine movies that have been shot over the last two years.

peters_web_72dpi

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Raiders: The Adaptation Fan Film Comes Home Saturday

0 | June 25th, 2009 | Posted in Author, Books, Continuum Books, Fan Film, Filmmaking, George Lucas, Gray Areas, History, Homemade Hollywood, Indiana Jones, Mainstream Media, News, Public Screening, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg, TV,



Breathlessly ripped straight from the pages of the Blioxi-Gulfport Sun Herald:

A one-night-only public screening of the South Mississippi–shot fan-film phenomenon, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, will be [shown] 7 p.m. June 27 at the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center of Arts & Education in Ocean Springs.
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In 1982, three local boys, Eric Zala, Chris Strompolos and Jayson Lamb, were 12 years old when they set out to make their own shot-by-shot re-creation of Raiders of the Lost Ark. They finished in 1989. The director of the adaptation, Eric Zala, now the executive director of the Mary C., said the screening will be special because a few cast members who are still on the Coast will be there. Right after the film’s screening, Zala will hold a question-and-answer session and he has many funny stories, In August, Zala and Strompolos are being flown to Australia to screen their film in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
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Advance tickets to the Coast screening are $12 each at themaryc.org or 228-818-2878.

Of course, to get the entire, heartwarming, mind-boggling story behind the making of this cult classic, you should pick up my book on the history of fan films, Homemade Hollywood, which has an entire chapter devoted to the film!

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Go Green With The Shamelessly She-Hulk Fan Film!

0 | June 25th, 2009 | Posted in Analysis, Batman, Comic Books, Copyright, DC Comics, Fan Film, Filmmaking, Gray Areas, Iron Man, Mainstream Media, News, Spider-Man, Superheroes, Superman, , marvel comics, science fiction, stop motion animation

she hulk

Has there ever been a comic book character as patently ridiculous as Stan Lee’s She-Hulk? Her very invention pays tribute to the folly of spin-offs, because there’s just no reason for her to exist except to make money. Luckily, somewhere along the line, the people writing her stories decided they couldn’t take her seriously either, and she became an amusing, all-too-self-aware character.

Now fan filmmaker Garrett Gilchrist is making Shamelessly She-Hulk, an ambitious, feature-length fan film that sports not only Jennifer Walters (AKA She-Hulk), but also Spider-Man, The Punisher, Blade, Captain America, Iron Man, Superman, Batman, Black Widow and even an animated Howard The Duck—plus a shrink who’s THIS CLOSE to being Emma Thompson.

SEE THE EXTENDED SHE-HULK TRAILER AND MORE AFTER THE JUMP! Read More »

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24 Fan Film Gives Bauer A Day Off

0 | June 24th, 2009 | Posted in Analysis, Fan Film, Filmmaking, Gray Areas, Mainstream Media, News, Review, TV

Remember that funny Star Trek fan film, Pinch, that I covered the other day? Here’s 120, a great 24 send-up by the same folks at Littleflick Pictures, and for my money, this one’s even better.


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