Digital Filmmaking, Fan Films
Many of us became film makers because we are fans of a series or a movie that we wanted to be a part of in some way. Perhaps the show ended before its time and we wished to finish it our way or the universe that the movie built had room for many more stories. The king of the fan film universe is Star Wars.
You could build an online network that showed nothing, but Star Wars short films and that network would not run out of content for days. I am not going to pick the best Star Wars fan film, this Sith lord does not look forward to being hunting down by angry Jedi knights (although if Ahsoka wants to turn to the dark side I am here for her). What I am going to do is look at the one that has done best in the world of crowd funding and that is the Pink 5 series of short films. These short digital comedy films show that if you find a compelling character, do quality special effects and build a loyal following the sky is the limit for how popular your films can become. Understand that fan films can not generate you money directly. You can not sell them. However they can generate money indirectly through building a name and following. You can use the fan base that a fan film can create to market your original digital production. Have you seen the spin off fan films from the Scream series. The Stab movies. Look at fan films also as a way to limit your options in a good way. Having to create a world that has strict rules will focus your work. Making a fan film will make you have to do the most important thing as a film maker. You will have to establish a reality. The fan film has to establish the world the characters exist in before it can alter or subvert that world. There are many great films based upon the batman universe. Below is a video from a kickstarter campaign. They have the modest goal of 1,000 dollars. Some of us know that this amount can go a long way when making a micro budget film. If you like the trailer please take a moment to visit their kickstarter page and even if you can not afford to donate tell someone about their project. There will come a day when most of us will find ourselves running a kickstarter or indiegogo campaign. Down the road we are going to get into how to run a successful campaign. Okay why not look at your favorite movie or series and shoot something based upon it. Even if all you use is your iPhone. The great thing about fan films is that they are fun to shoot. They maybe the most fun because there is not pressure to make money with them. It is just shooting something you love and having a good time doing it. At least that is the way it should work. That is it for this post. I am going to try to get an interview with someone who has done a fan film to understand the process more. I would like you guys to check out my crowd funding page. I have added three new campaigns that I find interesting. Thank you for visiting. Please take a moment to share this post with someone and to stumble us on stumbleupon. Here is a fun bonus fan animated film.
Many of us became film makers because we are fans of a series or a movie that we wanted to be a part of in some way. Perhaps the show ended before its time and we wished to finish it our way or the universe that the movie built had room for many more stories. The king of the fan film universe is Star Wars.
You could build an online network that showed nothing, but Star Wars short films and that network would not run out of content for days. I am not going to pick the best Star Wars fan film, this Sith lord does not look forward to being hunting down by angry Jedi knights (although if Ahsoka wants to turn to the dark side I am here for her). What I am going to do is look at the one that has done best in the world of crowd funding and that is the Pink 5 series of short films. These short digital comedy films show that if you find a compelling character, do quality special effects and build a loyal following the sky is the limit for how popular your films can become. Understand that fan films can not generate you money directly. You can not sell them. However they can generate money indirectly through building a name and following. You can use the fan base that a fan film can create to market your original digital production. Have you seen the spin off fan films from the Scream series. The Stab movies. Look at fan films also as a way to limit your options in a good way. Having to create a world that has strict rules will focus your work. Making a fan film will make you have to do the most important thing as a film maker. You will have to establish a reality. The fan film has to establish the world the characters exist in before it can alter or subvert that world. There are many great films based upon the batman universe. Below is a video from a kickstarter campaign. They have the modest goal of 1,000 dollars. Some of us know that this amount can go a long way when making a micro budget film. If you like the trailer please take a moment to visit their kickstarter page and even if you can not afford to donate tell someone about their project. There will come a day when most of us will find ourselves running a kickstarter or indiegogo campaign. Down the road we are going to get into how to run a successful campaign. Okay why not look at your favorite movie or series and shoot something based upon it. Even if all you use is your iPhone. The great thing about fan films is that they are fun to shoot. They maybe the most fun because there is not pressure to make money with them. It is just shooting something you love and having a good time doing it. At least that is the way it should work. That is it for this post. I am going to try to get an interview with someone who has done a fan film to understand the process more. I would like you guys to check out my crowd funding page. I have added three new campaigns that I find interesting. Thank you for visiting. Please take a moment to share this post with someone and to stumble us on stumbleupon. Here is a fun bonus fan animated film.
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