Why Do I Appreciate the Fan-Film?

I’ve expanded this blog a lot over the past few months and one of the first features I introduced besides these blog posts and of course the reviews was Superhero Shorts, where I feature a superhero themed short film, which so far has always been a fan-film, and interview the creator. It’s honestly been a lot more work than it may seem, as YouTube is frought with a lot of copycat uploads so it’s not always easy to find the original if it even exists on YouTube itself. And on top of that, it’s not exactly the most popular feature on this site. Sure, there have been a couple breakout articles, such as the Hillywood show which got a big bump when they graciously plugged it on their own very popular Facebook page, but I doubt any of their fans stuck around to read any of my other articles. And Garrett Gilchrist’s interview about his unfinished She-Hulk movie, which he also graciously plugged it on his Tumblr page, though fans of She-Hulk are actually more likely to stick around on top of the fact that it is currently my favorite interview I’ve done so far. But if it’s hard to do, and not that popular, then why continue to do it?

From an outside observer, a fan-film is almost always sub-par to any studio funded film. The special effects aren’t as good, the acting is almost never as good, and who knows about the script. Yet there are tons of these fan films out there and there are more and more made all the time. There are many varying degrees of quality, but the one thing they all share is a love of the subject matter. Fan-films get around copyright law by being a not-for-profit project, meaning the creators can never sell the film for a profit. There are some ways around it through donations and free gifts, but the simple fact is that none of the creators of these fan films are out to make any money off of these films. Which brings me once again back to the question, why do it? The simple answer is for the simple love of the characters or the comic book. Of course that’s not always the entire answer, if it’s well received for one or all particular aspects of the film then it can be used as a stepping stone to a film career. If someone can create an amazing recreation of the Predator and the Alien and shoot it on film, it’s much more likely to get them a job making an alien creator for the next Hollywood film.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t enjoy every fan-film that I’ve found, but I still believe that even some of the lesser fan-films can be enjoyed by someone. I’ll admit that I have found a small few that were so badly made that I didn’t even try to contact them to feature on this site. But if it’s made with a modicum of effort, and most importantly that I can feel the enjoyment of the film somehow, then I think it’s appropriate for this site, and I am still genuinely interested in what the filmmaker has to say about it. The easiest thing to bring down the quality of a film is the lack of a budget, and that’s not something the filmmaker can always control. If they have the passion for the project, they will get something as close as possible to their vision no matter how it turns out in the end. And while I will always find something positive to say about a fan-film, if there is something that’s not quite right about the short, I will mention it in the review portion of my article. I’m a nice guy, but I’m not trying to sell something if it’s not all the way there. I’ve been lucky in that I have genuinely enjoyed every short that I’ve featured on this site. The acting isn’t always the greatest, and the special effects are often cheesy, but then, so was Masters of the Universe and Howard the Duck and I still enjoyed those movies. One of the most important things is the writing, and if that comes through, then it’s a real treat to watch. I’m very excited about this week’s entry which only just came out about a week ago, so stay tuned for Deadpool: A Typical Tuesday, and if you can’t wait, then go check it out On YouTube