Ah, the last post of 2008—and what a year it was for fan films. Fan Cinema Today has been bringing you all the news since it sputtered back to life in April, and there’s been plenty to write about.

It was a year where fan films made tremendous strides forward in the public eye, with Sandy Collora jumping from Batman: Dead End to writing and directing his upcoming, heavily-buzzed feature film debut, Hunter Prey. But it was also  a year where the biggest fan film story in the mainstream media was Canadian filmmaker Mark Twitchell, who police accused of murdering an innocent man in a bizarre remake of his own amateur horror movie.

(And in an effort to be consistent, I’ll be wildly immodest and say that perhaps my book on the history and future of fan films, Homemade Hollywood, was kind of important, too. It JUST hit bookstore shelves, so go to Barnes & Noble, Borders, Target, Amazon or wherever and buy one to help feed a poor, starving blogger. PS: Thanks to Stuart Basinger for the wacky illustration above!).

Here, without further adieu, are the top fan film news stories of 2008:

New York Comic Con 2008 Fan Film Panel Wrap-Up

DC Comics Officially OKs Fan Films

Max Payne Fan Film Shot Down By Fox

Smart Take on Star Trek: Phase II Controversy

From Superman Fan Film To TV Personality

Batman: Dead End Director’s New Feature Film

Indiana Jones Templars Fan Film Teaser Hits

Son of Rambow

Ireland To Get Fan Film Show: Sweded TV

MGM Kills Historic James Bond Fan Film

More On Studios Stopping Fan Films

Star Trek: Of Gods and Men Finale

Shhh! Max Payne Fan Film Revived…sort of

Raiders: The Adaptation Team Heads Up River

Everything Old Is New Again

Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge Winners

How To Not Violate Copyrights With Your Fan Films

Get Your Fan Film On YouTube’s Front Page

Jaw-Dropping Star Wars Fan Film Software

The Gremlins Are Back and Taking Over Fan Films

Troops Fan Film Action Figures at Toys-R-Us?

Homemade Hollywood’s First Review

Born of Hope: A LOTR Fan Film Reborn

Tomb Raider: Ascension Fan Film is a Hit

Who Killed Star Wars: The Dark Redemption?

OTW Debuts Fanlore & New Academic Journal

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier / Intrepid Crossover

James Bond Returns…in Moonraker ‘78

Indiana Jones Parody Fan Film Hits DVD

Star Wars: Dark Resurrection Nabs Fan Film Prize

Homemade Hollywood Gets io9 Rave Review

Star Wars Fan Film Director Arrested for Murder

Fan Film Murder Suspect Hits Court Wednesday

More On Mark Twitchell Fan Film Murder Case

Batman: Dead End Director’s Hunter Prey Peek

Homemade Hollywood Birth Announcement

Star Trek: Of Gods And Men Hits DVD

Fan Film Murder Suspect Mark Twitchell’s House of Cards Footage Released

FanEdit.Org Slammed By MPAA, Soldiers On

Upcoming Symposium on Fan Productions

Fan Film Pioneer Forrest Ackerman Passes

Classic Star Wars Fan Films on DVD For Free

Superman and Star Wars Lead To Star Ranger 7

Star Trek: Phase II’s ‘Blood & Fire’ To Debut

Homemade Bollywood Brings Relief In India

Everyone’s eagerly anticipating next Spring’s Watchmen movie, and with good reason—Hollywood’s been promising it for 20 years now. If you’re looking for a way to bide the time until then, there’s that incredible Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Ultimate Graphic Novel book that my wife had to yank out of my hands when we were leaving Borders yesterday (me wants!). There’s also a variety of Watchmen fan films, but you really ought to sink your teeth into The League instead.

The film follows a band of original, yet strangely familiar superheroes who began their adventures in the 1940s, but the story takes place decades later, after cynicism and aging have started to take their toll. That’s where the similarities with Watchmen end, however; in fan film terms, The League has much more in common with Grayson, the acclaimed Robin pseudo-trailer, and Tomorrow’s Memoir, which follows the film noir ramblings of geriatric Superman.

Like Grayson, the flick follows The Sparrow, a former “kid sidekick” turned angry adult who looks for answers and ain’t happy with what he finds. Similar to Tomorrow’s Memoir, this film is likewise shot in lush, dark tones with a infinesimal color pallate. Nonetheless, where Memoir aims for an Ansel Adams-like stillness, The League has more in common with Weegee: There’s artistry at work here, but with a layer of ugly grit atop it.

While The League has a lot going for it, with an intriguing concept and lovely cinematography, it does have its limits. None of the characters feel particularly developed and the effects are a bit hit and miss. For instance, The Blue Blaze—a Green Lantern-type—looks phenomenal; the exploding building? Ehh….

Still, The League is a solid effort, especially for a student thesis film, and it comes with a pedigree, no less. While attending Chapman University, director/co-writer Kyle Higgins interned at The Donner Company (as in Richard Donner, director of Superman, Lethal Weapons 1-4); while there, got to spitball the idea around with James Bond/Superman screenwriting legend Tom Mankiewicz. You can read all about it in this excellent interview. Now that Higgins has graduated from Chapman, keep an eye out for his name; if The League is any indication, you’ll probably see it again.

The Cape Ann Community Cinema

Wednesday, I flew up to Gloucester, MA to run a night of fan films and discussion of the history of fan films, and it went pretty well. Rob Newton, head of the Mass Bay Film Project, hosted; the evening was part of his organization’s current ’60 Films in 33 Days’ festival, kicking off its current film season which runs through next May at the Cape Ann Community Cinema. The crowd had a great time, the lobby had more vegan-friendly popcorn than you can shake a cornstalk at (admittedly, it’s a need that never occurred to me before), and a good time was had by all.

The stage during set-up; picture playing lifesized Guitar Hero in front of that screen...

If anyone ever told you that arts cinemas are stuffy and pompous, go visit this place for a different viewpoint. It’s a cozy operation—the cinema itself is a black box-type theater with a professional screen that sits on the stage. Killing time before opening the doors, Rob put his Playstation 3 up on the 14×8-foot screen, and man, that was something to see. You really haven’t been to an arts cinema until you’ve watched the 6 1/2-foot curator with long blond hair play Guitar Hero IIIon the stage, jamming face-to-face with a lifesized CGI band as they tear through Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast” (and he nailed it, btw). I really shoulda taken a photo….

We got a decent turn-out despite the bitter cold, blustery weather—maybe because it was a free show—and I got to hand out a few uncorrected proof copies of Homemade Hollywood. The final (and much better) version is coming out in late November, but still, it was nice to put books in hands after all this time. Since Chris from FanFilmPodcast.com asked in a comment the other day what fan films I screened, the program included Troops, Moonraker ’78, World’s Finest, Superman: The Super 8 Movie–Special Edition, Batman: Dead End, Hardware Wars, a trailer from The Green Goblin’s Last Stand, and a few others. The program ran a bit too long, but all in all, it was a good warm up for next month, when I do two fan film programs at New England Fan Experience in Cambridge, MA.

The trip back this morning was a breeze—Rob gave me a lift from the Wingaersheek Inn (nice place) to Logan Airport in Boston, suggesting that we stop “at that fine Scottish eating establishment, Mac Donald’s.” We had a great chat, and it was a fun experience—plus I got to try out Jet Blue’s brand-new terminal at JFK Airport, which opened just last week.

Photo by Jet Blue

The terminal got a ton of coverage in the press as being cutting-edge and innovative, a gorgeous place that you’d want to lounge in. Jet Blue itself sent me a spam email suggesting that I get there early so I could look around and marvel at the facility. Having now departed and arrived there, I can say definitively…it’s an airport terminal. Big whoop. It’s very clean, and the security checkpoint was fast, but it required a half-mile schlepp and a few escalators to get from the AirTrain to the terminal’s check-in area…and the opposite end of that area was where the entrance to the gates was, which meant even more dragging of bags. They’ve gotta do something about that marathon walk pronto, because even with a few of those motorized walkways, it still takes forever, making for a terrible first and last impression for those of us who use the AirTrain. Tsk, tsk.

So you live in Eastern Massachusetts and you have a boring week ahead. Take this Wednesday, for instance: Nothing to do! The Red Sox didn’t make the World Series, so you won’t be watching the game. TV is dead on Wednesday nights, and you can’t go out drinking (OK, shouldn’t), ’cause you’ve got work the next day. What are you gonna do so that you don’t die of bordom?

Easy: Go to the Cape Ann Cinema in Gloucester on Wednesday, October 29, for a night of fan films, hosted by yours truly!

Come revel in the cinematic glory of the best fan films ever, up on the silver screen where they belong! See classic flicks like Troops, Batman: Dead End, Moonraker ’78 and plenty more! Discover the crazy story behind the making of the underground legend, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. Gawk at vintage fan movies from the 1920s and ’30s. All this, plus even more flicks, starring the most famous characters of all-time.

AND we’ll be showing one of the few fan films ever to get slammed with a “Cease and Desist;” that’s right, so good that the lawyers had to shut it down! It’s a legendary flick—and a good one—and this is the first time it’s been shown anywhere in 10 years. We’ll reveal the mystery movie here on Fan Cinema Today on Tuesday!

Between movies, I’ll be talking about the history of fan films; handing out postcards with coupon codes so you can buy my fan film book, Homemade Hollywood, for a cheaper price than Amazon when it comes out; and who knows? We might even be able to scrape up a few galley copies of the book to give away with a raffle or trivia contest. It’s true—come see some cool fan flicks and you might go home with a free book (Yes, this event was supposed to include a book signing, but that becomes a royal PITA when your book’s release date gets bumped back a month. No Books = No Signing. SIGH…what can you do?).

The event is sponsored by the long-running Mass Bay Film Project, which has just opened its new home this month at the Gloucester Stage Company theater. MBFP is breaking in the new space by hosting SIXTY movies in 33 days. Anyone crazy enough to attempt that is probably a fan film fan, right? Oh, heck yeah—MBFA’s creative and managing director, Robert Newton, was one of the architects of the now-legendary fan film convention, Fanzilla. To this day, I kick myself for missing that event—so don’t wind up kicking yourself for missing out on this one! It’s just one measly hour north of Boston; if I’m coming all the way from New York City, you can drive a few minutes to Gloucester!

Gloucester Stage Company /
Cape Ann Cinema
267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA
(978) 282-1988 [TIMES]
(978) 309-8448 [HUMAN]

If you’ve watched a few James Bond movies (OK, even one), you know that Ian Fleming’s super-spy can escape anyone’s clutches; now, a 007 fan film has done the same thing.

As noted on FCT back in June, MGM forced YouTube to take down the classic fan production, Moonraker ’78, even though the flick had been online for a year and had amassed more than 16,000 views.

Shot on Super 8 film back in 1978 by teenagers Stuart Basinger and future Pink Five auteur Trey Stokes, the fan film was an adaptation of the only Bond book at the time that hadn’t been adapted for the big screen. Roger Moore’s take on the tome would appear in theaters the following year and perhaps that knocked the wind out of the filmmakers, as the epic fan movie was never completed, left to sit in canisters on a shelf for the better part of 20 years. Basinger, meanwhile, grew up to become a news editor for Fox News, and was eventually inspired to transfer the old Super 8 footage to video and finish the project, using modern-day linear editing systems, computerized special effects and more.

Now the film is back online.

For over a decade, Basinger has run a Bond fan site, Dr. Shatterhand’s Botanical Garden, bringing fans the latest news and insights into the famed fictional spy. Now the website will have Basinger’s fan film available for download as well, as he explained:

I have recently uploaded Moonraker ’78 to my own website and put a disclaimer on the front saying it is for non-profit. We’ll see if the powers that may be will leave it alone or bring legal suit against me. They only asked YouTube to take it down last time and not me, so perhaps they will leave me alone since I am not a commercial entity.

Knowing that the fan film is a harmless tribute to MGM’s classic character, FCT is certainly rooting for the flick to stay online untouched. The 40-minute fan film is a hoot, and well worth watching, particularly for the chase scene through a clone factory. In fact, the flick is so impressive that it’s covered in my new fan film book, Homemade Hollywood—some of the behind-the-scenes stories of this flick were hysterical, particularly the part where the fleet of police cars showed up while they were filming a gunfight.

Over the Memorial Day weekend of 1977, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg hung out on a beach in Hawaii, making sand castles and holding an impromptu filmmaker support group of sorts. Lucas was certain his new Sci-Fi epic, which had just opened that weekend, was about to flop, but Spielberg assured him he’d be fine.

Then the E.T. auteur turned around and complained that he wanted a chance to direct a James Bond flick, but Cubby Broccoli wouldn’t give him a shot. Lucas, in turn, assured him that he had a much better idea for a movie based around a solo adventurer—the character was Indiana Jones, a globe-trotting archeologist, inspired by the heroes in the 1940s Republic serials (and the story of how Lucas saw those movies under the radar while a student at USC is revealed in my new book, the tirelessly promoted Homemade Hollywood).

Given Indy’s origins, it’s only fitting then that amateur filmmaker Brandon Sabatula has retrofitted the fedora-festooned hero into a serialized fan film, Indiana Jones and the Spirit of the People.

Getting even more meta, the flick is a silent movie, throwing back to the oldest Jones-like movie, The Spiders, a two-part silent adventure from the early 1900s. Broken up in to six chapters, each roughly 10 minutes, Indy ends each segment in a cliffhanger, just like they did in the old days.

While the silent film treatment is a fun throwback—and filmmaker Sabatula readily admits he did it to help his movie stand out—it was also a necessity. The roughly hour-long film was shot six years ago, when he and his cohorts were just out of high school. They wanted music in their movie, but didn’t have editing equipment, so they carried a boom box with them and played segments of John Williams’ Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack while filming scenes, guessing where they were previously in the music when taping a new shot. The end result was a mish-mash of unrelated music cues that made a properly cut audio version out of the question.

That said, by going into silent film territory, the story was tightened by the use of title cards, allowing editing to focus purely on visual concerns. Does it work? Take a look at the chapters below, and give your opinion in the comments!

Indiana Jones and the Spirit of the People Trailer
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-604013789753830820&hl=en]

Chapter 1: The Orb of Souls
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5764109769277207853&hl=en]

Chapter 2: Propositions
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7197692154100532297&hl=en]

Chapter 3: Raiders of the Hidden Idol
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4927117111651025492&hl=en]

Chapter 4: Reclaiming the Spirit
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4012181095122180587&hl=en]

Chapter 5: Race to the Cave
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1464699690897800767&hl=en]

Chapter 6: The Power of Rapa
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2731110174639341546&hl=en]

I have lots of little news items that have been lying around, and for some reason, they all concern countries other than the one that monopolizes fan films—the U.S. I meant to give each of these its own massive post, but I think a general catch-all is in order instead, like a giant meeting of the United National General Fan Film Security Council. Read on, and see what cool stuff awaits.

• In Spain, Miguel Mesas has been making a slew of cool fan films like the wildly popular Batman: Arkham Asylum. He’s also turned out flicks like Bad Boy, based on the graphic novel written by Frank Miller; Captain Harlock, based on the popular animated series, and Slaine: The Horned God based on a graphic novel by Pat Mills. (Thanks to Isaac Alexander).

• Russia’s been in the news a lot recently, but here at FCT, we don’t get political. The reason I mention the country is because it now has its own website all about fan films, fanfilms.ru (go ahead and click the link—it goes to pages translated into English). Most of the films appear to be native to the region, but occasionally there’s ones from elsewhere, ranging from Moonraker 78 to Ryan Vs. Dorkman II. If you want to see what your cinematic commrads are up to, go take a look.

• In the UK, Gladys San Juan planning a country-wide fan film festival for 2009–bookmark the barebones website, www.ukfanfilmfestival.com for details in the future or write Gladys at info@ukfanfestival.com.

• The gang behind the upcoming Lord of the Rings fan film, The Hunt For Gollum recently added several pages of a “Behind The Scenes” section to its site. The pages feature concept art, info and photos, including Q&As from the key crew, art department, costumes and new pics from the set. Personally, I always find this kind of thing worrisome, as it tends to mean that someone heavily involved in a fan film has time to kill—which in turn means that there’s no progress on their flick. I have a feeling, though, that these guys will be the exception to the rule.

• …and finally, come back tomorrow for the latest—and easily the best—installment of FCT’s five-part interview with Rajneel Singh, director of The Fanimatrix (shot in New Zealand, so it counts as part of the non-U.S. Fan Film news). Singh landed work as a professional based on his flick, and the advice he lays down in tomorrow’s segment is the smartest, most thoughtful commentary that I’ve heard from a fan filmmaker in a very long time. Don’t miss it!

James Bond fans may be waiting breathlessly for Quantum of Solace to hit the multiplex later this year, but fan film aficianados have already seen the latest 007 flick—it’s called Shamelady, and it kicks ass.

There aren’t that many James Bond fan films on the net, and with good reason—it’s hard to get all the pieces in place, like the sleek cars and fast women (or vis-versa), the suave hero and the incessant stream of cool gadgets. And if you do get your flick online, MGM is liable to have it taken back off. All of this makes Shamelady, a 50-minute epic made in France, all the more impressive, having miraculously sidestepped all these issues.

Writer/director Eric Saussine’s is the most serious Bond fan production ever, getting everything you’d want in a 007 flick just right, from the explosions to the high-speed car chases (in the correct Austin-Martin—a $250,000 car!) to the hot chicks. He even managed to work around the issue of a lead actor who doesn’t speak English: Set the film in France so that the international super-spy spends most of the film talking in the bad guy’s native tongue with subtitles—slick!

It’s still a low-budget affair, and some of the acting will have you doubled-over as if you were slugged in the gut by Ian Flemming’s hero, but overall, this is a very impressive fan production. If you want to find out more about how they did it, there’s a great interview over at Wikinews, too. Saussine’s website used to have a DVD-quality copy of the fan film for download (in PAL format only, unfortunately), but that seems to have disappeared, along with any mention of Shamelady. Instead, he and his crew are already at work on their sequel, Shatterhand.

Last week, I wrote how MGM shot down a classic James Bond fan film, mentioning in passing that the studio has a history of money troubles. Now The New York Times has revealed that the finances are worse than anybody thought:

MGM is choking on $3.7 billion in debt, forcing it to cough up more than $300 million in annual interest payments while it delays paying down the principal, its financial statements show. Bargain hunters are circling the company as it continues to bleed cash. For the fiscal year ended in March, MGM lost about $400 million; it lost about the same amount a year earlier.

Wow! Well, that explains why they went after Moonraker ’78—when shoring up the bottom line, eliminating competition from 30-year-old, Super 8mm home movies should always be Priority One.

MGM isn’t the only studio attacking fan films these days, though; as I noted some time ago, Fox recently sledgehammered Max Payne: Payne and Redemption, a fan flick based on the popular video game franchise. The filmmakers spent three years on the movie and were almost done, when the studio—which owns the game’s movie rights—threatened a lawsuit unless they quit. Some fans were irked—check out Bob Cornero’s update on Mumbo Jumbo Daily:

One has to wonder… is the (doubtlessly overpaid) Vice President of Intellectual Property over at Fox so bored sitting behind their desk, so tired of flicking pencils at the ceiling and fiddling with paper-clips that he or she had to spin the roulette wheel of properties Fox owns, input it into Google and make life miserable for some poor sucker to alleviate the sheer monotony of their life?

I mean, I can’t think of a reasonable explanation other than being a short-sighted bully for pursuing this sort of action, because it’s either that or someone has confidence issues.

One of James Bond’s greatest enemies is the secret organization SMERSH; in the world of James Bond fan films, however, the biggest opponent is another outfit with a name of initials: MGM. The Hollywood studio struck again Tuesday, as the fan film, Moonraker ’78, was forced off YouTube.

Fan filmmaker Stuart Basinger, who produced and played Bond in the production 30 years ago, received a take-down notice from YouTube. “Well, it was fun while it lasted,” he remarked on the Bond fan site, commanderbond.net. “What is interesting is that a Super 8mm fan film is a threat to MGM while numerous clips and re-edits continue to flood [YouTube].”

In a glaring error, although Moonraker ’78 was posted in four segments, only the first one was removed, leaving the remaining three online. However, since the take-down notice states, “Repeat incidents of copyright infringement will result in the deletion of your account and all videos uploaded to that account,” Basinger has announced he will voluntarily remove the remaining segments at the end of this week.

The removal of Moonraker ’78 is a considerable blow to the fan film community, due to the movie’s historical significance. Shot in 1978, it was the first film directed by Trey Stokes, creator of the wildly popular Pink Five series, which has won multiple trophies at the Lucasfilm Star Wars Fan Film Awards. While he made the Bond movie as a teenager, Stokes has a lasting regard for the work, particularly the mid-movie chase scene through a clone factory, starting at 5:10 in this clip. As he explained in an interview for the upcoming fan film book, Homemade Hollywood, “In retrospect, it boggles my mind that we had the audacity to do that chase, but the scene looks great; it really moves. To this day, I still go ‘That may be the best action scene I’ve ever directed.’”

The film is also important for its unusual background: Despite its title, Moonraker ’78 remained unfinished until 2003, as many of its visual effects were impossible to create with the consumer filmmaking equipment of the 1970s. With the advent of modern video editing systems and special effects software, Basinger—who, inspired by the fan filmmaking experience, grew up to become a video editor for Fox News—was able to finally complete the film’s complex special effects, film editing and extensive foley work, decades after beginning the project. As a result, the film provides a unique juxtaposition, having used modern gear to add a commercial sheen to grainy amateur footage from another era.

This is not the first time MGM has gone to war with fan films. Teetering forever on the brink of extinction, the studio has scraped by numerous times on the financial worth of its film library, and among its assets, no diamond has shone brighter than the evergreen spy series starring 007. Accordingly, the studio has long been protective of its franchise, having previously forced fan film websites such as bondfanfilms.com and CMGN (CommanderBond.Net Media Group Network) to be shuttered a number of years back.

A die-hard follower of the spy’s adventures, Basinger has run his own popular Bond fan website, Dr. Shatterhand’s Botanical Garden, for more than a decade. Perhaps in keeping with 007’s famed stoicism in the face of brutality, he grimly quipped about the takedown notice, “I will keep this as a badge of honor.”

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