Is a roadtrip a roadtrip if it’s only a 40-minute drive? On Election Day, I spoke about fan films as a guest speaker at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY. About a year ago, I sat in on the school’s “Comics To Film” course and interviewed its professor, Dan Galiardi, for Homemade Hollywood, so it was an honor to be invited back to contribute (at least, I think that’s what I did).
It’s a pretty cool class—what else can you say about a course where Sandy Collora’s Batman: Dead End and World’s Finest, John Fiorella’s Grayson, and The Green Hornet are all mandatory viewing? A class where last year, the big class project was tomake an entire fan film about freakin’ ?!
Me, I talked a bit about the history of fan films, both comic and non-comic-related, and screened a few choice bits, such as Superman: The Super 8 Movie—Special Edition; a clip from Hardware Wars; The Dark Knight Project; and a five-minute piece from TMC’s interstitial program, Fantatic, on the Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation guys. If I’d had more time, I probably woulda turned the class on to , as it really seemed like a group that likes the ‘rock ‘em, sock ‘em’ school of fan filmmaking.
That said, they were definitely into picking things apart on the filmmaking side of things, which was an interesting change. Talking with students afterwards, they were vocal that Superman was too long, and that Dark Knight Project needed ADR over some of weaker line readings, particularly with “Mikey.” Unlike a lot of folks who watch films but don’t make ‘em, however, these kids speak from filmmaking knowledge and have some talent—just take Joe Pomarico, who is a Top 20 finalist (so far) in AMC’s “Greatest Fear” video contest.
