Star Destroyer model by Fractalsponge, composition by Christopher Lee
About a month or so ago I heard the announcement from JJ Abrams that Disney would be continuing the tradition of the Star Wars Fan Film Awards and though I've never been involved with them before, I've always been interested.
Now, my biggest complaint when it comes to Fan Films is two fold as I'll go on to explain- and yeah it's not the friendliest outlook, but give it a second to sink in.
Your Characters Suck
These days as technology progresses it's made making fan films of all types easier and more efficient. My heart goes out to the old school guys working on DV tapes and consumer grade special effects. They had it tough- and tougher than it needed to be.
But as the technology has gotten easier to learn and acquire, unfortunately actors and actresses of the amature sort- still sorta suck. It's no offense to those who try, honestly. It's just a reality. Which makes even the most dazzling of Fan Films often fall short when faced with characters you hope die, just to get them off screen.
Your Plot is Lame
The second biggest sin in my mind, is trying to involve your audience in a plotline that is either not mainstream enough that your average fan can understand the setting and time period easily enough, or is trying to be complicated yet isn't supported by the films surroundings, i.e. a complex plot that takes place in a forest or other desolated location with no baring on the film's plot.
So What's the Answer?
Well, there may not be one. Which is why in my younger years I tried and failed to create proper Star Wars fan films. 90% of the time they never even made it past the script stage, as the story would often balloon into this hugely large project and thus- the entire thing would be abandoned.
But that's not the end of the story, or at least I don't think so. Recently, I was playing Star Wars: Battlefront; EA's so-so Battlefront experience and I was screwing around with the tutorials or aptly named 'Training' missions that clearly were attempting to pose as a storyline. Thing is, I noticed they had a pretty ingenious way of making the player feel like they were actually Rebel troops or Imperial Scout troopers by building a bit of context into the training mission. Each mission would start with about 15-20 seconds of contextual introduction. Typically only a couple lines of dialogue are spoken and off you go. Then, something happens- some shooting takes place and after a bit of work you win the day.
I realized that in itself may be the answer to Star Wars Fan Films. As I mentioned, characters and complex plotlines make Fan Films feel grindy. As a critic- I just want to see the money shots that make me feel like I'm glimpsing into Star Wars, not be bogged down with characters and storylines that aren't canon or matter in any significant way.
Custom Sabers by Christopher Lee
So whether or not I decide to dive into creating a Fan Film is still unknown, there's technical challenges that still daunt me and I'm not clear on all the answers yet. Working on the previous Halloween Videos has certainly inspired me and I would love to put something together with great visuals and an artistic flare I've wanted to show off in Star Wars for a while.