Long before the internet, long before the age of the world wide web, fan films were a rarity. Often times they were made by very serious filmmakers who wanted to pay tribute to their favorite pop culture facet, and more often than not the fan films were typically underground elements or screened only locally. These days with the world wide web at your finger tips, anyone can make their own fan film for a low budget, and become the hit of the moment. Not to mention, they can land themselves a sweet directing gig at a Hollywood studio, if someone eventually watches it and spreads the word. Sometimes, fandom just catches on and becomes an infectious bit of lifestyle to admire and acknowledge.
There are plenty of wonderful fan films with the motive only to entertain, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation” is one of them. Filmed by three school mates (Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, and Jayson Lamb) over the course of seven years, the fanatics of Steven Spielberg’s seminal “Raiders of the Lost Ark” took the initiative in constructing and directing their own full length version of his film with their own props and set pieces. The film was for many years a rare piece of filmmaking until it was screened years later and became a critical hit. This is mostly due to its ambition and ability to pay tribute to Spielberg’s film while also giving it the indie flair that many modern indie films lack. It has no real polish to it, but it’s still a damn fine remake from three guys who just loved the movie, and sought out to give it their own stamp.
At this point you could have a library of Bruce Lee’s work, and a library about films discussing Bruce Lee. Documentaries and films about Lee have become pretty much a sub-genre on to itself, with every decade releasing at least three new films about Bruce Lee and his legacy. I expect an Oscar level film about Bruce Lee any time soon, now. “I Am Bruce Lee” won’t shed new insight on Lee as a fighter or actor, nor will it really provide audiences with something new or enlightening about knowing Bruce Lee.
For aspiring animators and or fans of “Rise of the Guardians,” this hardcover look at the development of “Rise of the Guardians” from a series of eight young adult books that were compressed and transformed in to a marketable fantasy animated film will be thrilled to learn all the facets and elements of the film that were finely tuned and included to give the movie that extra dimension.
It should serve as no surprise that since its initial release, “Sell Your Own Dan Movie!” has sold big with aspiring filmmakers across the country, and it should also serve as no surprise that “Sell Your Own Damn Movie!” is probably the best how to guide for indie filmmakers on how to get their completed films out there and consumed for mass audiences. Whether you love Troma to death or hate Lloyd Kaufman like date rape, there’s no denying that the man has amassed decades of experience in indie filmmaking and has built an encyclopedic knowledge on the do’s and don’t’s on selling your film and how to get certain audiences aware of your creative work.
With the “Definitive Document of the Dead” you have to take the good with the bad. It completely glosses over Romero’s production of “Day of the Dead” to where it’s almost an irrelevant foot note in the legacy of the Dead films. Yet, the documentary does go back to Romero years after “Day” to where he’s directing “Land,” “Diary,” and “Survival” implying that they’re all valid and relevant projects of Romero’s career. Difficulties in Hollywood and the studio system are side stepped, and often times the documentary can never decide if it wants to be a Hollywood inside look or a fandom tribute, so it tries to be both.
