I enjoy watching fan-made films, hell I've made a few fan-made films myself with my friends over the years! They're just fun to make, and it's great practice for anyone interested in getting into a filmmaking. One of the first fan-films I ever saw that just blew me away was Sandy Collora's Batman: Dead End. I still watch it from time to time, and think how awesome of a movie that would make. Since then we've seen a ton of great fan-films over the years. People spend their own hard earned money and time to make something because they love it, not because they expect to make a profit from it.
John E. Hudgens has made a great looking documentary called Backyard Blockbusters that explores the history and world of fan-films. It dives into the passion of the fans, and how some Hollywood studios have tried to shut them down. Here's a note from the director...
Did you ever see that movie where Batman fought a Predator? Or where kids remade Raiders of the Lost Ark? What about the fourth season of classic Star Trek? If none of these are familiar to you, that's because they're not studio projects, but fan films - and I've just finished and started touring film festivals with a documentary about these kinds of projects called Backyard Blockbusters - it looks at the history, influence, and copyright problems these types of projects face, and includes nearly everyone from the most famous, popular, and/or notable fan films, as well as notables from the original properties and production companies.
There's a very cool screening opportunity coming up, but I need public help to get the film into it - the Arclight Cinema in Hollywood is holding a documentary film festival in November, and the selection process is being done online through public voting - and Backyard Blockbusters is one of the contenders.
They will be counting both the amount of views the competing trailers for the various films get on YouTube pages, as well as the amount of votes the films receive on a special Facebook page.
Enjoy the trailer for the film below, and let us know if this looks like a doc you'd be interested in watching! Have you ever gone out and made a fan-film? What would you say your favorite fan-film is?