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Info & Help Wanted: Article on Fan Edits

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 (Edited)

I’m going to be doing an article on fan edits for the next issue of my magazine, Cashiers du Cinemart. I plan on reviewing/discussing flicks such as BATMAN DEASSIFIED / STAR TREK: IN THY IMAGE / STAR TREK: KIRKLESS GENERATION / MATRIX DEZIONIZED / SUPERMAN: RIC and more (depends on what I can get my hands on. This will touch on the Fan Edit phenomena via the STAR WARS edits (I wrote about the various Phantom Edits of SWE1 a few issues back).

Why tell you all this? Well, I’m looking for opinions from the editors themselves – why they do it, what they’re particularly happy about, their dream projects, their fame/infamy/identity.

I’m also interested in hearing from the folks, like me, who are fascinated by this “flaw fixing”.

For more info on the magazine, the online version is available for perusal at http://www.cashiersducinemart.com

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Best,
Mike White

Cashiers du Cinemart - The Only Magazine That Matters
http://www.cashiersducinemart.com

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An article could be good, it may cause a bigger audience. If there is anything in particular you want to know about the CBB group, just PM me or ask here.

Nothing about fanediting is easy.

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How about Deleted Magic and the Classic Editions? =D
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Mike - I send a few more your way

“My skill are no longer as Mad as the once were” RiK

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Thanks for all of the responses thus far. Trying to get ADigitalMan and FanFiltration to weigh in on this. Who are some of the other more "(in)famous" editors around here?

- Mike White

Cashiers du Cinemart - The Only Magazine That Matters
http://www.cashiersducinemart.com

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I'm surprised I'm making any kind of blip on anyone's radar, but here goes.

Basically it's a reaction to the marketing hype machine in every movie studio. We're given expectations that a movie will be extraordinary through relentless marketing campaigns, but more often than not, the movie is a disappointment -- often because more attention is given to the production and post-production quality and not to the writing or acting. But we now live in an age were editing technology is relatively cheap and easy to use, and those with enough desire (or perhaps too much time on our hands) are trying to find the good films that were promised to us in trailers, magazine articles, press junkets and whatever else the spin machines have foisted upon us.

Notice there isn't a big interest in re-edits for Spider-Man or Lord of the Rings or even the new Batman movie. Good films aren't being screwed around with. In the case of Star Wars, the desire to do these projects comes from a desire to make the whole saga good again, especially when the OT is being screwed up and brought down to the level of the prequels. That's also why O-OT preservation is so very, very important.

Of course, a lot of what I personally do is create Extended Editions. Instead of trimming stuff out, I love to put it all back in, to see as much of movies that I am NOT disappointed in as possible. I don't have to create an Alien or Abyss or Gladiator or Lord of the Rings Extended Edition because the directors have been smart enough to recognize the demand is there. For the rest, it should be a lesson that a LOT of people tend to like the extended editions of films, even if they like the original theatrical presentation preserved. Spielberg realized this with the DVD of E.T. and we received a choice wrapped up in the same package. THAT is how it should be. The studios can either make money from the demand, or watch guys like us fill the demand ourselves.

It's our time vs. their dime.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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I've been lurking here awhile and have recently gotten a few films myself. This the best explanation of the "underground" movement of fan edits. If the studios create a vacuum and doesn't fill it someone will. The SW films are a perfect example, I grew with these films and I shouldn't be told that essentially they don't exist anymore because GL is, IMHO, is embarassed by the effects in them. Until Batan Begins came out the best Batman movie was Batman Dead End. Granted its only a 8 minute fan film but damn what a good job. Fan edits are very similar to the problem the music industry is having with illegal downloads. If they'd put out better stuff people will buy it. Otherwise, the vacuum effect takes over where people will only download a song or two. Same with movies.


"KILLING IS MY BUSINESS, AND BUSINESS IS GOOD."
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nice post Johnny, I like that vacuum theory. But personally I think it is not that, but just because home technology makes it possible. Philosphically spoken i think needs start with possibilities. Of course some lunatics fancy about fancy stuff, but most people desire only what they know others got. So I think that the need for special edited movies came with their existence and maybe the vacuum was created by the people who made fan edits, becuase before no one knew there was one... another weird sunday.

Nothing about fanediting is easy.

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Originally posted by: boon23
nice post Johnny, I like that vacuum theory. But personally I think it is not that, but just because home technology makes it possible. Philosphically spoken i think needs start with possibilities. Of course some lunatics fancy about fancy stuff, but most people desire only what they know others got. So I think that the need for special edited movies came with their existence and maybe the vacuum was created by the people who made fan edits, becuase before no one knew there was one... another weird sunday.


Thanks for the compliment. Your philosphy is pretty Buddhist in nature. Life is Suffering. Suffering is caused by Desire. Maybe the fan-editors have a need to be needed, and so they create Desire.

For example: I have Film X redited with 19 minutes of footage released only at a bachelor party on Skywalker Ranch. I have added in the scenes scrambled everyone's voice, subtitled it to changed the direction and added Stairway to Heaven as the the soundtrack. Who wants a copy?

Maybe your right, artifically created the vaccuum, then fill it.

Hell, who cares I still like me some fan edits.
"KILLING IS MY BUSINESS, AND BUSINESS IS GOOD."
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Danggit!!!! Am I too late???? I'll talk officer, I'll talk!!!!

GreenCapt (of De-Assified) here... still need any input for the article? Sounds cool!
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Cashiers, PM me with any questions. I'm more than happy to answer.

I don't think the desire is created by Fan Editors though. I could be gravely mistaken, but I get the feeling Greencapt isn't planning on a fan edit of Batman Begins. De-Assified grew out of the need to make a horrendous film watchable. Partly out of the "can I do this" and partly out of the "mankind deserves better after the torture of the official release.

Greencapt, am I putting words in your mouth, or is this fairly legit?
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
Cashiers, PM me with any questions. I'm more than happy to answer.

I don't think the desire is created by Fan Editors though. I could be gravely mistaken, but I get the feeling Greencapt isn't planning on a fan edit of Batman Begins. De-Assified grew out of the need to make a horrendous film watchable. Partly out of the "can I do this" and partly out of the "mankind deserves better after the torture of the official release.

Greencapt, am I putting words in your mouth, or is this fairly legit?



LOL- No, that's *entirely* legit. I was originally content to let 'sleeping turds lie' or something to that effect. A good friend insisted that there was a watchable film in there somewhere.... and after forcing myself to sit and watch it again the editor in me said 'y'know he might be on to something afterall!' And no- no edit of 'Begins' in the works. I'm not the sort that needs to 'touch' something to get attention and make it my own (though a couple of drunken nights in my past have caused me to touch somethings that *weren't* my own, but that's another story ).

I see it akin to my views on Hollywood re-making films- if you can remake a crappy film and do it *better* then more power to you. But remaking 'classic' films just so you can cash in on the name is just being a whore. No matter how good Jackson's 'King Kong' may turn out to be I still have heartfelt doubts about the NEED for it.
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about KING KONG: that is exactly what I thought when Iheard of the project. Why another King Kong, the 1933 version was perfect on that matter. But now that I have watched the trailer and seen the enthusiasm and energy in it, I am looking so forward to seeing it. Perhaps this could be the movie of the year.

Nothing about fanediting is easy.

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ADM, been trying to figure out how to PM you when I can't see your profile. I'm pretty stupid when it comes to how this board works.

Feel free to drop me an email at mwhite@impossiblefunky.com

Cashiers du Cinemart - The Only Magazine That Matters
http://www.cashiersducinemart.com

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Click the "profile" button at the top of this page and then set "Allow Private Messages" to "on."
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Which reminds me I need to clean out my PM 'inbox'... d'oh!
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OK, click on that orange lock by any user's posting and PM away. Limit of 25 per inbox I think, so you may want to check that you don't want to keep a copy.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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Notice there isn't a big interest in re-edits for Spider-Man or Lord of the Rings or even the new Batman movie. Good films aren't being screwed around with.


...I know it is a little late to reply on that, but anyway, ADM: I disagree ;-) There was this not to well done trailer for the hobbit, made from TLOTR pieces and some computer game music as far as I remember and that one was downloaded at least 100000 times although everybody knew it was fake. Editing good or great movies is very different to editing the bad ones. A good one is maybe not possible to be improved, but it may be watched from a new point of view and therefore receive attention by an audience hungry for more. Personally I would love to edit Spiderman and get rid of most of the green cobold which by far reminded me to much on Power Rangers, but that is simply not enough. But if someone would be able to get the 6 hour workprint edition of Return of the King, which was the first final cut they had... I think the interest would be gigantic, don't you?

Nothing about fanediting is easy.

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Perhaps. I suppose even I've considered removing a couple of bits from ROTK EE, but the other two films I wouldn't touch. Getting a hold of more unused footage would offer an opportunity we don't currently have though. In a perfect world we'd have access to all the SW footage shot, including Obi-Wan's saber frying out underwater in Ep I, The Lost 20 subplot in Ep II, and Shaak-Ti's other death scene ... where Anakin kills her on her raid on the temple ... in Ep III. Not to mention Wampas dismembering snowtroopers in Ep V and the sandstorm in Ep VI. Getting footage that isn't available is every fan editor's dream, so if that was available, even for good films, then you bet I'd be interested.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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unfortunately I think that the direction we are aiming it will not be the audience getting more material on their hands they can use for fanedits at all. Currently there are only a few fanedits around and still only few poeple realized their existence. But you and some others including my group are trying hard to change that. The better our edits get and the more attention they receive the more likely the industry will stop feeding us with usable material. Not to mention legal actions which are currently not much of a problem obviously. (I wish there were deleted scenes for War of the Worlds).

Nothing about fanediting is easy.