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Star Wars Fan Films / Shorts - a general discussion thread — Page 2

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I enjoyed it.

“Get over violence, madness and death? What else is there?”

Also known as Mr. Liquid Jungle.

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Thought it was pretty good in many aspects and a very commendable effort considering it’s a self funded fan film. The opening action was pretty good and the Emperor’s voice was almost spot on in this initial scene, Vader’s voice was pretty good as well. Both started to degrade in quality and believability when they later get into essentially an extended conversation which I think was a mistake as it quickly shows up the noticeable differences in voice and how one would expect each of them to say something (plus the both of them are never THAT chatty in any of the films).

The Emperor’s throne room also was a bit too simple, needing more greebles or dynamics in the design as it just looks like a plain room with some wall light scones and a window which is far too small. It needed probably a number of larger windows in which to help indicate the scale and bring the exterior inside more to help tie it all together.

Young Anakin and Padme were also pretty cringe but other than those few things it was pretty well done. It definitely felt like Star Wars and drew me in more than TLJ did, so on that alone it succeeds as a film (with a 100k budget though I think close to 200k was used in the end).

Val

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Valheru_84 said:

The Emperor’s throne room also was a bit too simple, needing more greebles or dynamics in the design as it just looks like a plain room with some wall light scones and a window which is far too small. It needed probably a number of larger windows in which to help indicate the scale and bring the exterior inside more to help tie it all together.

^ This is what I was saying in my earlier post but you articulated it better

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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I’d say the Emperor looks fine while hooded. Just shouldn’t have shown his face. Also, the recast TPM scene really took me out of the experience. I agree about the Emperor’s throne room. Too small and plain.

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Squad Leader TD-73028 Soliloquy’…

https://vimeo.com/310747013 - an 8 minute video at the Maxime-Claude L’Écuyer vimeo channel

(An 8 minute Star Wars meets Shakespeare Short Film - just a heads-up it’s subject matter centres around suicide and the consideration thereof)
 

'To be or not to be: Star Wars meets Shakespeare. Hamlet’s famous soliloquy is presented as the inner voice of a Stormtrooper, demonstrating the way Shakespeare’s language still echoes down to us through the centuries and remains as relevant today as ever—not to mention as well in a galaxy far, far away…

Être ou ne pas être », telle est la question. C’est à cette improbable rencontre entre Star Wars et Shakespeare que le film nous convie, en revisitant le célèbre soliloque d’Hamlet. Mettant en lumière cette résonnance contemporaine dans l’écriture shakespearienne qui a traversé les siècles, gardant toute sa force et sa justesse ici, maintenant, et dans une galaxie pas si lointaine, finalement…’
 

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Well that didn’t take long. Fan film ‘Vader: Shards of the Past’ has now been “manually claimed” by Disney on YouTube to monetise and collect money from for themselves. This is after Star Wars Theory approached Lucasfilm beforehand, clearing it all through them with the stipulation of not being allowed to make any money from it himself via YouTube monetisation, crowd funding, etc.

The video trended at #2 on YouTube in its first days of release with around 3-4 million views and is now at 6.3 million. It just goes to show the money hungry corporate body that Disney are, who would rather profit from a little fan film they had no involvement in making past officially allowing it to happen, instead of building good will and relationships with the fandom. A fandom it is clear they are trying to fleece through nostalgia with every chance they get yet want to demean and kill of OT characters in order to prop up their new ones.

Anyway here is a video on the matter:

https://youtu.be/0SKG6PVug-s

And from SWT himself:

https://youtu.be/acPFPu_UZWE

Val

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Disney is in no way obligated to support this guy creating unofficial content. It was his choice to put the money forward to make this passion project. He is using an IP that he doesn’t own, so Disney has an obligation to claim it.

I get what you’re saying, but Disney has a right to do whatever they want with their IP, and this YouTuber should’ve known this from the beginning. Disney owns Star Wars, bottomline. They have to claim material that falls under their intellectual property. Otherwise, it would set a legal precedent that could lead to their claim of ownership falling apart in court if another party came and wanted to try and use/make money off of any of Disney’s intellectual property. IP law can be a slippery slope. It is really not Disney trying to spit on their fans. It has less to do about what little money they will get from this video and more about protecting their IP.

It is easy to vilify them because they are a faceless company, but them being lenient with one person can be used against them later down the road if another party wanted to take advantage of their goodwill.

Sure, you can call them scummy or douchebags. I personally don’t think things are so black and white, and I kind of think he is playing the victim card just a little to garner more support for himself. But that’s my opinion. I think eventually there will be a way for companies and fans to figure out a better way to make content in agreement, but that has yet to happen, and until then I think it is unfair for him to keep hinting that he should be making money off of a Star Wars fan film. By not being clear about the legalese with his audience, he is stirring up his fans that don’t understand it and creating drama, which could make it harder for other fans to make fan films in the future if it were to set a new precedent.

Like I said, that’s just my opinion. I just think fans shouldn’t make money off of fan films, and that the copyright holder has a right to protect their property. To me, what makes fan films great is the fact that they’re works of pure passion. Once people can make money off of them, it’ll change that.

This whole situation just feels a little manipulative, and I think it is unfair to the fans, especially younger fans, to paint this picture so black and white. But “the fans vs Disney” is easier to understand, and people are drawn to controversy.

And it is not like he is “losing” money. He shouldn’t be making any money off of this anyway even if Disney hasn’t monetized it. No one making a “fan film” should really be making money off their content unless they made some kind of arrangement with the copyright holder. If anything, him feeling entitled to compensation for this could endanger future fan film projects if this stirs up drama.

If you want to make a fan passion project, then make it. But if you want to make money, then don’t. He wanted to make this knowing he couldn’t make any money off of it. Yes, these YouTube copyright claims are getting out of hand, but this situation is different. If they were let him make money off of a fan film, it would set a precedent that would make it more challenging to protect their IP in future situations where other people wanted to make money off of unofficial Star Wars content. It is not personal whatsoever.

But of course, apparently no one understands copyright law and thinks Disney is personally attacking this guy out of spite.

Star Trek fans have so much trouble with Paramount/CBS over making Trek fan films, whereas Lucasfilm/Disney have been pretty lenient, and Lucasfilm has had fan film awards for years, and still do. But now this guy makes a video like this and acts like a victim? Man, you know going into this you can’t make money off a IP that you don’t own. If you want to make money, make something original. That’s it.

After seeing this, plus Thor’s video, I can’t believe how entitled both Star Wars Theory and Thor Skywalker are. Just because they make Star Wars videos that makes them think Disney should be thanking them? That they owe them something? Especially considering how much they complain about the new films they still want to act like that?

God, it makes me sick how they just manipulate the emotions of their audience. I wish they would both get off YouTube or maybe stop talking about Star Wars if they hate it so much. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen from the fan base so far. I just wish it would stop.

EDIT: Seriously, these YouTubers are MANIPULATING YOU. They want your views, your subscriptions, your money on their side of a straw man debate. It is really disgusting how they are acting. Acting so coy, like they’re innocent. They either know exactly what they’re doing, or have just managed to create a platform to preach their very biased, narrow-minded and narcissistic opinions and have managed to get the attention of a young, naive audience who can’t do their own research or have their own opinions. I’m really tired of this side of the community. There is just so much truth in the phrase, “no one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans”. Look no further.

DOUBLE EDIT: I’m just sitting here thinking how much time I wasted typing my issues with this whole situation. Seriously, all of this stupid drama about an entitled YouTuber who is stirring it up to get more attention. This is exactly what he wants. The best thing to do would be to move on with our lives. What a waste of time over this complete nonsense. I just want to sleep and forget about this.

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I need to come back and read your full post but I do understand what you are saying regarding Disney at the start. The issue being that they or at least Lucasfilm never stated that they would monetise his creation. He followed their rules after getting permission from them to make the film. He explains how he could have made near 80k from the success the fan film has had in just those 2 weeks which would have nearly funded Episode 2 by itself.

It just seems a pretty low act for Disney to then come along after the fact to claim monetisation rights that should have been made clear up front if they were planning to do that.

Val

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Do you understand IP ? The Mouse always has all the rights.
That’s why they let people do these small projects, it’s free work for them.
And I’m sure they will also take a close look to any indirect monetary gains that comes out of this.
One has to be very naive to think otherwise…

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So would he have not made it at all if he knew Disney would claim it?

Man, he is using the Star Wars IP. They have a right to do whatever they want with it. He’s manipulating yours guys’ emotions because he think he is owed money for his hard work.

If it was an original work, sure he would. But it is not. It is a fan film of a Star Wars IP, and he actually has little if any right to it because he doesn’t own the original IP. Of course he can’t make money off a fan film. Just like fan editors shouldn’t make money off their fan edits.

This guy clearly doesn’t have a full grasp on how IP law works, and he should know Disney has an obligation to make claims like this whether they personally want to or not, but he is treating himself like a victim knowing that this could happen.

He just wants you guys to feel bad for him so you buy his merch. If he really cared about his fans he would try to make them understand more.

If this is really a big deal to him, then I would recommend he take it off YouTube, which already has a cooystrike problem that is a whole other subject (but not like it matters to him because he can’t make money off this regardless), and maybe host the fan film on a site like Vimeo. I would also get his composer to rescore that particular part of the track that pinged on the copyright radar. That’s really all he could do if he doesn’t like Disney monetizing their own IP, which they have a right to do and what every company that owns IP also does.

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Thought this is quite an insightful and illuminating piece on the Shards Of The Past ‘situation’ (it’s from a Star Wars blog, yet the blogger seems to have done his homework on it):-

It wasn’t Disney that claimed Star Wars Theory’s Vader Film, it was Warner Chappell Music’…

http://starwarshub.net/2019/01/15/it-wasnt-disney-that-claimed-star-wars-theorys-vader-fan-film-it-was-warner-chappell-music/
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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That’s a fantastic read and very enlightening. Too bad this YouTuber has already deceived his audience, and I wonder if he will make a follow up video actually correcting himself. I doubt it, but who knows.

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RogueLeader said:

That’s a fantastic read and very enlightening. Too bad this YouTuber has already deceived his audience, and I wonder if he will make a follow up video actually correcting himself. I doubt it, but who knows.

Hey bob Iger, home you like the site? SWT is far better than you.

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LordZerome1080 said:

RogueLeader said:

That’s a fantastic read and very enlightening. Too bad this YouTuber has already deceived his audience, and I wonder if he will make a follow up video actually correcting himself. I doubt it, but who knows.

Hey bob Iger, home you like the site? SWT is far better than you.

It’s like his fans are brainwashed. Can’t even come up with an original insult.

I think Bob Iger has made mistakes with the franchise, like not giving the movies more production time, but at least I’m mature enough to not paint every person I disagree with as a cartoon villain because it makes the chaotic world easier to understand.

These YouTubers are manipulating you. Did you even read the article? But it isn’t like it would even change your mind, these YouTubers have you tied around their finger, taking every word they say as gospel. “Disney is pure evil and only THE TRUE FANS, like Theory and Thor, truly understand it and can save it. Just buy their cool gym wear merch to help support their noble crusade!”

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RogueLeader said:

LordZerome1080 said:

RogueLeader said:

That’s a fantastic read and very enlightening. Too bad this YouTuber has already deceived his audience, and I wonder if he will make a follow up video actually correcting himself. I doubt it, but who knows.

Hey bob Iger, home you like the site? SWT is far better than you.

It’s like his fans are brainwashed. Can’t even come up with an original insult.

I think Bob Iger has made mistakes with the franchise, like not giving the movies more production time, but at least I’m mature enough to not paint every person I disagree with as a cartoon villain because it makes the chaotic world easier to understand.

These YouTubers are manipulating you. Did you even read the article? But it isn’t like it would even change your mind, these YouTubers have you tied around their finger, taking every word they say as gospel. “Disney is pure evil and only THE TRUE FANS, like Theory and Thor, truly understand it and can save it. Just buy their cool gym wear merch to help support their noble crusade!”

Yeah I know having different opinions are so hard for you to grasp. Well guess you’re another person I can’t talk to. I wish people like you would stop throwing the brain-washed accusation around. At least I know you’re a child.

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Do you? You seem to be spouting the same vitriol in any of their comment threads. I’m sure you’re capable of having your own opinion, but when you keep hearing the same criticisms over and over again on a daily basis from these people, it is hard to figure out your own opinion from theirs. It’s so easy to feel like their opinions are facts when you watch enough of them, I understand.

You can talk to me, I’m just asking for people to not jump on the bandwagon when it easy to point fingers at a faceless enemy, or people who can’t defend themselves.

I just want you guys to try to look at things with a more open-mind, and to not let YouTubers be your main source of information.

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This isn’t a youtube comment section, folks. Everybody please play nice.

Forum Moderator

Where were you in '77?

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I think you’re being very reasonable and level headed Rogue though it’s probably better to just lay out the facts or your opinion and let people take it onboard and make up their own mind if it makes sense to them. Telling them they are being brainwashed and are wrapped around youtuber little fingers will naturally get their backs up and be less inclined to approach your viewpoint with an open mind.

I don’t know if it can be said it was just Warner Chappel, if you look at the claimnant information it says:

Warner Chappel
Walt Disney Music Company

But it is definitely over a piece of music he paid to have composed that obviously the claimnant felt is too similar to the official Inperial March.

Disney being the IP owner can of course do whatever they want. It’s a matter of handling the situation in the right way. There’s already a preexisting relationship between them, I’m sure a better way would have been to contact him first (like he did with them) and come to a compromise where he changes the music or is allowed to monetise his film and pay a royalty to them for use of an “Imperial March rendition”. Instead they come off as the usual corporation trying to screw the little man to the wall and adds fuel to the narrative that Disney are anti-fandom who will try to screw every last penny out of them because of the attachment to a franchise that Disney now owns. I mean they bought the franchise to make money but there’s got to be more than that in the relationship they build with the fandom and the stories they try to tell with that property.

Val

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Well it’s kinda annoying 10 minutes into the film, where I’m most invested in the short, I’ll be interrupted by the GROUPON APP.

So if I’m not mistaken Star Wars Theory already approached Disney before posting? In that case it’s strange they only act after it was a major hit.

Disney isn’t in the wrong of course, they were the ones who spent 4 billion on the franchise and they own the property. But how they went about it is a bit weird and annoying.

Maul- A Star Wars Story

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RogueLeader said:

I won’t say anymore on it personally, but I’ll share this post that I would recommend reading (check out the whole thread too if you’d like!) that might explain it better than me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/agan8q/it_wasnt_disney_that_claimed_star_wars_theorys/ee59u19

Yep, good article which all makes perfect sense. I still think Warner/Disney could have taken a different approach to better manage their PR.

I also have to wonder how many fan films to date they have actually felt compelled to claim in order to protect their IP, when it’s clear it is a fan film and he has been upfront about not making any money out of it yet still making it all the same. It’s not every day that a Star Wars fan film gets the success that this one did and I think this is a significant factor in the action Warner/Disney (in association?) has taken.

Also I think 4throck hit upon one of the points Thor was making in that SWT has essentially done free work for them that ultimately benefits them since SWT himself isn’t making a penny from it. If he had monetised it then it would certainly make sense for them to claim their IP in order to protect it or launch a lawsuit. I agree with Thor that ultimately it generates interest and excitement for Star Wars which could be fed back into Disney’s official movies and content and helping to generate good will in those that don’t currently hold a favourable disposition towards Disney due to any number of issues.

As to SWT himself - he makes his living as a YouTube content creator, it is a valid occupation with the masses always craving and demanding more content to consume. So it makes sense to have merchandise to subpliment that and allow people to represent something they like and enjoy being involved in that part of the Star Wars community.

He undertook this project understanding he wasn’t allowed to make money from it as he normally would yet poured a ridiculous amount (by most people’s standards here I would assume) of his own money into it knowing he wouldn’t be getting it back. His original plan as I understand it was to make a full feature length fan film but has had to break it up into sizeable episodic chunks in order to realistically be able to afford and achieve that dream, one episode at a time as he can fund them. I honestly think any noticeable regret of not being able to monetise the fan film stems from being able to fund the other episodes. Think of it from a faneditor’s point of view such as Adywan where they take donnations to fund the cost of the edit itself.

Now in saying all that, I think he does play a slight negative angle against Disney in that he obviously isn’t to taken with Disney’s choices in their Star Wars movies, whether that just be TLJ or all of them. But that’s just his opinion, no one has to agree with it to enjoy his film or feel that the situation could have been handled another way that wouldn’t instantly make many think the worst of Disney.

Val

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Funnily enough SWT has just posted another video after being in contact with Warner and explains more of what transpired and was understood between him and Lucasfilm (including an offer from him for them to monetise the video for themselves if he was allowed to crowd fund in order to pay for the fan film instead of using his own money):

https://youtu.be/G3LOEuhryMo

Essentially Warner said if he tried to fight the claim they would take the money (earned thus far I assume), take down his channel and delete the video. He told them no probs, take the money, it was never about the money, he made it as a fan for the fans and just wants it to be available for them and for his channel to be left alone.

Val