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Your first impressions of the Fan Film forum - are non-SW films allowed? (Please Read)

Discussion in 'Fan Films, Fan Audio & SciFi 3D' started by DVeditor, Dec 16, 2005.

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Your first impressions of the Fan Film forum - are non-SW films allowed? (Please Read)

Poll closed Mar 23, 2012.
  1. Yes, this forum is open to fan films of all types.

    58.5%
  2. No, this forum is for Star Wars films only.

    2.5%
  3. Sort of, but Star Wars films are the main focus.

    37.3%
  4. I'm not sure - I just got here and it's hard to tell.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  5. Other

    1.7%
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  1. durbnpoisn

    durbnpoisn TFN Staff Cast & Crew Database star 5 VIP

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002
    Uh, for the record... I do too. Just don't lose the Star Wars/FX base. I don't see that as any sort of a deteriment.
     
  2. Covax

    Covax Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 30, 2003
    So... in other words... just keep on doing... what we're already doing... only more so.
     
  3. durbnpoisn

    durbnpoisn TFN Staff Cast & Crew Database star 5 VIP

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002
    Well... Yes... I suppose we could use some more open mindedness. But that doesn't mean we need to start splitting things up.
     
  4. Mircat

    Mircat Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 3, 2005
    Maybe we need some clarification.

    When you are talking about the new boards, are you talking about film boards for other things, or other places where we can get together and talk about thing like how Samantha Carter is the hotness?

    - The Cat

    Cntr+C. .Cntr+V. .F7. . "The Spelling and grammar check is complete." That can't be right. Oh, I must have done something that it can't detect.
     
  5. DorkmanScott

    DorkmanScott Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    I think the latter, though I have no idea who Samantha Carter is.

    The boards DV mentioned are for the JC at large to discuss non-Star Wars topics that still relate by genre -- science fiction, fantasy, and I'm going to fight for all the horror I can, though the agreement seems to be that it has to be supernatural and thus a sub-category of fantasy (no slasher pics or murder mysteries). A place where you can post as many topics on different aspects of a film/tv series, or a book/comic book series, as you desire, as opposed to having one "dedicated" thread on a board that's directed more towards SW.

    There's really no movement here to add another board, or even change what we're doing. I think the question is really, is it clear that we are not solely about Star Wars fan films, and if that is not clear, does anyone have ideas for how to make it clearer off the bat?

    M. Scott
     
  6. Krintar

    Krintar Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 10, 2004
    "talk about things like how Samantha Carter is the hotness?"
    Dude... she's about 1/4 of your age...

    [face_plain]
     
  7. Mircat

    Mircat Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 3, 2005
    [image=http://www.starfaring.com/images/sam001.jpg]

    Physicist, Air Force Colonel, Interstellar explorer. I don't know if she can cook, but she makes her own weaponry and can single shot a rope at like waaaaaay over there; while swinging too.

    Back on topic. To be honest, I'd put horror as its own category. Putting it under fantasy is as bad as putting horror DVD's in the SciFi section at the video store.

    As for making it clear that we are not solely about Star Wars fan films. It's all about the banner.

    - The Cat
     
  8. Covax

    Covax Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 30, 2003
    Yea I agree, the banner is what hits your first.

    Would be kinda neat if there was a theme of the month i.e. Star Wars, Star Trek, Matrix, Horror (October), War/Military, Special F/X, Martial Arts/Choreography, etc.
     
  9. G-Unit

    G-Unit Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    May 23, 2004
    I could see something like that.
     
  10. DVeditor

    DVeditor Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2001
    We can do that - I'd personally like to see a few more Fan Film banners in the mix for future use. I'm really used to the standard one we have but it's good to switch things up now and then.

    As usual, Dorkman clears up my initial post in two sentances. ;)
     
  11. durbnpoisn

    durbnpoisn TFN Staff Cast & Crew Database star 5 VIP

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002

    I didn't notice this comment before... I can't believe that an English major is confusing these terms. There is nothing "subjective" about popularity. Something is either popular or it isn't. It matters not how good something is. It only matters if it is popular. In the case of Star Wars, it was the highest grossing movie in existence until Titanic beat it. And that was largely due to the tickets being 5x more expensive.
    The present trilogy fared exceptionally well also. Only being rivaled by Spider Man and LOTR.

    By and large, they are the most popular movies of all time. This is not up to subjective debate. It's true.


    As far as your dissagreement about this site being so attached to Star Wars, or Star Wars' popularity being irrelevant... I submit the following. Show me a list of, let's say 10, of the best known, most helpful, more prolific filmmakers on this forum, that DID NOT come here to talk about their Star Wars film. No. 5! Show me 5.

    If you can answer that challenge, then I will agree that too much emphasis has been put on Star Wars here.

    As a side note: Consider that the single most popular thing that you were ever involved in, would likely have NOT been so popular had you not been fighting with lightsabers. To discount the popularity of those films, no matter if you really like them much or not, is to deny a partial amount of your own success. That, I find rather strange.

    This is all friendly of course. I'm only trying to defend the obvious.
     
  12. Covax

    Covax Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 30, 2003
    And in our next choreography match:

    The Master of the Obvious vs The Defender of the Obvious!

    Winner take all!

    ... obviously.
     
  13. DorkmanScott

    DorkmanScott Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    No, it's not. If you really want to call me out on my semantics, I'll be forced to point out that the term "by and large" itself is a subjective admission. It's saying "this is not absolutely, objectively the case -- just generally so." It's subjective.

    As you said yourself, the Star Wars films are not the top dogs in box office records. Other films are more popular. By your own admission, Titanic could technically be considered the most popular film of all time. Or Gone with the Wind, which adjusted for inflation would still be the highest grosser in history.

    Box office is not necessarily a measure of popularity, but then what is? How much people talk about it? Well, people who are fans are obviously going to talk about it a lot more than people who aren't, and people who hang around here are probably going to know more fans than non, which makes it a SUBJECTIVE estimation.

    Another subjective argument that of course can't be answered.

    This is, to date, a Star Wars fan site and the people who come here, obviously, came to talk about Star Wars. But that doesn't prove your point at all. The place is labelled "Star Wars" so only Star Wars discussion gravitates here.

    That's like if we had a bowl labelled "green M&Ms," and everyone put their green M&Ms in there, and I said "We should think about putting different colored M&Ms in that bowl" and then you saying "Are you crazy? Have you ever seen anyone put anything but green M&Ms in there? Didn't think so!" It's self-fulfilling.

    My question to YOU to think about is, how many potentially "well-known," helpful, prolific filmmakers HAVE NOT come here because they DIDN'T have a Star Wars film to promote? I don't have the answer, but I bet it's more than 5.

    And how many of those filmmakers that DID come here for Star Wars, are still here for Star Wars? How many of the posters here have stopped making Star Wars-related projects? How many have left the forum behind entirely (or at least mostly) because it was no longer relevant to their lives/ambitions/skill levels?

    I can certainly name five of those:

    1. Dave Macomber (Lord_Rive)
    2. Chris Hanel
    3. Nick Jushchushyn (PadawanNick, probably mispelled the surname)
    4. Clay Kronke
    5. Kevin Rubio

    That only proves that the weapon is popular. And I won't deny that. Whatever taste the conclusion of the series has left in my mouth, I still love lightsaber fights.

    The point is, even if I did agree that the Star Wars films were "the most popular of all time" -- which I don't -- how much longer will that keep thi
     
  14. durbnpoisn

    durbnpoisn TFN Staff Cast & Crew Database star 5 VIP

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002

    Meanhile, 4 out of 5 of them are best known for what they did related to Star Wars. Regardless of why they came here initially, that's what they are known for. (Admitadly, not so much anymore).

    Atually, Nick is the only one there who, while a huge Star Wars fan, is not best known for his work in that area.


    btw: I agree with where you're going with this, to some extent. I just don't think we should lose the Star Wars distinction. As stated before... This forum is mostly FX nerds. Nothing says FX (in the old-school sense) better that Star Wars.


    He he... Okay... If there were ANY thing else to associate that weapon with, I'd give you that. But, please... It's a friggin Star Wars weapon. I'm afraid you must live with that.
     
  15. Mircat

    Mircat Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 3, 2005
    Best case scenario; people get attracted to the Sci-Fi discussion boards for like X-Files, Dr. Who, Stargate, Star Trek, X-Men, Farscape, etc. Then they start to wonder the boards and come across Fan Films. This could only add to the talent pool. I?ve seen some good work out there FX and acting wise, and we all know that more actors around is a good thing. Plus the added bonus of those other movie/show based works that could be kicked up a few notches by reading this forum.

    Worse case scenario; Trekkies. hehe But on this, and I mean getting into arguments about cannon, that?s always been pushed off to the discussion boards anyway and can be maintained.

    - The cat

    P.S. MS Word wants me to spell trekkie as trekker. :-B
     
  16. DorkmanSanta

    DorkmanSanta Jedi Master

    Registered:
    Dec 15, 2005
    You said yourself that just because a film has lightsabers in it, it is not necessarily a Star Wars film. Did you not?

    (The correct answer is "Yes, I did, and I made a point of standing by that.")

    At any rate, I don't recall saying it wasn't. But my point still stands: just because someone is interested in lightsabers does not inherently mean they are interested in Star Wars in general, or in making a Star Wars film. I would like to start attracting more of those filmmakers.
     
  17. Covax

    Covax Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 30, 2003
    Well then you... or we? or whatever... have to start with the public/media relations. The main TFN Fanfilms site isn?t promoting stuff like it used to. When LCC3 was announced Kungfucinema.com was bored enough to post a blurb on us, but didn?t have anything else to say because of the crashed site on release day. The aforementioned Cliffordhoeft.com has a decent news page, but people have to tell him about movies to start with. I?m sure there are tons of other sites out there? Amateur Movie Portal? Detonationfilms? Studentfilms.com? that are essentially alone out there.

    If anything I?d suggest some kind of semi-formal coalition, like Durb and his Fanfilm Database. There are two problems I see with this: A) It?s too easy to see this as some sort of power/attention grab, B) The ability of a group of people to maintain cohesive communication while promoting, or at least not blocking, independence. You deal with A by being up front about it: yes it?s an attention grab but these people and these films deserve attention; as for power you need that to get anything done - provided the group doesn?t get bogged down in bureaucracy. You deal with B by assembling a worthy team and training successors on the guaranteed chance that life will draw members away at regular intervals.

    I my case I?ve got a good team, but each of us ? Primrodo, Phi, Arjuna, Stoyboy and the occasional guest star ? represent different ?companies?. Rather than spend 20 minutes on the opening crawl with the logos we created a new ?pronoun? if you will, to replace phrases like Productions, Studios, Entertainment, etc: Gathering of Filmers. Gets more to the point than some pro-socialist message like Union or Guild; we come together, we make a film, have some fun and go our separate ways until the next idea is pitched, and by then it?s evolved to a different crew. All this thanks to TFN as it works now. Now imagine that all over the planet.
     
  18. durbnpoisn

    durbnpoisn TFN Staff Cast & Crew Database star 5 VIP

    Registered:
    May 20, 2002

    Ooohh.... Touche! Using my words against me. :D

    I take back not what I said. And I will also state again that you agreed with me. But this is not about what you and I think. I initially made that statement because I grew tired of seeing people refer to entirely TOO many films, RvD included, as Star Wars fan films, when in fact, they are not. This, actually supports my argument. The popularity of Star Wars is the base behind it. The popularity of Star Wars is what drew people to the competition in the first place. Whether you or I see it that way is irrelavent. Most people will consider RvD a Star Wars fan film. Most people will agree that that is the reason it was so popular.

    With all due respect, I take nothing away from that film. I've had nothing but great things to say about it, and always will (I really mean that). But, you can't deny that had you 2 just been fighting with plain sticks, it wouldn't have been nearly as popular.
     
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