DEFENDING THE GENERIC FAN FILM

article written 2/22/2003

I value originality in fan films. I like to see something new and different. I advertised my own stupid project as not the typical Star Wars fan film.

But at the same time, I feel bad when someone makes a flick that involves a forest, or a Jedi and Sith, or a lightsaber duel... and gets crap from people for making the same old film.

Now, of course, I don't get excited when I hear a forest duel film announced. But I still will defend this special sub-genre of the Star Wars fan film, and here's why.

First, one of the overriding foundations of my support of fan filmmaking is that by conforming to the genre and conventions of Star Wars, you get a built-in audience, and just as importantly, will know how to make your film. A forest duel film is easier to plan and produce than a film of a thousand locations and varied characters, and by starting small and simple, we learn how to make movies.

A forest is not such a bad location, overall. It cuts down on nasty glaring sunlight. It keeps the sky out of view so you don't need to draw spaceships flying around. It provides neat stuff like trees and crap to jump over while you duel.

And, let's face it, some of us don't HAVE better exterior locations to film at. At all the homes I've ever lived in, the only good filming locations around were tree-based. I had fields, I had forests, I had rivers and lakes. I didn't have deserts or mountains or ice patches. Right now I'm attending college in the Chicago area. My options for filming outdoors are in a suburban area, a cornfield—or, if I'm lucky, a forest.

Jedi and Sith. "Why all the Jedi?" people ask. "Why can't we have fan films about smugglers or Imperial advisors or bounty hunters or the guy in ESB carrying the thing that looks like an ice cream maker?"

Because Jedi, the Force and that sort of stuff is what makes Star Wars Star Wars. You can find smugglers and bounty hunters in any sci-fi pantheon. Star Wars' Force and related ilk is what sets it apart (besides presence of Carrie Fisher in metal bikini).

Obviously the Jedi has to have an enemy. And why a Sith? Because he needs to have a cool lightsaber fight, and only a Sith should be qualified to hold one of those things.

And the lightsaber duel. The lightsaber duel. Always.

THEY'RE COOL, GUYS!

Think back. Think back to the very first time you rotoscoped a frame of yourself holding a real glowing lightsaber. I bet you felt like a real Jedi (or at least Mark Hamill). Let people have their fun and have their lightsaber duels. If they're done well, I'm good with them.

You know, sometimes people complain that Star Wars fan films focus too much on the effects. This may be true. But if we didn't want to make effects-laden movies, we'd be making our own original character dramas, or making fan films of The Shawshank Redemption or something. How many Star Wars scenes would still have their impact without special effects, or other visual niftiness? Even the most dialogue-driven moments of the saga—the "I am your father" speech comes to mind—would not have the same weight without lightsaber duels and fantastic worlds and cool costumes around them. Star Wars is a visual medium, let's face it.

And now, time for a poem:

I don't mind this basic rite / Of Jedi, Sith, forest and fight. / Now here's the hard part—do it right.

You can make a generic fan film not be generic by just doing things differently and well. You can use the off-the-shelf store-bought Jedi costume for your hero, but why not give him a little something extra, such as beaded braids? Or give the Jedi the funny tattoos instead of the Sith?

Instead of the Jedi crash landing on the forest planet, or being sent to investigate something or other, why not have the Sith be the instigator of the meeting? Perhaps Darth Generic (oh, yes, and please don't name your Sith Darth unless you have a darn good reason) is deliberately chasing this one Jedi?

What if neither of them dies? Perhaps the lightsaber duel ends anticlimactically, and they're forced to talk to each other to sort things out?

Do you have to play "Duel of the Fates" for your saber extravaganza? There's a lot of music out there, both in Star Wars and not. Perhaps you can find a long-lost track in ROTJ that will serve your purpose. Or maybe some Tchaikovsky. Or Queen.

I'm not saying that these are great ideas, either. But at least they're different ways to approach the basic plot of the generic Star Wars fan film.

It's not what you do. It's how you do it.

Oh... but one thing. No more "of the" in the titles. It's just not punchy.