Fan Made: Star Wars, The Silent Film
Filed under: Fandom, Home Entertainment, Trailers and Clips, Fan Made
It feels like a good majority of our Fan Made posts have to do with Star Wars, and I apologize on behalf of the site (because I'm usually the one writing these pieces) if you're sick and tired of the topic, but I come across these bits of brilliance and, well, golly gee -- I just wanna share them with you, is all. This particular little video was something some dude (or dudette) just created "for fun" -- and it uses clips from all three original Star Wars films, edited at a faster pace in black and white with one of them old school piano tunes used for background music. The result is an amusing time-waster, and kudos go out to its creator. I would, however, like to see another one of these in a longer format with more dialogue cards thrown in. Check it out below, then let us know what you think. Does Star Wars work as a silent film?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-17-2008 @ 8:02PM
SOS said...
Please bear with me ... I have a tendency to repeat myself. Isn't the footage included all copyrighted material? If I was George Lucas or whoever owns the material I would so sue -- someone, maybe you -- for stealing copyrighted material. Worse is, there are web addresses attached to all of the material that makes it easy to find out where the material originated; hell, it's on your website, they'll never have any problem finding who used images un-owned. Then there are the images used that are weak and aren't strung together well and don't make half as good a cinematic expression as possible from all of the images available in the stolen image vain ... so, no! I think the black and white piece under consideration is weak for a number of reasons; I would give it an immature at best. Then, if you want a longer piece of this kind of stolen images stuff, well then, there are some possibilities ... but we might … might need someone with rights to the material and the ability to cinematically tell a story. Say, someone like, isn't the footage included all copyrighted material? If I was George Lucas or whoever owns the material I would so sue -- someone, maybe you -- for stealing copyrighted material. Worse is, there are web addresses attached to all of the material that makes it easy to find out where the material originated; hell, it's on your website, they'll never have any problem finding who used images un-owned. Then there are the images used that are weak and aren't strung together well and don't make half as good a cinematic statement as possible from the images used or from all of the images available in the stolen image vain ... so, no! I think the black and white piece under consideration is weak for a number of reasons; I'd give it an immature at best. Then, if you want a longer piece of this kind (which you suggested) of stolen images stuff, well then there are some possibilities ... but we might "might" need someone with rights to the material and the ability to cinematically tell a story. Say, someone like, George Lucas?
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12-18-2008 @ 2:30AM
joe said...
seriously? it's called a fan film, and lucas himself supports fans creating stuff as long as it's not being sold for profit. chill out!
12-18-2008 @ 10:38AM
Kevin said...
Exactly Joe. Jesus man, chill the f out. Nobody is going to get that upset over someone using their materials purely for fun. If they were selling this then Lucas might get upset, but otherwise its actual good for those who own the rights to the material because it works as FREE advertising. Loosen up dude.
Having said that, anybody else think the light saber fight actually looked better here then in the original? The fact that they sped it up made it look more impressive, as opposed to when I watch the regular movies and think "Hey, I could probably fence for a few weeks and beat both these guys".
12-18-2008 @ 3:51AM
Movie_Dearest said...
Enough with the "Star Wars" posts ...
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12-18-2008 @ 5:36AM
Maikel said...
This silent film could have worked if one had chosen the right clips for it. The story is a mess. If you make something like this, it should be to do it well, not just as a joke. The first shot works very well, where Vader enters. Everything else is just random misc.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm taking it too serious, but it just annoys me, 'cause the idea is very good.
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12-18-2008 @ 7:55AM
Jim said...
This doesn't work at all. Just adding a filter to video clips - random video clips - and speeding things up doesn't work as an old time silent movie (at all!). Geez, the editor could have at least made it have a coherent plot by throwing in dialogue cards as you suggested. As is, it's a lazy fan film at best.
As for the first comment up there, it's legal to use clips for parody, as long as you aren't selling it and as long as the clips are of a short enough duration, as these are.
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12-18-2008 @ 2:11PM
Peter said...
Your assignment is to redo this. Tell the story in a logical manner, hit the key scenes, work in some title cards- ("I have a bad feeling about this" needs to be in there). Focus on the first movie, there's enough story there for everyone. And for God's sake, no special edition clips. That's not how the Death Star exploded.
Now get back to work. You have a great idea here.
For bonus points, and I know this is a lot to ask, find a piano player who can play the Star Wars theme in a ragtimey manner.
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12-29-2008 @ 1:16AM
Clive said...
There's actually been a few REAL Star Wars silent fan films--that is, flicks made by fans using original material. The best known is the "Silent But Deadly" trilogy, the first of which won an award at Lucasfilm's annual Fan Film contest, and was later shown at the Cannes Film Festival. There's also "Star Wars 1937" which recreates the series as a terrible 'Flash Gordon'-type film.
If you want to find out more about the world of fan films, you might want to check out my daily fan film blog, fancinematoday.com. Also, for what it's worth, I wrote the first book about the history and future of fan films, Homemade Hollywood, which just came out in bookstores everywhere.
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