Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Fan Film

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1voldemort_1024x576.png

A type of Fan Work that, like Fanfic, consists of an original story utilizing the characters and/or setting from an established franchise. Unlike the Fan Vid, the Fan Film isn't just a re-editing and redubbing of existing footage, but rather an entirely new work consisting of footage that has been shot or animated by the producer(s) of the film themselves. Fan Films vary wildly in quality, from poorly-made Flash cartoons to sophisticated, big-budget epics replete with expert fight choreography and convincing special effects. (Most Fan Films tend to fall somewhere in between.) Thanks to increased computer processing power and the ready accessibility of advanced editing, graphics, and music-making programs, it is becoming increasingly easy for ordinary people to produce Fan Films, some of which are every bit as good in quality as the professional productions on which they're based. (Of course, just like with any other form of Fan Work, Sturgeon's Law is in full effect here...)

It should be noted, like with Fan Vids and other works derived from established characters and stories, that issues of Copyright will crop up from time to time. Since Fan Films tend to be fairly long and extensive in nature, it's a lot harder to handwave these issues away under Fair Use, although many companies will turn a blind eye to Fan Films if they see them as free promotion. There are exceptions to this rule, of course. The fan film Damnatus, made by German fans of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, cost more than 10,000 euros and took months to film, but Games Workshop, the owners of Warhammer 40000, have refused to allow the film to be shown (despite lengthy negotiations with the film's creators) due to the mores of German copyright law. However, it was subsequently leaked onto the Internet.

Fan Films can be commonly found on video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Dailymotion. Original fan cartoons produced with Adobe Flash can be found at Newgrounds.

See also Fan Sequel, which is the video game version of this phenomenon, (although many Fan Films are based on video game franchises.) This trope is not to be confused with Machinima, which are original movies made using images and movements from existing video games.

Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Live-Action 
  • The Star Wars franchise boasts a whole host of Fan Films, many of which are just one-on-one lightsaber duels, lasting only a few minutes, with no extraneous plot whatsoever. However, some Fan Films, do have epic stories attached to them. Fanfilms.com is a good place to find and learn about them.
    • Kevin Rubio's TROOPS is usually credited as the Trope Codifier of this media, and possibly even the Trope Maker. A dual parody of Star Wars and COPS, it boasts professional quality costumes and special effects. It's also hilarious and puts a couple of major incidents from the first film in a whole new light.
      • A sequel series exists called I.M.P.S., following an imperial carrier group through its various assignments. Features voiceovers by Optimus Prime!
    • The Chad Vader shorts. George Lucas himself loves the series and Lucasarts were so impressed that Matt Sloan got hired as the official voice of Darth Vader for The Force Unleashed.
    • The Pink Five series also has a reasonably large following. It does a decent job of putting a hilarious spin on the story without abusing the canon too much. The main character is a kinda-sorta canon immigrant now. She has a cameo in Zahn's novel Allegiance.
    • Rebel Scum is about a Rebel pilot who's left behind on Hoth during the retreat of the Rebel Alliance from Hoth.
    • There's also the Ryan vs. Dorkman films, which, though they are the above-mentioned "lightsaber duels with no relation to plot" films, have very well-done choreography.
      • Ryan vs. Dorkman was created for and was the winner of the first annual Lightsaber Choreography Contest (LCC). The contest is specifically judged on the quality of the fight and has been held every year since 2002.
    • Hardware Wars. It came out only seven months after the original release of A New Hope and was the first Star Wars fan film to make it big.
    • Tie Fighter, a 7-minute long fanmade Animesque video, centered around a trio of Elite Tie Fighter pilots launching an ambush on a Rebel Fleet. It is the 4-year effort of Paul "OtaKing" Johnson, made even more impressive that the WHOLE thing was the work of just one man.
    • Star Wars Uncut takes this to new heights, by asking people around the internet to redo snippets of the original, 15 seconds each, no matter the budget. The end result manages to be its own beast, while paying tribute to the original film.
    • Star Wars: Revelations, one of the most ambitious — and most acclaimed — fan films out there.
    • Star Wars Downunder puts a uniquely Australian twist on the Star Wars universe. The evil Darth Drongo has seized all the beer on the planet, and it's up to Jedi Knight Merve Bushwacker and his rebel mates to get it back!
    • The Dark Resurrection series is a pair of Italian fan films set several centuries after the first Star Wars trilogy, and were funded solely through crowdfunding.
    • Vader attracted a ton of attention when it premiered and even managed to get the Approval of God from Lucasfilms with its stellar production values and writing. The intended film series is a love letter to the character of Darth Vader, following an average few days for him as he mourns Padmé and settles down into his role as the Emperor's Dragon.
  • Warhammer 40K has Damnatus, which follows the agents of the Imperial inquisition as they try to stop a daemon returning to the planet Sancta Heroica.
    • The Lord Inquisitor isn't out yet as of spring 2017, but already looks tons better than that official Ultramarines piece
  • The Star Trek franchise also has its share of Fan Films:
  • Star Wreck has gone from being a space battle animated using early home computer technology, to a spoof of epic proportions with effects that easily rival most big-budget Hollywood productions. The latest film, In the Pirkinning is also the most successful Finnish movie ever made.
  • The The Legend of Zelda video game franchise has many Fan Films, ranging from the silly to the serious. However, the copyright bogeyman led to The Hero of Time getting a Cease and Desist from Nintendo and is no longer distributed online by its creators. It can still be found with a quick Google search, though.
  • The Comic Book Bin hosts a great many Fan Films. It provides reviews of and news about them as well.
  • A Leap To Di For is an awesome Quantum Leap fanfilm about Sam attempting to save Princess Diana, amongst other things.
  • The Hunger Games have a lot of fanfilms what about the generic setting making it a little easier to do, yet one of the good ones can be seen here .
  • The Indiana Jones Interrogations is a seven-installment Indiana Jones fan film mini-series on YouTube and Vimeo, produced by a small but passionate sect of Indy fans. It is pretty unorthodox for a fan film of the character in that it uses a Found Footage format. Each installment is designed to resemble old, damaged interrogation tapes from the 1930's, that depict Indy being brutally questioned while in Nazi custody. Also unorthodox in that the focus is not on action, but on exploring Indy's psyche, and which includes patching up some of the plot holes presented by the films. While it only features one character on camera (Indy), it has a supporting cast of off-screen characters too, and is heavily influenced by the format of the early episodes of The Joker Blogs.
  • Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy is a Metal Gear fan film from Italy. Apparently Hideo Kojima approved of it and the filmmakers' respect for the series.
  • Shamelady, a French-made James Bond fan film, truly deserves the full marks. Coming in at a whopping 50+ minutes, and even having a public screening in France!
  • I'm a Marvel... And I'm a DC by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy is a popular fan-made series featuring action figures of famous Marvel and DC Comics characters. Originally, it started as a spoof of the "I'm a Mac... And I'm a PC" ads, with Superman and Spider-Man comparing their respective film series. Eventually, it evolved to include other characters, such as Batman, the Hulk, Iron Man, etc., and the "After Hours" series, originally mean to depict what the characters do when they're not making snarky remarks about each others' movies, developed its own involved plotline. Regardless, it's still pretty funny.
  • Fullmetal Fantasy is a short Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Film written and directed by Vic Mignogna, the American voice actor for Edward Elric, starring most of the US vocal cast playing their charactersnote  with FMA fans playing all the extras. In it, an FMA fan (played by Mignogna) dreams that he's becoming Edward and the FMA characters are showing up all over the real world.
    • Vic followed this up with The Fullmetal and Flame Show, made because Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang) wasn't available for the first film. The whole thing is a giant parody of Itchy and Scratchy, where Mustang and Ed (played by their respective merchandise) get into various ridiculous situations, with Edward getting revenge on Mustang in increasingly Crosses the Line Twice manners (tricking him into a blender, using him as bait for a shark, telling him that a microwave was a soundstage to record a song album and setting him on fire). Vic teased about the film for years before finally airing it at Otakon 2010.
  • "Patient J" is a very popular Batman fan film about the Joker. The film focuses on a psychiatrist interviewing the Joker and gives the Joker's perspective on major events in the Batman comic book timeline and on his relationship with Batman personally. The film was written and directed by Aaron Schoenke specifically for his friend, Paul Molnar, to play the Joker.
  • Batman: Dead End is a eight-minute long fan video that puts Batman against The Joker and later...the Alien and the Predator.
    • It's also one of the very few (if only) to get official toys made for it—namely, of some of the disctinctive Predators, such as Big Red.
  • Batman: Puppet Master, a fan film set in Batman's The Dark Knight Trilogy universe meant to bridge the gap between The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Possibly intended as part of a series due to the Sequel Hook at the end. Features Nolanverse re-imaginings of classic villains The Riddler and The Ventriloquist. Can be seen here.
  • "Browncoats: Redemption" is a Firefly fan film taking place after the events of Serenity. The film was created on a much higher budget than most fan films and the film was used to get money for a charity. The film has gotten high amounts of praise, most notably from Joss Whedon himself.
  • Doctor Who has had a number of fan films made, especially during the intervening years between the cancellation in 1989 and the 2005 revival. Most notable among them is the four part serial Time Rift, directed by Jon Blum (and featuring him as the 7th Doctor), who went on to become an Ascended Fanboy and write several Eighth Doctor novels with his wife Kate Orman. The Creation of YouTube has only allowed for more to be made, and shining examples of modern Who fan films are the Long Runner The Little Red Doctor (started in 2013) and the comparatively recent Doctor Who: Guardian, the latter of which has also spawned a Big Finish-like spin-off audio series titled Doctor Who Odissey. Both series feature Doctors far in the future from the perspective of the BBC show, and often make up for their just-sightly-above average production values with crisp writing that in some cases manages to rise to the level of the best episodes of Who.
  • There Will Be Brawl is an extremely well made live-action fan film of the Super Smash Bros. series, split into episodes. Boasting amazing writing and costume design that ranges from above-average to mind blowing. Incidentally, it also turns the setting into a cynical urban wasteland with most of the cast members cast as drug addicts, whores or worse, but that's neither here nor there.
  • There exists a fan-made film version of the first Dune novel by Frank Herbert, made by a few fans living in Spain with a cast of the entire village. Visually, it's a cross between the atmosphere of the '84 Lynch version and the Arabic influences of the 2000 Sci-Fi miniseries. It's also more faithful than either of them. Unfortunately, the HLP (Herbert Limited Partnership; the company that deals with the franchise since Frank's death) completely shut down the project and threatened to sue them, even though it took them over five years to make and over $10,000 of their own money and, they intended to release for free.
  • Godzilla vs the Kaiju Killer takes elements from many of the 70s movies and makes them more credible, such as the Black Hole Aliens, Hedorah and Gabara now as a creepy Emotion Eater. Plus a damn great sci-fi story about morality in a Crapsack World.
  • In 1992, a group called "Alpha Dog Productions" created The Green Goblin's Last Stand, a fifty-minute Spider-Man fan film adapting The Night Gwen Stacy Died, on a budget of less than $400. They also somehow managed to get a classically trained actor to play Norman Osborn. The results are... well, amazing. At the moment, it's easiest to find it online, at the official channel.
  • Truth in Journalism is a fan-made Found Footage mockumentary (done by the same guy who made Dirty Laundry) in the style of Man Bites Dog that takes place in the Marvel Universe during The '80s involving Eddie Brock making a documentary about the underbelly of New York. At one point, the film crew tells him that they don't have the budget to finish the film and refuse to accept Eddie's money, lest they compromise the film's integrity. Venom is not pleased. And then, the film ends with some footage from the start of the shoot: Eddie and the crew members stumbling across a crew filming an execution being done by Bullseye.
  • Operation Chastity was a planned Halo fan film that was never finished. The plot would have centered on a platoon of UNSC Marines operating in Argentina, fighting the survivors of a crashed Covenant ship. The film's director spent tens of thousands of dollars of his own money on the project, which did produce a script, a dozen prop weapons, and a fully working Warthog jeep. Oh yeah, and Al Matthews, the man who played Sgt. Apone, was on the cast at one point.
  • The Lord of the Rings has spawned many of these, some a lot better than others. Born of Hope is a 70 minute prequel tied into the appendices of Tolkien's book, telling the story of Aragorn's parents, filmed in a similar style to the Peter Jackson films. Another good film is Hunt for Gollum, which is set during the story of the book. Both these films look highly professional, while being made on low budgets, and have been highly acclaimed by critics.
  • Mega Man had a fan film by Eddie Lebron released on ScrewAttack.com.
  • Even Fallout has spawned a fan film, this one being Nuka Break, starring a Vault 10 Dweller with a Nuka Cola addiction, a recently freed slave, and a hedonistic ghoul.
  • The Ghostbusters franchise of films and TV shows has inspired at least two notable fan films, "The Real Ghostbusters" downloadable here and "Return of the Ghostbusters" having a trailer here.
    • The Louisiana Ghostbusters had a fan film contest which had a few enrties, many of which were location based, such as Ghostbusters SLC, U.K. Ghostbusters, and Italy Ghostbusters, though there were plenty of others as well. They can all be seen here.
  • Street Fighter has webseries Street Fighter: the Later Years, Street Fighter Legacy, Street Fighter High (and its sequel musical), Street Fighter: Beginning's End, and Balrog: Behind the Glory.
  • There are two fan films of Portal, a sequel and a prequel:
    • There's now a Portal fan film entitled Outside Aperture which is set after the original ending of the first game and completely ignores Portal 2. There's very little dialogue, the only character is Chell (who has some issues due to her time as a test subject), and apart from flashbacks it's set entirely inside an extremely bare apartment, yet somehow it works.
    • Portal: No Escape shows Chell as a prisoner who tries to break out of Aperture Science, which turns out to be her first test. It's a darker take on the series compared to both the above fan film and Portal itself.
  • Find Makarov, based on the Modern Warfare series. Notable in that a chance reference to it at the end of Modern Warfare 3 has spawned near-endless debate on whether it's canon to the actual series.
  • A film version (found here) of the (in)famous fan fiction My Immortal.
  • Timberwolf West is a professional production company that has made some high quality Friday the 13th Fan Films, such as The Storm and The Obsession.
  • TRON: Destiny is a four-minute short film (doubling as a fake trailer for the upcoming third TRON movie) that asks what would happen if a Real Life hacker got into ENCOM's files and built their own deresolution laser. It turns out to be precisely what the MCP ordered.
  • Red Sand: A Mass Effect Prequel fan film starring Mark Meer (the voice actor of Commander Shepard) as Grissom.
  • Live-Action Toy Story, a full-length live-action Shot-for-Shot Remake of Toy Story.
  • Freddy Vs Ghostbusters pits Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street against the Ghostbusters. A man called Neill who lives on Elm Street is haunted by Freddy, so he calls in the Ghostbusters for help. Among other things, Freddy repeats the "I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy!" phone gag on a balding middle-aged man by mistake, the Ghostbusters call Jared from Subway for advice by Breaking the Fourth Wall, and Freddy kills Jared. Three seperate endings were shot. In the standard ending the Ghostbusters defeat Freddy and trap him in their container, but in the first alternate one Freddy kills all three of them and does a Victory Dance, and in the second alternate ending Freddy and the Ghostbusters go outside and do a dance and song number in the street.
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • Flight from Shadow is a 22-minute adaptation of one chapter of The Eye of the World by a group of fans eager to finally see Robert Jordan's world and characters up on the screen. Except for its length, it could pass for a Hollywood movie, with fans having poured countless hours into building professional-looking sets, props and costumes.
  • Judge Minty is a 2013 fan film based on the Judge Dredd comics which follows the tale of a secondary character from the comics, Judge Minty. After several decades as an active street judge Minty is pulled off active duty, and then decides to head out into the irradiated wasteland beyond the Mega City to bring law to the lawless.
  • The same team behind Judge Minty later made an adaptation based on Strontium Dog, another 2000 AD property, which is arguably even better. The fight scenes kick ass, the FX is once again impressive by fan film standards, and there's some nice bits of humor between Johnny Alpha and his partner Wulf.
  • In 2015, a Power Rangers fanflim known as Power/Rangers featured a Darker and Edgier and Bloodier and Gorier take on the characters, featuring Katee Sackhoff and James Van Der Beek. Eventually, it was revealed to be a parody of Darker And Edgier reboots of cheesy kid's cartoons. However, not everyone was a fan on it as Saban tried to take it down and Jason David Frank stated he thought it was too dark (though he's not against a PG-13 version). Conversely, Austin St. John, Amy Jo Johnson, and Steve Cardenas enjoyed it, the latter even making light of Rocky's Adaptational Villainy.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Light of Hope is a miniseries adaptation of Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks.
  • Grayson is Real Trailer, Fake Movie about Dick Grayson becoming Robin again to find out who killed Batman after Batman seemingly dies.
  • The Veronica Exclusive is a fanmade Vlog Series adaptation of Heathers, setting it in the modern day.
  • ''Fan-O-Rama: A Futurama Fan Film is a fan-made Live-Action Adaptation of Futurama.
  • In 2017, director Jason Gerbay released a fan-made reboot of The Mask based on the comics in which a married couple and their friend who find the titular item and use it for their personal gain.
  • TRULY OUTRAGEOUS: A Jem Fan Film! is a 29 minute live-action adaptation of Jem. It takes place in an AU just before the finale of the cartoon.
  • Trapped at the Castle is a fanfilm based on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, in which all the characters are played by the same person.
  • While Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Game - The Movie was adapted from a video game that the short film's director James Rolfe has repeatedly bashed as the worse thing to come from the NES, the film's content does various homages to the visuals of the game and it is mostly Played for Laughs.
  • Stoneybrook Revisited: A Baby-Sitters Club Fan Series is a series of shorts based on The Baby-Sitters Club. It depicts theoretical adulthoods of the original five.
  • An Uncharted fan film first appeared in 2018. The film features some strong productions values, with Nathan Fillion cast in the role of Nathan Drake.
  • "Gambit: Play For Keeps" involves Gambit forced to play a high-stakes poker game to save the life of Rogue. The main villain is played by Eric Roberts, and the video clearly had a decent budget, judging from its production values and special effects.
  • There are quite a few Among Us fan films out there, but special mention goes to this one by Jay and Arya, which could almost pass for something from a professional studio with its stellar production values, references in dialogue to what official lore exists for the game, and a high-stakes plot showing just how tense an average session of the game can get.
  • Michael vs. Jason: Evil Emerges by Radical Talent pits Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise against Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise.
  • Doug Funnie in Adult Life is an original story that uses elements from the Nickelodeon version of Doug.
  • Aquaman: The Cast of the Angler is an Aquaman fan film from 1984 featuring the superhero against the Angler, the half-brother of comics rogue the Fisherman. The film was made on a budget of $10,000 and won several awards, even having official permission to use the characters from DC Comics.
  • Never Hike Alone, and it's sequels Never Hike in the Snow and Never Hike Alone 2, are a trilogy of Friday the 13th fan films that see Jason brought out of a period of inactivity when a hiker unknowingly stumbles into the abandoned ruins of Crystal Lake.

    Flash Cartoon 

    Computer Generated 

    Other 
  • Neil Cicierega's Potter Puppet Pals series of fan films features hand-puppet versions of the principal characters of the Harry Potter franchise. Originally a Flash cartoon (and now a live-action series), the series has given birth to many Internet memes, and it stands as one of the series' most intentionally funny fan works.
  • Paul "Otaking" Johnson is in the process of animating his own Doctor Who anime.
  • Fantasy Kaleidoscope is an animated Touhou Project work that would not look out of place when compared to professionally created anime. The animation and sound effects are done by the fan Manpuku Jinja, albeit without any 'official' voice acting, instead using subtitles. Six episodes have been released so far, with many fandubs provided in both Japanese and English on NND and YouTube respectively. Or both.
  • Also from the Franchise Touhou Project fandom is Hifuu Club Activity Record ~The Sealed Esoteric History~ that like the aforementioned Fantasy Kaleidoscope boasts incredibly high animation standards. Unlike Fantasy Kaleidoscope, it also ended up getting a proper dub with professional voice actors (although it started with sub only at first).
  • Majora's Mask - Terrible Fate is a 3D animation/live-action mix with super high production values from EmberLab, telling an expanded origin story of Skull Kid.
  • The Transformers: Ascension series of fan films are done via Stop Motion using the actual toys to represent the Transformers.

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top