February 23, 2005
Fan films and the awesome looking Grayson
I came across TheForce.net while researching for the Matrix parody The Helix...Loaded post, and at the time I downloaded a number of movies to watch, the majority looked pretty silly but I thought they might be fun. It's worth realising that although these are all hosted on a Star Wars type site, there are some Fan movies here that have nothing to do with Star Wars.
I downloaded a trailer for Doom Raider, which is Tomb Raider mixed with Raiders of the Lost Ark, A Glitch in the Matrix, a very poor Star Wars Fan movie which shall remain nameless to protect those involved, and Grayson. I immediately watched the Doom Raider and Star Wars Fan movie trailers and was less than excited. To be honest the Raider movie looked okay and fun, but the Star Wars stank, so I left them where they were. Until today.
I decided to watch the Grayson trailer and was utterly stunned. It looks fantastic and very professional. The story also looks extremely true to the feel of the Dark Knight comics, and the original Batman. I was just blown away that a Fan film could look this good. Okay, it's a trailer, but it's a really, really good trailer, and above all I urge you to download it now. Oh, and of course watch it! The blurb reads:
Gotham's Son Returns! Two decades after the golden age of superheroes has passed, hope has abandoned Gotham City. Corruption has infected Gotham's highest levels of power and led to the death of its greatest champion. Now, former boy wonder Dick Grayson will emerge from the shadows of retirement to avenge the murder of his legendary mentor.
There are a plethero of Superheroes in the movie, Superman, Wonder Woman even the Flash, and I can't get over to you how damned good it is, in trailer form anyway. Seeing Clark standing in a crowd of newsmen, you just know who he is, and later when you see him pull back that suit and walk forward as Superman, it's inspiring. The shots of Grayson reviving his Robin in the Batcave are very well done too, even the portrayal of the Joker looks refreshingly good.
What I am excited about is that I also downloaded the movie, and I can't wait to watch it. Looking on the IMDB listing it has 8.6 out of 10 from 68 votes. Following through to the distributor, there are a few other movies they've carried through from the fan world that get such high voting.
Batman: Dead End - 7.2 from 719 votes
Broken Allegiance - 7.7 from 25 votes
The Formula - 9.7 from 31 votes
Okay, the low votes may all be cast members, mind you if they were they would have voted it higher! Anyway despite the number I've downloaded the movies and I'm going to watch them this weekend, so expect an update next week on how good, or bad, they are. Formula is only available as a trailer, the others can be downloaded as full movies.
Still, having watched these other trailers, I can't help but categorise them as standard fan made movies, especially after seeing the quality of Grayson.
Posted by at February 23, 2005 12:47 PM
Comments
Posted by: Mark at February 23, 2005 13:39
Holy Freaking Crap!!!!! THis looks F'n Amazing!!!! I need to track down whoever did this. Easily the best work on a "fan film" I've ever seen (at least in terms of a trailer).
Damn... I gotta go watch it again. The only thing missing was Dick putting the Bat cowl on at the end of the trailer... that would have rocked!!!
Posted by: John Campea at February 23, 2005 14:02
I had actually posted the Grayson link on my blog about 3 months ago - it's been out for awhile and I was just as amazed with it as you were - Superman was cast TOO damn good - I spread that link to everyone I knew at the time and they spreaded it even further. I'm glad you found it!!!
Posted by: Wicked at February 23, 2005 15:32
Not sure if this can qualify, not sure either if John or some of you here might have already seen it but if you're a Star Wars fan, you might like to see this one, I thought it was absolutely hilarious and brilliantly done.
http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/gangsta_rap_se
Posted by: Simone at February 23, 2005 18:32
If you guys liked Grayson you'll love Batman:Dead End. Best Batman film yet.
Posted by: chris at February 23, 2005 19:52
it looked very impressive. if only wb can make films like these haha.
i was waiting for the voiceover to go "this film is not yet rated" at the end of the trailer. :) the BTS has some nice filming tips.
Posted by: B_A_T_M_A_N at February 23, 2005 23:05
You know, sometimes I just get too excited about movies, and this is one of those times.
I downloaded the trailer and what I thought was the 138Mb film from TheForce.Net. Boy was I downed to discover that it's just the trailer...in all the excitement I just discovered that's all it is.
Still, it's stunning. From the site themselves:
TFN FanFilms are very proud to bring you John Fiorella's GRAYSON. This film has created quite a buzz with all the TFN staff and is going to blow you away. This is not a film exactly but instead a long trailer for a film that does not exist (and we only hope its a yet). WB, if you watch this, give John a chance to make this.
How Stuff Works has a story about some of the making of the extended trailer and comments from the maker.
It makes for some excellent reading.
Posted by: Richard at February 24, 2005 18:49
Grayson is one of the freshest things to come along for some time. You don't have to have a huge budget to make a kickass film like this. It's time WB started paying attention to trailers like this. With as many views as this one is getting it's hard to ignore. Id rather watch this Grason trailer than the last three batman movies. I showed it to friends who were all hyped for the film, and were profoundly disapointed when I told them it was a fan film. It's too bad Newline couldn't get ahold of the rights for this one. They'd do it justice.
Posted by: Tom359 at February 26, 2005 22:02
CHECK OUT "WORLDS FINEST" ON THE SAME SITE.... not as good as Grayson but pretty fun to watch.
Posted by: scott at February 27, 2005 13:28
if you like fan films and would like to see more than just a trailer, you should check out the full length fan film "superman: luthor for president". it is not just a trailer , it is 91 mins long. type it into google to see articles/interviews and reviews. you can also see stills and some very interesting actor bios at www.geocities.com/ocdproductions.
Posted by: mike at March 25, 2005 18:11
Hey I just saw the best fan film in the world... no, the universe. I swear it will change your life. It has Superman, Batman, Robin, a hobbit, a chinaman, a martian, and two "tall tale" tellin old rednecks. My God, I'm a better man because of it. Check it out. It's called the Eyeball Papercuts.
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2665456
Posted by: Larry the main man Longstreth at March 28, 2005 15:25
umm my friends and i just spent about 3 hours watching comicbook short films online. we know grayson and world's finest are all over the web, but there were two other films we thought really kicked ass, but we couldn't find any info on them. they were "WAY OF THE SPIDER" and "THE EYEBALL PAPERCUTS". we know the second one is meant to be a joke, but it's still a lot better than all the other crappy ones we saw. anyways, just thought maybe you guys could do a review or article or something. thanks - tony, mike, and kevin
here are the fanfilm links:
EYEBALL PAPERCUTS: http://fanfilms.net/index.php?cid=37&fid;=401
WAY OF THE SPIDER http://fanfilms.net/index.php?cid=37&fid;=366
Posted by: T at April 15, 2005 00:14
Yep, Eyeball Papercuts does in fact rule... but maybe not as much as Grayson. I loved it, but it weirded me out though. Check it out and good job Mr. Longstreth.
Posted by: christian at April 19, 2005 02:51
The only thing I didn't like about the Grayson trailer, is that it has an aspect ratio of 3:1 Don't get me wrong, I like widescreen, but it seems they're attempting to make the widest movie ever made. I at least hope they're shooting with a wide angle lens, and not heavily cropping 4:3 footage.
Posted by: DKW at August 15, 2005 00:53
Well, I shamelessly plugged our film "Eyeball Papercuts" back when it was released on ifilm so here goes again:
See my new 7 minute short film, "Zombies in my Neighborhood for free at ifilm.com. it won "Honorable Mention" at the 2005 Indie Gathering and has over 1,000 hits already. see it here:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2677439
Posted by: Larry the main man Longstreth at September 14, 2005 15:03
Salon published a good article about fan films FIVE years ago:
http://dir.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/11/16/fan_films/index.html?sid=996223
Basically, some of these films are great, but most are pretty bad.