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Lucas Restricts Fan-Made Films To Documentaries, Parodies
garagekubrick writes: "A great piece at the Houston Chronicle discusses how the community of fan made Star Wars films received a boon in December when Lucasfilm loaned their sponsorship to the event, and George Lucas himself would be a judge. Unfortunately, they've limited the contest to parodies and documentaries, thereby shutting out hundreds of entries. As a Lucas rep says, 'if in fact somebody is using our characters to create a story unto itself, that's not in the spirit of what we think fandom is about. Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is.' Pretty rich coming from the filmmaker who constantly cites greed as being the root of the dark side, and who keeps discussing the liberating values of digital filmmaking. Guess as long as it doesn't hurt his Empire..."
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April 26, 2002, 11:04AM
'Star Wars' fans clash with Lucas over film contest
By AMY HARMON
New York Times News Service
When word began circulating on the Internet in December that Lucasfilm would be a co-sponsor of a Star Wars contest for fan-made films, to be judged by George Lucas himself, members of the growing digital underground felt as if the Force was finally with them.
"How cool is this?" read the first of many messages on TheForce.net, the home to more than 50 amateur films inspired by Lucas' Star Wars series.
But when the winning entries are announced on May 3 in front of some 20,000 fans expected at a Star Wars convention in Indianapolis, many of the most popular online movies will not be among them. As it turned out, they were not even eligible for consideration.
Associated Press
Star Wars ceator George Lucas, filming with C-3PO, has been passionately protective about his films and the characters in them.
Citing a need to protect its copyrights, Lucasfilm limited the contest to spoofs and documentaries, shutting out some of Lucas' most ardent fans, many of whom have reinterpreted his famous storyline to create online comedies, dramas and light-saber duels of their own. Under the contest rules, Star Wars Gangsta Rap, a retelling of the original Star Wars trilogy in rhyme, is eligible, while Dark Redemption, set two days before Star Wars: A New Hope, with a girl Jedi, is not.
"We've been very clear all along on where we draw the line," said Jim Ward, vice president of marketing for Lucasfilm. "We love our fans. We want them to have fun. But if in fact somebody is using our characters to create a story unto itself, that's not in the spirit of what we think fandom is about. Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is."
The restriction has created a backlash. Some followers say Lucasfilm is shunning the fan-made films that are most dedicated to the spirit of Star Wars. The fans say they just want to share their own Star Wars fantasies, not to dilute the mythology that inspired them or the revenue that Lucas derives from it.
"The galaxy is a big place," said Mazen Malawi, 27, who is boycotting the Indianapolis convention because his $675 Star Wars homage, Seeds of Darkness, was excluded from the contest. "We're not asking for money, just recognition."
Malawi, a computer technician in Warren, Ohio, who estimates that he has seen "Stars Wars -- Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999) at least 60 times, said Lucasfilm had previously turned down a request from PBS and a European magazine to showcase portions of Seeds, his drama set between the first and second Star Wars trilogies.
Using digital cameras, personal computers and sometimes music, sound effects and characters from the original movies, fans have created more than 100 parallel Star Wars universes, some complete with their own trailers and "making of" documentaries. In part, these fans take their cue from Lucas, an evangelist of digital filmmaking who has led the way by using computers to produce low-cost special effects in his blockbuster movies. Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which is to be released on May 16, was produced entirely in digital format.
But Lucas has not always been as enthusiastic about the power of digital technology when wielded by his fans. Lucasfilm took a dim view of Star Wars 1.1: The Phantom Edit, which began circulating on the Internet soon after the release of the Phantom Menace. In the name of improving the pace, Mike Nichols, a freelance film editor in Santa Clarita, Calif., removed most scenes featuring the much-reviled character Jar Jar Binks. The company took steps to stop the distribution of the fan's cut and said that Lucas would not look at it. This prompted Nichols to speculate on his Web site that Attack of the Clones might inspire Star Wars II.1: Attack of the Fans.
Except for parodies, which are protected under the First Amendment, it is entirely within Lucasfilms' legal rights to stamp out films based on its copyrighted material. But the tension between Lucas and his filmmaking fans may underscore a digital-age conflict that transcends the letter of the law.
Some cultural critics see the emergence of fan films as a return to a participatory form of culture that existed before creative works came to be so tightly protected by copyright. Moreover, in an age when mass media provide the basis of common experience, Star Wars and a handful of other cultural icons may have become a kind of shorthand form of communication.
"It's not just about Star Wars," said Henry Jenkins, director of the comparative media studies program at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. "It's what's going to be the relationship between media consumers and producers in this new interactive age."
Now, as Lucasfilm seeks to stir fan interest in the new movie -- the convention, called Celebration II, is being produced by the company with the official Star Wars fan club -- some fans say they feel betrayed.
"I feel like they're partially exploiting what we're doing to their gain, without any real reward back," said Chris Hanel, 21, who continues to field complaints about the contest on his Star Wars Internet radio show at www.digitalllama.com. "If you're going to honor fan films, do it right."
New creative works have always been built on top of old ones, from Homer's repackaging of twice-told tales in The Iliad to Lucas' own openly acknowledged pilfering of Joseph Campbell's writings on mythic archetypes for his original Star Wars trilogy. Fans photocopied their own Star Trek stories in the 1970s, and fans regularly publish unauthorized Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes on the Internet.
What is different now is that digital tools make it easier for fans to produce more sophisticated works and to distribute them to a worldwide audience. This has heightened anxiety among copyright holders, who fear they will lose control of their creative vision. Some of the special effects in Star Wars fan films are more convincing than those from the original trilogy.
Given the accessibility of the technology, some digital devotees say fans should simply work harder to come up with their own material: "Make your OWN FILM," Kevin Rubio wrote on TheForce.net discussion board. "Use your OWN CHARACTER. AND STOP PLAYING WITH GEORGE'S! Some of you may find the result's even more rewarding"
Rubio helped found the fan genre with his 1997 film Troops, which featured storm troopers handling domestic disputes in the manner of the reality television show Cops. He allowed that the Star Wars convention audience could be "cheated out of a lot of great works" because of the contest restrictions.
Jessica Litman, author of Digital Copyright, argues that more give and take could make for a richer culture without depriving creators of their financial due. She points to jazz as a modern art form that has thrived on a tradition of riffing on others' creative themes.
The fate of fan films will depend largely on how strictly media companies enforce their copyrights. Lucasfilm, for example, may simply be trying to protect its Star Wars vision without cracking down on fans. One fan film, Darth Vader: The Rudy Pirany Story, was accepted by the contest after its director, Victor Martin, agreed to edit out scenes in which his protagonist -- an actor with a permanent Darth Vader mask who can't find work after Star Wars -- buys cocaine from Yoda and takes a role in a pornography movie.
Martin, 37, a graphic designer in Culver City, Calif., said it was worth it to qualify for the $5,000 prize and to have his film shown with 44 finalists at www.atomfilms.com. But, he added, "I thought it was funnier before."
Hmmmm, tasty and crispy !
Mad props from Paris !
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
And let the force be with you!
Btw, do you need a weapon's permit for a light saber?
test
This isn't the same as people making a "Leia does Tatooine" film on their own, but I really like th idea of the Phantom Edit and I am wondering how hard it would be do thusly--
:)
suppose you don't release the film, just the instructions for making it. So, you say, ok, take this clip from time x to time y, replace the sound from time z to time aa with this sound, etc. It seems like
a) this is technically doable*
b) there wouldn't be much anyone could do about it, as you aren't distributing anyone else's IP.
I think Lucas should fund the development of such a system. Then he oculd even see the Phantom Edit! I'm sure he still wants to.
PS: Patent pending
* (by "technically doable" I mean that I think it is possible for this to be done in a way such that viewing it could be done automatically [*waves hand*] somehow. It's obvious that the phantom edit could be done in the way I describe, but it probably wouldn't be watched if all there was was a text file description and some sound clips.
Liberty uber alles.
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