Fan edit

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A fan edit is a version of a film modified by a viewer, that removes, reorders, or adds material in order to create a new interpretation of the source material. This includes the removal of scenes or dialogue, replacement of audio and/or visual elements, and adding material from sources such as deleted scenes or even other films.

Contents

Definition

In their most common form, fan edits resemble the work done by professional editors when creating a director's or extended cut of a film, although fan edits are usually limited by the footage already made available to the public with the official home video release of a film, while professional editors working for a film studio have access to more and higher quality footage and elements. In addition to re-editing films, some fan edits feature basic corrections, such as colors or framing, that maintain or restore consistency within the film, such as the Star Wars fan-restoration Harmy's Despecialized Edition , which aims at restoring the Star Wars Original Trilogy to its original, pre-Special Edition form. Other types of fan edits, such as Cosmogony, Bateman Begins: An American Psycho and Memories Alone, merge footage from various films into an entirely different production. [1] While many fan edits are viewed as reactionary to perceived weaknesses in the original films, one film scholar at the University of Kansas has argued that such edits allow fans to creatively reimagine films instead of merely attempting to fix such works. [2]

History

Before the term "fan edit" was coined, many alternate versions of films edited by other fans or professional editors were simply known as a "cut". In the late 1970s, many alternate "cuts" of films were released in the United States, and foreign films (such as those from Europe or Japan) deemed unsuitable for American audiences underwent further alterations, score changes and re-titlings.

The first fan edit to popularize the field was The Phantom Edit , created in 2000 by professional editor Mike J. Nichols under the pseudonym of the "Phantom Editor". [3] Nichols removed elements from George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace that he felt detracted from the film, and made minor changes in dialogue, languages and subtitles to give the film's villains a more menacing tone. [4] The result was distributed on VHS and later online, and received attention by the media for its attempt to improve upon the original film. The Phantom Edit was the first of many Star Wars fan edits to come, and has since inspired dozens of edits to surface on the internet.

The second major edit was done with A.I. Artificial Intelligence , originally a film that Stanley Kubrick was involved with, that Steven Spielberg ended up directing after Kubrick's death. In 2002, an independent filmmaker named DJ Hupp introduced his take on the film named "The Kubrick Edit", omitting certain scenes to alter the tone, to be closer to Kubrick's style. [5] [6]

The following year, the Purist Edit changed The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers to more closely follow J. R. R. Tolkien's books. [7] [8]

After that the trend started to gain popularity and spread to other films in the same fashion, such as The Matrix series, Pearl Harbor , Dune , Superman II , and others. Editor Adywan (Adrian Sayce) made a complete overhaul of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back in 2009 and 2017 respectively, under the title Star Wars – Revisited, featuring continuity fixes, image and cropping corrections, score restoration, new matter, rotoscoping work and new CGI elements to remove several additions from the various Special Editions of the films from 1997 onward. In 2008, a similar overhaul was made by editor Uncanny Antman (Sean O'Sullivan) to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines , which changed the film's tone to be more in line with the first two films and fixed various continuity contradictions to the previous films and image & cropping errors; the film was rereleased under the title of Terminator: The Coming Storm.

Professional filmmaker Steven Soderbergh has created fan edits of Psycho and its remake, Raiders of the Lost Ark , Heaven's Gate and 2001: A Space Odyssey that he has posted on his website. [9] [10]

Independent filmmaker Peet Gelderblom made a fan edit of Brian De Palma's Raising Cain , which attempted to reorder the film the way it was originally scripted. [11] De Palma came across the fan edit and was so impressed with it, he had Gelderblom supervise a high definition version of it for Blu-ray, which was released under the Director's Cut label, as De Palma felt that the edit has "restored the true story of Raising Cain". [12]

Members of Fanedit.org have condensed seasons of Game of Thrones into feature-length films. [13]

CleanFlicks was a Utah-based video store that offered more than 700 movies that had been remixed to appeal to Utah's religious family audience. [14] [15] The chain of stores spread across 18 states in 70 different locations before a federal court judge ruled their remixes illegal in 2006. [6]

In 2006, a filmmaker, artist, and fan of animator Oscar-winning Richard Williams ( Who Framed Roger Rabbit ) named Garrett Gilchrist created a non-profit fan restoration of the animated film The Thief and the Cobbler called The Recobbled Cut. It was done in as high quality as possible by combining available sources at the time, such as a heavily compressed file of Williams's workprint and better-quality footage from the Japanese DVD of Arabian Knight. This edit was much supported by numerous people who had worked on the film (with the exception of Richard Williams himself), including Roy Naisbitt, Alex Williams, Andreas Wessel-Therhorn, Tony White, Holger Leihe, Simon Maddocks, Neil Boyle, and Steve Evangelatos, many of whom lent rare material for the project. Some minor changes were made to "make it feel more like a finished film", like adding more music and replacing some bits of audio and storyboards with those from the Princess and the Cobbler version of the film. [16] Certain scenes, like the wedding ending, had to be redrawn frame by frame by Gilchrist due to flaws in the footage. Gilchrist described this as the most complex independent restoration of a film ever undertaken. This edit gained positive reviews on the Internet. Twitch Film called it "the best and most important 'fan edit' ever made". [17] It has been revised three times in 2006, 2008, and 2013. Each version incorporated further higher-quality materials donated by animators from the film, including two rare workprints from the Fred Calvert production that contained footage not available in the released versions. The "Mark 3" version released in 2008 incorporated 21 minutes from a 49-minute reel of rare 35 mm film. Gilchrist's latest version, "Mark 4", was released in September 2013 and edited in HD. "Mark 4" features about 30 minutes of the film in full HD quality, restored from raw 35 mm footage which Gilchrist edited frame by frame. Artists were also commissioned to contribute new artwork and material. Gilchrist's YouTube account, "TheThiefArchive", now serves as an unofficial video archive of Richard Williams's films, titles, commercials, and interviews, including footage from the Nasrudin production. Williams said that while he never saw Gilchrist's Recobbled Cut, he acknowledged the role that the fan edits had played in rehabilitating the film's reputation. [18]

In 2017, French editors Lucas Stoll and Gaylor Morestin created a fan edit of Breaking Bad , condensing the entire series into a two-hour feature film and uploaded it onto Vimeo. They had worked on the film for around two years prior to its release. [19] [20] However the film was soon taken down for copyright violation. [21] [22]

In 2020, fans of Thomas & Friends made fan edits of the 2000 film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad . Using footage from the film's work print, additional footage from the film's Blu-ray, and using the film's script, it was an attempt to restore the film with the original villain P.T. Boomer as originally intended, as the studio cut the film against the director's wishes. [ citation needed ]

In 2022, filmmaker Kai Patterson released Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Patterson Cut , in which the six episodes of the Disney+ Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi , was cut into a two and a half hour film. [23]

Fair use issues

While fan edits skirt the lines of fair use, the fan editing community largely emphasizes the use of the final product should only be for those who own the source material (commercial home video releases such as DVD), and are not to be distributed for profit or other personal gain. [24] Lucasfilm is aware of the existence of Star Wars fan edits, and has stated they will take action when they believe copyright infringement has taken place. [25]

In July 2007, Lucasfilm took action against fan editor "daveytod" after taking issue with his fan edit documentary of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones , named The Clones Revealed. Their email to him cited the possibility of "consumer confusion," that The Clones Revealed might be mistaken for an official Lucasfilm product. [26] The email was sent to several active members of the fan editing community and resulted in the short downtime of Fanedit.org. The reasoning given by Lucasfilm's anti-piracy team during communications with Fanedit.org moderators seemed to display the mistaken impression that The Clones Revealed was a bootleg of the film. [27]

In November 2008, Fanedit.org was closed in its official capacity after receiving a complaint from the Motion Picture Association of America regarding the use of links to pirated content on the site in violation of copyright law. [28]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Phantom Edit</i> 2000 film

Star Wars Episode I.I: The Phantom Edit is a fan edit of the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, removing many elements of the original film. The purpose of the edit, according to creator Mike J. Nichols, was to make a much stronger version of The Phantom Menace based on the previous execution and philosophies of film storytelling and editing of George Lucas. The Phantom Edit was the first unauthorized re-edit of The Phantom Menace to receive major publicity and acclaim and is also considered the first fan-edit of a feature film ever to be shared by an online audience.

<i>Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones</i> 2002 film by George Lucas

Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. The sequel to The Phantom Menace (1999), it is the fifth film in the Star Wars film series and second chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Frank Oz.

<i>Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith</i> 2005 film by George Lucas

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film that is the sequel to The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002). It is the sixth film in the Star Wars film series, the third installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and third chronological chapter of the "Skywalker Saga". It is written and directed by George Lucas, who also served as executive producer. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Frank Oz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qui-Gon Jinn</span> Fictional character in the Star Wars universe

Qui-Gon Jinn is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was introduced as a Jedi Master in the prequel film The Phantom Menace (1999), and is portrayed by Liam Neeson. He appears in the series Tales of the Jedi, and is featured as a Force spirit in the animated series The Clone Wars (2008) and the live-action miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). Qui-Gon also appears in novels, comics and video games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatooine</span> Fictional planet in the Star Wars universe

Tatooine is a fictional desert planet that appears in the Star Wars franchise. It is a beige-colored, desolate world orbiting a pair of binary stars, and inhabited by human settlers and a variety of other life forms. The planet was first seen in the original 1977 film Star Wars, and has to date featured in a total of seven Star Wars theatrical films, three live-action television series, and four animated series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duel of the Fates</span> 1999 single by John Williams

"Duel of the Fates" is a musical theme recurring in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and the Expanded Universe. It was composed by John Williams and recorded for the film soundtrack of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) and the London Voices. This symphonic piece is played with both a full orchestra and a choir. The lyrics are based on a fragment of an archaic Welsh poem Cad Goddeu, and are sung in Sanskrit. The piece debuts during the final lightsaber duel in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. With the music video for this theme, the LSO became the only classical group to ever have a video debut on MTV’s Total Request Live. "Duel of the Fates" lasted 11 days on the countdown.

Changes in <i>Star Wars</i> <span class="nowrap">re-releases</span>

Many of the films in the Star Wars franchise have been re-released, both theatrically and on home media formats. Franchise creator George Lucas often altered the films for the re-releases. These alterations range from minor refinements to major changes. The original trilogy was altered the most, although revisions were also made to the prequels. According to Lucas, some changes brought the films closer to his original vision, while others were attempts to create continuity with later films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workprint</span> Rough version of a motion picture or television program

A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture or television program, used by the film editor(s) during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for missing shots or special effects, and animation tests for in-production animated shots or sequences.

<i>Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy</i> 2004 documentary film by Kevin Burns

Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy is a 2004 documentary film directed by Kevin Burns and narrated by Robert Clotworthy. It documents the making of the original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983), and their impact on popular culture.

The Star Wars prequel trilogy, colloquially referred to as the prequels, is a series of epic space-opera films written and directed by George Lucas. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy was released from 1999 to 2005 and is set before the original Star Wars trilogy (1977–1983), chronologically making it the first act of the Skywalker Saga. Lucas had planned a prequel trilogy before the release of the original film, but halted major Star Wars films beyond the original trilogy by 1981. When computer-generated imagery (CGI) had advanced to the level he wanted for the visual effects he wanted for subsequent films, Lucas revived plans for the prequels by the early 1990s. The trilogy marked Lucas's return to directing after a 22-year hiatus following the original Star Wars film in 1977, as well as a 16-year hiatus between the classic and prequel trilogies.

<i>Star Wars</i> opening crawl Signature title sequence style of numbered Star Wars films

The Star Wars opening crawl is a signature device of the opening sequences of every numbered film of the Star Wars series, an American epic space opera franchise created by George Lucas. Within a black sky background featuring a smattering of stars, the crawl is preceded both by the opening static blue text, "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...." and by the Star Wars logo which recedes toward a central point on the screen before disappearing. The crawl text, which describes the backstory and context of the film, then recedes toward a higher point in relation to the screen and with an apparent effect of disappearing in the distance. The visuals are accompanied by the "Main Title Theme", composed by John Williams.

<i>Star Wars</i> Celebration Fan gathering related to Star Wars

Star Wars Celebration is a large fan convention held to celebrate the Star Wars franchise. The event is usually held annually in varying locations around the world, and commonly features a host of Star Wars project announcements, panel discussions featuring actors, producers and writers, screenings, exhibits, cosplay and merchandise sales. It began in 1999, when Lucasfilm held the first Star Wars Celebration in Denver, Colorado to celebrate the upcoming release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darth Maul</span> Star Wars character

Darth Maul is a character in the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. He first appeared in the prequel film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). Maul returned in the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018), as well as the standalone film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Lucas had intended for Maul to feature in the sequel film trilogy, but these plans were discarded when Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012.

<i>The Thief and the Cobbler</i> Film by Richard Williams finished without him in 1993

The Thief and the Cobbler is an animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Richard Williams, who intended it to be his magnum opus and a milestone in the animated medium. Originally devised in the 1960s, the film was in and out of production for nearly three decades due to independent funding and ambitiously complex animation. It was finally placed into full production in 1989 when Warner Bros. agreed to finance and distribute the film after his successful animation direction for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. When production went over budget and behind schedule, and Disney's similarly-themed Aladdin loomed as imminent competition, Williams was forced out and the film was heavily re-edited and cheaply finished by producer Fred Calvert as a mainstream Disney-style musical. It was eventually released by Allied Filmmakers in 1993 with the title The Princess and the Cobbler. Two years later, Miramax Films, which was owned by Disney at the time, released another re-edit titled Arabian Knight. Both versions performed poorly at the box office and received mixed reviews.

<i>Harmys Despecialized Edition</i> 2011 fan-created film preservation of the original Star Wars trilogy films

Star Wars: The Despecialized Edition, also known as Harmy's Despecialized Edition, is a fan-created film preservation of the original Star Wars trilogy films: Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983). It is a high-quality replica of the out-of-print theatrical versions, created by a team of Star Wars fans with the intention of preserving the films, culturally and historically. The project was led by Petr Harmáček, then an English teacher, from Plzeň, Czech Republic, under the online alias Harmy.

<i>Obi-Wan Kenobi</i> (miniseries) American television miniseries

Obi-Wan Kenobi is an American space opera television miniseries produced by Lucasfilm for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise. Set ten years after the Jedi Order was purged during the events of the film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), the series follows surviving Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi who emerges from hiding to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia from the Galactic Empire's Inquisitors. This brings Kenobi into conflict with his former apprentice, Darth Vader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twin Suns</span> 20th episode of the 3rd season of Star Wars Rebels

"Twin Suns" is the twentieth episode of the third season of the American 3D animated science fiction television series Star Wars Rebels. The episode was written and directed by series creator Dave Filoni, with co-executive producer Henry Gilroy serving as co-writer. The episode originally aired in the United States on March 18, 2017, on Disney XD.

<i>Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Patterson Cut</i> Film

Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Patterson Cut is a fan edit of the 2022 Star Wars miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi, in which its six one-hour episodes are condensed into a two-and-a-half hour feature film.

References

  1. ↑ Cook, James. "The 15 Coolest Fan Edits Of Popular Movies". Business Insider.
  2. ↑ "Fan editors are artists, not disgruntled fans, KU scholar argues". College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. November 6, 2014. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  3. ↑ the bizarre world of fan edits and restorations by Royal Ocean Film Society on Vimeo
  4. ↑ Kraus, Daniel (November 6, 2001). ""The Phantom Edit"". salon.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  5. ↑ Rojas, Peter (July 24, 2002). "Hollywood: the people's cut". The Guardian. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Mason, Matt (2008). The Pirate's Dilemma: How Youth Culture is Reinventing Capitalism. Free Press. p. 87.
  7. ↑ Wille, Joshua (January 20, 2015). "'The Hobbit: The Tolkien Edit' and Screener-based Fan Edits". wille.tv. Archived from the original on July 27, 2021. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  8. ↑ Matthew Wilhelm Kapell; John Shelton Lawrence, eds. (July 1, 2006). Finding the Force of the Star Wars Franchise: Fans, Merchandise, and Critics. Peter Lang. p. 259. ISBN   0820488089.
  9. ↑ "Steven Soderbergh posts his 110-minute recut of 2001: A Space Odyssey". avclub.com. January 14, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Steven Soderbergh tries to fix 'the worst film of all time' with his own fan edit". theverge.com. April 28, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  11. ↑ Gelderblom, Peet. "FEATURE FILM WITH VIDEO ESSAY: Brian De Palma's RAISING CAIN is re-cut - IndieWire". indiewire.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Changing Cain: How my fan-edit became a Brian De Palma Director's Cut – DIRECTORAMA - Peet Gelderblom". directorama.net. July 26, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Game Of Thrones (TV Series) - Fanedit.org - IFDB". ifdb.fanedit.org. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  14. ↑ Cleanflix (2009) - Turner Classic Movies
  15. ↑ CLEANFLIX - Teaser Trailer on Vimeo
  16. ↑ "Thief and the Cobbler: The Recobbled Cut". Cartoon Brew. June 24, 2006. Retrieved May 9, 2009.
  17. ↑ Brown, Todd (June 4, 2006). "Richard Williams' Lost Life's Work Restored By One Obsessive Fan ..." Twitch. Retrieved May 11, 2009.
  18. ↑ "FLIP: Pete Western reports on "A Moment in Time" at BFI – the first ever public screening of "The Thief and the Cobbler" in the UK". flipanimation.blogspot.co.uk. June 9, 2014.
  19. ↑ Watch 'Breaking Bad' Edited Down to a Two-Hour Movie - Fuse
  20. ↑ How Two Breaking Bad Superfans Turned Their Favorite Show Into a Movie|Vanity Fair
  21. ↑ Breaking Bad: The Movie shows why Breaking Bad had to be 5 seasons long - Vox
  22. ↑ ‘Breaking Bad’ The Movie: How Condensing the Show Robs You of What You Really Want — Walt and Jesse, Together|IndieWire
  23. ↑ Sharf, Zack (July 7, 2022). "'Star Wars' Fan Edits 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' Into a Two-Hour Movie to Fix 'Awkward Pacing'". Variety . Retrieved August 25, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Rules – Fanedit.org". fanedit.org. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Science Fiction News of the Week". March 25, 2009. Archived from the original on March 25, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  26. ↑ ""The Clones Revealed" - Available Now! - Original Trilogy". originaltrilogy.com. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Fanedit Forums". fanedit.org. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  28. ↑ "MPAA 'Castrates' World's Biggest FanEdit Movie Site - TorrentFreak". torrentfreak.com. November 23, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
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