Which is potentially as fucked now as everyone else by the new guidelines.Not forgetting Aurora
BREAKING: Official Fan Film Guidelines Issued
- Thread starter Danlav05
- Start date
I recently finished grad school and decided to jump back into Trek fandom, only to discover all of this drama. I really feel for STC and the other productions that are going to have to shut down or do some serious re-configuring. It's truly the end of an era. While I understand why CBS/P felt that they needed to step in, it feels like they constructed the guidelines in such a way to wipe the slate clean and make fan productions start from scratch. I anticipate a lot of brilliant Trek short films coming our way...but, at least for me, I'm going to to have to take a moment to miss what we've lost.
CBS and Paramount are in the business of producing TV shows and movies - there's no reason for them to license the rights to do so to someone else.
I mean I feel the new rules are generous, but am confused on the cap on timelines and that you can't do additional episodes. Perhaps its just lack of clarity. Yes you can tell a story in 2 15 minute segments, but does that mean you can never revisit the characters introduced in that amount of time?
I get why they are doing it, to prevent people from getting more into the fan films than official productions. Also usually shorts and independent shorts are often consumed once or twice then forgotten about per a single viewer, possibly watched once a year. Versus a Fan "series" is view likely multiple times where a viewer will watch older episodes in anticipation of the release of a new episode. I used to Binge watch Hidden Frontier and it's spin offs.
It is definitely possible to tell a story in a 30 minute time period, or even a 15 minute time period. Here are two recent ones:
And While I am not necessarily a fan of their series all of Potemkin Studio's Episodes fit in this time period.
Some genre series that come to mind that work in the 20-30 minute windows, while animated would be Star Wars Clone Wars, Stars Wars Rebels, Samurai Jack.
I get why they are doing it, to prevent people from getting more into the fan films than official productions. Also usually shorts and independent shorts are often consumed once or twice then forgotten about per a single viewer, possibly watched once a year. Versus a Fan "series" is view likely multiple times where a viewer will watch older episodes in anticipation of the release of a new episode. I used to Binge watch Hidden Frontier and it's spin offs.
It is definitely possible to tell a story in a 30 minute time period, or even a 15 minute time period. Here are two recent ones:
And While I am not necessarily a fan of their series all of Potemkin Studio's Episodes fit in this time period.
Some genre series that come to mind that work in the 20-30 minute windows, while animated would be Star Wars Clone Wars, Stars Wars Rebels, Samurai Jack.
The first 14 minutes of Star Trek 2009 are constantly seen around here as encapsulating everything about Star Trek and being fantastic on their own, getting to know the characters well enough.
Give fans time, and they'll come up with some great ideas for a story that takes the same amount of time.
Give fans time, and they'll come up with some great ideas for a story that takes the same amount of time.
Honestly, I think some fan-produced episodes have been longer than they needed to be, mainly to meet a certain running time. Shortening them may have made for tighter storytelling and better pacing, especially for those without well-honed professional experience writing hour-long teleplays.
Kor
Kor
That's how I interpret it personally. If you go really literal the return of a character could be seen as a sequel.
There ought to be a provision to "grandfather" productions like STC and NV, kind of like the "pre-existing condition" clauses on health care policies. Heck, I'd even say that Mr. Peters, kept on a short leash, should be allowed to make Axanar, just so we can see how good/bad it actually would be.
They could choose to do it, but why would they? They hold the cards and they've been fair in letting fan films continue at all. They could've just gone after everyone at one time.
I do hope, however, they let the fan productions who have been compliant and respectful a chance to finish their in process works. However, I understand too if they don't.
Anyone who can't tell a decent story in fifteen minutes, or indeed, two fifteen minute segments, probably shouldn't be spending their money making any sort of films. The time limit is no great handicap.
The no sequels, and hence no ongoing series, is likely going to be a killer for me.
The no sequels, and hence no ongoing series, is likely going to be a killer for me.
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I am very sorry that it has come to this. Intrepid was very good.
As if that didn't happen on the official Trek.
I mean when they were writing to meet a certain time length they usually played with either the B plot or the C plot. I think for most episodes the formula was Plot A Happens, they get stuck, Mean while Something happens on Plot B that ends up driving Plot A to get unstuck, and Plot C was tacked on. This was more so noticeable on TNG.
This definitely would mean that Fan Film writers will need to get creative, since now its like they will need to write to be able to solve a problem logically with no B plot device, this will probably mean less Character Development, or on the flip side character development / or relationship examination that happens to be in the Star Trek. But hey if we can no longer revisit the characters after they are debuted then will viewers really care about them?
Or does this mean writers will need to stick to already established characters, which I would assume would be a big no -no as it would be considered non original characters or reproduction, or recreating.
But when I read that rule I took it as do not use clips from the episodes or recreate a clip. IE do not take a 3d recreation of a Galaxy class ship and recreate the stock footage using motion capture technology in Adobe After Effects to recreate all Galaxy class stock footage to be reused in a fan production. Such as in:
Or a couple of people that have been doing that for fun. Such as what this guy has been doing for fun. Which I am of the opinion that they should get him to make HD DS9 and Voyager a reality.
I really hope that the supposed "Official" podcast (if it really is I am not sure? If it is not, wouldn't it violate rule #2?) is able to get some clarification or expanded information from CBS/Paramount, or that some of these rules are expanded or revised or clarified in the relative future, or when the Axanar legal battle is over. Which I stopped trying to keep up on it since its hard to tell rumor from fact on what is actually going on nowadays with it.
They'll need different guidelines for fan fiction. Or else people will be lining up to try and raise $50,000 for a couple days work.
The guidelines are under the "fan films" section of startrek.com and are clearly geared toward video/film productions, not prose.
Kor
I was going to say this but you beat me to it.
He doesn't have the money to make Axanar.
Also, I'm rather impressed by the level of detail of the rules. It's clear that CBS is not wanting to leave a whole lot to interpretation.
This whole mess is what happens when you expect adults to act like adults.
Which is potentially as fucked now as everyone else by the new guidelines.
Bolded word also now verboten under new guidelines.
