Personal "Deal Breakers" for watching Fan Productions

[CorporalCaptain]

I generally give things a chance. When watching fan films, one often has to be forgiving of various types of shortcomings.

However, like any film, as soon as I stop enjoying something at all, I'm outta there.

 

[BillJ]

So is there anyone here who would refuse to watch a fan film because it was non-compliant with the CBS fan film guidelines?

I certainly would not donate to a fan production under those circumstances, but I probably would still watch it. At the end of the day I am not the one who might get sued. However, is it wrong to encourage such productions by watching it?

Depends on the nature of the violation.

 

[retroenzo]

I've never been a fan of fan films. A friend showed me one and I couldn't take Kirk with an Elvis haircut seriously. I'm not sure what production that was (Phase II?)

When I heard about the Axanar legal battle, I watched Prelude to Axanar, just to see what all the fuss was about. My opinion of it wasn't great. I did enjoy Renegades though and provided the acting quality improves I'd be quite happy to see more of those. Maybe someone can point me in the direction of some half-decent fan films.

 

[Warped9]

Watching Prelude To Axanar left me with one lasting impression: the basic documentary style format was an interesting way to tell a historical Trek story. If they had stuck with that It could have proved to be a helluva lot cheaper to produce the entire production. But AP's greed and delusions of grandeur torpedoed the whole thing.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

I certainly would not donate to a fan production under those circumstances, but I probably would still watch it. At the end of the day I am not the one who might get sued. However, is it wrong to encourage such productions by watching it?

I'm curious, would anyone DONATE to a project that violated guidelines, under any circumstances? Would it depend in which guidelines were violated and how? For instance, if the production team in question planned to produce two 22-minute episodes (44 minutes total, about as long as an "hour long" TV show without commercials), would anyone refuse to donate to a project they would otherwise have supported? Is the threshold basically just a general feeling of how much the makers of the film respect their donors, the fan community and the franchise?

 

[SPCTRE]

What are your own personal "deal breakers" that would prevent you from watching a fan film if you knew about them?

mostly my deal breaker is when a production looks really shitty in terms of acting and/or production values, which, obviously is not quite fair considering the genre

 

[Matthew Raymond]

mostly my deal breaker is when a production looks really shitty in terms of acting and/or production values, which, obviously is not quite fair considering the genre

What bugs me up the wall are simple things that can be caught with enough time and attention to detail, such as noisy audio that could have been cleaned up in post with simple tools like Audacity, or crew members on the same starship not wearing the same style of uniform. (I mean, they have the same color of cloth even. Can you not find enough scraps to whip up one more uniform?!? Or just borrow a uniform from a larger person and safety pin that baby!) Also, CGI that looks worse than if you filmed a toy in front of a green screen really bugs me. I understand when people don't have a lot of money or expertise, but if you have access to Google and all the time in the world, I expect your work to reflect a certain level of giving a frak.

 

[Firebird]

I'm curious, would anyone DONATE to a project that violated guidelines, under any circumstances? Would it depend in which guidelines were violated and how? For instance, if the production team in question planned to produce two 22-minute episodes (44 minutes total, about as long as an "hour long" TV show without commercials), would anyone refuse to donate to a project they would otherwise have supported? Is the threshold basically just a general feeling of how much the makers of the film respect their donors, the fan community and the franchise?

If it's a new production, and they intend to violate the episode length rule from the guidelines, I wouldn't donate, because it's likely they'll be asked to stop by CBS. Simple as that.

 

[Warped9]

Crossing the guidelines wouldn't bother me depending on the transgression. They are guidelines, not set-in-stone rules.

A blatant attempt to profit would be a deal breaker for me. Episode length--kept under sixty minutes--wouldn't bother me. I'm okay with series like productions as well.

I accept the general nature--non professional--of fan productions, but a certain level of polish is appreciated particularly with the resources available today.

 

[Philip Guyott]

I'm curious, would anyone DONATE to a project that violated guidelines, under any circumstances? Would it depend in which guidelines were violated and how? For instance, if the production team in question planned to produce two 22-minute episodes (44 minutes total, about as long as an "hour long" TV show without commercials), would anyone refuse to donate to a project they would otherwise have supported? Is the threshold basically just a general feeling of how much the makers of the film respect their donors, the fan community and the franchise?

The problem with donating to fan productions that are not intending to keep to the guidelines is threefold:
1. Chances are they will get shut down, therefore it is a waste of money.
2. If fan productions are causing to many problems for CBS then they could decide to ban them altogether. As the IP owners they do have that right.
3. It is unfair to the many fan productions who are doing the right thing and have decided to keep to the guidelines.

 

[YJAGG]

It is case by case for me, but, bad costumes or sets I can accept as budget issues. Usually the acting gets me, but if the story is good, then I will overlook alot.
As for duration, a short is fine, if it tells the story right.
I have given a few donations, but after the fact, so once I have see the product.

 

[CRM-114]

I'm curious, would anyone DONATE to a project that violated guidelines, under any circumstances? Would it depend in which guidelines were violated and how? For instance, if the production team in question planned to produce two 22-minute episodes (44 minutes total, about as long as an "hour long" TV show without commercials), would anyone refuse to donate to a project they would otherwise have supported? Is the threshold basically just a general feeling of how much the makers of the film respect their donors, the fan community and the franchise?

I wouldn't, solely on the basis that you'd be risking your money on a project that could get shut down, and thus never made at all.

 

[Daddy Todd]

My dealbreaker is if I'd be embarrassed to be caught by my spouse watching a fan film.

Or by my cat.

In other words, if the fan film is more cringeworthy than porn, I'm outta there.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

My dealbreaker is if I'd be embarrassed to be caught by my spouse watching a fan film.

Or by my cat.

In other words, if the fan film is more cringeworthy than porn, I'm outta there.

Then how are the Fine Brothers going to do a "Watch Star Trek Fan Films Without Cringing Challenge" video?

 

[Philip Guyott]

Then how are the Fine Brothers going to do a "Watch Star Trek Fan Films Without Cringing Challenge" video?

There are so many reaction videos to Star Wars fan films but I have never seen one for Star Trek.
Could be fun

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(^Staring Doug Jones form Star Trek Discovery)

 

[Wowbagger]

I have a really hard time with bad sound.

Obviously, I'm watching a fan film, so I don't expect pro-quality sound, but sometimes the audio is actually painful to listen to or incomprehensible or both, and I struggle to get through that. (This includes some early episodes of my own show, so not throwing stones or anything here.)

 

[Maurice]

1. Bad sound
2. Pointless pew pew
3. Bad sound
4. Draggy pacing
5. Bad sound

 

[KennyB]

I don't have a set criteria, I usually give anything 5 min. Then just ask myself if I am enjoying it. Pretty simple, but it works for me.

 

[Phoenix219]

Watching Prelude To Axanar left me with one lasting impression: the basic documentary style format was an interesting way to tell a historical Trek story. If they had stuck with that It could have proved to be a helluva lot cheaper to produce the entire production. But AP's greed and delusions of grandeur torpedoed the whole thing.

Yup, thats the saddest part of the whole debacle - with the amount of money he got, AP could have made an *amazing series* of documentaries, complete with "reenactments" of the best parts of the story, and all the cool CGI and space battles they ever wanted, with tons of LEGIT ACTORS doing all the talking head stuff. He would have done something brand new that was never done before, broken new ground, and been the legend he always wanted to. It could have spun off into a documentary series about Federation History in general, and he could have gone back to the well over and over again if he maintained the Prelude quality level.

 

[OtherGene]

I don't have a set criteria, I usually give anything 5 min. Then just ask myself if I am enjoying it. Pretty simple, but it works for me.

Same here. It's probably best to give everything a chance and not over-think it.

Axanar is a sort of unique example, though. I enjoyed Prelude when I first watched it but, in light of some of the frankly appalling events since then, I have no interest in sitting through it again. I'd probably only watch their final Axanar production (if it ever appears, which I'm not convinced it will) if I read it's shockingly, laughingly bad. That probably makes me a bad person.