This fine evening I bring you a collection of fan films. I’ll pause while you get all your shuddering out. Fan films as a genre, if one is ok with labelling them as such, have grown from handy cams and closeted rooms to a level of filmmaking that rivals actual studio productions(ish). A large credit has to be given to the advancement of DSLR technologies, enabling full HD recording on this devices with their fancy, fancy glass. The resulting quality is astounding, especially given that more and more video consumption is done on the web and not in standard theatres, quality is relative after all.  We really are in the beginnings of a film-making renaissance. 

Just to be terminologically clear, a fan film goes well past homage, and borrows entire fictional entities/universes/whathaveyou resulting in non-canonical yet intriguing (hopefully) results. A home-made, or non-studio for those of you who consider the previous derisive, is new intellectual property but usually the method and gear used are the same across both categories. Enough of my ramblings, and on with the shorts:

First off is a wonderful short re-imagining the moment April O’Neil discovers the existence of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It’s called ‘Fight the Foot’, and perhaps my favourite part is representing the foot more as a ragtag gang using whatever face masks seemed to be lying around.

Next up is a quick short made by aspiring ‘Batman’ actors hoping it would gain Chris Nolan’s attention, so that they may get any role in one of his superhero flicks. While there is little action, or batman, it does display a quality of cinematography and writing that is above the average youtube clip, to say the least.

Now, given the discussion of non-studio/home film vs fan films, our next clip I think is the best of the bunch. Clearly inspired by comics and movies like the X-men and Kickass, this group of teenagers, have made their own universe of slackers with powers (and pesky giant insectoid robots). Hopefully they continue making more episodes, but at the very least this is quite a ‘home-made’ treat.

(via io9, and geekosystem)

For those of you drawn in by the alliterative move of the title, we have a couple of shorts that are not full fan films, but clearly made in the vain of the illustrious video game franchise that is ‘Street Fighter. Check ‘em out, after the jump.