io9: fanfilm

Be Kind Rewind Opens A Hole In The Space-Time Continuum

Kevin Kelly — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:30:10 PST

By now you've probably seen a few commercials for Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind, where Jack Black accidentally magnetizes the movies in buddy Mos Def's store. They decide to create fanfilm versions of movies like Ghostbusters, Robocop, and 2001: A Space Odyssey and pass them off to unsuspecting customers. However, now the director himself has gone and "sweded" the trailer for the film on his own (with Swedish actors), opening up a meta-reference that might cause the universe to implode. Check out the video above, but just hold onto something in case a freak wormhole opens up near you.

Iron Man Fan Film Looks Good To Go

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:00:04 PST

We've already told you about five fan films that blew us away. With more Iron Man on the horizon, a reader (thanks Clive!) has let us know about this fan film featuring the other Man of Steel that looks pretty snazzy. It not only includes Ms. Marvel, the Black Widow, Nick Fury, and a decidedly non-Asian, curly-headed Mandarin, but it doesn't relegate Pepper Potts to her traditional "Oh, Tony!" role.

David Guivant is an aspiring production artist by day, and a fan filmaholic by night. What's more impressive is that he made this trailer for a fictional Iron Man television series using Apple's iMovie software and Adobe Photoshop for the 2D special effects that look like they were rendered in 3D. It's been a two year labor of love for the resident of New Caledonia (a tiny island between New Zealand and Australia) which really showcases the power of doing it yourself.

Now, if these characters only had some actual lines... we'd think he might be onto something.

Make Your Own Cylon Space Battles

Kevin Kelly — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:20:47 PST

Battlestar Galactica might not get to film their final show due to the strike, so it's time for enterprising young fan-filmers to start working on some homemade versions of the show. If you want your handiwork to really look authentic, though, you're going to want to pick up an Artisan Limited Edition Cylon Raider Filming Miniature for your epic space dogfights.

Quantum Mechanix specializes in "Imagination Made Real," and they'll be offering up this handmade ship sometime later this year, next to the cool schwag they already sell like replicas of Captain Reynolds pistol from Firefly, customizable Battlestar Galactica dogtags, and that nifty "How To Spot A Cylon" poster we already coveted. Although this Cylon Raider replica will probably set you back a bit further than any of those.

They'll only be making 500 of these, each one made to order, and the coolest feature is that you can plug it into the wall to active the red sweeping Cylon eye at the front of the ship, and the random firing engine lights in the back (check out the video below). So you'll be able to film this thing as a realistic movie miniature, without blowing your entire budget on CGI effects. Of course, they don't a Viper model yet, so your Raider will have to battle it out with other Raiders, or you can do a mashup and stick an X-Wing or something else in there.

Cylon Raider Filming Miniature [Quantum Mechanix]