Fan films are a wonderful phenomenon. They’re often made so that their creators can see themselves as the heroes of the story. Frequently shot on a budget of Zero Dollar$, they are a testament to the ingenuity of their creators, and the ultimate extension of the artistic experience, where the audience closes the loop to become creators themselves. Our fascination with fan films brings us to this new production by BWH Studios.
In this Spider-Man fan film, The Outstanding Spider-Man, written by Blayke Ryan and Jayden Lee, and directed by Blayke Ryan,, our hero investigates a string of murders, and faces challenging new threats.
The Dodgy Bits
The footage is sometimes handheld when it might have been better with a tripod. The cast are all teenagers, because that’s who the filmmakers know. The lighting is limited to whatever available light there was at each location, with very few exceptions. The pacing could use some tightening here and there. The music is all borrowed from other sources. It isn’t even the only Spider-Man fan film with this title.
But There’s More Good than Bad
The camerawork is honestly fairly decent. The composition of each shot works as it should. Closeups are used for emphasis, the camera always stays on the same side of the line with respect to the action, so there are no confusing flop-overs in screen direction (a common problem with filmmakers just learning their craft). The sound, surprisingly, is always at least good enough that it’s not a distraction. Many beginning filmmakers, and some professional ones, struggle with this. The dialog is useful, rising at times to excellence.
There are practical effects and visual effects, but they’re pretty minimal, as one would expect from the budget they must have been working with. There is some web slinging. There’s no web swinging, because that would require some serious digital effects beyond the reach of these young filmmakers. Clever camerawork and editing sells the shots, and miraculously, it all works. One standout scene is where Spider-Man is about to be attacked by a pair of thugs with ninja swords, and his Spidey-Sense goes off, warning him of the danger.
Final Opinion: Thumbs Up!
Not one of these things detracts in the slightest from the magnificence of what these fellows have created. It’s one thing to dream of making your own movie with you as the star. It’s another entirely to actually follow through with writing a script, designing the costumes, shooting the scenes, editing it, and laying in visual effects, sound effects and music to produce a finished film.
It’s a lot. Fewer than one person in a five with an idea for making a movie ever start production. Of those, roughly one in ten ever cross the finish line.
Every single great filmmaker begins with something like this. George Lucas got started as a child, shooting home movies in his back yard with an 8mm camera his father had given him.
Ryan and Lee may never make another movie, but we wouldn’t bet on them stopping. Who knows what new wonders they’ll imagine and bring to life?
We can hardly wait to find out.
The Outstanding Spider-Man is written by Blayke Ryan and Jayden Lee, and directed by Blayke Ryan. You can watch the entire 40 minute production here, or on the BWH Studios YouTube page.
There is another Spider-Man fan film, also called The Outstanding Spider-Man, and we’ll do a writeup of that one in the near future. Today, however, belongs to Ryan and Lee.
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