Fan Films: To spoof or not to spoof?

Keeping on the topic of my previous post and essay, fan culture is strongly developed and spread to a wide audience because of the internet. Before the internet, fans were much more of a passive audience, not participating in or creating anything regarding the movie or television show they were watching but simply just viewing and consuming the show and its story. With the rise of the internet and social networking sites such as Youtube and blogs, fans can now participate in the stories that they used to just consume.
Fans now can create their own takes, alternate endings and even spoofs on the films they watch. Below is an example of a spoof done by fans on the movie Twilight. They spoofed it, which is the act of taking an original piece in this case a film, and putting their own humorous meaning into it.
Enjoy: (it's at the end of this post!)

This topic is also discussed by Henry Jenkins on his Blog: http://henryjenkins.org/.

I agree with him, in that he says the internet has provided many outlets and sites for distribution of these fan films. There is also an above blurb which discusses how some of these film makers may think of these fan films. Some may think of it as no big deal, others may believe it to be further promoting their movie or take it as a compliment, where as others take it negatively, amateurs changing their hard work. There is more participation for these fans, which is a greater benefit to themselves as well as the film industry. I believe that these forms are harmless, these sites allow these fans to form together to discuss a common interest. It also allows them to be more creative and create forms of art for themselves; I also believe it is harmless to the film industries and that if anything it creates more hype or buzz around the film. If it is good enough to spoof, then it must be good!

From Henry Jenkins Blog:

Hollywood has been fairly alarmed by them--and with good reason. While I'm an advocate of fan filmmaking, I think the studios are right to be concerned. If you owned a sleek Maserati and the 12-year-old next door took it for a joyride, you'd be furious even if it came through without a scratch. That's something like what's going on with the studios, because amateurs are basically hijacking these billion-dollar franchises and doing whatever they want with them.

The internet also provides varied levels of distribution, from simple YouTube clips to over-the-top efforts like Revelations, which was available in a variety of forms, from iPod-friendly MP4 files to a Bit Torrent package that that could be burned to DVD-Rs to create a two-disc set--one for the movie and one for the behind-the-scenes extras, naturally.

As for publicity, websites and the blogosphere are certainly the main forum for spreading the word about fan films today, because a simple link will get your work seen.