December 1st saw the premier of Born of Hope a fan-produced film inspired by Tolkien's books and Peter Jackson's films. It's now six years since Return of the King was released and with The Hobbit (1st of 2 installments) not out until Dec 2011, Rings fans have taken matters into their own hands.
The feature-length film is free to watch and available online only (links posted below). It's been made on an estimated budget of £25,000 + donations. When you consider The Fellowship of the Ring was made on approximately £60m, - they've done pretty well on a budget 2400 times smaller! The team were prevented from making any profit on this, which makes it even more impressive. A film made from the sheer love of the world and a desire to add something to it.
The entire process was opened up to involve fans along the way with Director Kate Madison answering every question that they could throw at her, and as many will know, there's not many more hardcore than this set of fans. The fact that she seems to have pleased the vast majority of them, is a huge credit in its own right.
It's inspiring to think that with enough passion and commitment something of this standard can be produced and given away for free. It's also refreshing to see something just for fans, without the feeling that those behind it are just after your money. Of course the project was in desperate need of donation, a tough task especially in these times, but the way they went about it was pretty cool...
Packages were put together and those who donated £100 or more given a credit in the film. Each different package was granted a type of character so if you gave a little, you were a hobbit, but donate £500 and you got the title Elf. For £1000 you became an official Wizard! Can you think of better ways to spend £1000?... Didn't think so!
It's great to support projects like this and it really is high quality entertainment for free. It's also a big indication of where things are moving in film and what can be achieved through independent cinema.
And if that's not enough, another fan film was released in May of this year entitled The Hunt For Gollum. Again it has very high production values, is very well regarded amongst the fans and is a totally free, non-profit 40 min film, well worth a look.
And watch the whole film here
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