Tough Cookie Media's Film Page: May 2016

For a long time, almost three years, I have been working on fan content, and I used this class to further that idea instead of creating super original content. However, with a lot of the works I did this year, instead of just making fan content that was pure entertainment, I attempted to add what I believed to be the heart and soul of the character, and also my theme; I wanted to add personal messages that I learned throughout my life through the character of Spider-Man, as well as personal experiences that have added to my understanding of that character and who I am as a person.

This year, it all started with The Marvelous Spider-Man, my overall second fan-film, but the first one I had done for this class. It had originally started as The Sensational Spider-Man 2 back in 2014, but as 2014 and 2015 went on, I lost the drive and steam I had because it was becoming something a lot bigger than I could handle. As this film meant so much to me, I didn't want to completely drop it, but I didn't want to keep working on it, so I compromised; I re-purposed it, and changed the story to better fit what I had learned while also transitioning into my new style of film-making. Sensational Spider-Man 2 was just a Spider-Man fan-film, but The Marvelous Spider-Man took the events of that film, turned them into flashbacks that Peter would revisit, and that would give it the true meaning behind the film. The meaning of the film became to "rise out of all that rubble", which was a nod to my late brother. During his year and a half long battle with pancreatic cancer, he always kept a smile on his face, and never let his affliction get to him. I think this message is the most important one that I've learned so far, and has really helped me move on with my life with everything that I do, and I wanted to be able to spread that message through an already established character, that way it would easily connect with anyone that watched it.

As I continued on with making that film, I started conceptualizing the sequel, which became The Marvelous Spider-Man: Shocking Developments. I took an already existing character, the Shocker, and morphed him into what could fit within the story that I was crafting, and where I could fit a theme in with his character that would carry the heart of this story. Shocker was turned from his normal bank-robbing roots into a nerdy but disturbed teenager, almost as a mirror to Peter Parker, as a sort of "What If", showing a completely different road that Peter Parker could have went down had he not gone through his experiences and dealt with them in the way he had always been guided. As this road continued on, I had to create the theme that would deal with these characters in a rational and modern way, and in that style of thinking, the first theme/message that came out of it was to always be nice to people, as you never know what they're going through. This was brought out by the idea that over the past few years, things like school shootings have been cropping up, and whenever it's by a student, it's usually because another student or group of students had harassed them, and I felt like that's something that needed to be addressed. When it comes to the final film, I don't think it was executed as well as it could've been, especially when compared to how it was originally conceptualized.

When it comes to the messages of this film, I had tackled the message and theme that would accompany the antagonist of the film, but I also had to develop the arc of the main character, Peter Parker, as well. Within the film, one of Peter's former antagonists talks about his life situation, and how and why he looks up to Peter's alter ego, Spider-Man. I felt this was a growing point for both Flash and Peter to grow in a sense, where both have to realize that while Spider-Man is needed, he can only be a sort of support in a way, and that you have to be able to use strength he has given you, not rely solely on his strength to "save the day". I think in the past, I may have relied on the character too much, and in this sort of idea, I'm giving myself a new footing, and also delivering a message to others that may want or need to hear the same thing, that they can do anything if they put their minds to it.