Fan edit

A fan edit is a version of a film modified by a viewer, that removes, reorders, or adds material in order to create a new interpretation of the source material. This includes the removal of scenes or dialogue, replacement of audio and/or visual elements, and adding material from sources such as deleted scenes or even other films.

The field was popularized by an individual calling himself the "Phantom Editor" (later revealed as professional editor Mike J. Nichols). He removed elements from George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace that he felt detracted from the film, and made minor changes in dialogue, languages and subtitles to give the film's villains a more menacing tone. The end result became known as The Phantom Edit, which was distributed on VHS and later online.

The second major edit was done with Spielberg's AI. However, as the edit was not released by the author, it has not affected the field (it was only mentioned in one article).

The idea of fanediting became popular with the second public release - the "Purist Edit", which changed the LOTR: The Two Towers to more closely follow Tolkien's books. The edit was distributed through P2P and has led many other aspiring editors to creation of their fanedits. Due to extensive changes required to change the story, LOTR edits are among the most challenging. There are at least two full LOTR fan edits available.

After that the trend started to gain popularity and spread to other films in the same fashion, such as the Matrix series, Pearl Harbor, Dune, Superman II, and others. In addition to re-editing films, some fan edits feature basic corrections, such as colors or framing, that maintain or restore consistency within the film.

Before the term "fan edit" was coined, many "alternate versions" of films edited by other fans or professional editors where simply known as a "Cut". In the late 1970s, many alternate "cuts" of films were released in the United States, and foreign films (such as those from Europe or Japan) deemed unsuitable for American audiences under went further alterations, score changes and re-titlings. Also fan translation (fandubs) of Japanese Anime is similar in spirit to fanedits.

Fair use issues
While fan edits skirt the lines of fair use, their creators emphasize the use of the final product should only be for those who own the source material (often commercial DVDs), and are not to be distributed for profit or other personal gain. Lucasfilm is aware of the existence of Star Wars fan edits, and has stated they will take action when they believe copyright infringement has taken place.

In July 2007, Lucasfilm took action against fan editor "daveytod" after taking issue with his fan edit documentary, The Clones Revealed. It is unclear exactly why Lucasfilm took this action against "daveytod". Their email to him cited the possibility of 'consumer confusion', that The Clones Revealed might be mistaken for an official Lucasfilm product. The email was sent to several active members of the fan editing community and resulted in the short down time of FanEdit.org until it was made clear which film was being cited with a cease and desist. The reasoning given by Lucasfilm's anti-piracy team during communications with http://fanedit.org moderators seemed to display the mistaken impression that 'The Clones Revealed' was an Episode II bootleg.

In November 2008, http://fanedit.org was briefly closed after receiving a complaint from the MPAA regarding the use of links to its copyrights appearing on the site. After a three day downtime, the website reopened without any links to potentially infringing files.

Fanedit.org has a policy to not allow fanedits made from pirated versions of films to be listed in its database. One notable victim of this policy is The Purist Edit, made from the leaked DVD screener of the theatrical version of the film. Despite being the second major fanedit available and its historical importance, it's not listed on fanedit.org