Star Wars Uncut (2010)

Star Wars Uncut—a 2010 online film produced, edited and directed by Casey Pugh—is a crowdsourced shot-for shot recreation of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope consisting of 473 segments, 15 seconds each, created and submitted by fans from all over the globe.

In 2009, Pugh created a website where fans could sign up to recreate scenes from the original Star Wars film. Fans could recreate whatever scene they desired. When there were multiple contenders, there was a vote to determine whose work made it into the final film, which would then be altered in real time. It was left up to the imagination of the individual fans how, and in which style, they recreated the scenes. This approach produced a plethora of visual choices and tones, from stop-motion LEGO figurines and various animation styles to what can best be described as LARPing.

Star Wars Uncut is a great example of fanfiction involving a beloved IP. To their credit, Lucas Films recognized that Star Wars Uncut would be a work of art in its own right and enthusiastically supported it.

For showing how to engage a fanbase and use the internet to crowdsource content that not only entertains, but also makes you enjoy a familiar story in a new way, Star Wars Uncut wins a Peabody Award.