It might seem that fans only recently have wanted to become involved in the production of movies. Fans have always submitted ideas, suggestions and even finished screenplays in an attempt to join in the movie making process. The internet and it's ability to distribute fan fiction prose works and fan edits of movies has only made this tendency more visible.

It's clear this has happened from the inception of film and that it's still around now. What isn't so clear is why do people have this inclination. Why do film images motivate them to want to get involved? It's a good idea for your film to include lots of ways for people in to interact with the movie making process and it might help that effort with a little clarification of the why behind it.

A Movie Is About People

Stories in general are about people, movies even more so. On the screen is a close approximation of what a person would look like in real life, in a book you have to imagine. So movies are full of people about things people do and the audience watching are people, too. Humans tend to want to interact with other humans in their world, so these moving picture images bring out a similar desire.

You Become Friends When You Get Intimate

Not only are these screen images of people, they are the kinds of images you might only get in an intimate arrangement. Extreme closeups where you can see an actor's pores would only get duplicated in life by being nose to nose. You don't put your face that close to someone unless you are on intimate terms. Be it a close friend, lover or family member, if you know their face that well you are not strangers. Your relationship with a film star is the reverse of how it would be in life. Instead of slowly getting to the point of intimacy which leads to a real world closeup, you get the closeup first and then have this desire to fill in the rest by interacting.

Friends Exchange Words

A movie is a one way communication device. Actors say dialogue you hear and perform actions you see, but no matter what you do or say to the screen they will never know about these antics. This doesn't feel right no matter how often we tell ourselves it's only a movie. We see these people closeup doing things we've only seen other friends do, and yet we cannot speak to them. This is where the desire to contact a star through the mail comes from. We want to close the gap we feel from knowing about them in-depth but somehow bypassing the route we usually take to get to know someone.

Each Friend Influences The Other

Not only do friends speak back and forth and watch each others body movements, they also affect one another. One may be a leader most of the time and the other the follower, but this balance changes at times to where it may even switch momentarily. The strong leader type may have times where a shoulder to cry on is needed and the "weaker" one may lead the way back to strength. In the star-audience relationship the actors do all the influencing and the fan all the listening. This isn't normal and feels wrong. We feel an innate need to assert ourselves and we do it the only way we know know; sending letters, starting a fan club, or starting a boycott. We will do anything possible to make the relationship balanced again.

Once Friends, You Do Things Together

Not only do friends talk and influence each other through communication, they often share experiences. They go camping and then have something more concrete in common. They eat together, they play together, and generally have fun together. They go places, they see things, and they generally live life together. We rarely get the chance to have these experiences with the people on screen we feel we know so well, but we still yearn. We want to hang out with them. When we find out we can't, some of us get angry. The paparazzi photographers and tabloids exploit our feelings of simultaneous love and hate for these people; we want to know more and also see them get punished for not treating us fairly.

This may seem ridiculous, you may think most people are rational and understand it's only a movie and these actors are not their friends. Emotions are hard to reckon with and these screen images evoke strong emotions. It's not impossible to think many people get attached to these images like they would people and act the way any friend would when they are mistreated. Your fans are likely going to want to be real friends and not just acquaintances and they deserve more interaction if they want it. Don't get upset at these people, just understand them and solve their problem and they will be there for you. That's what friends are for. Or so I've read.