Open Source Film Making

Overview by Valentin Spirik at http://indiworks.blogspot.com/2006/11/online-video-getting-paid-open-source.html

Definition

Valentin Spirik:

There seems to be no clear definition for "open-source movie":

Does it include the script, all the raw footage (video, images, sound and music) and the cut list (e.g. Final Cut Pro project file), all of which would have to be licensed under e.g. a Creative Commons license that would allow for commercial use? Or is allowing only non-commercial use still open-source? And do you really have to provide the cut list (and possibly the dubbing sheets)? Or does it already count as open-source if a finished movie (and no access to the raw footage) can freely be reused without any restrictions...? (The latter would mean that all old public domain movies are in fact open-source movies!)

The Catalog

(If you think your project should be mentioned here please feel free to comment, link and describe it.)

• TheWeblogProject is "the first open-source movie documentary about blogs and bloggers".

• The Echo Chamber Project is "an open source, investigative documentary about how the television news media became an uncritical echo chamber to the Executive Branch leading up to the war in Iraq".

Maybe even more interesting in the context of this blog entry: "By developing collaborative techniques for producing this film, then this project can potentially provide some solutions for incorporating a broader range of voices and perspectives into the mainstream media."

• Elephants Dream is "the world’s first open movie, made entirely with open source graphics software such as Blender, and with all production files freely available to use however you please, under a Creative Commons license".

• Route 66, some say that this is the first open-source feature film.

• Boy Who Never Slept is "one of the world’s first full-length open source movies".

• Digital Tipping Point project claims to create "the world's first open source feature film-length documentary".

The unedited footage can be downloaded via the The Digital Tipping Point page on the Internet Archive.

• A Swarm of Angels - Remixing Cinema "reinvents the Hollywood model of filmmaking to create cult cinema for the Internet era".

Re-editable Movies

There is also an increasing number of (commercial) movies/shows that either can be re-edited/remixed (under different licenses) or where some or all the source footage can be downloaded, three examples:

• BBS: The Documentary is "a mini-series of 8 episodes about the history of the BBS".

The unedited footage can be downloaded via the BBS Documentaries page on the Internet Archive.

• OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

Outfoxed: Interview Footage can be downloaded via the Internet Archive.

• NerdTV is "a one-hour interview show with a single guest from the world of technology". (In this case the show is the raw footage...)

Worth mentioning seems also 'The War Tapes': Making movies the Web 2.0 way (news.com.com)

And also mentioned should be this new how-to Wiki project:

the Workbook Project (from the about page): "I’ve been working on a DIY book and I’ve decided to make it a free online resource. The concept is part of a “social opensource experiment” called the workbook project. It’s a simple concept, the workbook is meant to be spread and edited. Meaning that content creators can add their own info, war stories, advice etc. We’re hoping that the workbook can grow as a resource. We’re building it with an opensource “client side” wiki called tiddlywiki that can be saved to the desktop, edited and then uploaded again."

More Information

Can open source methodology make a movie? (trends.newsforge.com) looks closer at Digital Tipping Point project

Feel free to update our own entries with up to date information about these projects:

Weblog Project ; Echo Chamber Project ; Elephants Dream ; Route 66 ; Boy Who Never Slept ; Digital Tipping Point ; Swarm of Angels ; BBS ; Outfoxed ; War Tapes