Open-source film
Appearance
Open source films (also known as open content films and free content films) are films which are produced and distributed by using free and open source software methodologies. Their sources are freely available and the licenses used meet the demands of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) in terms of freedom.
Definition
A definition of an open source film is based on the OSI's open source software definition[1] and the definition of free cultural licenses[2]. This definition can be applied to films where:
- The license of the movie is approved for Free Cultural Works. Specifically this is true for the Creative Commons licenses by and by-sa.
- The materials used in the movie (sources) are also available under a license which is approved for Free Cultural Works.
- The movie and its sources are made publicly available via an online download or by other means that are either free or with a cost that covers reasonable reproduction expenses only.
- The sources should be viewable and editable with free/open source software. If this is not the case, they must be convertible into such a format by using free/open source software. The same applies to the movie itself.
- It should be possible to re-create or re-assemble the movie using the source materials.
Films or film projects which do not meet these criteria are either not Open Source or partially Open Source.
List of open source films
Name | Type | Released | CC License | Sources | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dancing to Architecture - a motion picture about TINA | Documentary | 2002 | by 2.5 AU | Collaborative production. Vital Focus 2002. | |
Route 66 | road movie / gonzo-documentary | 12/2004 | by-sa 3.0 | streaming torrent | Became popular as Germany's first Open Source Film. The license changed to CC by-sa in July 2009. |
Elephants Dream | animated short | 04/2006 | by 2.5 | Created with the Blender Open Source Software. | |
Boy Who Never Slept | Feature Length Film | 07/2006 | by 3.0 | Created with Adobe Premier Pro, Final Cut and various others. | |
Stray Cinema | Short Film/ Remix project | 2006 | by 3.0 | Collaborative project | |
.re_potemkin | contemporary art project | 2007 | A remake of Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" using crowndsourcing / peer production method. | ||
Oceania | Feature-length independent film from the San Francisco Bay Area | 2008 | by-nc-sa 3.0 | Self-distribution via BitTorrent and Archive.org (25,000+ downloads) | |
Big Buck Bunny | animated short | 08/2008 | by 3.0 | Created with the Blender Open Source Software. | |
Jathia's Wager | short film | 02/2009 | by-sa 3.0 | Sources only consist of the movie without music score. | |
Sita Sings the Blues | animated musical of the Indian epic the Ramayana | 2009 | by-sa 3.0 | ||
Valkaama | full feature | 01/2010 | by-sa 3.0 | Collaborative project. | |
The Digital Tipping Point | documentary | in production | by-sa | Collaborative project. | |
The Last Drug | full feature | not yet | by-sa 3.0 | ||
Sintel | animated short | 10/2010 | by 3.0 | Created with the Blender Open Source Software. | |
La Chute d'une plume (pèse plus que ta pudeur) | animated short | 10/2010 | by-sa 3.0 | Created with the Kdenlive Open Source Software. | |
Project Code Rush | documentary | not yet | cc 3.0 |