Open source film

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.

Contents

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:

  1. The license of the movie is approved for free cultural works. Specifically this is true for the Creative Commons licenses by and by-sa.
  2. The materials used in the movie (sources) are also available under a license which is approved for free cultural works.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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

Main article: list of open content films
Name Type Released CC License Sources Comment
Dancing to Architecture – a motion picture about TINA Documentary 2002 by 2.5 AU
link
 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
link
 Created with the Blender open-source software.
Boy Who Never Slept Feature Length Film 07/2006 by 3.0
[3] Boy Who Never Slept
 Created with Adobe Premier Pro, Final Cut and various others.
Stray Cinema Short Film/ Remix project 2006 by 3.0
[4]
 Collaborative project
.re_potemkin contemporary art project 2007
none/copyleft
link
 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
homepage torrent
 Self-distribution via BitTorrent and Archive.org (25,000+ downloads)
Big Buck Bunny animated short 08/2008 by 3.0
link
 Created with the Blender Open Source Software.
Jathia's Wager short film 02/2009 by-sa 3.0
link
 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
link
Valkaama full feature 01/2010 by-sa 3.0
homepage torrent
 Collaborative project. HD download available (720p and 1080p)
The Digital Tipping Point documentary in production by-sa
link
 Collaborative project.
The Last Drug full feature not yet by-sa 3.0
in production
Sintel animated short 10/2010 by 3.0
link
 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
homepage link
 Created with the Kdenlive Open Source Software.
Project Code Rush documentary not yet cc 3.0
link

Further reading

See also

External links