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.

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

• Cassarino, I.; Richter, W. (2008). "Swarm creativity: The legal and organizational challenges of open content film production (DIME Working Paper No. 45)". In Andersen, B. (PDF). DIME Working Papers on Intellectual Property Rights. London: Birkbeck College. http://www.dime-eu.org/files/active/0/Cassarino-Richter-AB.pdf. 

See also

• Filmmaking
• Open content
• Open source

External links

• Revolution of Open Source and Film Making Towards Open Film Making (M.A. thesis)