Open Source Film

Filmmaking in the Commons

An open source film, also known as an “open movie,” is a film that is created and distributed under the principles of the open-source software movement. This means that not only is the final film free to watch, share, and distribute, but the project’s source files—the raw ingredients used to make it—are also released to the public under a permissive license (like Creative Commons).

This is a radical departure from the highly proprietary and secretive nature of traditional Hollywood filmmaking. In an open source film project, the public is given access to the digital assets used in production, which can include:

• 3D models and character rigs
• High-resolution textures
• Sound effects and music scores
• The complete editing and visual effects project files

The Blender Foundation and Open Movies

The most prominent and successful examples of open source films have been produced by the Blender Foundation. Blender is a powerful, free, and open-source 3D creation suite that is a major competitor to expensive commercial software. To drive the development of its software and to showcase its professional capabilities, the Blender Institute periodically produces its own high-quality, animated short films.

These films, such as Elephants Dream (2006), Big Buck Bunny (2008), and Tears of Steel (2012), are known as “Open Movies.” After each film is completed, the foundation releases all of the production files to the community. This serves two primary purposes:

1. Software Development: The process of creating a professional-quality short film under real production deadlines pushes the Blender development team to create and refine the tools that artists actually need.
2. An Educational Resource: The released assets serve as an invaluable, free educational resource for aspiring animators and visual effects artists. They can deconstruct the project files to see exactly how a professional studio achieves its results, and they are free to reuse the assets in their own projects for learning and experimentation.