This certainly is a very nice start. :) However, I would like to bring to your attention a few things. I thought I'll mention a few interesting things I came to know over time about 3 projects, each different in terms of scale, genre and method.
#1 Project Durian - Sintel - www.sintel.org We all know that this movie is called an open movie, done in free software and all. Yes, it definitely is free and open source, allowing you to examine every aspect of the raw movie files, having discussions with the filmmakers, seeing every stage of the developements etc etc. However, what people don't really know is (mainly people who don't follow its progress from start to finish) the projects so far hosted by the Blender Institute, has a certain amount of closeness to it. Firstly, the story. A small team of talented blenderheads are selected and brought together (here, the Blender Institute @ Amsterdam), and they are given roughly a period of 7-9 months to make a short film. They have powerful setups and resources given to them (PCs with dual monitors, powerful processors and cards, drawing tablets, great working atmosphere and space etc). The people work on it in a 9-5 basis (like any regular studio), most of the time overflowing that period. The artists and technicians are also paid well for working on it. It is estimated that a total of $550,000 has been spent on Sintel (yes, more than half a million dollars). This amount excludes the computer setups, space and existing resources. It was mainly used to fund the artists, their accomodation, dining, then the dvds, publicity and other necessary requirements. Sintel was much more expensive than the previous projects due to the complexity and variance, and the team was doubled by half midway through the project because it could not be completed on time with the exisiting number of people. Be aware, even though most of the artists were generalists, they were given more specific tasks appropriate the title assigned to them (animator, modeller, compositor etc). It was flexible though. But in some cases, things simply couldn't be finished in time, and they've taken help from the Blender community quite a few times (as in the Modelling Sprint (http://www.sintel.org/news/community-modeling-sprint/) and the Animation Sprint (http://www.blendernation.com/2010/03/25/durian- community-sprint-background-characters/)) It is worth noting that they also had their own renderfarm that was really powerful. I'm not going into the specs now, a previous post of mine describes it I think. I'm once again stressing the importance of watching the Sintel Making- Of documentary. It really shows how much even those super-talented artists and technicians struggled throughout the production. #2 Project London - http://projectlondonmovie.com/ I've been following this since the last 2 years or so, and I must say, its one of the most exciting things happening within the indie movie- making community. This feature length project combines live camera- shot action with digital special effects. Although the Project is not entirely done using FOSS (packages like Adobe After Effects, Premier etc are being used) it uses Blender for its 3D elements (like the sci- fi characters, enviroments, effects). But this project relies on the community to move on, but still has a closed operation to it, for example the cast, lead director, producers etc. Mostly the assets (like sounds, models and graphics) are what that is created by the community, while the rest is managed inhouse. The film claims to be a 0 budget movie, but ofcourse, expenses have to be met on things like travelling, shooting, equipments. Maybe its the fact that they don't pay the people who work on it. Its been in production for nearly 3 years. The effects are 3d elements are really spectacular (watch the 'Multiply' teaser @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcMm4LOZIlc) I'm really looking forward to see the end of it, and its quite close. #3 Ninja Postal Services - http://www.state-of-flux.org/ Blenderartists Thread http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php/201573-Ninjas-going-postal-fresh-blood-needed-D This is one of the few completely open projects that has actually started to move! (after weeks and weeks of discussions and debates regarding the feasibility; I lost the link to the original forum thread, but a simple Blenderartists search should bring it up) A really interesting take on a completely community based project (even the story is open), in which anyone can contribute to the project without worrying about deadlines and commitment, and at their leisure, but in the given time slots. Though this may not be a short film and never a fully fledged movie (its slightly below 2 mins), its actually a field test to see whether total community based movies are actually possible, and most of all, its an experiment to test-drive a different and easier mechanism of collaboration. Though I'm quite skeptical about how things will turn out with this venture, maybe, this is something that only time can tell. Looking at all your replies in this thread, I think what you people intend this project to be is pretty much like the last one I mentioned (Ninja Postal Services). I apologize for the lack of info there maybe, I wrote this as fast as possible getting the necessary data during break. I will be busy for most of this week too, because apart from my work, I've also taken up some freelance works at the moment, so I'm totally bogged down. -- "Freedom is the only law". "Freedom Unplugged" http://www.ilug-tvm.org You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ilug-tvm" group. To control your subscription visit http://groups.google.co.in/group/ilug-tvm/subscribe To post to this group, send email to ilug-tvm@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to ilug-tvm-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For details visit the google group page: http://groups.google.com/group/ilug-tvm?hl=en
