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THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF HOLLYWOOD CONTINUES WITH FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE
by Rob Robinson
The advent of digital video and "affordable" non-linear editing software applications or NLEs like Apple's FINAL CUT and Adobe's PREMIERE opened up the world of film making to a new group of people who had been heretofore locked out of Hollywood. (How many backyard zombie movies do we really need is for another article.)
These new micro cinema film makers are Renaissance men (or women) who find themselves doing many production tasks themselves either out of the love of film making or necessity. Besides the above mentioned NLEs, these do-it-yourself or DIY film makers benefit from many other software applications developed for screenwriting, budgeting, storyboarding, audio, animation, audio mixing, content management systems and news applications for the web.
But proprietor software like FINAL DRAFT for screenwriting, Jungle software's GORILLA film production package or Maxon's CINEMA 4D and Autodesk's MAYA 3D animation applications, as well as the above mentioned NLEs and a host of others while substantially less expensive than previous industry software still create a high financial wall for many film makers limiting their ability to compete.
Free and open source software or FOSS becomes the next step in this democratization of Hollywood.... making production software freely available to all film makers. In many cases these free tools are so powerful, they've been adapted by the industry.
WHAT IS OPEN SOURCE?
Everyone has probably heard of the early open source operating system LINUX, a free alternative to Microsoft windows. But actually you're surrounded by open source software and are using it every day. You may be reading this article with the FIREFOX web browser or you may use THUNDERBIRD as your email client. If you surf the web, a good number of web sites are served by APACHE server software, utilizing the PHP scripting language and perhaps MYSQL databases.
The thing in common with all of this software is the people responsible for it's creation have declared it open source through the GNU general public license or similar license. Which means they have pledged to make the application and its source code free and readily available for anyone to use, distribute and build upon so long as the new work is also readily available and free for others to make changes, etc in the interest of free speech and expression.
How do these programmers make money off such projects you might be wondering? Who cares if they're doing what they enjoy, and we're the beneficiaries of their labors. Seriously, they're probably not much different than micro cinema film makers, after all we're working long hours on something which we're not getting very much in return except for the satisfaction that others may enjoy our work, usually for free. Some of us might rationalize it further by saying we're honing our craft for a professional career later down the road, and using it as a form of networking which works for these coders as well.
Bottom line, these guys have worked extraordinarily hard to create in some cases brilliant service, let's thank them by using it to make some awesome entertainment (you may also consider donating cold hard cash if you find something particularly useful.)
You can find out more about the GNU GPL and other free and open source licenses at the FSF - CATEGORIES OF FREE AND NON FREE SOFTWARE.
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Not so fast. Before you start downloading we need to talk a little about who this is right for and who's not right for open source.
Plenty of FOSS is quite nice and easy to download and install, but some of it can be wild and unruly by it's very nature. This is where the Renaissance man (or woman) analogy comes in. You've got to be someone who's comfortable with their computer and it's inner workings because some of this stuff is going to ask you to install additional libraries and things.
There's also not a lot of documentation about the use of this stuff; these guys are developers not documenters after all. There's no tech support for when you get into trouble, and the message boards and forums are usually prickly places where they don't suffer fools easily. So you've got to be the kind of person who can figure stuff out for yourself, who can search previous posts on boards for answers, etc.
TIPS FOR DOWNLOADING
I'll admit I've grown up in a Mac world and am rather naive about virus's and such so I download free stuff with abandon. PC users have to be more careful and aware that "free" software is probably the second most perfect Trojan horse for invading virus' (right behind those revealing photos of the latest scream queen or scary stud.)
Chances are if you're a Windows user you're already protected, but if not, or if you're intent on going completely open source take a look at CLAMWIN (There's actually a version for Macs called CLAMXAV). Another great free application is AVG ANTI-VIRUS FREE. Extra protection never hurts so you may want to run both.
Otherwise use common sense when downloading and ask some basic questions, does it look like a legit site, are their lots of other users talking about it using it, etc. Most "open source" software is available through the legit sourceForge.
READ SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS CAREFULLY --
There's many platforms and operating systems in the world and anyone who's built a web page knows how difficult it is to get something to look the same on every system. The same is true for open source software. As a result it's important to read system requirements before downloading to insure your system is supported.
Also in many cases, FOSS will depend on special libraries of code which require downloading as well. Blender 3D, as an example, requires the Python programming language (also open source) installed. Some machines already have this as a native install, others do not. Be sure to read requirements carefully and download all additional libraries
WHAT TO DOWNLOAD?
Open source software is constantly being worked on and updated, sometimes nightly (known as nightly builds) so users can look at and test modifications. These are usually available in source code (or text files) which must be compiled into a usable application after downloading.
It's better to look for most recent "stable" version with an installer, or at the very least a binary version. This will have already been compiled into a usable application for download. Many sites will "advertise" the number of downloads of each file and I always gravitate towards the ones with the highest number of downloads.
NOT ALWAYS A SINGLE SOLUTION --
Sometimes you'll want to do something and go looking for a FOSS solution. You'll find a lot of things that seem to tap dance around what you want to achieve, but nothing that does it exactly right. This is the nature of open source, so you may want to break the task down into smaller bits and find solutions for each of those bits. You may then be able to use a combination of "open source" programs coupled with your existing propriety software to achieve a solution.
TOP FOSS APPLICATIONS TO DOWNLOAD
The following is a short list of the most popular and useful cross-platform open source applications available today. You'll want to download these productivity tools first.
FIREFOX -- Open source browser for the web.
THUNDERBIRD -- Open source email client to replace Microsoft Outlook.
OPENOFFICE (WIN) / NEOOFFICE (MAC)-- Replaces Microsoft OFFICE suite of applications.
INKSCAPE -- Open source alternative to Adobe's ILLUSTRATOR.
THE GIMP/THE GIMP SHOP -- Open source alternative to Adobe's PHOTOSHOP.
Next time I'll demonstrate the creation of a film from script to screen using only FOSS.
ADDITIONAL READING
O'Reilly -- Ten Myths about Open Source Software
Freedom or Nightmare? The Implications of Open Source Software
*******ROB ROBINSON is a founding member of STUNT KITTY FILMS, an independent producer of no-budget entertainment.
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Copyright 2007, B-Independent.com. This article can not be reprinted, in whole or in part, without express written permission of the author AND the website.