With a lot of people moving towards digitally distributed media (such as NiN’s free album downloads, not to mention hundreds of other bands that offer albums for free,) I think it’d only be appropriate to show some open-source / free movies. Two of these are completely open-source, with original studio files available so that anyone can edit and recreate the movie as they see fit. The third movie is just awesome.

First, we have Elephants Dream. Created by the “Orange Open Movie Team,” it’s a strange, pointless film about an old dude who seems to get crazier over time and the appropriately named ‘Emo,” the poor bastard-child that has to follow him around. You can download the movie in a buttload of formats and resolutions, including the geek’s wet dream, 1080p.

I know YouTube’s res is crap, but you get the idea for the movie.

Secondly, we have “Big Buck Bunny.” Backed by Blender (the same group that backed “Orange,”) and created by the “Peach Movie Team,” this movie’s about a fat rodent who’s harassed by three smaller rodents. I thought it was pretty funny, but I’m also a CG movie fan, so take it for what it’s worth.

While the first two movies are backed by Blender and incorporate open-source, creative commons licensing, they aren’t my personal favorite. It’s not exactly open source, but the person who made it distributes it freely, and the movie itself is incredible. So… Kiwi!

Oh, and check out Kiwi!’s actual site. I posted YouTube links for all of these movies due to the ADD-infested brains of the average Internet user, but the embedded videos on this post don’t do the movies justice. Providing all of the materials used to make the movie is a huge step forward in free(er) media in my mind, so lemme know if you’ve got any open media projects to share with the rest of the class.