Big Buck Bunny, We Want More!

Blender Institute, part of the Blender Foundation, made another animated open content film entitled Big Buck Bunny. The short movie is created using only free and open source software. According to Ton Roosendaal, producer and Blender Institute director, the primary intent of the film was to stimulate the development of open source 3D software, but the quality of Big Buck Bunny on an artistic level as well as on technical ingenuity is what you would expect from large animation studios.

I watched Big Buck Bunny yesterday together with my 3-yr old son. While Elephant's Dream has a darker storyline, Big Buck Bunny is the complete opposite. It is fun-filled, and the characters are indeed very entertaining to watch. The movie is actually about a well-tempered rabbit named Big Buck who is bullied by three rodents. The fun begins when Big Buck decided to take revenge.

On the graphics/visuals side, Big Buck Bunny is really impressive. If I didn't know that it was created by the Blender Institute, I would have thought that it was made by Pixar. If you don't believe me, see the official movie trailer below:

Big Buck Bunny - Official Trailer from Andy Goralczyk on Vimeo.

You can download the whole movie files HERE. It's all yours for free.

A little geeky note: Images of the film were rendered on Sun’s Grid at Network.com. See how it works HERE.

My son really loves Big Buck Bunny, and since the movie only runs for about 10 minutes, he keeps on watching it over and over again. I hope there will be more Big Buck Bunnies to come :-)
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Iron Man the Movie - The Technology Within

I have watched Iron Man in theater about a week ago but until now, I'm still thinking about those awesome scientific and technological elements that can be seen throughout the film. The movie has it all just name it- military technology, robotics, electronics, and some really powerful computers. Iron Man is a fictional Marvel Comics character, although some of the techie stuff that are mentioned or found inside the film really exists.

To those who have seen the movie and want to know what's real and what's fiction, read these exciting Iron Man facts that I have collected:

Stark Industries
Stark Industries, owned and run by billionaire Anthony Edward "Tony" Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man), is a fictional multi-billion dollar business. Howard Stark, Tony's father, founded it. According to Forbes 25 Largest Fictional Companies, it had estimated sales of $20.3 billion. In the movie, Stark Industries has a logo similar to that of Lockheed Martin and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as SIA.

MIT
MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), the school where Tony Stark graduated summa cum laude in electrical engineering at the age of 17 is of course real. MIT is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is known for its strong emphasis on scientific and technological research. The GNU project and free software movement originated at MIT.

Arc Reactor
The arc reactor, buried inside Stark's chest, is a fictional, extremely efficient power supply that produces vast amounts of energy without consuming typical fuel or producing significant waste heat, though its output is finite and can be depleted. This was necessary to allow the Iron Man suit to exhibit the vast strength and flying speed.

Iron Man Suit
A powered exoskeleton (Iron Man's robotic suit), is a powered mobile machine consisting primarily of a skeleton-like framework, and a power supply that provides at least part of the activation-energy for limb movement.

In reality, working examples of powered exoskeletons have been constructed but are not currently widely deployed. Various problems remain to be solved, including suitable power-supply. The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other organizations have researched exoskeletons for combat for decades, but progress has been limited and the actual utility of such systems in combat is still debated (with no systems known to have reached more than prototype status).

Jericho Missile
Jericho missile, an advanced and highly powerful cluster bombs made by Stark Industries is fictional. However, a less powerful cluster munitions are real and are used in today's military. They are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions ("bomblets"). The most common types are intended to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles.

F-22 Raptor
The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It is primarily an air superiority fighter, but has multiple capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence roles. The United States Air Force considers the F-22 a critical component of the U.S. strike force. In the movie, a pair of F-22 is sent after Stark--one is damaged during the chase.

S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division) is a fictional intelligence agency. The acronym originally stood for Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division. It was changed in 1991 to Strategic Hazard Intervention, Espionage Logistics Directorate.

Miscellaneous observation:
I've noticed Tony Stark using an Apple Cinema Display in one of the scenes. Also, Peeper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) hacked a computer that's probably Dell, I think (correct me if I'm wrong). Any further movie observations are welcomed here. Just leave your comments below.

Romantic Open Source Films, Anyone?

Are you in the mood for love? If your answer is "sí señor", then perhaps you may like these two open source films that I'm going to share to you. And yes, I said open source.

A movie or film produced using open source software and open source methodology is called an open content film (or open source film). It is usually released with samples or source material (screenplay, script, footage, etc.) that are released under a license which permits other parties to create other derivative works or fan fiction.

The two romantic movies below are great examples of open source films:

Boy Who Never Slept

One of the world's first full-length open source movies, Boy Who Never Slept tells the story of an insomniac writer who happens to meet a teenage girl online. What begins as merely a friendship develops into an unlikely love story wrapped in harsh reality. This film has received media attention from around the world for its open source release, its non-existent budget, and its edgy material. BWNS is a full length movie that anyone can watch, share, and even use in their own derivative works.

Boy Who Never Slept was filmed with a budget of $200. Amazing, isn't it?

You can download the film’s script in PDF HERE.

You can also get the torrent file of video source footage (mpg DVD) and audio files (MP3) HERE.

Cactuses

Cactuses is a 2006 open-source motion picture created by the Arc2 Project, which was consisted of twenty-four High School students and five college students based in Manteca, CA.

Cactuses is the story of a young man named Simon whose life of rejection and broken relationships takes a turn when he meets an older woman named MaryBeth who works at a cactus shop...

The download page for Cactuses can be found HERE.

Or, you can watch it via Google Video HERE.

I hope more open source films like these two will be produced soon. We should also support them because the purpose of creating an open source film is purely for artistic reason and not for any monetary reward.

Movie for the Geeks: Transformers

I’m not your typical movie reviewer but I have watched this sci-fi movie last Saturday and it was awesome. There was never a dull moment with never ending visual effects, explosions, U.S. military weaponry, and some of the latest in technologies can be seen all throughout the movie. Not to mention the cast of great hackers that helped saved the day.

The visual effects are the things I've noticed most. It was very realistic for a movie involving robots and I never saw any flaw in graphics at all. The military technology is quite accurate having seen modern weapons and vehicles like the F-22 Raptor being crushed in mid-air by the evil robot.

Though the story is action-packed, it has quite a lot of sense of humor. There was also a little bit of a love story going on, not between robots but of the two lead characters. For those who are curious and wondering on what will be the ending of the movie, I can only tell you one thing, good robots won.

The cast of characters are not big time movie stars but their acting is above-average. Michael Bay, the director of great films like Armageddon and The Rock has done it again in this movie. I’ve heard that there will be a sequel in 2009. There should be.

Transformers will be in theatres this July 2 in the States. Americans may have gotten the iPhone first, but I have watched Transformers three days ahead of them (heheh).