Does Hollywood Need an Open Source Camera?

The revolutionary possibilities an Open-Source camera could bring to the Film Industry

This website is about a short documentary film asking The Question:
Does the Film Industry Want and Need Open Source Cameras?
Open Source is defined as:

"In production and development, open source is a philosophy, or pragmatic methodology that promotes free redistribution and access to an end product's design and implementation details."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

To put the Apertus AXIOM project in simple words: A user-built 4K cinema camera that grants the community access to the codes that run its software, and lays out the hardware configuration - both for the purpose of allowing the film community to openly develop the camera further.

Outline

The Apertus AXIOM with its currently planned shell, visualized by Nathan Clark. The video will introduce the viewer to the world of Open Source and Open Knowledge, a quick pan from Linux to Wikipedia, from Android to OpenOffice, and then focus on filmmaking; how movements like Magic Lantern unleashed the power of the single user to become a developer, to transcend corporate restrictions and custom-add features. It will draw comparisons to the Web 2.0, in which user-generated content can become user-generated functionality (see the Apps for smartphones for example) that transcend what the device is capable of initially.

Now, how wonderful would it be if there was a camera that was built for exactly that purpose - to allow single users to expand its functionality, provide an open development platform, and put all cards on the table ... hardware- and software-wise.

This question will be asked to filmmakers (especially those that are known to keep pushing for new technologies), internet personalities of the independent film industry, and film professors from acclaimed film schools (USC, UCLA, AFI).
The purpose of the film will be to provide an introductory platform for a wider discussion, and give the open source spirit of the Apertus AXIOM project support from people that the community trusts.

 

Possible Titles

  • Apertus AXIOM - Hollywood <3 Open Source
  • Apertus - the Open Source Revolution in Digital Cinema
  • An Open Camera for the Film Industry
  • Why Open Source Cameras are the Future

 

Future/Drive

Some of these ideas and titles derive from my firm belief that if the Apertus AXIOM is successful in its development, it could impact the entire film industry in such a major way that other manufacturers will follow its example in order to not fall behind; just like Canon felt the competition for its more expensive cameras by seeing how powerful a T2i could become with MagicLantern, that's how the "big guys" could feel when they see how powerful a user-developed 4K camera can become once the community embraces it and community developers starts to frankenstein around with it.
Some of the competition in the future cinema camera market could be about providing more powerful soft- and hardware development platforms for the camera's userbase; a revolution that could be started by the Apertus AXIOM.

 

Timeline/Project Specifics

In the following months leading up to the crowdfunding campaign, I will contact prominent filmmakers, film-online-gurus, and film professors in the greater Los Angeles area, and ask them for an interview about the topic of "Open Source in Cinema Cameras and the Film Industry in general".
Hopefully I get good responses and can secure some powerful interviews. Another hope is to raise awareness in the press through these interviews and shine some light on the project and its intentions.

I hope for collaborators in other "film capitals" to interview important people in the film industry - with different points of view - and include them in the video. That makes the message more relevant around the world, not just in the "Mekka" here in Los Angeles.