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Open Source: the movie

Taking a fresh approach to film making, open-source style.

Illustration: Istockphoto.com/ Ultra-Generic

“Artists are generally fascists,” Brett Gaylor says, then laughs. “They have a singular idea and expect it to be followed through.” That’s why the Canadian filmmaker is taking a fresh approach with his new project, Basement Tapes. It’s an open-source, collaborative documentary; everyone is invited to contribute. The raw footage is available for re-mixing under a Creative Commons license, non-traditional copyright terms that restrict few rights or none at all. While other open-source movie projects exist, Gaylor’s movie is an exploration of “copyright in the digital age,” he says. The focus is on musical producer and mashup DJ Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis), known for remixing popular songs. The film “looks at how restrictive copyright is a threat to creativity,” Gaylor explains. “Art always builds on all that came before it.”

For him, open-source filmmaking means not only being open to suggestion, but letting everyone view and contribute. Ultimately, Gaylor will put an end to the six-year collaboration. “At some point, it’s okay for me to take a ‘benevolent dictator’ kind of approach.”

And while Hollywood probably isn’t ready for open-source blockbusters, it may well be time for the media to get less passive, participate more, and for movie-viewing to become, as Gaylor puts it, “more of a conversation, not a consumption.”