Sintel is a really very impressive undertaking, and you should really watch it right now.
It's a 14-minute film made by independent artists using free 3D rendering software, and released under the Creative Commons 3.0 license (meaning it's free to download, copy, distribute, remix, learn from, etc.) While it's not quite Hollywood quality (the animation gets a bit choppy during some bits of action, such as during the first fight scene), it's very, very close. And it was done by an international team of artists working collaboratively with donations from folks on the interwebs.
It's also the second animated film of this ambition that I know of which was released under a creative commons license (the other being Sita Sings the Blues which is also awesome and highly recommended.)
It will be interesting to learn how the DVDs do commercially - Sita Sings the Blues, last I checked, was doing quite well despite the setback of being boondoggled to the tune of $50K over songs that were meant to be in the public domain in the first place.
The comments here will be spoilers, so read them only after you've watched the film.
Why, oh why did they have to go for the sad ending? I mean, granted, they hit me in the gut with a dawning sense of dread as I realized that the older dragon was probably Scales all grown-up (at first I figured it was Scales' mother), but they didn't have to go there.
ReplyDeleteJust because you're film is indie doesn't mean it has to be depressing! Happy stories can be True Art, too!