Open Source Video Delivers Nazis from Space

Finland-based Star Wreck Studios is preparing to release their second film, "Iron Sky," along with open source tools to collaborate on movie making through the Internet.  The company says its newly released Wreck A Movie web platform enabled Internet communities to create anything from short films and documentaries to full length features.  Part social community, part marketplace, www.wreckmovie.com promises to help get films done faster and at a considerably lower cost through crowd-sourced work on production tasks and online resourcing of expertise and corporate funding, plus add the bonus feature of viral social marketing through the communities developed during production.

Sound crazy? StarWreck's first movie, a $20,000 parody of Star Trek, has been downloaded a stunning 8 million times since it was released on the Internet three years ago. "Iron Sky," to be available for preview on March 5, spins a tale of Nazis discovering anti-gravity, launching spaceships from a secret base in the Antarctic and setting up an enclave on the dark side of the moon. In 2018, the Nazis come back to pick up where they left off, but Earth apparently isn't in good shape (My guess is global warming).

The business model of Star Wreck Studies started off with free release of video on the Internet, but fans can now buy DVDs, clothing, and a role playing game of "Star Wreck"; a computer game for "Iron Sky" is already in the works.

Others are also getting into the Internet movie mogul business, Crackle, a company of Sony Pictures Entertainment formerly called Grouper, is partnering with established and up-and-coming stars to pump out new content across the Internet, in the living group and devices including (what else?) Sony's.

For more:
- News.com blog on open-source movies

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