Please see below our application for the OER Open Education Conference :
Innovative
approaches to
opening up cultural
heritage collections
for education
Having researched and examined how Open Source has reached out into many areas of education I was struck by how little education
exists for Open Source in tandem with the Film Production community. It seems little has been developed for an entire production
workflow from the sensor and how it is used and manipulated, the colour science and the workflow (utilising both software and
hardware).
Examples exist such as ACES (Academy Color Encoding System) providing a free, open source colour and look
management architecture. http://www.oscars.org/science-technology/sci-tech-projects/aces through the educational department of
the Oscars.org, and has been taken onwards by Universities in the USA, but being such a new subject has as yet to appear as an
Academic reference. Thus seeking to further the understanding and appreciation of production processes we can create a diverse
array of programs for students, teachers, filmmakers, scholars and institutions to provide unique opportunities for engagement with
the principles of Open Source relating to Film Production and by approaching the subject now and introducing education and
research with an ethical ethos and approach the belief is that we can educate further those who would like to see Open Source
become stronger and a more realistic proposition as it continues to thrive and develop. Learning, teaching and research are all
encompassed in the entire pipeline for a production. Open Content, Open Practice, Open Data, Open Access are all elements that can
be attributed to Open Source for Film and education.
The aim is to create free and open technology, and make all the generated
knowledge freely available to everyone, encouraging participation along the way. By developing this approach we can create an
educational pathway that includes subjects such as open data, open collaboration and open hardware and software. As I can envisage
new approaches to Film Education, it is clear that at some intersection Open Source will have a valuable role to play. New emerging
fields of research are developing based on Colour Science and Colour Grading, effecting Cinematography. New information in
assessing how we develop film for the digital age is changing and Open Source will have a major impact here.
By teaching new ways of
working that would previously be the benefit of a few we can now broaden the education to many more encompassing all this new
information. My idea of how to change and introduce a new approach to Film Education is with an Open Source ethos and developing
reliable influence testing, scholarships and a new colour science unit. We will be designing, creating and developing OpenFlow as a
new suite of workflow and software development tools for the entire film production pipeline. Sensor processing, bayer patten development http://www.ece.ncsu.edu/imaging/Publications/2002/demosaicking-JEI-02.pdf with software development would all be
encouraged to teach and educate on how these processes actually work, having a huge impact and why we approach production roles
in a certain fashion, creating deeper knowledge and better understanding for future engagement, educationally and professionally.
In
summary it is my belief that Open Source Film Production is an emerging environment effecting education tremendously, is a perfect
example of collaboration and education developing in multiple areas for the future and can all be developed with an extremely strong
emphasis on education.
