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Apr
12

DVD & online release planning

Posted in Blender Institute, Production by Ton

Now the first reports from the premiere get posted (check videos on Blendernation) almost everyone now is banging on oBBB_poster_smallur doors to get the film as well! So… here’s some answers about what do now and what the intended schedule is.

  • People who pre-ordered the DVD were our investors!

This is an important aspect we should never forget. We were able to make BBB thanks to the generosity and confidence we received from people who ordered and paid for the DVD set. The deal we made was that they would get the dvds first, and only after that the files get released (which will go automatic, because the dvds are “CC-by”, open content).

  • You can still help us by purchasing a DVD!

To be able to wrap up the project and continue work in the Blender Institute and get ready for a new open films we depend on DVD sales still. This is a special hint for everyone who’s screaming for the downloads btw! :)

  • Reminder; what was Peach about again?

I cannot emphasize enough what this project is was about: to help improving Blender, to test an open source animation production pipeline, to share methods we used and what we’ve learned… the 10 minute film is only the cumulative result of that.

  • April 7- April 25: production period

We again will deliver a dual DVD set (PAL, NTSC), with not only the movie but also with extras such as interviews, outtakes, deleted scenes, animatics and commentary tracks.
On the DVD-ROM side you’ll find the film and extras in various PC formats (ogg, avi, mov), including HD size. Further we are going to put the entire studio database on the disk, plus extras such as simplified BBB .blend files for feature demos (compo setups, fur, ..) and tutorials and documentation. In total it’s going to be about 16 GB of data.
So we don’t just slam the film on a disk and sell it, we really intend to give value for money here. :)

  • Blu-ray version

With Imagion, the producer who made the Blu-ray version of Elephants Dream, we’ll cooperate on having a Blu-ray version of BBB too. This will only have limited extras (the ones we can deliver on HD too), but as best extra it’ll have the Elephants Dream film on it too. Imagion will sponsor most of the production costs of the disk and makes copies available for us to sell in the e-shop.
(Yes I know Blu-ray is evil and has DRM built-in, but getting open content available on commercial formats is important).

  • The 35mm films get spread

Check the Events Calendar on this site, here we’ll inform you about public screenings of the movie, festivals, and talks or presentations by Peach team members. We will make the 35 mm films available to theatres at no costs, apart from shipping expenses.
We’ve also offered the film to the Cannes festival… in the happy – but unlikely – case we get accepted, they’ll demand the world premiere (outside of the Netherlands). Which is another reason why we’ve reluctantly scheduled public screenings this month.

  • Mid may: DVD being sent

Assuming it takes two weeks for the dvd printer, we can start shipping the dvds between May 10 and 15. Our express-mail service should then deliver it in europe within a week, and the rest of the world in two (USA, Australia) or maximum 3 weeks.

  • End of may: official launch

We are already working on getting extremely well prepared this time… two years ago with the first open movie launch, nearly every mirror we’ve used collapsed under the attention! So we’ll approach providers who can handle giant amounts of traffic to help mirroring http downloads. Next to that we’ll provide torrents, and youtube or vimeo versions of course. There’s also a wide need for the original OpenEXR files, in 16 bits/component color, to be able to do colorgrading, codec tests, conversions, etc. That’s about 80 GB, we still seek someone who dares to host this!

  • The Peach Workbook

With Sacha Goedegebure I’ll work on a feasible concept for a magazine style/sized full color “workbook” for BBB. Think of pages with plenty of tutorials, explanation of blend files, how to animate the bunny, artwork stages, the movie as comic, but also tech documentation for hair render design, tree generating. It would also fit well with the open project concept to end with a good final report describing results, and presenting it as an informative fun read for education purposes too. More news will follow…

  • Siggraph

This is the annual highlight of the international computer graphics community… and this time we have something to show them! I hope to be there with a big show, preferably in the middle of the tradeshow again. Second half May is deadline to decide on it…

  • Apricot game, Blender 2.5 and Durian

Not to forget: we have a great game project running here still that takes time and development power. After that I hope to get the third and very spectacular Durian film project started. However, Blender 2.5 should be in usable state before that…  no 2.5, no fun for me! :)

Thanks!

-Ton-

47 Responses

  1. Tobi Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    Wow
    Now i want that DVD even more…

  2. randomnut Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    Thank you very much. Good luck for Siggraph!
    Consider BitTorrent.

  3. Ricky Dee Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Thanks for the explanation of the work still to be done and the projected timeline.

    Your point about DVD sales needs to be hammered home to the wider community. The content exists and is free to use because of DVD sales, and the unending dedication of the developers in coding and all the other support tasks (admin, docs, testing… etc).

    Come on people, support Blender, order the DVD today.

  4. Socceroos Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    AUUUGH!!! MID MAY?!?!??!??

    NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

    Ah well, you guys have done a great job. I can’t wait to get my DVD.

  5. Christiaan "AniCator" Bakker Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    Where is Magreet’s name on the poster!?!? She is the producer of Peach too, right?

  6. Mike Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    Sounds like a plan.
    I’ll do my part and buy the dvd. Maybe
    put the movie on a torrent, that way
    your mirrors don’t get hammered.

  7. MrNoodle Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    Very well then.Time will pass.
    Just keep posting in this blog the process of producing this extra material to keep up our interest and attract more people to buy the DVD!

  8. ton Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    Updated my post with a remark about torrents (of course we do that) and added note about apricot, 2.5 and durian projects.

  9. Jacob Picart Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 5:23 pm

    What does “Further we are going to put the entire studio database on the disk” mean? What database?

  10. ton Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    Database:
    a full checkout of the svn repository, which we used as content management system. Plus some more goodies that were too big for svn.

  11. adam Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    Will there be a Blueray version ?

  12. wayne Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 5:42 pm

    what.. 16gb of content?

    i’ve changed my mind bout buying that dvd… here comes my order!

  13. Jonny Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

    Very, very nice! Of course, I bought the DVD ;) . This projects must be supported!!! Good idea, with the BBB workbook. I will/would buy it.

  14. dragonrebel Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    dude, those are big amounths of data, i guess, if i find the funds soon, and somebody who wanna use his internet account to pay trought internet for me, that i will buy the dvd, since it will be cheaper then downloading (only 12 gigs limit here in belgium)

    but can anybody tell me the actual lenght of the movie?

  15. randomnut Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    Now it’s called ‘Tease and denial’.

  16. shul Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

    ton, thank you for detailing all of your plans to us, it’s great to know the investors are being listened to :)

    Can the investors get a specialized link to the movie before the DVD is sent?

  17. Oscar D. Franco Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    Counting the days…

  18. Sven von Brand Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 9:50 pm

    I ordered a DVD but I don’t have any problem in seeing the movie right now along with everyone in the internet!!
    God, is hard to wait!!

    It’s going to be amazing to have the DVD, and an honor to be in the credits!!

  19. dom guakito Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 10:48 pm

    bring it to animamundi, the brazillian animation festival!

  20. Dave Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    What’s Durian? Will it be longer than ten minutes? Anyways, good luck! :)

  21. LoMac Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 11:57 pm

    Will Elephants Dream ever be re released as the original DVD set was? It might be a good idea for preproduction profits to keep all your open content for purchase.

  22. ethana2 Writes:
    April 12th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    I want to use my domestic internet connection to help host your site.
    I want to use my 65nm C2D to help render Durian.
    [email protected]

  23. horace Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 12:03 am

    [quote]This will only have limited extras (the ones we can deliver on HD too), but as best extra it’ll have the Elephants Dream film on it too.[/quote]

    what does this mean? HD?

    since blue ray offers so much space, couldn’t you do a 50gb mega release? which includes all files from both movies (also elphants dream) and more? :)

  24. piratebay Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 12:09 am

    Dudes, there was a PUBLIC premiere, so just get the Screener from your favorite torrent site :-)

  25. LoMac Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 12:28 am

    @Horace. yeah but you’ll need a blu-ray drive in your computer for it to be useful

  26. m--s Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 1:53 am

    > the 10 minute film is only the cumulative result of that.

    wait, wait… “10 minute film”???
    Wasn’t it supposed to be much longer than ED?

  27. Andrew Price Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 3:38 am

    piratebay: Face palm :|

    This blog entry just convinced me to order the DVD. $50 isn’t a lot when you consider what the blender team is giving us for free with every release!!

    Come on people! Don’t be stingy, order the DVD!!

  28. Bmud Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 3:54 am

    Oops I crapped my pants. O_o

  29. Frederick Desimpel Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    Ton, you might have a look at http://www.gandi.net. This is a very nice french company with an interesting approach to hosting based on server virtualisation, which supports dynamic loads.

    more info: http://www.gandi.net/hosting/

    and

    http://www.gandi.net/hosting/proposal/your_needs/

    They are very supportive towards open source, maybe you can make a deal !

  30. randomnut Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

    that was really unethical… even for a pirate

  31. Tomas Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    As LoMac stated, I would also like to see the continued sale of the DVD (ED). I missed out on ED but would still love to have the DVD. I know it is available in HD and Blu-Ray (Evil) but I only have a DVD player. Although when I get a high def player I will probably buy the HD/Blu-ray versions as well to support Blender.

    Thanks again for all the effort and I look forward to my DVD of BBB and Apricot.

    @ton – thanks for keeping us all informed. I think what you are doing at the Blender Institute is awesome!!

  32. DramaKing Writes:
    April 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    Remember that some things are worth waiting for. If it won’t be available until the end of may, I can certainly wait until then.

  33. Michael Writes:
    April 14th, 2008 at 9:35 am

    Hi,

    I’m working in a small company in Belgium. We are working on a VOD solution (there’s no such thing in Belgium) and we would like to launch with Big Buck Bunny movie. We can provide 100 Mbit server with unlimited downloads (for free, of course).

    Michael

  34. dragonrebel Writes:
    April 14th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    wow, michael, that would be nice (just a little question, how did you got a server with that speed and no limit in belgium, i live there, and damn, those limits are too small, i wanna buy the dvd, but as i have no money, or account for internet banking, i guess i will have to wait for the download
    but those 80 gigs you mention, those will push all my limits (takes up the normal bandwith of at least 6 month for me to download that)

  35. J.B. Nicholson-Owens Writes:
    April 14th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    Looks like my previous post to this blog was rejected for looking like spam (and apparently not moderated through), so I’ll repeat the highlight: Consider using The Internet archive at archive.org. Unlimited space, unlimited bandwidth, no charge, files are directly linkable, and everything you upload is mirrored globally. It’s a great deal.

  36. Dave Writes:
    April 15th, 2008 at 4:02 am

    Hey, since Big Buck Bunny is going to be released… When will you release the next version of Blender?

  37. jin choung Writes:
    April 15th, 2008 at 7:39 am

    !!! A … WORKBOOK … !!!

    WOWOWOWOW! Brilliant! geez, can you imagine if they handed out software and a workbook to kids after they left the theater for Star Wars?! We had to make our own “workbook” and piddle around with super8mm cameras and play-doh! but you guys are readying a WORKBOOK! geez, this is the kinda thing that you guys consistently do to make me believe in you! fantastic idea, great work, congrats, and i have eagerly begun “wait mode”.

  38. Michael Writes:
    April 15th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

    Hi!

    Our server is not located in Belgium ( of course ;-) ! ) It’s located in France.

    We would like to launch our website with Big Buck Bunny. It would be great!

    We can host any files from the project if the team is interrested.

    Michael

  39. Trawler Writes:
    April 15th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    I love the idea of a book. That would be great!!

  40. Chainz Writes:
    April 18th, 2008 at 11:18 am

    Hi,
    Will you be able to deliver a copy to Libre Graphics Meeting 2008 (8-10 May)?

    We would be really grateful!

    Best Regards
    Chainz

  41. TMatte Writes:
    April 18th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    About the 80 GBs of original OpenEXR files, why don´t you try to host at Ibiblio as a partner (like http://www.ibiblio.org/cinepaint/info/contributors.html)?
    They have “The CinePaint Digital Film Library” there (outdated, but nice resource).

    Congrats!

  42. TMatte Writes:
    April 18th, 2008 at 12:32 pm

    Better yet – http://www.filmarchives-online.eu

  43. neonU Writes:
    April 18th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

    Come on, this is torture! If only I had the money to I would be able to see the film a few weeks earlier…ow! hurts! but well, shall be ok. Thank you for your great work!

  44. Tyler Writes:
    April 21st, 2008 at 9:57 pm

    I would love to talk with someone about streaming the video for the premiere! I love the movie and the work you guys are doing. Please contact me.

  45. Fredster Writes:
    April 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    Wow, this sounds all really juicy and good!!:) You might want to think about maybe (in the future) releasing two or more different versions, 1. Basic, having only the DVD, then maybe a collectors- or premium-pack where there would be exclusive stuff, bonus stuff, maybe a Limited T-Shirt, BBB-Sticker etc etc, could go on and on! This all ofcourse to an exclusive and higher price, to those who are willing to spend/support Blender more! I would gladly do that as long as i feel i get value for my money. Thanks!

  46. indiworks Writes:
    April 24th, 2008 at 2:46 am

    (I think my other comment from a while ago got stuck in moderation since it included links.)

    “There’s also a wide need for the original OpenEXR files, in 16 bits/component color, to be able to do colorgrading, codec tests, conversions, etc. That’s about 80 GB, we still seek someone who dares to host this!”

    Have you though of the Internet Archive and the Open Source Movie section…? They also host another open movie (The Digital Tipping Point).

  47. Olis Writes:
    April 28th, 2008 at 11:22 pm

    When will the Bluray version be available?