August is a slow month, and everyone’s probably away from their computers and workspaces, so this Big News won’t have the big publicity splash it deserves. On the other hand, August is when teachers write their course syllabi, and I want animation teachers and students to know about this before the Fall semester gets under way.
All the Flash authoring (.fla) files I used to make Sita Sings the Blues have just been posted on archive.org, under a Creative Commons Share Alike license. Want to know how I got a certain animated effect in Sita Sings the Blues? Open up the .fla files and find out. Want to remix from the source? Now you can. Want to make a Sita Sings the Blues video game using all the assets? Go for it. (But I strongly suggest you negotiate my endorsement if you want to actually market the end product.)
License:
You may use these files any way you wish, as long as you1. attribute the source to Nina Paley / Sita Sings the Blues;
2. properly attribute any modifications so it’s clear those are NOT by Nina Paley;
3. Release any resulting work under the same Creative Commons Share Alike license.DRM is prohibited on anything made with these source files.
Certain musical works included in Sita Sings the Blues, listed here, are subject to restrictive licenses. As required by the respective copyright holders, these licenses only allow you to listen to these songs in the context of the original film. Here is a chart containing a full list of restricted songs and their composers, along with each song’s license holder today.File names:
These files are very poorly named. We welcome any open re-naming and re-cataloguing projects.Asset libraries:
Please note that every file has its own asset library. Although many assets have the same name, in many cases they are not exactly the same from file to file. Combining assets may yield strange results. Hanuman’s pupils, for example, may appear giant-sized when moved into other libraries.
Yes, I know bad bad people can also use the .fla files for dastardly deeds (the dreaded hypothetical “Nazi Porn Version” that always comes up at Q&A’s). Bad bad people can use our shared Language and Technology for evil too, but I’m not going to constipate culture out of fear of imaginary worst-case scenarios. I’m confident much more good will come from this than bad, and that’s motivation enough for me. It’s Free Culture, baby. If programmers can tinker with the Free Software’s source code, artists can tinker with Sita Sings the Blues‘ source files.
Let freedom ring!
you rock, Nina. how cool!
Hooray! \o/
Mindblowing..and thank you for this!
Nina,
I am so glad that I bought the DVD and a t-shirt to support you.
I can’t wait to start going over these files to see how you created this great movie!
You are an exceptional artist, and a good peep, too!
Take care!
Nina you are so awesome!
is there an option to download all files like in one zip archive instead of having to individually download 100+ files? also, what are the “unknown” format files? they are missing file extensions.
This is an amazing contribution to the world of animators.
Thank you so much for posting these. I’ll be showing these to my kids when my fall Flash class starts up — their being able to actually see how everything fits together in a fully-realized piece like yours? Invaluable.
Oh my god, thank you for this! Some of design in this movie was mind-blowing, I’m really looking forward to picking it apart and seeing how it works.
@Jason: all the files together add up to more than 4GB, which is why I had to send them on data DVDs to archive to upload. I don’t know why some showed up as “unknown” file formats. Hopefully the Crowd can figure it out and correct any bugs. The files are terribly named, hopefully someone will create a re-naming and cataloging project to make it easier for users to find the files they want without having to wade through everything.
Oh, and the .mov at the top is a mistake – I must have accidentally copied it onto the data DVD. But there it is now.
Awesome, Nina. What a gift. Aside from the extraordinary value of these assets, this is a tremendous example to set for the rest of the creative community. Rock out!
Thank you so much! I’m going to learn so much. Sita Sings the Blues was amazing and I shared it with several people I cared about.
At this juncture, you are more daring than I am!
hurrah!
at last!
Thank You.
Nina, you are my dream come true! A wonderful woman animator! And “they” said we can’t do it? (Just kiddin’) I was excited when I saw this beautiful, funny, sophisticated film of yours; you do rock!!!
Carry on the great work, Nina!!!
Hey Nina – THANK YOU for this – Iam starting in the early stages of a Flash feature and was going to bug you about your process and you did even better by posting these .fla files. I actually bought your DVD directly from your site and will be watching it tonite – keep on keeping on!
Hi Nina, I really enjoyed your film, I want to use some animation in this new small low budget indie film that I am making in India. Is it a possibility for us to use some animation clips, without the music that is, we dont have a budget for this so i wanted to talk to you about how we can use the clips & we are also trying to get a small release so the work will be commercial.
@tapas – commercial uses are allowed, as long as you release the film under Creative Commons Share Alike, and credit the “Sita” parts to me. If you’re not prepared to release your film under CC-SA, then don’t use the clips. But you can totally earn income on a CC-SA film, as I am doing with Sita.
Thank you so much for embracing the open source mindset. I saw your film at Ebertfest, and I would love to help build upon your wonderful work! However I don’t have an Adobe Flash license and would at any rate prefer to do so using open formats. SVG would work excellently. Would it be possible for you or someone to convert these to an open vector graphics format like SVG? Based on 20 minutes of looking on the internet, I think you can export to Adobe Illustrator and then to SVG.
Dear Nina,
I write a lot of music.
I produced an anti-war CD of lyrical songs, in a variety of styles, in 2008. It got radio play around the country and on internet radio.
I have a collection of moody piano pieces of all styles that I am hawking to indie film producers. I also have a 15 song collection of Mr. Rogers type children’s music — young girl, 1960’s small town neighborhood, big dog — that is ripe for use in an animated feature.
Would you have an interest in any of this stuff?
While I once dreamed of making money with music, I now realize that the biggest frustration that I have as an artist is not being able to find an audience for it.
I was a business major in college, a hundred years ago, and admire your creative approach to marketing your work.
Could we talk?
Yours, sincerely,
Brenda
Wonderful!! Thanks, Nina, you are generous and inspiring!!
My partner and I discovered your film in what must be a new way for you—flipping channels.
Of course, the animation caught our interest. But after a couple of minutes, a song began. Tom looked at me with his mouth and eyes wide open. “Oh my god,” he said, “That’s Annette Hanshaw!” We love her!
In addition to the fabulousness of your vision, we love what an obvious FAN you are of her music. How you let the songs continue from start to finish, without editing out instrumental breaks or the tag “That’s all” at the end of many of her songs. Giving Annette star billing truly proves your love of her music.
Apparently Edward VIII was another fan of hers, according to the fan mags of the time. She recorded under several aliases and he bought them all.
Thank you for this absolutely lovely gift of your pain and creativity.
[...] disadvantage into a powerful promotional tool. She then went full Ikari Warrior and released her original Flash files for any would-be animator to learn from. Since she was benefiting from the free culture approach, [...]