Like many other Open Culture advocates and being a Wikimedian and documentary filmmaker, I actively create openly-licensed media. Many of my films are small, independent projects with a very small budget. I also save money by actively using Free/Libre and Open Source Software. All these add restrictions but also bring a unique sense of liberty when it comes to producing a film. The end product is not just a complete film but an archive of footage that are fully or partially used in the finally-produced film or did not fit into the film but is still useful. I publish after the film's release almost the entire footage from my films, including interviews, b-rolls and even stills, under a Wikimedia-compatible Creative Commons License. Since most of my films are focused on under-resourced languages, the interviews often become useful for Wikimedia projects as we currently have less free media to address content diversity gaps. In this session, I will share from the practice of "Open Filmmaking" how some planning and even a frugal workflow can help contribute media to Wikimedia projects. Secondly, I will also highlight the long-term strategies for Oral Citations which could potentially help use oral history and other oral content as citable sources. The participants will also get to watch glimpses of some of the films—"Nani Ma", "MarginalizedAadhaar", "Gyani Maiya", "Remosam" and "Mage Porob".
How does it connect with the WCI 2023 theme/focus[edit]
Documentary filmmaking might include isolated desk research, but it brings together people in many levels who collaborate. In fact, in my presentation, I plan to discuss how "strengthening the bonds" is an underlying theme in "Open Filmmaking" from philosophical and operational lenses.
Practical learning about frugal and "Open Filmmaking", and using OpenSpeaks Open Culture principles for creating media that could be potentially useful for Wikimedia projects.
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