
How about we make an online movie or web-series? - _448
I recently moved to an area that is not doing well financially. During one of my visits to a public library I had a germ of an idea for an open source movie. So I am sharing it with the community to see if there is interest in participation. I am not a filmmaker so looking for any help possible.<p>Here is the story in brief:<p><pre><code>  A software engineer moves to a village to get away from the rat-race of mega cites. Strolling accross the village the engineer stumbles on a local library and regularly starts visting there.

  One day a man in his early 60s visits the library&#x27;s computer section and sits at a computer next to the software professional. The man, through corner of his eyes, starts observing what the software professional is doing. The man has been made redundant few years ago. He visits the library to clear his head of his everyday life struggles.

  On observing the software professional for few days, the man out of curiosity starts reading about computers and programming. Within a few months he becomes confident and starts his early attempts at programming. Step by step using online videos and some help from the software professional he learns how to develop simple web apps. Life starts becoming exciting for him once again. After a year or so he publishes his web app just as an exercise and for fun. But the web app starts getting traction (with all the excitement and panic that comes with unexpected success!) and he goes on to become a successful tech entrepreneur.


</code></pre>
The movie shall have startup lessons sprinkled all over the story.<p>It is a simple story and can be fleshed out with lots of social messages about effects of redundancies on communities, struggles, resilience, aspirations, ageism, sexism, racism, discrimination, immigration, reverse-discrimination and also other social issues of people living far away from the centers of power and mega cities.<p>Let me know what you think, and very much looking for your participation.
======
kleer001
Making a movie or web series is non-trivial.

There's a reason movie credits are very long. There's a reason people go to
college for it. There's a reason there's several distinct disciplines within
the whole shebang.

First thing you want to do is read up on "the pitch", as in pitching your
movie. And to do that you'll need a screen play. And to do that you'll need a
story. And to do that...

How do I know? I've worked in movies for the last 20 years.

And with all good faith and sincerity I say good on you for wanting to make
something new and best of luck. More creators is a great thing.

~~~
_448
> Making a movie or web series is non-trivial.

Yes, I am aware of that. Hence an appeal for broader participation. The things
I did not mention in my original post due to space constraints was that
students from TV and Film institutes across the world can participate in this
project and can also adapt the script and other contents as they see fit for
their local audience.

I am just hoping for more participation in any form in this project.

~~~
kleer001
I forgot to add that a volunteer project makes that project 100x harder to
organize and finish.

IMHO video projects don't happen and get finished unless you're running a
school and have a set curriculum OR a lot of money OR a lot of experience
running them.

You're asking too much of random strangers. You'll want to have a screenplay
ready to go, a schedule, a prospective set of roles.

Why would students help you?

What script? (It's not a script, it's a screenplay)

Have you run a volunteer project before? Have you made a movie before? Either
of them is amazingly difficult. Putting them together is a recipe for
disappointment.

------
veddox
Why does the old man need to learn programming? The developer already knows
how to do that. If they're going to do things together anyway, let the
developer do what he does best, and let the old man do what the developer
can't (through his life experience, people skills, marketing savvy, or
whatever). That way, you avoid two pitfalls:

1\. The illusion that anybody's _first_ web app can be an immediate success.

2\. The hubris of techno-utopia, a.k.a. "learning to code is the solution to
everything".

On that note: don't be preachy. Stories that are _meant_ to "teach lessons" or
contain "lots of social messages" are rarely good stories. Tell your story,
make it a good story, and let the reader figure out the lessons for
him-/herself.

Nonetheless, despite these criticisms, I like your core idea :-) I've never
heard of an open-source movie being produced, but perhaps you can turn it into
a (collaborative) novel?

~~~
_448
> Why does the old man need to learn programming?

That shows the curiosity at play here rather than the requirement to learn
programming.

> let the developer do what he does best, and let the old man do what the
> developer can't

And why you think that the developers cannot do anything other than coding?

> 1\. The illusion that anybody's first web app can be an immediate success. >
> > 2\. The hubris of techno-utopia, a.k.a. "learning to code is the solution
> to everything".

Where in the story it is mentioned that learning to code is solution to
everything. It is specifically mentioned that the man published his web app as
an exercise and for fun and the success is unexpected.

> On that note: don't be preachy. Stories that are meant to "teach lessons" or
> contain "lots of social messages" are rarely good stories.

No, it should not be preachy. I personally don't like preachy movies. But
social messages can be communicated subtly without being preachy.

> Tell your story, make it a good story, and let the reader figure out the
> lessons for him-/herself.

Yes, exactly. That's the way I think too.

> I've never heard of an open-source movie being produced

Developers who develop open-source software for movies do have projects that
produce open-source and CC licensed content. My other intention here is to
provide opportunities to both tech professionals and university students who
are studying Film and TV. By participating in this project they will get
experience.

> but perhaps you can turn it into a (collaborative) novel?

Yeah, that is a good idea as well.

Thank you!

~~~
veddox
I don't want to argue about the specifics with you. You asked us what we
think, and based on the brief information you gave us, I told you my first
impression. I am sure you will discuss the whole plot in much more detail with
your future collaborators, and perhaps with other friends and acquaintances
too - see what feedback they give you.

I wish you all the best for the project!

------
_448
I am unable to edit the original post, hence posting the storyline here again:

A software engineer moves to a village to get away from the rat-race of mega
cites. Strolling accross the village the engineer stumbles on a local library
and regularly starts visting there.

One day a man in his early 60s visits the library's computer section and sits
at a computer next to the software professional. The man, through corner of
his eyes, starts observing what the software professional is doing. The man
has been made redundant few years ago. He visits the library to clear his head
of his everyday life struggles.

On observing the software professional for few days, the man out of curiosity
starts reading about computers and programming. Within a few months he becomes
confident and starts his early attempts at programming. Step by step using
online videos and some help from the software professional he learns how to
develop simple web apps. Life starts becoming exciting for him once again.
After a year or so he publishes his web app just as an exercise and for fun.
But the web app starts getting traction (with all the excitement and panic
that comes with unexpected success!) and he goes on to become a successful
tech entrepreneur.

HTH

------
gitgud
Reminds me of the _learn to code_ movement in 2017, which didn't have a very
positive [1] reception with programmers...

It is an interesting idea though, perhaps if it was portrayed as a comedy like
Silicon Valley or The Internship, people would be more accepting...

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13604551](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13604551)

~~~
_448

      > Reminds me of the learn to code movement in 2017
    

Well, this is not about coding. Because I am a software engineer and also
because I think showing coding as a profession will be easier on screen, I
chose tech company as the way to convey the message.

The aim here is to cover wide range of social issues, sweet bitter experiences
of people who are on the fringes of the tech revolution.

~~~
gitgud
> _Well, this is not about coding._

It may not be the central in your mind, but the way you outline the story
makes programming/coding/tech seem like the core theme...

I do like the idea though, especially this commenter's version of it

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20045253](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20045253)

~~~
_448
> It may not be the central in your mind, but the way you outline the story
> makes programming/coding/tech seem like the core theme...

I actually has a longer version of the post with some more details of the
story, but had to reduce it due to the 2000 char limit on HN.

------
zapzupnz
Code blocks don't wrap on Stack Overflow. Reading the story brief was very
difficult. Consider reformatting it.

