Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sita Sings The Blues

This is topic Sita Sings The Blues in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-28-2009, 03:36 PM:

This is a great movie. Not just good, not very good, not even excellent can describe this...it is a truly great film in every way.

This is an animated film about lost love. It combines the contemporary story of the breakup of two lovers, the epic Indian tale of the Ramayana and the jazz vocals of late twenties singer Annette Henshaw.

The animation is like nothing I've ever seen. It combines internet style Flash animation with Terry Gilliam style cutouts, with touches of Richard Williams and even Jay Ward. The songs of Annette Henshaw perfectly fit the picture in style and story.

What is really amazing about this film is that it was done by one person, Nina Paley. This is her story. She did ALL of the work. She told us after the film that she had used an Apple Macintosh computer with Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator and some other titles. (She wanted to use Linux, but the software does not exist on that platform.)

There is another story about this film...one of copyright. The synchronization rights for this film (produced for only a few thousand dollars) were quoted as $220,000. This just about shut down the whole project. But Nina worked and got the price down to about $50,000, which has now been paid and the film will start to find its audience.

Due to some weird quirks in the copyright law, PBS stations can show the film without royalty payments. So, in early March, 2009, the film will be shown on the New York City PBS station. After that showing, Nina plans to release the entire film on the internet...not just the film but just about all of the files, including the 200-gig master film for 35mm film output.

I saw a 35mm print of this with Nina in attendance. This film is just magic. It is clever and unpredictable. It combines classic animation styles with things I've never seen before. You never quite know what you will see next. And the Annette Henshaw songs are just a perfect fit.

I would encourage everyone who loves animation or just wants to see creative genius in action to seek out this film. The film will be released under the Creative Commons licence and legal downloads and sharing are encouraged. I'll post the internet addresses when they are available.

(I listed this under MOVIE REVIEWS instead of AFTERLIFE because I saw a 35mm print.)

Oh, and if you see it...don't walk out during the intermission!

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 03-04-2009, 08:52 AM:

While not all of the information is up yet, you can buy a hard drive with all of the versions (including the uncompressed 1920x1080 quicktime file) for $500 or a 35mm print for $5,000. Yes, she makes a profit on these, but they can be shown publicly for no fee. DVD's will be available later after quality checks.

This is a very novel way to release a film, and she hopes other small producers might deliver films in the same manner. Prints are also available for rental. The film can be shown on television for no additional fee.

A number of versions are available for download from archive.org. These include a 4-gig HD video file. All of the DVD files will be available when they are ready.

Posted by Arthur Allen (Member # 969) on 07-30-2009, 10:10 PM:

http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/

I've downloaded one of the file copies but haven't had time to watch it yet.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 08-20-2009, 10:14 AM:

Nina has released all of the flash files she used to develop the movie. They are available under a Creative Commons license and may be used with attribution (credit to Nina, but notation that the modifications are NOT by Nina). Any release must be under a similar Creative Commons license and must NOT contain any form of DRM.

Again, it is totally legal to use the files or download copies of the movie. There is even a 1080p Uncompressed Quicktime file that is 195.5 GB.

Flash format files are available here.

Download files are available here.