Elephant's Dream Pre-Production behind the scenes (2005, The Blender Foundation)
Channel: Khalbrae
Date: 2015-09-19

A short video documentary produced by Joeri Kassenaar showing the goings on behind the scenes of the first open source movie!

The first open movie is an artsy, surreal world full of twists. Nothing is as it seems, is anything even real? Here's a look into how they made this world come alive!

Elephants Dream
by The Blender Foundation

Published 2006
Usage Attribution 3.0 United States
Topics open, movie, surreal, animation


From the official website:

"Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect.

Elephants Dream is the world’s first open movie, made entirely with open source graphics software such as Blender, and with all production files freely available to use..."

Producer Orange Open Movie Project Studio
Production Company Orange Open Movie Project Studio
Audio/Visual sound, color
Language English
Contact Information http://elephantsdream.org


Project Orange was the Blender Foundation’s first open movie. The movie started production in September 2005 and was premiered at the end of March 2006. The ambitions and targets for Orange were set very high; the character animation system had to be fully recoded, the rendering system needed a lot of upgrades, and most of all: a node-based compositor was required.

Elephants Dream was co-produced with the Netherlands Media Art Institute, who challenged the team to explore an abstract concept and storyline. This 10 minute short shows two people who explore a strange mechanical world, with each an entire own perception on what’s actually there. The emotional ending shows once more the violent impact of mixing reality and fantasy.


(c) copyright 2006, Blender Foundation / Netherlands Media Art Institute / www.elephantsdream.org