Bounty for Bitcoin Animated Movie [won]

[theymos]

How "animated" does it have to be?

To earn my bounties, the video must have mostly original art and animation. Winning videos will almost certainly not be created using a tool that contains pre-made art and animation such as xtranormal or PowerPoint.

The point is to go beyond a good script and offer a useful and unique visual aid to understanding. Most of all, I want to see animated explanations of how blocks and transactions function and fit together.

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[myrkul]

Ok, 1, You didn't specify one of the options.

2, I thought Satoshi's diagrams were plenty clear, do you really need some goofy animation? I could do it in ascii art, ffs:

Code:

+==========+\             +==========+\             +==========+
|   Block  | \            |   Block  | \            |   Block  |
|  +----+  |  \           |  +----+  |  \           |  +----+  |
--->hash|  |   \    --------->hash|  |   \    --------->hash|  |
|  +----+  |    >--/      |  +----+  |    >--/      |  +----+  |
|+--------+|   /          |+--------+|   /          |+--------+|
||transxns||  /           ||transxns||  /           ||transxns||
|+--------+| /            |+--------+| /            |+--------+| 
+==========+/             +==========+/             +==========+

Don't get me wrong, for that much money, you deserve to get what you want... I just want to know what the value add of animation over a static diagram is.

[FreeMoney]

Don't get me wrong, for that much money, you deserve to get what you want... I just want to know what the value add of animation over a static diagram is.

It's the difference between all of us looking at it and saying "Ah ha, nice and correct and a little dull" and it going viral and getting people to understand and remember and be interested.

I'm not sure why thousands of coins isn't getting this done faster. I guess it'll need to be a team or a rather remarkable person who has understanding of bitcoin, graphic skill, and teaching skill.

[myrkul]

Alright... I'll see what I can do. No promises that it will be pretty though.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

I'll definitely donate (possibly even get a one-shot Knighthood) to John and Adam, should I get the bounty... One major tripping point:

How "animated" does it have to be?

I think that "Money as debt" style should satisfy everybody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8

However as it was said already by theymos, the video should be very explanatory about how exactly the protocol works in such a way that not-geeky people can actually understand the basic concept.

[myrkul]

I'll definitely donate (possibly even get a one-shot Knighthood) to John and Adam, should I get the bounty... One major tripping point:

How "animated" does it have to be?

I think that "Money as debt" style should satisfy everybody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8

However as it was said already by theymos, the video should be very explanatory about how exactly the protocol works in such a way that not-geeky people can actually understand the basic concept.

me != animator (even of that quality)

As I said, I've got the audio, and it's very easy to understand. I'm going to see if I can find some animation tools, but in the mean time, I would gladly go halvsies if an animator showed up to offer his services (>$5,500 USD a piece, if we get everyone's bounties!)

No way on earth I'm going to be able to draw 15,000 frames by hand!

Edit: I've found an animation tool that should do the trick. I'll be able get 2d animation, and it should look pretty good. Not sure what flashy effects I'll be able to add, but I'll at least be able to do the audio justice (bye-bye, boring slide-show!)

[TiagoTiago]

Perhaps this should become a comunity project, with lots of people contributing to the scripts, providing pieces of art under acceptable licenses etc?

Or the very least the script(s) itself would be on the wiki for people to contribute, correct etc.


Hm, perhaps someone out there already got the whole thing done but is betting on no one else doing it and waiting till BTC value goes up enough.... ¬.¬

[theymos]

2, I thought Satoshi's diagrams were plenty clear, do you really need some goofy animation? I could do it in ascii art, ffs:

Don't get me wrong, for that much money, you deserve to get what you want... I just want to know what the value add of animation over a static diagram is.

I suppose a slideshow with many original images and clear explanatory audio could win some of my bounties.

Something an animation could do is build up to a final diagram of an example block chain like this:



- The genesis block (at the bottom) is created.
- Another block is created, attached to the genesis block.
- Two blocks are created at the same time. One of them wins.
- Etc.

It can explain other diagrams in pieces, as well. Build up to a complete diagram of a transaction or a block, explaining each piece in turn.

Here is an example of a script that would be likely to win many of my bounties:
- Problems with current systems, etc. Advantages of Bitcoin.
- Bitcoin overview. How to get started, etc.
- Character presses "send coins" in Bitcoin, which starts technical explanation of transactions.
- Bitcoin chooses inputs, writes outputs, and signs the transaction.
- The transaction is broadcast to the network. Its validity is checked.
- Recipient gets 0/unconfirmed transaction. Explain double-spending.
- A miner creates a block containing the transaction. Discuss block creation and generation.
- More blocks are created. At some point, two are created at once so you can explain chain forks.
- Transaction gets 6 confirmations. Recipient sends those coins to show that transactions happen in a chain.
- Explain long-term economics, deflationary spiral, etc.

With this much material, the video would have to be over 30 minutes long to be of good quality. Shorter videos with less material can win some of my bounties, and they might win the the 8449 BTC bounty.

[myrkul]

I suppose a slideshow with many original images and clear explanatory audio could win some of my bounties.

Something an animation could do is build up to a final diagram of an example block chain like this:

Thanks for the input. Now that I have an animation tool that will allow me to get this done before I'm old and gray, I'll be sure to hit as many of your points as possible. Probably go into pretty close detail of how a block is built, etc. I may need to re-cut the audio to make the explanations fit the visuals, but it will be worth it to make a good-looking video.

[myrkul]

Now that I've got the feel of the animation program, please enjoy this quickly tossed together demo:

Animation demo

It's on my dropbox, rather than youtube, being as it's only a tech demo. Essentially, it's the animated version of the ascii art I posted above (works best on repeat).

The final version will have a more polished look, obviously, but this is approximately the quality of animation. Is good?

edit: if you have any difficulty viewing it, VLC worked fine for me.

[theymos]

Now that I've got the feel of the animation program, please enjoy this quickly tossed together demo:

Animation demo

It's on my dropbox, rather than youtube, being as it's only a tech demo. Essentially, it's the animated version of the ascii art I posted above (works best on repeat).

The final version will have a more polished look, obviously, but this is approximately the quality of animation. Is good?

edit: if you have any difficulty viewing it, VLC worked fine for me.

That quality is fine for my "How Bitcoin works technically" bounty, and maybe "Why Bitcoin will work economically" and "Why Bitcoin is better than the alternatives".  It needs a very high-quality voice-over. That speed is way too fast, since everything needs to be explained in great detail.

It could also win my popularity bounties if the video does become popular.

I'm not guaranteeing anything, though. I'll need to see the final product. I'm certainly not going to award any of my goal bounties if I don't think the video covers the topic well, even if it follows the script I posted exactly (since I am not an expert at writing scripts). And I'm not awarding any bounties if it is inaccurate.

[myrkul]

That quality is fine for my "How Bitcoin works technically" bounty, and maybe "Why Bitcoin will work economically" and "Why Bitcoin is better than the alternatives".  It needs a very high-quality voice-over. That speed is way too fast, since everything needs to be explained in great detail.

It could also win my popularity bounties if the video does become popular.

I'm not guaranteeing anything, though. I'll need to see the final product. I'm certainly not going to award any of my goal bounties if I don't think the video covers the topic well, even if it follows the script I posted exactly (since I am not an expert at writing scripts). And I'm not awarding any bounties if it is inaccurate.

Works for me. I'll slow things down some, too. Thanks.

[myrkul]

How "animated" does it have to be?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvmOfTsXuAc

I would tip that it should be animated like this
rendered figures, spaces, animated interaction
ofc does not have to be rhymed or sung like the example above

Uh.. Yeah, I know my limitations, and cel-shaded line-dancing pop-star clones are a bit out of my league.

But this: http://www.jonathangullible.com/PoL/philosophy_of_liberty.swf

That I can do.

[lumos]

i think it should be something like this> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnXU7z2_6Jg

[freeman]

I think the following style could be quite effective:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

[freeman]

Here is my attempt at a non-technical introduction of bitcoin.  My goal
is to explain to someone not interested in the cryptography or software
aspects of the system why they might find it useful as a currency.  IOW,
assume the cryptography works, the P2P system works, the mining system
is not vulnerable to attack, etc: what properties does the system have?

This is a short, relatively non-technical introduction of bitcoin, a
digital currency.  I'm not going to explain the inner workings of the
system other than to say that it based on a form of applied mathematics
known as cryptography.  The system does not depend on a central
authority.

Let's explore the properties of the bitcoin system, assuming it's
mathematical foundations are sound.  First, the number of coins in the
system is fixed.  Over the next twenty-odd years coins will be slowly
created on a pre-determined schedule.  After that time, no new coins can
be created.  Currently about 6 million coins exist.  There will never be
any more than about 21 million coins created.

This fixed schedule of coin creation is one of the properies that makes
bitcoin useful as a currency. People would not like to accept coins as
payment if it was easy for others to create new ones.

Another useful property of bitcoins is that they are easily divisible
into smaller units.  This is a useful property of a currency since it
allows transactions of any value to be completed.

Finally there is property of bitcoins that make it quite unique as a
currency.  The system allows transactions to be made between people at
practically no cost.  To make a transaction, the seller provides the
buyer a special number identifying a digital wallet.  The buyer uses
this number to transfer coins from their wallet to the sellers wallet.
It takes about 10 minutes for this transaction to be cleared by the
system.  After the transaction has cleared it cannot be reversed.

[Stefan Thomas]

Hey everybody! It's time for our little team to come out of the woodwork! We're about done with our script and it'll go off to a professional voice actor for recording tomorrow. The graphics are being done by a motion graphics designer who specializes in explanation videos just like this. Getting him on board was the lucky break that made this whole thing possible.

The reason for this post is only to announce that we're working on this and perhaps to find out if another professional team may be working on it quietly as well.  

When it's done, the video will be released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. I plan to release as much of the graphics etc. as possible under the same license. I want this project to be a continuing resource for remixes and Bitcoin-related videos by other artists.

We won't release the script ahead of time to avoid it being laden with a history of public debate and personal investment by the time the video even comes out. And since the video is aimed at a general audience, we mostly sought feedback from design, marketing and film people as well as anybody who never heard of Bitcoin. That said, we did make sure we got the technical stuff right. Special thanks to the #bitcoin-otc channel who (mostly unknowingly) helped a great deal in making the script technically accurate. We've also got help from some specific members of the community who I'll thank publicly once the video is out.

What I will post however are a few early draft images to give you a sense of the visual style.

This one is from the opening:


This one is from a later part where we explain how to make a transaction:


Bitcoin is worldwide!!


Don't mind the sizes, the final video will be standard HD. Also they're just draft elements right now, they may look different once they're animated and part of a scene.

When will the video be released? We don't have an exact date, but I will post a status update on Tuesday. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!

[grondilu]

When will the video be released? We don't have an exact date, but I will post a status update on Tuesday. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!

What is your script?  I mean: do you try to explain how bitcoin works (double spending, hashes, blocks...), or do you just describe what bitcoin is (bitcoin address, currency/vs paiement method, P2P)?

[Stefan Thomas]

What is your script?  I mean: do you try to explain how bitcoin works (double spending, hashes, blocks...), or do you just describe what bitcoin is (bitcoin address, currency/vs paiement method, P2P)?

Our only goal with this video is to spread Bitcoin and make people interested. Technical information is only included insofar as it helps that goal. As bytemaster says, we need one video to bring new users into the fold and a different one to explain the technology in depth. This one will be the former. I don't want to exclude the possibility that we will work on the latter afterwards.

[myrkul]

What is your script?  I mean: do you try to explain how bitcoin works (double spending, hashes, blocks...), or do you just describe what bitcoin is (bitcoin address, currency/vs paiement method, P2P)?

Our only goal with this video is to spread Bitcoin and make people interested. Technical information is only included insofar as it helps that goal. As bytemaster says, we need one video to bring new users into the fold and a different one to explain the technology in depth. This one will be the former. I don't want to exclude the possibility that we will work on the latter afterwards.

Looks Like I'm shifting focus, then...