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## About
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'Frag den Staat' is a vector animation created using the Free Software tools [Synfig Studio](synfig.org) and [Inkscape](inkscape.org).
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You can see the original video in its entirety at [Camera Libre](http://cameralibre.cc/fragdenstaat)
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I made the original in 2014 - now I'm releasing and documenting the project files to allow other people in other countries to use and adapt the video.
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It's designed to explain and promote the German Freedom of Information website [Frag den Staat](http://fragdenstaat.de) ("Ask the State") as well as the idea of [Freedom of Information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information) more generally.
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Frag den Staat was set up by [Stefan Wehrmeyer](http://stefanwehrmeyer.com/) and [Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland](http://okfn.de).
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Stefan also created [FROIDE](https://github.com/stefanw/froide), the software which FdS is built on.
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FROIDE and the similar software project [Alaveteli](http://alaveteli.org/) are the basis of a number of FOI websites around the world, who share a common goal, and a common approach: to strengthen transparency and democracy, by enabling citizens to exercise their right to information about public bodies.
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Hopefully this animation can be adapted and improved to serve their purposes.
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## Goals of this project:
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- To develop a template for any FOI portal to quickly, easily and economically create their own explanation animation - tailored for their site, their culture and audience. Also to allow people to further update and improve their animation as time goes on.
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- To experiment and develop best practices for collaborative 2D animation using free software, and provide a _practical_ example for open sourcing animation, as well as using free/libre open source tools to create animation.
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Right now, the documentation and arrangement of the project is very much set up for a user working with Inkscape and Synfig Studio with a graphical user interface - ideally in the future it could be possible to use a command line to replace specific text or other elements, automating changes which currently have to be made manually by clicking through the GUI.
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- To improve the original video. There are a wide range of problems with the original which I would like to fix (in terms of timing, design, sound design as well as the general text and concept). However, animation is extremely time consuming and at some stage I simply had to say "OK, it's done" - I (literally) couldn't afford to keep tinkering. Through allowing others to take the project and improve it, or being commissioned to do so myself, I hope that changes and improvements can benefit all versions of the video.
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## Project Overview
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The project is split into 11 Synfig projects - every time there is a hard scene cut, rather than an animated transition, I use a new project. This means that some scenes are very short (eg '06 document handover') whereas others are very long and complex ('02 inside government' and '10 laptop')
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PROJECT LIST:
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01 title
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02 inside government
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03 post
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04 document types
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05 protestors sad
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06 document handover
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07 protestors happy
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08 multiple offices
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09 combining data
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10 laptop
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11 end title
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Once I have the animation files in place, I will add the [Kdenlive](http://kdenlive.org) video editing project and the required audio files.
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## Repository Structure
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[/fonts](https://gitlab.com/cameralibre/FragDenStaat-Animation/tree/master/fonts)
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A large part of adapting the project for international use is replacing German-language text with the local language. For this, you can edit and replace the text in each scene's Inkscape .svg project.
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The FdS website uses [Kreon](https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Kreon) as its main font, hence its use here, though you may want to choose another font to fit your site's branding and design.
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[Pecita](http://pecita.eu/) and [NotCourierSans](http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/foundry/notcouriersans/) have been used for the addresses on the envelopes in scene 3, 'Post'.
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When converting an Inkscape .svg to a Synfig .sif, text is converted to vector paths, so you don't require these fonts if you're just working on the Synfig files, as they contain no text information.
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[/notes](https://gitlab.com/cameralibre/FragDenStaat-Animation/tree/master/fonts)
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Here I've noted the elements in each scene which (probably) need to be changed to adapt the original German video to a different language or country, and created some basic documentation on the structure and concept of each particular scene.
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[/script](https://gitlab.com/cameralibre/FragDenStaat-Animation/tree/master/script)
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Voiceovers and concept for the entire video. It will need to be translated for international use and I would like to improve it along the way!
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[/sif](https://gitlab.com/cameralibre/FragDenStaat-Animation/tree/master/sif)
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[Synfig file format](http://wiki.synfig.org/wiki/File_Formats)
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The main animation files are [Synfig](http://www.synfig.org/) projects (.sif). There's one project for each scene in the video.
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Other than some linked texture files, the elements in the projects are all vector graphics, meaning they are simply mathematical expressions of points, lines, curves, shapes or polygons.
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This means that the projects are very flexible, lightweight*, and as the projects are text-based XML files, they lead themselves well to version control & scripting.
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*ok, well, lightweight compared to raster images - any kind of animation is going to be a lot of information. For example, scene 03 Post is only 8 seconds long, but it's still 22MB worth of text (almost 450000 lines).
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To learn the basics of Synfig, I would recommend the official [Synfig Studio Training Course](https://gumroad.com/l/TkoN).
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[/svg](https://gitlab.com/cameralibre/FragDenStaat-Animation/tree/master/svg)
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[Inkscape file format](http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Frequently_asked_questions#Are_Inkscape.27s_SVG_documents_valid_SVG.3F)
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The illustrations for this video were created in [Inkscape](http://inkscape.org) - mostly by me, but with many contributions from [Judith Carnaby](http://judithcarnaby.com).
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Personally, I find Inkscape more flexible and intuitive for creating vector images than Synfig, so I create my images in Inkscape and then save a copy as a .sif:
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(File>Save As... Synfig Animation *.sif)
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In order for a complex object to be grouped and labeled when you open it in Synfig, it's a good idea to put each object on its own (labeled) layer. Otherwise when you open the .sif you just see hundreds of anonymous layers named _path69302_, _path69303_, and so on. You can also group and rename objects within Synfig, it just may be confusing to find what you're looking for.
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[/textures](https://gitlab.com/cameralibre/FragDenStaat-Animation/tree/master/textures)
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The original version of the video includes a number of public domain texture images (.jpg), which are overlaid on objects in Synfig. A texture can be imported (File>Import...) and placed directly above the groups or layers that you want to apply texture to. The 'Blending Mode' of the texture layer should be set to Overlay, and the 'Amount' (opacity) to something low, like 0,10.
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The texture files are only _linked_ to the Synfig project, not embedded within the project. This means that for the existing links to work, the texture files must keep their existing names and stay in the same location relative to the project file (../textures/). If you want to change this, just open the .sif file with a text editor and edit the link.
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[/webm](https://gitlab.com/cameralibre/FragDenStaat-Animation/tree/master/webm)
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Reference videos for each scene. Synfig exports image sequences of .png files - but these are obviously quite large files and it's difficult to play them in real time, so I've converted the image sequences to a more internet-friendly webm video format. These videos should serve well for reference purposes but they are heavily compressed, so I wouldn't recommmend remixing them in other video projects.
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## License
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Frag den Staat is currently licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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I'm not sure if this actually makes sense for project files, or just the cultural content - if a software license is more appropriate, please let me know!
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## FOI portals around the world:
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(let me know if I've missed any)
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Australia
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Right To Know
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https://www.righttoknow.org.au/
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Austria
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Frag Den Staat
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https://fragdenstaat.at
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Bosnia
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Pravo Da Znam
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http://www.pravodaznam.ba/
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Brazil
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Queremos Saber
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http://queremossaber.org.br/
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Canada
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Je Veux Savoir
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http://www.jeveuxsavoir.org/
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Croatia
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Imamo pravo znati
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http://imamopravoznati.org/
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Czech Republic
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Info Pro Všechny
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http://www.infoprovsechny.cz/
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Europe
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Ask the EU
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http://www.asktheeu.org/
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Germany
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Frag Den Staat
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https://fragdenstaat.de
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Hong Kong
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accessinfo.hk
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https://accessinfo.hk/
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Hungary
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Ki Mit Tud
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http://kimittud.atlatszo.hu/
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Israel
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Ask Data
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http://askdata.org.il/
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Italy
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Diritto Di Sapere
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https://chiedi.dirittodisapere.it/
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Macedonia
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Слободен пристап
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http://www.slobodenpristap.mk/
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New Zealand
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FYI
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https://fyi.org.nz/
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Romania
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Nu Vă Supărați
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http://nuvasuparati.info/
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Rwanda
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Sobanukirwa
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https://sobanukirwa.rw/
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Serbia
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Da Zanamo Svi
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http://daznamosvi.rs/sr
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Spain
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Tu Derecho A Saber
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http://tuderechoasaber.es/
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Sweden
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Fråga Staten (coming soon!)
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http://se.okfn.org/
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Tunisia
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Marsoum 41
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http://www.marsoum41.org/en
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Ukraine
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Доступ до правди
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https://dostup.pravda.com.ua/
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United Kingdom
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WhatDoTheyKnow
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https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/
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Uruguay
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Que Sabes
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http://www.quesabes.org/ |
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\ No newline at end of file |