During the holidays, I gave you insight into some essential home theater gifts for the film buff on your list. Then more recently, I took the high road and presented a guide to creating the ultimate home screening room experience. Unfortunately for many of you, the costs associated with both of those projects -- especially in the case of the ultimate screening room -- were far too prohibitive and not something you could, or would, want to afford.

Given that, I went back to the proverbial drawing board and decided to put together a guide to low budget home theater gear you could use to achieve as much of the "big screen" experience as possible, given the constraints of a very limited budget. Putting something like this together for almost no money isn't as easy as it might seem. Getting good quality gear can be expensive and even something decent still isn't always what some would consider "cheap."

With that in mind, I decided to challenge myself to put together a home screening room I could enjoy, but with a very limited budget of only $1500.00 -- the approximate amount of my last tax refund. Sticking to this budget meant, of course, a lot of research, bargain hunting and in some cases, haggling. But in the end, I found the following items that will do your movies at home justice. And even if you don't get the "ultimate" home theater experience in your custom screening room, you can still have a good time watching some great movies in your living room while not spending a ton of money.

So, with our budget in mind, let's get to it ...

If you're like me, you loved the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books as a kid. It can be exciting to help shape something you'd otherwise be passively enjoying. That practice is slowly working its way into the film world. The future of filmmaking may give you, the audience, much more say in what kinds of movies get made. "Open Source" cinema occurs when the underlying "source code" for computer software is made freely available, enabling anyone to copy a film, rewrite it, edit it, improve it. It's sort of like the film version of Wikipedia. Several full-length Open Source films have already popped up online, such as Cactuses, "a drama about youth culture in southern California," and Boy Who Never Slept, an online dating comedy. This article cites the experience with last year's Snakes on a Plane as an example that the studios are becoming more open to letting the public shape the films they make.

Open Source filmmaking aims to eventually allow the viewer the opportunity to create alternate endings and cut scenes from Hollywood movies. (So long, Jar-Jar Binks!) A film called A Swarm of Angels is one of the most ambitious Open Source projects, as it includes every aspect of traditional filmmaking, including the financing. The founder, Matt Hanson, wants 50,000 "micro-investors" to chip in $60 to make a movie. 60 bucks buys these investors the opportunity to vote on such matters as screenplay decisions and shooting locations. They can work on filming when it begins, and when the film is finished it will be made available online for anyone to download and edit. If you've got cash burning a hole in your pocket, head here to join the moviemaking process.

Technology and film have an uneasy partnership. Sometimes it works (Sin City, Renaissance), sometimes, not so much (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Polar Express). Since the beginning of the CGI revolution, critics have heralded the end of the flesh-and-blood-actor (those creepy commercials with Fred Astaire and the vacuum cleaner didn't help either), but there has always been one major roadblock. The people just didn't seem like real people -- in the words of Gertrude Stein "There's no there, there".

IMAGE Metrics, a British company started by three post-doctoral students from the University of Manchester who were initially researching image analysis for medical applications, may have finally cracked it. The company has developed software that can map a complex image onto any model. What was originally designed for spinal x-rays is being used to create a virtual Jack Bauer for 24 - The Game. The applications are endless, and the industry is buzzing. With IMAGE Metrics' software you can map any actor's performance onto well, anything. Even the most advanced animation can still require the animating of individual elements (eyes, mouth, etc.), but IMAGE Metrics gets the computer to mathematically map the whole image and transfer it anywhere. The effect is impressive, and it's only the beginning.

Right now, this technology is being shopped around Hollywood -- bizarre pairings of Bette Davis and Orlando Bloom dancing in studio executives' heads. The hope is to integrate the technology into not only animated films, but live-action as well. The first real test will be Foodfight! (2007), starring Charlie Sheen and Hillary Duff. But until it moves from animated vegetables to "real" people, it might be a little early to start burning SAG cards in the streets. I will leave you with one unsettling vision of our movie-going future though: "If we want John Wayne to act alongside Angelina Jolie, we can do that."

John Wayne and Angelina? You see what I mean now about an uneasy partnership? Still, it could be interesting. What long-gone stars would you like to see brought back to life using this technology?

(a thanks to Eugene for the tip!)

[via The New York Times]