Max Whitby

Max Whitby is a documentary film maker turned digital publisher with four BAFTA nominations and two BAFTA awards to his name. At the BBC Science department he directed numerous Horizon films and ran the first new media collaboration between Apple and the BBC. He is currently CEO of Touch Press which he founded in 2010 with Theodore Gray (author of the $2 million best selling iPad title The Elements) and Stephen Wolfram (creator of Wolfram | Alpha). With Henry Volans from Faber he produced the wide-acclaimed iPad edition of T S Eliot’s The Waste Land.

Session Title: The Director in Interactive Documentary

At a time when social media and community-generated content draw so much attention, it is perhaps unfashionable to consider the role of director and author in shaping interactive factual production. Nevertheless that is what this talk aims to do: looking at the critical contribution of effective direction in selecting and presenting content, in planning the audience experience and in helping to design interaction that engages and tells stories. The author/director’s role is very different compared to linear film-making. Exhibition curators and the architect’s of public buildings may be more appropriate analogues. Drawing on a range of examples from past and recent work, the case will be made that a guiding mind in production is necessary for the best interactive communication.