We are the species that tells stories. It is how we store memories and make sense of the world around us… and for the most part, our stories stay the same: man versus man, versus nature, versus himself… versus machine. But, as technology advances at an exponential rate and new gadgets become ubiquitous tools in all of our lives, the ways for telling, sharing and experiencing those stories are also rapidly changing.
With the rise of the Internet and the potential for telling stories across multiple platforms came transmedia storytelling. In her inspiring presentation, Ramona explored a new production model for telling intersecting narratives, whereby the features of transmedia storytelling can be integrated within one intuitive, touch screen experience with layers of content that allow for a deep rather than wide exploration of narrative(s).
Diving deep into deep into the nitty gritty of creative and technical research and development, Ramona took Avatar Secrets as a paradigm – her interactive documentary for the iPad that she produced with TVO, The Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund and the CMF.
How can tablets and personal touch screens change the documentary viewing experience? And how are the lines blurring between documentary narrative, journalism, and art? These and many other essential questions on the future for documentary development were thoroughly discussed.