BUG 2018 new formats and interactive factual intro

BUG, INTERACTIVE AND IMMERSIVE NARRATIVES
​

An edited book that is a companion publication to the 2018 Brazil exhibition of standout recent interactive and immersive factual narratives in different environments and across platforms.  


Introduction to interactive factuals:

The interactive format is linked to the emergence of web 2.0.  Influential works include _Gone Gitmo (2009) a participatory Guatanamo Bay Detention Center environment in Second Life, Highrise (2009 – 2017), a group of documentary projects about high-rise living noted for its aesthetic innovation (where site design became as informative as text and video) and it’s collaborative, perpetually in development over time production model.  Other notable projects include Alma: A Tale of Violence (2012) a mobile delivery documentary about the violence of Guatemalan street gangs; Snow Fall (2012), an interactive rich-media news report about an avalanche told through an exploration of the location through a choice of skier viewpoints, which also had a narrative path driven by a vertical scroll that inspired the term ‘scrollytelling’; Prison Valley (2010), a docu-game where you play as a prisoner; The Quipu Project (2015), a social impact participatory storytelling project about enforced sterilisation that allowed indigenous South Americans to record and upload their own stories by phone; Do Not Track (2015) a personalised web series about privacy and the data economy. Digital Me (2015) that creates a personalised reflective document of people’s hybrid online/offline identities. 
No format prevails, and hybrids proliferate. 
The Guardian and NYT are both active in this field, as are broadcasters BBC (England), RTVE (Spain), SBS (Australia), Arte (France) and The National Film Board Canada. 
Developmental breakthroughs include relatively cheap headsets, like the Oculus Rift, plus solutions to the challenge of motions sickness, and the emergence of cross-pollinating creative production hubs and festivals such as HotdocX (Montreal, Canada), idocs (Bristol, UK), the IDFA Doclab in Amsterdam, as well as the Tribeca Cinema 360 and Sundance Frontier Lab Festivals (U.S.).  The first production studios emerged out of these labs, along with the Interactive Documentary workshop (Switzerland).  The main distribution platforms for VR content are SteamVR, Oculus and Within. In Brazil, the first interactive documentaries emerged about 2010, are socially engaged and delivered across platforms. 

Immersive Narratives
The exhibition includes the 360 visual experience, Through The Masks of Luzia linked to a Cirque Du Soleil production which allow participants to experience becoming gigantic, as well as tiny; Dreams of O, which combined underwater and slow-motion 360 video; and the immersive VR manga, Tales of Wedding Rings.

The future?
Other formats will continue alongside VR/AR, so complementary streams of media are also likely to continue their importance.

• The duration and complexity of VR experiences is likely to increase. 
• The future status of VR (which offers simulations and interactions via a variety of sensory stimuli, mostly audio-visual) is uncertain because the sale of VR headsets is now going down, not up. 
• But AR is growing, along with emergence of mixed reality headsets. Gaudenzi predicts new works with can be consumed as either AR, or VR. 

Production tips 

1. Put the user at the centre of your creative process
2. Do your research and know what has already been done in the field, as well as where you are placed in terms of style and trends.
3. Embrace multi-disciplinary teams and iterative production
4. Consider co-creation with your subjects
5. Have a clear impact strategy e.g. user impact, social impact, social campaigns – and design action points accordingly
6. Ensure coherency by aligning platform, audience, impact, partners and resources

Paz, A., Gaudenzi, S., Salles, J., Maciel, K.A., Gifreu-Castells, A., Cruz, J. and De La Vega, X., 2019. BUG-Interactive and Immersive Narratives.