Top Interactive Docs Explained

General overview of the field, basic questions and top
experts answering them
Arnau Gifreu Castells

Recommended citation (PhD research):
ESP
Gifreu, Arnau (2012), El documental interactivo como nuevo género
audiovisual. Estudio de la aparición del nuevo género, aproximación a su
definición y propuesta de taxonomía y de un modelo de análisis a efectos de
evaluación, diseño y producción. [Tesis doctoral]. Barcelona: Universidad
Pompeu Fabra. Departamento de Comunicación.
ENG
Gifreu, Arnau (2012), The interactive documentary as a new audiovisual genre.
Study of the emergence of the new genre, approach to its definition and
taxonomy proposal and a model of analysis for the purposes of
evaluation, design and production. [Doctoral Thesis]. Barcelona: Universitat
Pompeu Fabra. Communication Department.

1. Introduction/setting the field
2. State of the art/development
3. Moments of innovation
4. Metamentaldoc
5. Evolution
6. History
7. Definition
8. Modalities
9. Features
10. Case study production
Index of content

1. INTRODUCTION / SETTING THE FIELD

FICTION NON-FICTION
FICTION GENRES NON-FICTION GENRES
Full-length film Documentary
Short film Report
... ...
INTERACTIVE FICTION INTERACTIVE NON-FICTION
Video game
Narrative
ORIGINAL FRAMEWORK FOR
THE STUDY OF THE NEW GENRE
CALLED “INTERACTIVE
DOCUMENTARY”
Setting
the field

Traditional Documentary + New Digital Technology
=
Interactive Documentary

Documentary Genre + Digital Media + Net
=
Interactive Documentary
Expanded Documentary

2. STATE OF THE ART/DEVELOPMENT

THEORETICAL
WORKS BY
AUTHORS:
READING
+
ANALYSIS
Bill Nichols
Erik Barnouw
Richard Barsam
Michael Renov
Elisenda Ardèvol
Michael Rabiger
Jan Breschand
Josetxo Cerdàn
Alan Rosenthal
Paul Rotha
Magdalena Sellès
Alejandro Cock
Etc.
RESOURCES
SEARCH
Offline:
Libraries
Archives
Online:
Web (metasearch engines)
Proposed use of the interactive documentary in the field of education: half-way between learning and
entertainment. Case studies developed at the University of Vic
METHODOLOGY / DOCUMENTARY GENRE

AUDIOVISUAL
WORKS
(Documentaries)
La sortie des ouvriers des usines (1895) - Germans Lumière
Nanook (1922) - Robert Flaherty
Celovek kinoapparatom (1929) - Dziga Vertov
Berlin, die Synphonie eines Grosstadt (1927) - Walter Ruttman
À propos de Nice (1930) - Jean Vigo
Regen (1929) - Joris Ivens
Drifters (1929) - John Grierson
Listen to Britain (1942) - Humphrey Jennings
Why We Fight (1943) - Frank Capra
Du und mancher Kamerad (1955) - Andrew and Annelie Thorndike
Det Stora Äventyret (1953) - Arne Sucksdorf
Glas (1958) - Bert Haanstra
Chronique d’un été (1961) - Jean Rouch
See it now (1951) - Edward Murrow
High School (1968) - Fred Wiseman
Primary (1960) - Richard Leacock
La Jetée (1962) - Chris Marker
Health Care: Your Money or your Life (1977) - John Alpert
The Thin Blue Line (1988) - Errol Morris
Human Reminds (1998) - Jay Rosemblatt
Roger & Me (1989) - Michael Moore
Etc.
METHODOLOGY / DOCUMENTARY GENRE

THEORETICAL WORKS BYAUTHORS:
Lev Manovich
Janet Murray
George Landow
Raymond Kurzweil
Ted Nelson
Xavier Berenguer
Ignasi Ribas
Lluís Codina
Hugo Pardo
Carlos Scolari
Manuel Castells
Etc.
RESOURCES SEARCH
Offline:
Universities
Libraries
Online:
Web (metasearch engines)
METHODOLOGY / DIGITAL MEDIUM

INTERACTIVE WORKS ANALYSIS
OFFLINE
Au cirque avec Seurat (1996)
Dotze sentits (1996)
Joan Miró. El color dels somnis (1998)
Le Louvre. El palacio y sus pinturas (1994)
Le mystère Magritte (1996)
Makers of the 20th Century (1996)
Moi, Paul Cézanne (1995)
Musée d’Orsay. Visite virtuelle (1996)
Operation Teddy Bear (1996)
Online (interactive multimedia applications)
Andaman Rising (2008)
Canto do Brasil (2006)
Génération Tian’Anmen (2009)
Our first loves (2009)
Remembering Bogle Chandler (2008)
Theban Mapping Project (1997)
Etc.
METHODOLOGY / DIGITAL MEDIUM

THEORETICAL WORKS BYAUTHORS: Timothy Garrand
Glorianna Davenport
Sandra Gaudenzi
Julia Scott-Stevenson
Mandy Rose
Denis Porto
Kate Nash
Jacobo Sucari
Mike Murtaugh
Mitchell Whitelaw
Nick Montfort
Chris Crawford Etc.
...
METHODOLOGY / INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY

WEB SEARCH
+ ANALYSIS
EXAMPLES OF I-DOCS
Online
BCNova (2003)
Becoming Human (2008)
Capturing Reality: the Art of Documentary (2008)
360degrees (2001)
Gaza Sderot (2008)
GDP: Spacing Montreal (2009)
Guernika, pintura de guerra (2007)
Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica (2006)
Journey to the end of the coal (2008)
The big issue (2009)
The Iron Curtain Diaries (2009)
Jazz Loft Project (2010)
When we left earth (2010)
Etc.
Offline
Written documents
METHODOLOGY / INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY

DOCUMENTARY
GENRE
INTERACTIVE
NARRATIVES
(TRANSMEDIA)
DIGITAL /
INTERACTIVE MEDIUM
INTERACTIVE
DOCUMENTARY

MOMENTS OF INNOVATION
Summary: This project detects, lists and describes moments of connection
between technology and the documentary genre. You can find moments of
intersection relative to key concepts as Immersion, Location, Participatory,
Interactive, Remix, Data visualization and Shorts.
Produced: 2012, United States, The Netherlands
http://momentsofinnovation.mit.edu/
Company/producer: MIT Open Documentary Lab – IDFA Doclab
Author(s):
Written by William Uricchio
Project Management by Sarah Wolozin
Content Development by Katie Edgerton
THE INERACTIVE NONFICTION AS 2.0 EDUCATIONAL STRATEGY
THE CASE OF THE INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY

A colleague commentary on education during E-week 2011 (Digital Event)
at Vic, Spain:
“Coming from 3D real-time videogames, a traditional lecture
for a student nowadays is similarly to watch one of the first
black and white films of the Lumieres brothers”
Current students need a new educational system / model!

PROCESSES/BEHAVIORS TYPES OF I-DOCS
1. Viewing (observer) 1. Linear documentary
2. Learning (student) 2. Interactive Documentary
(teaching)
3. Playing (player) 3. Interactive Documentary
(navigation)
4. Sharing (interactor) 4. Generative Documentary
(interaction)

The economy experience (1998). B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore
1. Linear
documentary
(Viewing)
3. Interactive
Documentary
(Navigation / Playing)
2. Interactive
Documentary
(Learning)
4. Generative
Documentary)
(Interaction /
Sharing)
THE CASE OF THE INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARYHorizontal axis: describes the degree of user participation (active or
passive)
Vertical axis: describes the connection or relationship that links users
and
environmental project (absorption or immersion)
Examples:
Absorption = watching movie at home
(alone, small screen, no environment)
Inmersion = watching movie at cinema
(audience, big screen, environment)
Passive participation = observers/listeners
Active participation = playing key roles in
creating the performance or event

METAMENTALDOC
Summary: Audiovisual and online interactive documentary that reflects on the
documentary genre.
Produced: 2009-2011, Vic (Spain) www.metamentaldoc.com
Company/producer: Audiovisual Communication end of degree project.
Specialisation in multimedia. University of Vic.
I-doc Direction: Arnau Gifreu
Documentary Direction: Ingrid Blasco
Author(s): Ingrid Blasco, Glòria Campos, Myriam Figueira, Arnau Gifreu, Marc
Molinos.
Case studies developed at the University of Vic

METAMENTALDOC / SCHEME

COMPARED EVOLUTION
Summary: In this series of animation we introduce an original combined
evolution of the digital and documentary mediums, in which it is interesting to
observe that there are some significant coincidences in time between them.
Our aim is to link moments of innovation in the documentary genre and
storytelling in general with technological experiments, inventions and
pioneering concepts in the digital field.
Produced: 2012-2013, Arenys de Mar (Spain)
Company/producer: Pintao
Author(s): Catalina Acelas and Arnau Gifreu

HISTORY - STAGES
Summary: Series of videos showing a sample of representative examples
produced
in the interactive documentary field (period 1980-2013)
Produced: 2012-2013, Arenys de Mar (Spain)
Company/producer: Pintao
Author(s): Ricard Parra and Arnau Gifreu

HISTORY - STAGES
STAGES/PERIODS
1. Precedents and antecedents. Birth of the interactive documentary (1980-
1990)
2. Emergency and experimentation on interactive documentary (1990-2000)
3. Constitution and consolidation of the interactive documentary (2000-2010)
4. Diversification of interactive documentary. Latest trends. Towards a possible
institutionalization

PERIODS/
STAGES
TEMPORAL
PERIOD
EXAMPLES TECHNOLOGIES COMPANIES/
PRODUCERS
EVENTS AND
CONGRESSES
SPECIFIC
SOFTWARE
Precedents
and
antecedents
XX Century
(1980 - 1990)
Aspen Movie
Map (1980,
MIT)
Sim City
(1989, Will
Wright)
Interactive
essays
Cinematographer
(cinema, video)
Interactive digital
medium (computer)
Videodisc
Optical memories
National Film
Board of Canada
(NFB)
Apple
Multimedia Lab
Birth of the
interactive
documentary
XX Century
(1980 - 1990)
Moss landing
(1989, Apple
Multimedia
Lab)
Interactive
essays
Cinematographer
(cinema, video)
Interactive digital
medium (computer)
Videodisc
Optical memories
Apple
Multimedia Lab
ArteTV
Summary table: interactive documentary overview: (0) Stages, Temporal periods related (1), Examples (2), Technologies (3), Producers (4),
Events and Congresses (5) and Specific Software (6)
1. INTERACTIVE DOCUMENTARY OVERVIEW

Interactive
documentary
experimentation
XX Century
(1990 -
2000)
Inmemory (1997,
Chris Marker)
Boston Renewed
Vistas (1995-
2004, Glorianna
Davenport)
CD-Roms of
cultural diffusion
The Criterion
Collection
(The Voyager
Company)
Web (1.0) ConText (Evolving
Documentary)
Glorianna
Davenport y Mike
Murtaugh
(The Voyager
Company)
Documentary
Organization of
Canada (DOC)
Upian
Alexandre Brachet
Florian Thalhofer
ConText (MIT)
Director
(Macromedia)
Flash
(Macromedia)
PERIOD TIME EXAMPLES TECHNO. PRODUCERS EVENTS SOFTWARE

Interactive
documentary
consolidation
XXI
Century
First decade
(2000 -
2010)
Becoming
Human (2000)
Bleeding
Through
(2003),
Labyrinth
Project)
"Guernica,
pintura de
guerra" (2007)
Gaza Sderot
(Arte y Upian,
2008)
Interactive
report
Mobile devices,
television, HD
Web 2.0
Labyrinth
Project
(Norman M.
Klein, Marsha
Kinder,
Rosemary
Comella and
Andreas
Kratky)
Honkytonk
Films
Katerina Cisek
Matt Adams
IDFA DOCLAB
(2007)
ICIDS
(International
Conference on
Interactive
Digital
Storytelling,
Vancouver,
Canada, 2008)
K-Films
(Korsakow
Films)
KLYNT
(Honkytonk)
Flash
(Macromedia)
HTML 4
(+CSS2,
Javascript, etc.)
PD (GEM),
Processing,
Isadora, Modul
9 (instalations)

Interactive
documentary
mass production
XXI
Century
Second
decade
(2010 -
2020)
Prison Valley
(Arte y
Upian, 2010)
Mapping The
Street (2010)
Out my
Window
(Highrise,
NFB 2010)
Essay, report
and
interactive
non fiction
forms
Ultra hd
3D
Web 3.0
(Web 4.0)
NFB
Arte
Upian
Honkytonk
Submarine
Channel
I-DOCS
SYMPOSIUM
2011
I-DOCS
CONFERENCE
2012
3WDOC Studio
(Hecube)
Zeega
HTML 5
(+CSS3,
Javascript –
Jquery), Ajax,
etc.)

Definition
“A thousand forms of Docmedia are blooming now.
Webdocs are web-intended reality-based mega-digital
information bases. Or metalinear webnet experiences
based on fact. Docmedia are online all the time. We no
longer live in a real geographical space, nor entirely in
our own bodies. We live, as sentient beings, in an
online space called docmedia. We are immersed in a
pervasive, invasive, overwhelming docmedia culture. It
is as ubiquitous as the air we breathe.” (Wintonick,
2011, quoted by Lietaert, 2011:7)

Definition
“Docmedia drag us into the future – to live in a new
Pangaean super-continent as digital natives. Docmedia
are ingested, replicated and passed on. Docmedia are
global, accessible and instant. They project personal,
public and poetic points-of-view – from multiple
perspectives. They can be spontaneous, contrived or
interactive. But always infused with the ethical DNA of
documentary.” (Wintonick, 2011, quoted by Lietaert,
2011:7)

Definition
I-DOCS GROUP
“For us any project that starts with an intention to
document the ‘real’ and that does so by using digital
interactive technology can be considered an i-doc. You
will find here projects that have been described elsewhere
with all sorts of names (web-docs, cross-media docs,
cross-platform docs, locative docs, docu-games,
installations, digital performative docs… to state a few).
For us what counts is the link between digital interactive
technology and documentary practice.” (i-docs.org, 2012)

Definition
“In this research any project that starts with an intention to
document the “real”, and that does so by using digital
interactive technology, will be considered an interactive
documentary. This definition puts the emphasis on the
interactive-native nature of the artefact, and on the
documentation intentionality of the author. [...] Where, as
seen before “reality” is understood as any mediated
material (where mediation might happen through our
senses, our mind or our media) that we make sense of –
or make sense through- to establish a meaningful relation
with what surrounds us.”(Gaudenzi, 2012:31-32)

Definition
“The webdocumentary is a form of documentary
conceived specifically for the web and broadcast online.
It’s navigable and interactive, and is usually characterized
by non-linear narrative, a specialized script, and multi-
media content. The webdocumentary is thus distinct from
online journalism and short multi-media works; it’s a form
which presupposes that filmmaker’s “point of
view.”(Documentary Network, 2011:17)

Personal Definition
Interactive movies and/or applications, carried out with the
intention of representing reality with their own
mechanisms, which we will call navigation and interaction
modalities, depending on the grade of participation that is
required.
The interactive documentaries try to document, represent and
interact with the reality, for which a series of techniques or
methods must be considered and used (navigation and
interaction modalities), which become, in this new way of
communication, the key element to achieve the documentary
objectives.

Definition
This is an emerging genre, which is in part virgin territory,
awaiting exploration and delimitation, the result of a
double hybridisation: between audiovisuals - the
documentary - and interaction - digital interactive media -
and between information - content - and entertainment -
navigable interfaces.
Interactive documentaries create a new logic for the
representation of reality. The emphasis of this new logic
lies in the relationship between text and interactor when
navigating and interacting, rather than how the author
constructs a specific discourse about reality for traditional
viewers. This new discourse is constructed through the
methods of navigation and interaction rather than as

One of the basic premises of this work is to establish a
distinction between three main categories: representation,
navigation and interaction.
Modes of representation show the attitude or point of view
of the director to the world filmed, and this results in a
specific discourse given a particular form according to
established conventions. Examples of these modes are
expository, poetic, reflective, interactive, observational and
performative.
Modalities of navigation, interaction and representation

Modes of navigation facilitate different ways of browsing or
penetrating into the reality and taken together a multimodal
non-linear deployment that does not exist in the modes of
representation. Examples of navigation modes: temporal,
spatial, witnessing, narrative branching, etc..
Modes of interaction go a step further and propose a
scenario in which the recipient becomes in a sense an
emitter: they may leave a mark or trace of their passage
through the work. Examples of this are the modalities of
interaction in generative or 2.0 applications.

MODALITIES SUB MODALITIES
DIVIDED NAVIGATION MODE THEMES, CHAPTERS, SEQUENCES, STORIES,
TOPICS
TIME NAVIGATION MODE CENTURIES, DECADES, YEARS, MONTHS,
DAYS, DATES, EVENTS, PERIODS
SPATIAL NAVIGATION MODE GEOGRAPHICAL MAP, GRAPHICAL MAP,
VISUAL MAP, STADISTIC MAP,
PHOTOGRAPHIC MAP
TESTIMONIAL NAVIGATION MODE AUDIO/VIDEO (CHARACTERS)
AUDIO/VIDEO (INTERVIEWED)
BRANCHED NAVIGATION MODE CHOOSE OPTION TO PROGRESS
LIST OF MODES OF NAVIGATION

HIPERTEXTUAL NAVIGATION MODE HIPERTEXTUAL SCHEME
PREFERENCIAL NAVIGATION MODE DRAG MEDIA, ADDITION AND SUPRESSION
BUTTONS
AUDIOVISUAL NAVIGATION MODE AUDIO/VIDEO, VIDEO/ANIMATION,
AUDIO/VIDEO/ANIMATION,
AUDIO/PHOTOGRAPHY
SOUND NAVIGATION MODE AUDIO, MUSIC
IMMERSIVE/SIMULATED NAVIGATION
MODE
SIMULATIONS, INTERACTIVE GAME
LIST OF MODES OF NAVIGATION

GENERATIVE INTERACTION MODE ADD CONTENT TO THE SYSTEM
2.0 APLICATIONS INTERACTIVE MODE 2.0 APLICATIONS CONNECTION
The following table shows the different digital interaction types and their sub-modalities:
LIST OF MODES OF INTERACTION

FEATURES
We considered appropriate to group the main defining features that
characterize the interactive documentary, based on the triple definition
provided by Nichols (1991). In this new scenario, we replace the figures:
- The director (which is most associated with the audiovisual and film
genre) to author (because the concept of authorship is one of the major
issues in the problems to be resolved);
- The text (deemed to be a script and a linear audiovisual discourse) for the
term narrative or discourse (non-linear or multilinear interactive)
- The concept of the spectator (passive audiovisual) for that of the interactor
(with active, contributory and generative attributes).
Director/producer = Author
Text = Narrative/Discourse
Spectator = Interactor (User)

CHARACTERISTICS
1. Characteristics from the viewpoint of the author
(broadcaster) :
1.a. The director's loss of control and regeneration of the system
1.b. The author's role of assistance

CHARACTERISTICS
2. Characteristics from the point of view of the discourse or narrative (text)
2.a. Varied terminology to refer to similar projects
2.b. Educational and documentary interactive multimedia applications
2.c. Format types associated with nonfiction genres
2.d. Documentation of a specific reality
2.e. Hypertext, nodes and links
2.f. Nodal and branched scheme of the narrative discourse
2.h. Non-linear narrative

3. CHARACTERISTICS
3. Characteristics from the point of view of the interactor (reception)
3.a. Online and offline reception
3.b. Interaction-based decision making for progressing (modes of navigation)
and relating to others (modes of interaction)
3.c. New receivers making up a new type of audience
3.d. Open and generative system: a living system that adapts to an
environment
3.e. The viewer's status changes: he is an active user-interactor-participant-
contributor

EN UN XIP MULTICOLOR / MODALITIES
EN UN XIP MULTICOLOR / SCHEME

EN UN XIP MULTICOLOR / HOME

EN UN XIP MULTICOLOR / DOCUMENTARY

EN UN XIP MULTICOLOR / INTERACTIVE SPACE

EN UN XIP MULTICOLOR / GALLERY (INTERACTIVE-SPACE)

EN UN XIP MULTICOLOR / PLAYLIST

Arnau Gifreu Castells (PhD)
UOC – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
FEC – Universitat de Vic
Open Documentary Lab (MIT)
i-docs.org
Uvic_lab
Contact: agifreu@gmail.com
Personal website: www.agifreu.com
Projects network: www.arnaugifreu.net
THANKS!

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