This document provides an overview of web documentaries in under 10 minutes. It defines traditional documentaries as factual movies or television programs, while web documentaries are non-linear online stories that employ multimedia tools. Web documentaries allow for deeper narratives and give audiences more autonomy and ability to participate. However, they also face challenges in funding, collaboration across skillsets, and technical limitations. Overall, the document presents web documentaries as a new format that empowers individuals and communities to tell their own stories.

1. A WEB
DOCUMENTARY
SURVIVAL KIT:
THE ESSENTIALS IN <10 MINUTES
INSTRUCTOR: JOANNE TEOH
HOSTED ON: HTTP://ERNIE.SG

2. BROUGHT TO
YOU BY:
AMIRAH
ERNIE
LIP TENG
ZHEN WEI

3. GROUNDS COVERED
• Traditional documentary versus web documentary
• Linear versus non-linear
• One-way versus interactive
• Possibilities
• Empowering self-representations
• The audience as active participant
• Challenges
• Funding dilemmas
• Collaborating for diverse skillsets
• Difficulties with user-generated content and limitations of
bandwidth

4. HOW TO USE THIS
• First, sit back and enjoy the show.
• Next, browse over to other topics for a deeper
understanding by clicking on them in the final slide.
• YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOMED!

5. WHAT IS A TRADITIONAL
DOCUMENTARY?
• An official definition:
• A movie or a television or radio program that provides a
factual record or report.

6. WHAT IS A WEB
DOCUMENTARY?
• An online documentary that employs multimedia tools as
a new way of telling stories on the internet
• Non-linear narratives

7. WHAT IS A WEB
DOCUMENTARY?
• Fundamentally changes the way the storyteller relates to
the perception of the viewer

8. WHAT IS A WEB
DOCUMENTARY?
• The internet is Twitter, that everything has to be short and
your video cannot exceed 5 minutes out of the window
• The web documentary supports narrative journalism by
developing journalistic narratives with images at the
centre

9. EXAMPLES OF WEB
DOCUMENTARIES
• Journey to the End of Coal

10. EXAMPLES OF WEB
DOCUMENTARIES
• The Places We Live

11. THE ADVANTAGES OF
WEB DOCUMENTARIES
• For individuals and communities: better self-
representations by making it possible to beyond the
camera angle
• Example: Nowhere Safe - the narrative basically zooms
into the same photo of a man's face over a span of 4
minutes

12. THE ADVANTAGES OF
WEB DOCUMENTARIES
• Deeper narratives for the audience, more autonomy to
subjects of documentaries
• For individuals and communities: speak and capture their
own stories better

13. THE ADVANTAGES OF
WEB DOCUMENTARIES
• For the audience: from passive receiver into active
participant
• The audience’s participation and interaction is demanded
• The audience can explore at own pace and liking

14. THE ADVANTAGES OF
WEB DOCUMENTARIES
• For the audience, one’s level of interest is greatly
enhanced
• For the activist journalist: a powerful tool for social
change

15. THE CHALLENGES OF
WEB DOCUMENTARIES
• Production cost
• Prison Valley, a web documentary exploring the prison
industry cost a hefty 240 000 euros
• Funding is particularly difficult for documentarians
• Problem further compounded since web documentarians’
work often defy traditional conceptions of film
• Fortunately, web documentaries can be cheaper to
produce
• Highrise: Out My Window, a 360 degrees project which
allows you to view real-life locations around the world
would have cost $750000 if done as a film than the
$150000 it had taken for the web documentary

16. THE CHALLENGES OF
WEB DOCUMENTARIES
• Technical Challenge
• The challenge of collaboration amongst a diverse group of
individuals with different expertise
• Legal and ethical implications of crowdsourcing ideas
• Bandwidth
• More pros and cons

17. THE WEB DOCUMENTARY
AS A GAME-CHANGER
• The Macro picture:
• How is web journalism changing and how is it impacting
society?
• Issues and critical perspectives
• The Micro picture:
• How to produce a web documentary? What is required in
terms of team, skills and processes?
THE ESSENTIALS IN <10 MINUTES
A WEB DOCUMENTARY SURVIVAL KIT
HOSTED ON: HTTP://ERNIE.SG