Filmmaker Isaac Solotaroff on Wham! Bam! Islam!

Director Isaac Solotaroff  talks about using Wham! Bam! Islam! and the recently released Hunt For the Noor Stone Interactive game to promote cultural understanding.

The interactive game, Hunt for the Noor Stone, just launched and features an in-depth, standards-aligned study guide for middle school students. The inspiration for the game came from THE 99, the comic book series featured in Solotaroff’s documentary Wham! Bam! Islam! which aired on Independent Lens last week, and is currently streaming for free on PBS.org. BTB caught up with Soloratoff last week to ask — why a game, and why now?

Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Isaac Solotaroff and on my good days I get to work on documentaries and on my bad days I try to figure out how to raise money to make documentaries.
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Tags: documentary, filmmaker, game, Independent Lens, interactive, interview, islam, online, video games

Transformative Transmedia for Saving the Planet

From original online mapping projects to Second Life, ITVS Interactive is constantly finding innovative and creative ways to draw new viewers to Public Media 2.0. Senior Content Producer Cathy Fischer reports on the subject and has the resources to back it up.

Images by Douglas Gayeton from The Lexicon of Sustainability

I recently moderated a panel at the San Francisco Green Film Festival entitled Transmedia in a Green Context, showing how media makers are using multiple touch points to extend story and create opportunities for participation, play, and activism.

What exactly is transmedia? The term seems to be the buzzword of the year. Transmedia storyteller Jeff Gomez defines it as, “The art of conveying messages themes, or storylines to mass audiences through the artful and well planned use of multiple media platforms.”

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Tags: Earth Day, environmental, interactive, sustainability, transmedia

Update from The National Conference for Media Reform

Thousands will convene this weekend in Boston to share ideas about the future of media, technology, and democracy at the 2011 NCMR. ITVS Marketing & Communications Manger Steve Goldbloom is at the conference and will be providing updates on BTB.

Greetings from Boston! The NCMR kicks off bright and early Friday morning with a live broadcast of Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales. After the show, the panels begin and they don’t stop until Sunday.

The conference — which includes activists, media makers, educators, journalists, artists, and policymakers — has been broken down into themed tracks that will guide the weekend’s discussions. From Policy and Politics to Journalism and Public Media; from Media Makers, Culture and Arts to Technology and Innovation, there will be lots of interesting news to relay on BTB over the next few days.
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Tags: boston, interactive, ITVS, national conference for media reform, PBS, public media

Asparagus Sprouts Only on FUTURESTATES

Filmmaker Robby Henson’s short Asparagus is streaming free beginning today on FUTURESTATES.TV.

The original online series FUTURESTATES launched its second season last week at SXSW and will release films for free online over the next several weeks.

See the trailer for Henson’s films below, which follows one introverted agricultural engineer as he finds love among genetically modified crops. Watch the full version of Asparagus,streaming free online. Enjoy!

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Tags: FUTURESTATES, interactive, PBS, sci fi, science fiction, shorts, SXSW, twilight zone

Tip of the Day: Engage Beyond the Broadcast

The internet is completely revolutionizing all kinds of media by freeing creators from linearity and one-way paradigms. Here at ITVS, we’ve been working with filmmakers for more than a decade to create multifaceted and multi-platform projects that liberate the story from dusty old limitations.

It’s easy to get stuck in a familiar way of doing things, but when you begin to think of your audience as a collaborator, and technology as an ally, you break into new dimensions and open up fresh perspectives on your story. We have a large library of the interactive projects we’ve produced in the past 10 year, and encourage you to check them out for ideas and inspiration.

Tags: engagement, film festival, interactive, ITVS, PBS, public media, tips, tips of the day, web-original