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 Beyond Broadcast: Riding the Next Wave By Caroline M. H. Kraus 
By 1994, with the digital revolution in full swing, ITVS Interactive became an increasingly active force in supporting that mission. With the growth of the Internet, the reach and impact of interactive content exploded. Filmmakers, educators, viewers and activists now had vast new spaces to share ideas, marshal resources, access funding and open channels of creative opportunity and exploration. In the past 12 years, ITVS Interactive has pioneered new technologies to bridge communication between public television and the independent community, promoting discourse among viewers and visitors at large. But advanced technology is only part of the story, said Cathy Fischer, ITVS interactive senior producer. "Regardless of the delivery platform, content is always the key—it's the reason people stay, contribute and return. Technology serves content—not the other way around. And without great stories, visitors are just a click away from going elsewhere." In its first incarnations, ITVS.org primarily served the promotional and outreach needs of its funded shows. By the time the first companion site was up and running in 1994, for A QUESTION OF COLOR, independent filmmakers were just beginning to see their stories thrive beyond televised air dates, with extended lives as interactive sites. By 1998, ITVS.org had completed its first redesign, launching an expansive new website to great reviews. "ITVS was quick to plug into the power of the Internet," wrote Michael Fox in The Independent. "And its website has elicited across-the-board raves from the public, press, and filmmakers." Now the site provided video previews, educational and distribution information, broadcast schedules, producers' resources and an electronic pressroom, making ITVS.org a key resource for audiences, producers, educators and journalists. By 1999, CNET had taken notice, describing ITVS.org as "…handsome and highly functional…provid[ing] a wealth of information to both interested television viewers and those in search of funding information…." DIALOGUE AND DISCOURSE
Talkback has been critical to providing filmmakers with feedback and viewers with platforms to be heard. After the launch of the companion website for HOMELAND, filmmakers Jilann Spitzmiller and Hank Rogerson wrote:
A visitor to the HOMELAND site, Mitakuye Oyasin of Newcastle, Wyoming added, "[M]y heart is happy to have found this website today to learn that those in the ‘outside' world beyond the sacred Black Hills where I live, may come to learn of Lakota ways through programs such as this, so needed for our times."
Along with the more serious purpose of promoting discourse, ITVS Interactive is also in the business of fun and creative participation. Visitors to the companion site for STILL LIFE WITH ANIMATED DOGS can try their hand at creating cel animations by drawing their own animated "tail-chasing" dog. Visitors can also inscribe and email illustrated postcards.
THE NEXT WAVE: ELECTRIC SHADOWS Electric Shadows is a special funding initiative supporting Web-original projects that speak to the ITVS mission. These award-winning projects use the power of nonlinear interactive storytelling to explore social issues, arts and culture via the Web while inviting audiences to participate in topical dialogues.
BEYOND THE FIRE won numerous awards, and its impact has spread to classrooms. Carlos Ramirez, a technology teacher in Mount Vernon, New York, reported, "We visited your website and discussed the ways war impacts children's lives. This information helps teachers to make students aware of the sacrifices that war imposes…and how we all should be concerned with bringing more peace and tolerance to the world."
INDEPENDENT LENS AND COMPANION SITES In 2003, ITVS and PBS launched the award-winning series Independent Lens. With the Internet now a given aspect of American life and media, ITVS knew the online companion to the series would need to be comprehensive, innovative and compelling to both viewers and those who hadn't tuned in. According to Fischer, one of the promising results has been that the companion sites have become destinations in and of themselves.
As part of Independent Lens Online, ITVS Interactive has also created Inside Indies, a resource for film fans and filmmakers, which launched in 2004. This section includes feature articles, selected filmmaker interviews, a feature called "Favorite Films," which lists filmmakers' favorite movies and invites visitors to add their own, links to great sites and a place for visitors to write in on the latest issues in independent film. NEW HORIZONS From content-rich companion sites and Web-original presentations to passport-driven virtual journeys, ITVS Interactive continues to explore, produce and present independent works in non-traditional ways. And there is much to look forward to in 2006. For the next round of Electric Shadows, ITVS developed a special call for online game proposals. Game designer Ian Bogost was selected to create FATWORLD (working title), a game about the politics of food and eating in contemporary society. "There is a long tradition of art as social commentary," Bogost said. "With FATWORLD I will be drawing explicit attention to games as political speech in the hopes of evolving the medium." Also in 2006, ITVS Interactive is slated to launch its first Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival, which promises to attract younger makers and audiences with exciting new venues for presenting films. "We hope that the Shorts Festival will reach emerging independent media makers who may not think to go the route of public television," said Fischer. "We plan to cast a wide net—with the ITVS mission, as always, at the forefront." |
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