Submissions Are Open and We Are Getting Geeky

Submissions are now open for the TFI New Media Fund and we’ve already started to receive applications. It’s great to hear how excited people are about this Fund and about the field of interactive media in general. We’ve had so many interesting conversations with people about what has been done already and what can be done in the future.

One of the questions we get a lot is: what kind of interactivity are you looking for? The unhelpful but necessary answer: it depends on what you are trying to do.

We’re looking for important stories that reach and involve audiences in new ways and we’re hoping to discover new approaches to storytelling and technology along the way. It’s hard to point to a lot of examples because, although there is already great work out there (Out My Window, Prison Valley, Digital Diaspora Family Reunion, Welcome to Pine Point) there is still so much potential for more. More work, more experimentation, more interactivity, more unique collaborations across disciplines. We’re very excited by developments in HTML5 and open video, in the work that Mozilla are doing with Popcorn, for example. Popcorn is a JavaScript library that brings the web and video together -- check out their demo to see what we mean. Danfung Dennis, director of Hell and Back Again, is now working on a fascinating immersive media project called Condition One which could really change the way that we interact with footage.

There have been a number of interesting crowdsourcing projects recently, from the fanboy/girl joy of Star Wars Uncut to Ridley Scott and Kevin MacDonald’s Life in a Day. A new project called 18 Days in Egypt is collecting stories via social media to document the recent revolution in that country. We’re fascinated by data and mapping and intrigued by a new site called visual.ly. What will it do? We’re not sure yet but one of the best things about interactive storytelling is constantly being able to explore new tools, new ways of telling stories and engaging audiences.

If you’d like to know more about the TFI New Media Fund please read the FAQ and let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing your applications!

[Photo: #18DaysInEgypt]