The new possibilities of documentary narrative
Webdocumentary, interactive documentary, or simply webdoc, is a new form of storytelling on the internet that takes as its starting point the mixture of different media: texts, photos, graphics, audio, video, 360 virtual reality, animations. The webdoc takes advantage of the documentary language created for cinema and television and adapts it for the internet.
It adds the interaction and participation capabilities typical of the internet and breaks with the linearity of the narrative, since the internet user can choose what to see and in what order to see it.
Webdocumentary: an interactive and non-linear narrative
Unlike the traditional documentary, where the viewer has access to a single video and closed content, in the webdocumentary it is possible to create an interactive experience with a production that goes beyond video, using several formats: photography, illustration, animation and text, among others.
With the increase in internet bandwidth and the growth of online streaming tools, it has become possible to make a webdocumentary with 2h30 to be seen online in 4k resolution. Despite the monstrous production work it takes to film 2h30 of final content we have to put together over 20 hours of raw to edit, cut, and post-produce. Only then we can start building a platform that gathers all the videos in one place and allows the user to travel through the webdocumentary and experience more than the videos, but also the multimedia part that helps to contextualize in a graphic and dynamic way, some aspects that otherwise might be boring to watch.
On the web platform it is possible to add all kinds of platforms and bring them together in one place: this is the case of the 360º virtual reality, in static spherical panoramas and in 360º video. With this new reality we enter a new world, that of virtual reality, where we can create immersive experiences and where not even the sky is the limit, if you have a drone like us, at least for 34 minutes – as long as the battery lasts.
