docSHIFT Institute Projects Announced
We are pleased to present the four projects that have been selected for the docSHIFT Institute. The docSHIFT Institute is a half-year program led by chief mentors Richard Lachman and Diana Arruda (see bios below). The program is designed to take innovative interactive documentary ideas and projects and position them to become either commercial or critical successes through consultation, mentorship, and workshopping and development funding. The four winning projects for 2011 are Generation Art by The Secret Location; Kenk, by Pop Sandbox; Slum of Millionaires, by Storyline Entertainment and Trinetra Productions; and Toronto Unearthed, by Lolamedia.
Project teams will be busy this summer completing market ready working proto-types. They look forward to sharing their progress and process with the rest of the community this Fall. Thanks to the following Institute mentors/consultants for helping to make our inaugural program a success so far:
Mary Barroll
Ilona Posner
Kat Cizek
Mark Greenspan
Lalita Krishna
Christine McGlade
Thanks must also go out to the hard working jury who reviewed over 40 submissions. Our docSHIFT Institute jury included: Richard Lachman, Creative Consultant & Assistant Professor of Digital Media at Ryerson University & docSHIFT Institute Chief Mentor, Christine McGlade, Manager, Interactive and Digital Media at TVO, Elizabeth Radshaw, Director, Hot Docs Forum, Andra Sheffer, Executive Director, Bell Fund (Toronto Office), and James Weyman, Manager, Industry Development, OMDC.
About the Projects:
PROCESS: Cause and Effect
PROCESS: CAUSE & EFFECT is an interactive documentary and transmedia project that profiles groundbreaking artists who create beautiful works of art using computer code.
PIPE TROUBLE
PIPE TROUBLE cleverly re-imagines one of the most popular arcade games of the early 1990s, Pipe Dream. In the classic original, which sold over 4 million copies and came standard in the Windows 3.1 package, players must assemble random pieces of pipe from designated start point to end point faster than the flow of liquid within the line. Pipe Trouble takes this familiar, simple, and addictively fun gameplay and adds an entirely new layer of environmental and ethical implications; players are now in the world of Big Oil & Gas, hired to run pipelines through rural countryside, weighing the financial demands of using the least pipe to make the most money against the impact on local environment and neighbouring farms.
A prototype for Pipe Trouble was developed in the DocSHIFT Institute, and used to help secure full production financing from the Ontario Media Development Corporation's Interactive Digital Media Fund, the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund's Low Budget Interactive Digital Media Production Program, and a license with investment from TVO. Pipe Trouble is the third project by Pop Sandbox, and is also partnered with the forthcoming feature film, Trouble in the Peace by Six Island Films.
SLUM OF MILLIONAIRES
In Slum of Millionaires, players try to become a millionaire while exploring Dharavi, Asia's largest slum in the heart of Mumbai. Sharavi's streets come alive through our characters, and an isometric view allows full exploration of the slum. Taking one of several routes featuring short guided video tours of workspaces, shops, and homes, players will find the characters in various locations. The tour provides an idea of some of the million lives in Dharavi, the 'zoomable' isometric view shows the slum from several positions and gives an overview and understanding of the physical structure and cramped conditions.
Rama Rau, Director: Rama Rau writes and directs character-driven stories that are intimate but universal, which may come from any part of the globe.
Ed Barreveld, Producer: Ed Barreveld is CEO of Storyline Entertainment, an award winning documentary production company.
www.storylineentertainment.com
TORONTO UNEARTHED
TORONTO UNEARTHED is the app for anyone who has ever wondered what Toronto looked like when saber toothed tigers hunted the shoreline, what games village children played here 800 years ago, and when Toronto officially became the final stop on the Underground Railroad.
TORONTO UNEARTHED is the world’s first appumentary: a multi-platform interactive production that combines on-camera interviews, b-roll, animation and illustration, archival images, audio, text and games to tell stories on mobile devices and the web. Smartphones take users to the streets with their own personal on-board archaeologist to reveal the stories hidden under their feet. torontounearthed.com builds the online community with a range of additional interactive options, more depth of archival material, extended interviews, and links to additional sources of information.
Lolamedia has been producing great story content for television, digital and print media for over 17 years. In association with the Chief Archaeologist for the City of Toronto and the Chief Historian/Associate Director of Heritage Toronto, Lolamedia is marrying our proven ability to produce, package and deliver great stories that appeal to a wide audience with two of Canada’s leading archaeology and history experts to create Toronto Unearthed.
MENTOR BIOS
Richard Lachman: Creative Consultant & Assistant Professor of Digital Media Ryerson University
Richard Lachman is an Assistant Professor, Digital Media in the School of Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University, and a Technology and Creative Consultant for entertainment and software-development projects. A Gemini-award-winning member of the Canadian new media scene, Richard has worked on some of the highest-profile Canadian interactive and convergent-media projects in the industry. Richard is a computer-science graduate of MIT, and holds a masters degree from the MIT Media Lab’s “Interactive Cinema” group. While at the Media Lab, he worked on networked collaborative entertainment environments and ambient/character-based interfaces, and has published and presented his work in Canada, Japan, Australia, Europe, and across the US. Lachman has served as Tech Lead and part of the creative team on the Gemini-award winning “Degrassi.tv” project with Snap Media, Epitome Pictures and CTV. Degrassi boasts a vibrant community of 600,000 users who have collectively posted some 3 million message-board posts to the site. In the past, he has also served as Technical Director for the CNMA-nominated “Be The Creature” ITV project with Decode Entertainment and Videotron Quebec; Technical Director for the Interactive Genie Awards ITV/Web project with Xenophile Media; and Technical Director for “Code Zebra” with Sara Diamond at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Diana Arruda: Interactive Producer
Diana is a multiple Canadian New Media Award finalist who has been creating interactive content with DHX Media since 2000. As Flash Designer, Lead Designer and currently Interactive Producer with one of the most dynamic interactive entertainment companies in the sector, Diana has emerged as an expert in bridging the challenges of traditional entertainment media and new digital technologies. Some of her past projects include the Gemini and CNMA nominated “Urban Vermin Adventure”, an online project based on a television show she also helped co-create and an Applied Arts Magazine Interactive Award Winner for Best Mobile, “Apollo 11: The Game.”
docSHIFT is made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation on behalf of the Ministry of Culture.
It is presented in partnership with Ryerson University, Hot Docs, CFC Media Lab and the National Film Board.
