By Guest Blogger Richard Ha
This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend AFI DigiFest in Hollywood. There were so many smart and creative people there speaking (and learning) about the new ideas that are coming out of the AFI Digital Content Lab.
Four teams presented their projects, describing their main challenge and how the team (comprised of everybody from computer programmers to design agencies) worked together to come up with a solution. The central theme for all of the solutions seemed to be Social Media and how to leverage all of the new ways people connect.
My favorite was the team from ITVS, which came up with an iPhone app that tied in to an upcoming online fictional series called FutureStates. The series is made up of short films that take place in the near future and speak to some sort of social issue happening today. Instead of just opening the films up to comments to “make it social,” the team developed an app that lets people make their own predictions for the future. All of the predictions from the films as well as the ones submitted by users are plotted on an interactive timeline.
Like all cool things, you kind of have to see it to appreciate it (the programmer was so right on when he said it was Guitar Hero-esque), but it looked nice in the demo. I’d keep my eye on their blog for the latest on it though. They’re public so give them some love!
Other projects:
One Economy is a great organization that brings technology to underprivileged people. Not only do they bring high-speed access into their communities but they also have a team (mostly teens!) teaching their neighbors how to use computers. It’s easy to forget that some people in the US don’t have computer access, so I love what One Economy is doing. Their team came up with a website to get young people interested in careers in science. It consisted of video-based interviews with people with science careers, and it allowed users can save and share their favorites. It’s another you-have-to-see-it idea, but it should be nice when it’s live.
I know I wasn’t the only one, but I got kind of confused during the presentation for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. I’m not really sure what the outcome of their project was, but the audience was introduced to some good causes; I hope that you check them out:
- http://www.leonardodicaprio.org/
- http://www.globalgreen.org/
- http://www.treepeople.org/
- http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw_united_states/
- Check out their Tails For Whales campaign! http://www.tailsforwhales.org/
The last project was for director David Lynch’s Interview Project. The basic concept is a collection of video interviews with subjects (“everyday Americans”) they meet along a road trip through the US. The presentation was pretty straight-forward in terms of incorporating social media features to the site—user comments, voting, shareability. I’m a reality show junky, so I love the concept; and on the plus side, it’s much classier than most reality TV fare. New episodes are released every few days. Check them out here!
Overall, it was a good time at AFI DigiFest. It’s open to anyone, so I highly recommend it for next year!
Richard Ha is the Media Director for Gunn/Jerkens Marketing Communications.
Tags: AFI, AFI DigiFest, David Lynch, FutureStates, ITVS, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, One Economy, Social Media
Good to see people exploring social media. I do want to point out however, that while Our Economy is good to show Tails for Whales, they weren’t part of the creation. We created the campaign for IFAW and continue to maintain it in the US, Australia and the UK. Good to see it getting shown though.
Thank you for the correction, Ben. We love that campaign so much – great work!
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