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Interview with Gerald Holubowicz, designer, designer and integrator of web documentary Grozny: 9 cities
Hello Gerald,
Firstly, congratulations for the prize in 2014 Bayeux Calvados in web journalism category![/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
But at first could you introduce quickly explaining what was the way that led you to take an interest in digital format ?
G.H: All really began for me in 2008 ? even though the interactive and video games interested me for a long time as unprofessional ? . At that time, I was a photojournalist in New York, and I was interested in the economic situation of the profession who was facing serious problems of job opening. Moreover my job pace mainly focused on news coverage didn?t correspond anymore. I wanted to give more context to the stories that I treated and take longer to achieve. It was during a discussion with Stephen Mayes ? former Director of the agency VII ? I?ve heard about transmedia. So I went to transmedia meetup in New York (now Storycode) for more information and it is from there that rocked my world. On returning to France in August 2010, I embarked on the adventure, first taking the time to learn (I?m self-taught, so I spent three months non-stop to swallow all about it) then by (small productions Popcorn.js and Moneyocracy with Djehouti and Grozny Nine Cities with Racontr).
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How was born the project and what were the roles in this adventure?
G.H: The project Grozny : Nine Cities is the work?s result of Olga Kravetz, Maria Morina and Oksana Yushko, three Russians photojournalists quite talented. They worked for nearly three years on this story, documenting life in Chechnya with their images. I met Olga at World Press Photo in Amsterdam where we had been invited at the initiative of David Campbell at an international consultation on multimedia and photojournalism. We discussed the project and after a few months we decided to work together on the interactive component of Grozny : Nine Cities. Olga led the coordination of everyone to group all the contents of the interactive documentary, I realized the narrative architecture, design and art direction as well as integration Racontr.
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What is the biggest challenge you?ve risen of the main problems you met?
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How long did you take to build the digital object?
G.H: The objet itself ? once received the videos content, text and photographs ? was completed in three weeks. Being both the graphics palette as integration, it was easy to produce decorative elements or interface elements on demand to integrate quickly into the interactive documentary.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]
And finally, what advice would you give to anyone wanting to embark on a project of this magnitude?
G.H: Prepare its content, in the right format and in the right language (translation problems and dubbing are the hardest to solve), be methodical, well organized, own a paper and a pencil notes taken on this occasion the necessary changes, good coffee and good partners to ensure that we have not made any mistakes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Thank you Gerald! We tell you see you soon ? for an upcoming price;-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.01)”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-9″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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