Interactive Documentaries (Representing Reality)

Abstract

By analysing three interactive documentaries chosen as models and highlighting other international i-docs, this article explores the forms of storytelling used to create an interactive documentary on digital platforms by examining the prospects for employing its elements (contents, interactivity, mechanism and weaknesses and strengths). I determine to what extent interactive documentaries can affect representation. To understand this question, I focus on exploring and discussing some critical points: Does the interactive documentary make users/viewers pay more attention to the representation than traditional films? Does it motivate them to explore it as an artefact or an object? Does the representation process change users' moods and attitudes to express their engagement, interaction, experiences and understanding of the subject? The problem revolves around revealing and knowing the methods of employing digital media in interactive documentaries. At the same time, the importance of this article comes from the scarcity of media studies concerned with interactive documentaries. This article aims to attract the filmmakers to the various issues that interactive documentaries represent and take advantage of them—further, the influential power of the i-docs on public opinion. Additionally, the method used is descriptive and analytical of phenomena of the i-doc, the content analysis as a tool for data collection.