Video Interview | William Uricchio discusses iDoc Business Models

Video Interview | William Uricchio discusses iDoc Business Models

The OpenDocLab team is pleased to welcome Arnau Gifreu Castells as an OpenDocLab visiting research affiliate. A Professor of Communication Studies at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and the Universitat de Vic (UVIC), Arnau is also a member of the i-Docs group. The Director of the UVIC_Lab, the Digital Content Laboratory at UVIC, he has also held research lecturer positions at Harvard University (Harvard Metalab) and York University (Future Cinema Lab).

Arnau is in the process of interviewing a number of practitioners, scholars, and students of interactive documentary about the state of the field. He will be posting select clips on the OpenDocLab website. Below you’ll find Part 3 of an interview with OpenDocLab Principal Investigator William Uricchio.

In this series we focus on the theoretical part of the study of interactive documentary. We will conduct video interviews with the main experts in the field based on six key questions: (1) the definition, how would they define the interactive documentary; (2) the evolution of the form, whether they believe that the interactive documentary is a natural evolution of the linear documentary; (3) the change in the logics and dynamics, if they believe there is a change in the logics of production, distribution and exhibition; (4) the role of the author, if they believe that the role of the author is threatened; (5) the business model; and (6) their views on the production, research and events organized by countries that are active in this field, placing special emphasis on Canada and France.

Our first interviewee is William Uricchio, Professor and Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program and Professor of Comparative Media History at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He is also Lead Principal Investigator of the MIT Open Documentary Lab and MIT Game Lab. In this video interview Uricchio answers the last questions:

1. Which could be a possible business model behind the interactive documentary?

2. Which are active countries in relation to the production of interactive documentaries?

 

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/63473347[/vimeo]

 

Uricchio argues that the crowdfunding model could be a good business model for interactive documentaries: if you like what you’re watching, think about ways you can support it.

 

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/63473348[/vimeo]

 

Uricchio remarks that on one hand we have the contribution model and on the other hand we have state support, and in between there is the commercial and game industry models. He notes that there are state-supported institutions creating interactive documentaries in Canada, the Netherlands and France. Different nations have different approaches, which enriches the entire field.

 

Arnau Gifreu Castells (PhD)
Research Affiliate, MIT Open Documentary Lab
agifreu@mit.edu