07 Mar OpenDocLab teams up with Filmmaker Magazine

How can filmmakers and technologists collaborate?

The MIT Open Documentary Lab and Filmmaker magazine are tackling this key question through a new 12-part blog series. OpenDocLab Director Sarah Wolozin explains the project’s genesis in Filmmaker:

As more storytellers consider migrating to the web and other digital platforms, the relationship between filmmaking and programming becomes more pressing. The MIT Open Documentary Lab is exploring these questions. What became obvious is that the barrier to entry to digital storytelling was not about someone’s ability to code. It was about the ability to work with someone who codes. How do you find a technologist? What is the process of working with them? What skills do you need? How much programming do you need to know? Where is the funding?

What better way to find out than to ask the people in the field.

Tune into Filmmaker every Thursday to read interviews with leaders in the interactive filmmaking field. Directors, curators, and storytellers alike talk about their processes, as well as their experiences working with technology and technologists. “We hope that by seeing a variety of experiences and learning about some tools of the trade, the process of transitioning to digital storytelling will seem a little less mysterious and a lot more possible,” writes Wolozin.

The series kicked off with an interview from the Zeega team. Zeega CEO Jesse Shapins will be appearing on Saturday’s OpenDocLab panel at SXSW to talk about his experiences in more depth.