Interactive doco for dummies

Launched last year, the program has since released a version update this month which supports the importing of content from Vimeo and Dailymotion. The interactive doc on the site made with the demo version, The Challenge - about Yasuni National Park in Ecuador, is a good, low-key example, allowing basic user interaction and click-throughs to further information.

I can see great potential uses for non-government organisations and journalists with minimal editing skills to put together simple projects that are enriched by the ability to add extra data and links. The possibility of including Google maps could come in very handy filmmakers on a range of issues; The Challenge uses it to neat effect to demonstrate the areas being discussed and allows navigation of the videos this way.

I can imagine that while interactivity is still new and exciting, a bunch of organisations will jump on board and load videos up with navigation choices and hyperlinks that are perhaps unnecessary. Before using a tool like Klynt, I still think the first question any filmmaker should ask is: Why does the project need to be interactive? But if there’s an issue for which geographic display and links to Wikipedia for background are vital, then by all means Klynt is worth investigating. I also really like the quick link to Flickr that gives access to photos that have been tagged with a Creative Commons licence.

You can follow the Klynt creators’ blog and Facebook page for updates, including, for example, an interview with two Iranian filmmakers interested in using the tool and peeks at the upcoming iPad app. The demo version is free for 14 days, after which you need to buy a licence. If you’re going to play with the demo, I’d suggest having all your media ready to go and compressed to web size before you start, or those 14 days will start dwindling fast.