It begins with a brief paragraph, explaining the relevance of the content of the documentary. This is something that we have taken into consideration and will probably implement in our final project, as this allows the viewer to understand the context of our piece. We would like the introduction to be spoken by someone (possibly an authority figure) who is part of the bigger picture that we are trying to capture, therefore allowing the viewer to be drawn into the topic from the very start. It also gives a sense of authority and will encourage the viewer to entrust our take on the topic.
The next page you come to is a screen split into 6 triangles, each containing a portrait of a character which you can choose to learn more about. When hovering over a portrait, it provides the participant with the name and occupation of the character. We had always wanted our documentary to be quite character driven, and this gave us the first idea on how to style the home screen - drawing the viewer in without revealing too much, encouraging them to continue exploring the website in order to find out more.
When you click on a portrait, it takes you to their 'profile' page, and allows you to choose between different categories such as 'video', 'audio', 'memories' and 'possessions'. This is a nice way to separate content into consumable sections, allowing the participant to engage more interactively with the piece and therefore being able to control what they see, and in what order. Without this interactivity, the piece would be better off as a documentary which encouraged us to think about how we should add interactivity, and why our piece should be interactive. The aspect of allowing the viewer to be in control, selecting the content they consume themselves, is really important. We feel as though it is a way to allow the viewer to learn at their own pace, which is a really beneficial if you want your piece to be educational, which is our current focus. Also, allowing the viewer to explore encourages them to delve deeper into each section, immersing them in the experience that we will hopefully provide.
Overall, Kabul Portraits was extremely helpful and influential in coming up with ideas for our final project. It was the first time that we had experienced a really character driven interactive documentary and it showed us one way in which we could layout and section off our content.
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