If you eve spent any time on Time Magazine’s ten-year 9/11 anniversary tribute site, “Beyond 9/11,” you’ll know the outlet has produced some pretty powerful, cutting-edge multimedia content in the past. With the launch of Red Border films, Time looks to make such projects a routine part of their online presence.
Pledging to produce a short documentary every month and two “expanded projects” every year, the new Time site will be found at Time.com/RedBorder. You can follow developments on Facebook or Twitter.
The first documentary project will focus on MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and the March On Washington, consisting of ten short docs that will make up about an hour of material. There’s more information on that and the subsequent projects coming in the fall in the press release below (via Deadline).
This is a pretty cool endeavor for fans of documentaries and those interested in the way artists and filmmakers can use online platforms to enrich a multimedia experience. Since Time is often pulling from their army of photojournalists for these projects, the work tends to be impeccable on the film end, and their web designs have often been spectacular, essential parts of the projects.
Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
NEW YORK (August 12, 2013) — Today, TIME launched Red Border Films, a new documentary film unit to be hosted on an interactive digital site on Time.com. Red Border Films will feature deeply reported original films by award-winning filmmakers, TIME journalists and photojournalists and will produce at least one short documentary per month and two expanded projects a year. These cinematic films will vary in length and will be presented along with interactive features at time.com/redborder, where users will be able to watch video, explore in-depth information about the filmmakers and their subjects and view photo galleries and other multimedia elements around each project.
Red Border Films’ first project is “One Dream,” a multimedia site commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It will go live on Thursday, August 15 along with a TIME special issue on the subject. “One Dream” will feature ten films—five marquee documentaries and five brief personal histories—totaling one hour of original video by TIME photographer and filmmaker Marco Grob. The films include interviews with 17 participants from the movement from John Lewis to Joan Baez to Harry Belafonte as well as rarely seen photos and archival footage. “One Dream” is divided into five chapters covering the history of the march, King’s speech, logistics, memories from that day and its legacy.
This fall, TIME’s Red Border Films will release two short films. The first profiles Bobby Henline, an injured Iraqi war veteran who is now a stand up comedian. It is directed by Peter van Agtmael and produced by Shaul Schwarz. The second reports on the rise of surrogacy for Western couples in India and is directed by Schwarz.
TIME’s Red Border Films is executive produced by TIME Director of Photography Kira Pollack and Time Inc. Executive Producer, News & Sports Ian Orefice. TIME photographer and filmmaker Shaul Schwarz is a consulting executive producer. Many of Red Border Films’ original productions will be created by TIME photographers, who are increasingly bringing their unique visual perspectives to film, drawing on the traditions of photojournalism to inform their decisions as filmmakers.
“Red Border Films will combine TIME’s authoritative journalism and perspective with the unique power of cinematic storytelling,” Pollack said today. “We’re excited to combine the traditional elements of film and TIME’s iconic photography with new multimedia features on Time.com that push the frontiers of digital storytelling.”
The multimedia concept of Red Border Films was inspired by the success of TIME’s Emmy Award-winning “Beyond 9/11″ project, which commemorated the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. “Beyond 9/11″ was executive produced by Pollack and shot by Grob and featured 40 oral histories coupled with portraits on a Time.com microsite at time.com/beyond911.
Red Border Films’ documentaries are in addition to Time.com’s robust daily video coverage of news and entertainment at time.com/video. The new venture is one element of a major Time.com relaunch planned for this fall and is part of Time Inc’s. strategy to roll out a slate of new branded video programming across all of its sites. The name – Red Border Films – refers to the trademarked red border on the cover of TIME, and readers will find elements of each project in the pages of the magazine.