When I first stumbled upon this multimedia story by Maisie Crow about the survivors of the Chernobyl disaster and the workers still dismantling the plant, I was quite sure from the start that I would be an interesting watch and a great piece of work on the craft of multimedia. Maisie Crow had been doing internships at Mediastorm, but more importantly had been doing some very nice multimedia pieces in the past. After watching the film, I must say, it reached all my expectations, why I now share it with you here.

When watching it, one of the first things you realize is that Maisie’s approach to the story comes from a photographic view on things. Her background in photojournalism is obvious. For me it felt as if the video sequences more focus on moments instead of moving situations that lead the viewer to something or bringing the story to a different point. Also when she introduces characters, she does that often with video, but in a fashion I’ve seen a couple of times now, with sort of a video portrait that uses an aesthetic of a still image.

When you watch the piece, one thing that you can find here executed very well, is the use of still and video. The stills are used extensively in moments where the story needs the viewer to slow down a bit and link the story to his own thoughts before approaching the next part of the story. While video is easier to consume, the stills let the viewer explore the picture more actively but also allows to slow down.

I’m a big fan of subtitles. There are always lots of problems coming along with it, but for me, hearing the voice of the persons in the story is always something that I think should have major importance. Even when you can’t understand the language, it gives you so much depth and feel for the person, something that I think should not be left out as a tool to tell the story. This is also what you find here. The problem of course is the distraction from the visuals, so it’s always a fine line.

Same counts for the use of music. Music is extremely powerful, what makes the use always critical. It has the ability to create atmospheres that otherwise would maybe not be there. In the film, music is only used in a very puristic way at important points of the story and helps to link different parts. But at the same time, most interview sequences come without any  music what allows us to feel an atmosphere that is created by what the people say instead of an atmosphere that was created by the music.

An interesting observation I made, was the extensive use of still images to the end. While at the beginning video is used way more than stills, the stills take over to the end. That could of course always have reasons coming from the production material, but it works well, because instead of speeding up and filling up the viewer with the story, the films slows down and gives more space to let the story sink.

But now enough of analyzing the structure and technical details of the film, the most important is the story and this is brilliant. Watch it!