And by now you’re forgiven for thinking, ‘Of course they can afford all this; they’re tax funded.’
Yet there is no new money for any of this.
“Our budget has been unchanged for 15 years. We put in place internal financial management to find the economies internally to be able to invest in these efforts. At a certain point you reach the limit of what you can do with internal economy. You also must anticipate the future.”
Many people think digital platforms – traditional cinema, television, and online movies – involve taking traditional forms and making them available on a television, laptop, or phone. Media creation will demand different creative language.
“We’re at the point where cinema was at the turn of the last century, when the early cinema pioneers learned it wasn’t about cinema; it was about experience,” he said.
“Television learned it was neither cinema nor radio – it was its own. I think NFB is one of the few places in the world that is committed to exploring and creating the new grammar and esthetics of these creative media. We’re also trying to do it in a way that creates stories, with narratives that engage audiences.”
Another major distinction is if montage is the central grammatical device of cinema, then in interactive work the parallel is navigation.
“Navigation is not simply a technique – it actually determines the nature of the work and its esthetics.”
Mr Perlmutter recommends you
visit NFB Interactive and check out two very different works: The award-winning
Out My Window and
Pine Point
