Welcome to Pine Point
Type of site
Web documentary
Available inEnglish
Created byPaul Shoebridge
Michael Simons
URLhttp://interactive.nfb.ca/#/pinepoint
Commercialno
Registrationno
Launched2011

Welcome to Pine Point is a 2011 interactive web documentary by Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge, collectively known as The Goggles, formerly creative directors of Adbusters magazine.[1] The website explores the memories of residents from the former mining community of Pine Point, Northwest Territories, as well as how we remember the past. The project was produced in Vancouver by the National Film Board of Canada.[2][3][4]

Production history

Simons and Shoebridge had planned to do a book about the decline of photo albums when they happened upon a website called Pine Point Revisited, created by ex-Pine Point resident Richard Cloutier. Cloutier, who had been known as something of a bully in the community when younger, had since developed multiple sclerosis and was dedicating himself to keeping the memory of the now-vanished community alive.[5]

Simons had a personal connection with Pine Point, having visited it at the age of nine to attend an ice hockey tournament. They met with Cloutier who put them in contact with other former residents, known as "Pine Pointers."[2][3] Welcome to Pine Point was their first interactive media project.[6]

Welcome to Pine Point was produced by Adam Neilson, with Rob McLaughlin as executive producer.[7]

Multimedia

Welcome to Pine Point combines photographs, sound and video clips, interviews, music, and voice over from several characters.[2][3]

Soundtrack

The Besnard Lakes wrote and performed the soundtrack for Welcome to Pine Point.[8] The collaboration came about when band member Jace Lasek was approached by Simons, a high school friend. The soundtrack includes their reworking of the Trooper single, "We're Here For a Good Time (Not a Long Time)."[9] On September 20, 2011 the group released their score for Welcome to Pine Point as a twelve-inch EP entitled You Lived in the City.[10]

Release

The creators presented the web documentary, using pre-recorded sound for the narration, at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.[11] In May 2011, the web documentary won two Webby Awards, for Documentary: Individual Episode in the Online Film & Video category and Netart in the Websites category.[12] As of June 2011, Welcome to Pine Point was viewed over 150,000 times.[13] It also won the Sheffield Innovation Award sponsored by BT Vision at Sheffield Doc/Fest in June, also in 2011. On December 7, 2011, Welcome to Pine Point was named Best in Web series at the Digi Awards in Toronto, formerly known as the Canadian New Media Awards.[14]

References

  1. ^ Anderson, Kelly (26 January 2011). "NFB announces new web doc". Realscreen. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Quenneville, Guy (31 January 2011). "Remembering a lost mining town". Northern News Services. Archived from the original on 18 March 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  3. ^ a b c Pitzer, Andrea (4 February 2011). "The Goggles on "Welcome to Pine Point": digital narrative chases memory and loss". President and Fellows of Harvard College. Archived from the original on 7 February 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.((cite news)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Tossell, Ivor (15 March 2011). "How the Web gave a razed mining town poignant life". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  5. ^ Moakley, Paul (22 June 2011). "Multimedia Heartbreaker: The National Film Board of Canada". Time. Archived from the original on June 25, 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  6. ^ MacKie, John (14 April 2011). "Lost northern town is back, on the Net". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
  7. ^ Official credits. Welcome to Pine Point website. National Film Board of Canada.
  8. ^ Hudson, Alex (15 February 2011). "The Besnard Lakes Score New Interactive Web Documentary". Exclaim!. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
  9. ^ Boles, Benjamin (23 January 2011). "Besnard Lakes score Pine Point". Now. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  10. ^ Hudson, Alex (30 June 2011). "The Besnard Lakes Announce New 12-Inch EP". Exclaim!. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  11. ^ "Welcome to Pine Point". IDFA Doclab 2010. International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
  12. ^ Tony Lofaro (6 May 2011). "Old story told in new form". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 6 May 2011.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ Mackie, John (11 June 2011). "NFB soars in cyberspace". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 11 June 2011.[dead link]
  14. ^ Maloney, Val (8 December 2011). "NFB and CBC win at Digi Awards". Realscreen. Retrieved 9 December 2011.

External links

National Film Board of Canada interactive works
Categories