Waterlife – NFB

Toronto based creative studio JAM3MEDIA teamed up with The National Film Board of Canada to produce an amazing online experience for the Waterlife documentary film.

The film tells the story of the last great supply of fresh drinking water on earth. It touches upon problems caused by industrialization, invasive species and the rise of cancer & birth defects in surrounding areas.

What I like most about this site is that it maintains the documentary feel and creates a museum-like experience. The site encourages visitors to click around and play with the controls and navigation, but still maintains an educational and serious tone without being boring. The story is told by navigating through the topics like DVD chapters, using audio and video from the film that is paired with statistics and illustrations.

I do wish that the photos that make up the different icons could have more interaction. It seems that the only place to click on them, individually, is at the beginning of the story.

I guess that the ability to randomly click on different cards might take away from the linear procession of the documentary style, but perhaps there would be a way to accomplish a happy medium?