Abstract

In its historical development, documentary cinema has always utilized new mediums and produced new modes of representation. In recent times, especially with the big data surrounding different realms of our life, the production of interactive documentary based on data visualization has appeared as a new mode. In this context, “The Fallen of World War II” <http://www.fallen.io/ww2/> is one of the best examples of this mode of interactive documentary. The Fallen interactive documentary exposes mainly “the human cost of the Second World War.” The visual channel of the documentary operates mainly with data visualization of the number of dead soldiers and civilians of all countries attending the World War II, with their statistical distributions in the form of charts and archival photographs used on dramatic moments of the War. The audio channel is structured by an interpretive voice-over that is strengthened by affective sound design and musical score. The visual and audio channels are tightly interwoven to support each other in an entangled form. Within its linear cinematographic structure, viewers can pause the flow at two key moments of the data visualization narrative and interact with the charts and make their own interrogation in the data. In this paper, my aim is to make a critical analysis of the dynamic data visualization and archival photograph use in this interactive documentary. I will elaborate how the data sets are represented with visual(ization) and aural methods to call the viewer into interaction and encourage her to become an agent of interrogation.