Angela Wong: "Out My Window"

Out My Window

http://interactive.nfb.ca/#/outmywindow

My favorite audio piece, Out My Window, is a compilation of interactive soundslides that tells 49 stories in 13 languages of people around the world who live in high-rise buildings in 13 cities.

The project, by Katerina Cizek, aims to replicate a 360-degree setting on the website and in its videos. I've never seen 360-degree footage before that invites viewers to practically stand in an apartment, look outside the windows and examine the people who live there. Out the Window is part of a larger project called HIGHRISE that is a multi-year multimedia project about people who live in these buildings.

Out My Window is made up of brief soundslides that focus on a city and a person who lives in a high-rise there. To me, the soundslides give a better understanding than if it were video instead. With the still photos, I could focus on each shot's message and listen to the audio narration and natural and ambient sounds in the background that really pulled things together.

The interactive elements made it into a user experience unlike many others. For example, the clicking and dragging to encompass the 360-degree view increased the interactivity on the limited medium of a simple computer screen that only allows users to look at something from one direction. It also showed animated text. The text and audio matched so one video had a word flash when an interviewee said the word gunshot; another video had switched the order of two words when the interviewee said trade.

I found the stories very moving. As diverse as they were, these people had a few things in common, such as living in tall apartment buildings in cities and existing within a community. It's interesting to see the different perspectives and viewpoints expressed in each documentary and to see a small glimpse of what their lives are like. These were ordinary people whom you would not know by name, however, each have a story. Where they live helps form their identity as a member of that community. This project emphasizes the importance of each person because they are a part of a group, regardless of their lack of fame. It depicts members like a man in Havana who organizes underground poetry slams that are forbidden by the strict government, to a mother in Istanbul who holds on to letters from her son living in another country, hoping better things will come for him. The project shows what people are doing within their own high-rise communities to build and maintain relationships that hold the community together given what they have.