Boston – Clouds Over Cuba, an online documentary produced by The Martin Agency for the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, tells the story of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis through a new media, cross-platform strategy.
The film is divided into six themed segments. As the film plays, a digital dossier fills up with historical documents, such as JFK’s daily schedule and maps of Cuba. Viewers can navigate between the main documentary and the extra materials, or download the extra features onto a smartphone to play back later.
The timeline of events from 1962 can be synchronised into calendar software, with optional alerts. The JFK Library also live-tweeted the historical timeline in October, 50 years after the events.
The film’s fifth segment is a factional, speculative documentary set in the present day as if the conflict had escalated into nuclear war.
As Generation D continues to adopt multi-screen habits and expects media to be interactive, non-linear storytelling may become increasingly common. Read our Transmedia Futures macrotrend for more.