Documentary multimedia

Multimedia documentary shines light on NC immigration policies

UNC masters student Eileen Mignoni recently launched her thesis project and it is a definite must-see. “Facing Deportation” is a multimedia documentary site about families impacted by North Carolina’s immigration policies. By combining video, audio, photography and interactive graphics into a bilingual site, she successfully created a well-rounded and intimate portrait of these immigrants and their stories.

Mignoni elegantly blended beautiful stills and video to tell the stories of three families affected by immigration laws, as well as another video, “Why We Do This,” which tells the story of the police. This latter video was a great addition to help more accurately portray both sides of the story. My favorite video was, “Phone Calls from Papi,” an intimate story about three little girls waiting for a phone call from their incarcerated dad.

She also created three infographics to explain the current state of immigration across the U.S. and N.C., as well as the steps involved in the deportation process. Although the interactivity was limited, it allowed the user to get a quick overview of the current state of immigration by presenting the data in color-coded maps. The deportation process is presented in a timeline web, allowing the user to scroll left and right in a choose-your-own-adventure-style presentation.

Before pursuing her masters, Mignoni began her photography career by photographing Hip-Hop clubs, and later traveled around the world taking photos for a market research firm. More recently, she has worked as a research assistant for Alberto Cairo, compiling a database of infographics done by The New York Times in the last six months.

NOTE: Check back tomorrow for a Q&A session with the producer to talk about how she found her subjects, why she chose to add music, and the hardships she faced while producing the site.

Other posts that might interest you:

• Nacho Corbella personifies economic hardship in “Faces of the Crisis”
• Pulitzer Center presents recent grant recipient projects
• OSI highlights nonprofit work through high-end documentaries and interactives

© 4 May 2009 Innovative Interactivity (II).