#ROMANOVS100: 4,000 PHOTOS. 4 SOCIAL NETWORKS. 1 FAMILY.

Title#ROMANOVS100: 4,000 PHOTOS. 4 SOCIAL NETWORKS. 1 FAMILY.
BrandRT
Product/ServiceDOCUMENTARY SOCIAL MEDIA PROJECT #ROMANOVS100
Category C01. Editorial
Entrant RT Moscow, RUSSIA
Idea Creation RT Moscow, RUSSIA
Media Placement RT Moscow, RUSSIA
PR RT Moscow, RUSSIA
Production RT Moscow, RUSSIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Kirill Karnovich-Valua RT Creative Producer
Revaz Todua RT Designer
Gleb Burashov RT Producer
Elena Medvedeva RT Producer
Eldar Salamov RT Producer
Ania Fedorova RT Producer
Ivan Fursov RT Producer
Ivor Crotty RT Producer
Lilly Kazakova RT Producer
Margo Tskhovrebova RT Producer
Peter Nalitch Peter Nalitch's musical collective Musician
Helen Rappaport Helen Rappaport Historical Consultant
Denis Semyonov Great Gonzo Studio Artist
Marina Amaral Marina Amaral Artist
Aleksandr Skryabin RT Director
Ilya Grachev RT Director of photography
Victoria Milovanova RT Producer

Describe the creative idea

The Romanovs were photography pioneers — in the early 20th century they owned the world's first portable cameras capturing almost every meaningful event in their lives. On July 17, 1918, Russia's last Tsar, Nicholas Romanov, was executed with his wife and five children by the Bolsheviks. To pay tribute to the family, we merged a large set of visual data with transmedia storytelling to piece out the big picture of a "lost Russia". This is the story of the Empire's last royal family through thousands of their own photographs. #Romanovs100 is a comprehensive social media project unveiling a unique photo-collection from the Russian State Archive. This vast family chronicle is a detailed first-hand witness account of the early 20th century - for decades this part of Russian history was eradicated from school-books and kept in the dark during Soviet era. Today, we bring it back to the spotlight.

Describe the execution

#Romanovs100 is a research into history through the visual language of photography combined with the digital reality of social media. The project's educational narrative aims to show that learning history can be compelling and interactive. The Romanov archive is perhaps the first private photo chronicle in history to boast such detail and scope. With our project we wanted to pay a "live" tribute to the last ruling family, giving these photographs - once kept in family albums - a second, digital life in social networks. Several thousand photos added up to create a dynamic narrative, which was then shared on social media accounts image-by-image. Accounts on four social networks review the last decades of the Empire as seen through the lenses of the Romanov family's cameras, each platform showcasing its own narrative, format and content. Comprehensive data curation lies at the core of the project. Each published photograph was thoroughly researched to create linear and non-linear storytelling depending on the platform. Media planning was among the biggest challenges - guided by the specifics of every particular network and audience, the team thoroughly selected and distributed the content between the accounts. Key storytelling elements: - 100-year-old shots turned into interactive 180-degree Facebook panoramas - short documentary-style YouTube videos - real-time Twitter blog-posts by historical characters - POV Instagram perspective by the Romanov's dog - World's first-ever digital colorization contest judged by renowned artist Marina Amaral - Original soundtrack composed by Russia's famous musician Peter Nalitch - Twitter account run by one of the most popular writers on the Romanov family - British historian Dr. Helen Rappaport - Music video combining old photos & VR Animation - Video teasers reconstructing several of the Romanovs' images, in-motion - filmed on retro 8mm & 16mm cameras with large-scale production and authentic stage props