#ROMANOVS100: AR PHOTO ALBUM

Short List
Title#ROMANOVS100: AR PHOTO ALBUM
BrandRT
Product/ServiceEDUCATIONAL AR BOOK
Category C01. Digital & Interactive Design
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 Director
Gleb Burashov RT Strategist
Revaz Todua RT Designer
Ania Fedorova RT Producer
Elena Medvedeva RT Producer
Eldar Salamov RT Producer
Ivan Fursov RT Editor
Lilly Kazakova RT PR
Ivor Crotty RT Producer
Margo Tskhovrebova RT Administrative Manager
Denis Semionov N/A Digital Artist
Valeria Fimina N/A Manager
Alexandr Malyutin N/A Programmer
Pavel Postnikov N/A UI Designer
Ivan Yunitsky N/A Tester
Yana Saikovskaya N/A Tester
Helen Rappaport N/A Author, Historian
Marina Amaral N/A Digital Colorist
Peter Nalitch N/A Composer
Aleksandr Skryabin RT Director
Ilya Grachev RT Cameraman
Victoria Milovanova RT Producer
Boris Gorlov RT Creative Producer

Background

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, Nicholas Romanov, last Tsar of the Russian Empire, his wife and five children were executed 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". Thousands of the Romanov’s images were converted into platform-specific social media narratives on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram with accounts on each network showcasing unique format and content. Objectives: - create an immersive educational project that can resonate with “new generations” fully-adapted to social media - transforming content to an interactive AR book which makes learning experiences an emotional journey into history - introduce new approaches which can be effectively used in history education courses

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

#Romanovs100 is an image-first digital storytelling project built on analysis of thousands of photos shot by Russia’s last Royal family. To make history come to life in the world of digital platforms, we partnered with the Russian State Archive to retrieve 4,000 actual analogue images once stored in the private albums. 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 rule. Working on this large set of visual data and adapting our historical research to social media platforms allows us to make history easily accessible to younger audiences. #Romanovs100 culminated in AR photo album which enhances this experience of learning history. It combines the visual language of photography with AR tech to create an interactive history chronicle focused on a humane story.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

Our challenge was to design an interactive multimedia book mixing history with new digital realities. In our design choices we wanted to create a feeling of intimacy: all images are unedited photos in original exposure with the same tints and colors as when developed by the Romanovs and pasted into albums with their own hands. AR extends the storytelling beyond the limitations implied by print, and allows readers become active co-creators of the unfolding story. The app provides an immersive journey into history triggering three interaction types: - informative: uses extended reality to tell additional stories through swipeable galleries, AR infographic, short video documentaries rolling inside photos - visual: AR app allows to zoom-in high-resolution images and experience them from additional angles - emotional: 3D animations which come to life on book pages creating an open emotional connection with the Romanov family and making a learning experience a playful adventure.

List the results (20% of vote)

Our project aims to show that learning history can be compelling and interactive. It targets younger audiences with innovative formats and digital approaches to educational storytelling. #Romanovs100 was selected to showcase at one of the world’s biggest educational festivals - SXSW EDU 2019 in Austin, Texas. The response from educators and students was overwhelming and we handed over dozens of copies to public libraries, universities of Texas, Phoenix, New York, Cornell and many other educational institutions who showed interest. In general, #Romanovs100 had a remarkable impact across social media. The project generated over 25 million impressions & gathered around 55,000 fans & followers combined. Social media posts generated over 1 million engagements. The project received global media coverage, featuring in The History Extra magazine, BBC News Hour, Tatler, Sky News, Daily Mail, and more.