Faculty Spotlight: Sonja Bozic

Documentaries have taken a bad rap for being one of the less engaging styles of storytelling (leave it to the narrators). Thanks to technology, transmedia professor, Sonja Bozic, is disrupting the documentary scene with her storytelling techniques.

On March 8-10, Bozic will travel to Praque, Czech Republic, to compete in Doc Tank—an intensive three-day-workshop focused on documentary projects with transmedia and social engagement from all over the world. Bozic, together with Janja Glogovac, a director and producer, created the transmedia project “Teslafy.Me," which is one of seven finalists competing. Bozic served as transmedia co-producer and co-creator for the project.

The event, organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in association with the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, helps filmmakers develop their story and visual style and find suitable partners for co-production and distribution. Over 100 key international producers, festival programmers, commissioning editors, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and film fund representatives will choose from the most promising films and projects.

“Teslafy.Me” explores the mind of scientist Nikola Tesla through his patents. Using transmedia to tell his story (an immersive storytelling technique across multiple media which includes an active audience participation), the project consists of a feature documentary, a web-based interactive film, and a virtual reality installation.

“By using transmedia, we are able to reach a broader audience, inform and educate them about the scientist Tesla,” says Bozic. “It is an interactive, immersive experience in which people would be able to connect with the enigmatic mind of Tesla while learning about him.”

 “I’m curious to see what I’ll learn at the Doc Tank program,” Bozic says. “I’m planning to share that new knowledge and experience with my students. Anything that can help our learning environment get better, I’m willing to share and use.”

Bozic’s transmedia expertise will likely continue to inspire students for years to come. Since virtual reality has exploded, Bozic says, the broader audience has started to understand different types of storytelling.

“I think that we need to educate and train new generations of storytellers who will use the available technology to push the boundaries of the current state of the industry,” Bozic says.

As for Nikola Tesla’s thoughts on transmedia, if we were alive?

“I’m not sure what he would say, but I assume that he would be happy and proud to see that we are using the technology we have because of him to tell stories.”