{"id":876,"date":"2015-04-27T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T19:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/?p=6812"},"modified":"2023-10-02T11:37:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T18:37:43","slug":"after-the-storm-interactive-documentary-launches-on-anniversary-of-alabama-tornado-disaster","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/after-the-storm-interactive-documentary-launches-on-anniversary-of-alabama-tornado-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"After the Storm: Interactive Documentary Launches on Anniversary of Alabama Tornado Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\"afterstorm-tuscaloosa\"\n

On April 27, 2011, a powerful storm system unleashed a deadly series of tornadoes across\u00a0central Alabama that devastated several cities. The largest\u00a0tornado, which was categorized an\u00a0F4,\u00a0ripped through the Tuscaloosa, Alabama, area with winds up to 260 miles per hour, traveling over a distance of 80 miles, with a path of destruction up to 1.5 miles wide.\u00a0When it was over,\u00a0the tornado had killed 64 people and injured more than 1,500.<\/p>\n

Alabama-based documentary filmmaker and teacher Andrew Beck Grace survived the storm, and as he discovered\u00a0in the days to come, numbers and adjectives \u2014 even images \u2014 only go so far in describing what it means to wake up to your world completely rearranged.<\/p>\n

Grace has produced a unique interactive\u00a0documentary\u00a0about the aftermath in Tuscaloosa called After the Storm<\/em><\/strong>. It tells the story of what happens after the storm passes, after the media leaves town, and after the adrenaline subsides. Independent Lens<\/em>\u00a0is proud to co-present\u00a0this interactive\u00a0documentary\u00a0with The Washington Post<\/em>, launching today (April 27) on the 4th anniversary of the storm.<\/p>\n

After you immerse yourself in After the Storm<\/em>, read the following interview we conducted with Grace about producing this unique work, one which hit very close to home.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

Why did you\u00a0want to\u00a0make After the Storm<\/em>?<\/b><\/p>\n

This piece was created as a personal response to surviving a significant natural disaster. There\u2019s an inevitable question we face in the midst of trauma \u2013 how to go forth in a world that is radically changed? So I wanted to figure out how to deal with that question, and this interactive documentary is part of that process.<\/p>\n

And why did you want to make this an online, interactive documentary experience, rather than a straightforward traditional doc?<\/b><\/p>\n

I told this story this way because there was no better way to tell it. The experience was very personal and my first instinct was to write about it. Writing in the first person gives a very intimate and engaged experience to the reader, and I wanted to translate that to a filmic experience. So crafting this spoken word piece that was built around imagery and sound seemed like a more natural fit than a conventional filmed documentary.<\/p>\n

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in making it?<\/b><\/p>\n

This is a very personal project about loss and change, so working through the content of the piece was in some ways difficult but in other ways very therapeutic. The medium was the real challenge. This is my first foray into the Wild West of web-based interactive documentary. Because I was new to the medium, I had trust my collaborators implicitly and our working relationship was key to the success of the piece. Working with\u00a0Helios Design Lab<\/a>, the co-producers and designers of the project, was a real privilege, and I think we proved that the gap between technologist, designer, and filmmaker is more perceived than actual.<\/p>\n

How did the experience of putting this film project together affect you after all you’ve been through? Was it a cathartic experience to produce this?<\/b><\/p>\n

It definitely was an emotional experience. I was in DC on September 11th, 2001 and I saw the smoke coming from the Pentagon that morning. In the days following, I refused to watch the image of the planes crashing into the towers because I felt like I didn’t need to see the filmed version, having seen it in person. Ever since, I\u2019ve refused to look at those images. And in a similar way, I really did not want to look at the imagery of the tornado coming through Tuscaloosa. Having survived the storm by huddling in the dark in our hallway closet, I didn\u2019t want to see all the incredible footage that folks around the city had captured of that monster tornado coming through. So revisiting all of that footage in making this project was a difficult thing for me. And it\u2019s actually intentional that there is not a single scene that includes the storm itself besides a few oblique and lyrical visual references.<\/p>\n

How did you gain the trust of the subjects in your film?<\/b><\/p>\n

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, \u201cTrust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a particular scene or sequence that\u00a0especially moved or resonated with you?<\/b><\/p>\n

There is a sequence about visiting my neighborhood virtually through Google Maps. As you may know, Google Street View has an option to go back and see earlier photographs of the same location. A year or so after the storm, Google came back through and updated the photos from my neighborhood. So you can navigate now between images from before the storm and after. I still remember the first time I compared the two and how devastating it was to be reminded of how much had been lost \u2013 especially the trees. There\u2019s a sequence that replicates that experience for the viewer.<\/p>\n

\"afterstorm-treeless\"<\/p>\n

What was the process like in producing this?<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a unique process working on this interactive documentary. The design team was based in Toronto, and we worked remotely for 8 months, doing basically weekly Google Hangouts and sharing files across the internet. For a web-based story, we really harnessed all the resources of the web to even create the piece in the first place! We finally met in March at SXSW where we presented After the Storm<\/em>\u00a0at a panel on interactive documentary. It was great to meet in person after all that time working through the story virtually.<\/p>\n

[Continued below<\/em>]<\/p>\n

What are films that have inspired you?<\/b><\/p>\n

Off the top of my head it would be Salesman<\/em>, by the Maysles brothers, because it was the film that made me want to make documentaries. Raising Arizona<\/em>, by the Coen brothers because it\u2019s just about perfect and I don’t think people take comedies seriously enough. Further, it\u2019s a movie I can pretty much quote in its entirety. And Mullholland Drive<\/em>, by David Lynch because I remember seeing it in the theatre and not wanting it to end. Lynch reminds me of how much is possible with cinema.<\/p>\n

What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers? <\/b><\/p>\n