Clouds Documentary

CLOUDS - Overview from Deepspeed media on Vimeo.

Clouds is an interactive documentary exploring code and creativity, created by James George and Jonathan Minard.

Clouds is a portrait of this community of digital pioneers, explored through the lens of code. The project asks questions about the future of creativity at a time when algorithms play an important role in shaping culture.

People featured in the film include 40 artists, designers and hackers who participate in the co-creation of free tools for creative expression: Processing and openFrameworks. Reflecting the story of these online communities, the software behind CLOUDS was built in C++ using openFrameworks, and includes real-time interactive visualizations by the artists featured in the documentary.

In its revolutionary hybrid format, somewhere between a documentary, a videogame, and data visualization, CLOUDS allows viewers to navigate a web of ideas. It uses a data-driven Story Engine to present an endless ever-changing conversation, where artists co-exist with their code, presented through real-time interactive visual systems and lush 3D environments.

The project has been presented at prestigious film festivals and museum exhibitions as both an installation and a cinematic experience for a live audience. It’s now available as a software application for audiences at home to download and explore on their personal computers, OS X or PC, with the option of viewing in Oculus VR. The techniques explored in CLOUDS suggest a possible future of storytelling that brings interactive graphics, visual effects and cinema closer together.

My part in the production of this documentary was to design and develop several visual systems, take existing code sketches and adapt them into the documentary, add interactive elements and sound design.

Check out Clouds Documentary website

• James George - Co-Director
• Jonathan Minard - Co-Director
• Surya Mattu - Story engine developer