This saturday the Dutch translation of the last Harry Potter book is released. The Volkskrant has an exclusive (newspaper) interview with Harry Potter creator, J.K. Rowling. To create an online extension for this interview we have a downloadable 14 pages A4 pdf version and a Flash animation. In this animation you can read the interview, a column, watch a movie review and interview with the Dutch Potter books Illustrator.

What is fun about a project like this is that you can experiment with interactive storytelling. Although the website just displays the interview and we didn’t have time for ‘real’ interactive storytelling, the Harry Potter theme gives great mise en scène possibilities. You can experiment with Flash and Photoshop and create a special atmosphere.

For a while Volkskrant graphics editors (instead of web editors) are making animations for the website, which is how I think it should be done. They know everything about graphics, maps and where to get the right visual information. They can create one graphic and port it to different media.

I don’t often make animations anymore. So the JK Rowling interview which I mostly did with Marijn was fun. A long day, but fun. The animation works with full browser Flash and starts like a movie. Unfortunately there was no time left for sound design.

This project isn’t about breaking news. It’s about presenting the same interview in a different format. It’s transporting something from one media (paper) to the other (web), do extra visual design and make it a little interactive. It’s a start in interactive storytelling.

These are the kind of projects that connect all parts in a news organization to create multiple productions about a similar subject in different media. These are the projects that learn an organization about interactive storytelling and about the possibilities. What’s next?

Last year I experimented with something more news related, a reconstruction of a mysterious project involving suitcases with money.