POV
The award-winning P.O.V. series is the longest-running showcase on television to feature the work of America’s best contemporary-issue independent filmmakers. 2009 marks its 22nd year on PBS. We designed a new website to showcase the series and make the vast amounts of associated content more easily accessible. A key aspect of the project involved moving from static HTML to a database driven website to provide a unified experience and ease of updates. Previously the P.O.V. team would build a new static sub-site for each film or content feature.
We created a clean, modern visual interface based on the new logo designed by Pentagram to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the series. The website creates a unique distinctive impression that is still lightweight, creating paths through a wide array of topics while allowing the films themselves to come to the fore.
Home Page The home page of the site features four films from the series. During the current season, these are the next four upcoming films. Offseason, the P.O.V. team can choose to feature films from the archives based on current events, or upcoming rebroadcasts.
The large image at the focal point of the page reinforces that this is a site about films. Visitors can watch the trailer for each film inline on the page within that space.
Individual Film The films themselves are about a wide array of topics, some very personal, some political, some celebrating particular cultural experiences. The amount of material associated with each film, might vary from simple synopsis to a collection of articles, videos, interviews, and slideshows, even multimedia
This required us to create a visual framework that was visually appealing, but did not distract from the content and creators of the film itself. The grid is simple and flexible enough to accommodate the range of associated content type. We also included links to related films to encourage exploration and discovery.
Explore Topics The series presents each film, not only a work unto itself, but an entry point into a new perspective or experience. To that end, each topic has a page of its own to aggregate and highlight materials and encourage deeper engagement with the site and with a variety of issues.
Watch Video While the POV website offers many paths through the various materials and topics related to the documentaries, this is a film series after all. So, we included as much video as possible, agreggated by media type in the Watch Video area, as well as in context with the films or related articles.
A few of the feature length documentaries are available to watch online in full, with more to come.
For Educators In addition to the general public, the site service two specific constituencies: filmmakers, both aspiring and established, and educators.
We created an aggregate area for each that pulls in materials of particular interest. The Educators area provides easy access to video clips and lesson plans, sortable by topic.