For the third time, the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Stimuleringsfonds Nederlandse Culturele Omroepproducties (Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Fund) are organising The Future of the Small Screen. This edition has an international character and has been made in cooperation with MMB Labs UK, Submarine and De Waag in Amsterdam with support from the Dutch Ministry of Culture and the European Media 2 programme.îGuided by internationally renowned teachers, programme-makers spent a week in a masterclass investigating the possibilities for television and Internet as combined media. They focused on issues such as: how can the notion of interactivity be involved in the script of a non-linear programme? How can Internet and television augment and strengthen each other? Participants developed a complete design document, comprising a synopsis, an interface design and and inventory of the techniques to be used.During the festival, this masterclass will receive a sequel: a presentation of the projects before an invited audience and a (public) panel debate about convergence programmes. After years of talking about convergence and crossovers between television and Internet, recently there have been more and more crossover programmes in which new concepts are developed. Experts in the field of successful programmes that combine old and new media in challenging ways will have their say. The panel will also look at broadcasting companies which encourage cross-media programmes like this and look for the criteria these broadcasters use.John Wyver, co-founder of Illuminations, is television, film and multimedia producer and has produced countless programmes about art and digital media. Sharleen Smith is deputy director of Oxygen Media where she leads the ‘Convergence Lab’, a co-operative venture with cable companies and others to reconnoitre the spectrum of interactive television. Stuart Nolan is adviser to Oyster Partners and founder of the ‘Interactive TV Knowledge Sharing Initiative’, for cooperation between the interactive television industry andacademics.
