Explore American History Through Ken Burns' Lens

Filmmaker Ken Burns, whose documentaries have won twelve Emmy Awards among other honors, has partnered with digital creative agency Big Spaceship to build an innovative iPad app, which explores American history through the lens of his acclaimed documentaries.

The app features new, original content, including interviews with Ken Burns and short videos in which he introduces select individual scenes. It also features an immersive, interactive timeline where users can explore the scenes and the common themes that emerge over time. Designed to appeal to a broad audience, ranging from students of all ages to parents, teachers and fans of history in general, the experience gives users the feeling that Ken Burns is sitting right next to them as they look back through history. 

Conceived, directed and produced by his longtime colleague Don MacKinnon, the Ken Burns app is a truly unique experience, not only in terms of its design, which uses gestures, depth, and particle effects, but also its content – combining scenes from Ken Burns’s extensive body of work into new thematic collections. Florentine Films producer Sarah Botstein, who worked with Burns on JAZZ, THE WAR, and PROHIBITION, worked closely with MacKinnon and Big Spaceship to produce and curate content for the project.

Burns's films are known for a distinct use of archival photography alongside modern interviews, known among filmmakers as “The Ken Burns Effect.” The app, built for iOS 7, is designed to guide users through American history, using scenes from Burns’s films to illustrate major themes of American history – Art, Hard Times, Innovation, Politics, Race and War.

Download the app at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ken-burns/id723854283?mt=8

Credits

Client: Ken Burns

Digital Agency: Big Spaceship