'Collapsus' Wins Interactive Award for Film/TV at SXSW

Tommy Pallotta's groundbreaking web film "Collapsus" took the 2011 prize for Interactive Film at SXSW. Pallotta's past work in film has been nothing short of visionary, advancing rotoscoping animation on films like "Waking Life" and "A Scanner Darkly."

With "Collapsus" Pallotta has layered his philosophical path with activism in the global energy crisis. He is a film producer, director and now interactive artist who constantly pushes boundaries with style and tact.

"Collapsus" was produced in conjunction with a Dutch documentary about transitioning to alternative energy. The documentary's producers, SubmarineChannel, recruited Pallotta to build an accompanying narrative that was interactive. This would ensure the message could reach younger audiences who are always a twitter away from short attention spans.

The central narrative of "Collapsus" follows a Vlogger, who has a politician mother and troubled boyfriend in the corporate energy world. She is intertwined with various characters on the ground in Oil producing nations, journalists, conspiracy theorists and inventors at the forefront of alternative energy.

The interactive film is laid out like a triptych, where the central panel is a narrative blended in animation, guerilla-style video and graphic novel-esque imagery. At any given moment users can slide right or left to interact with a world map or replicated news casts and real documentary footage.

The bottom of the screen is adorned by a timeline that brings users to any point in the story arch. It spans from 2012 to 2017 and in light of revolutionary waves in oil-cursed countries, rising petrol prices and blackouts around the globe, it's all too real.

Regarding possible solutions the characters reach in "Collapsus," Pallotta said:

"Our attempt here was to show that there might be a breakthrough technology in this field. There are very smart people, like Ray Kurzweil, who seem to be certain that science will find a solution. Regardless of what technology comes along, I think the transition will still be difficult. Our entire way of living is so dependent on oil that even if we find a great alternative energy solution , the way we conduct out lives will be drastically affected."

See all the winners for the 2011 SXSW Interactive Awards presented by Adobe.