'New York Times' Debuts First Animated Video Series

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By Lauren Indvik2013-08-08 19:37:00 UTC

The New York Times is debuting its first animated series, a monthly compliment to the paper's popular Modern Love column that features personal essays about marriage, dating and relationships.

The series is part of a broader video effort at the Times, one that ramped up considerably when Jill Abramson took over as executive editor two years ago.

The challenge the Times faced with the video series is one familiar to all producers of web video: How do you create something that enhances — not simply reiterates — the text surrounding it?

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"No one wants to watch a video that's exactly the same as what they just read," Zena Barakat, a video producer at the Times, said in a phone interview with Mashable on Wednesday. "The idea was to do a video that can stand alone, but also talks to the column."

Several weeks ago, Barakat interviewed the author of this week's column, writer Steven Petrow, to see if she could find any extra details about his essay, which chronicles his experiences with a $6,000-a-year matchmaking service. Barakat discovered an interesting lead-up story: That is, what spurred Petrow, after years of deliberation, to finally sign up for the service. She took this story to animator Xaver Xylophon and Ian Chillag, who produced the audio for the 1:30 narrative below. The video is narrated by the author himself and took five weeks to animate.

In this instance, Barakat says the lead-up was the most interesting to tell visually, but that won't always be the case.

"Many Modern Love essays, of course, have more to the story than can be told in 1,500 words, and it's wonderful to have this other way of adding to the written narrative," Daniel Jones, the Modern Love editor, wrote in a follow-up email to Mashable. "I think readers will appreciate hearing the writer's voice and allowing more to be told, though the animation is really it's own thing."

Modern Love won't be the only column to get its own video add-on. Rebecca Howard, the head of video production at the Times, says that as the paper builds out its video strategy, it is looking at popular columns and journalists that could benefit from the addition of "sight, sound and motion." The team decided to start with Modern Love because the "intimate nature" of the essays lend themselves naturally to video, she says.

The Times has launched a number of other video series in recent weeks, most recently Frugal Traveler . The organization is also working on a series with food columnist Mark Bittman.

Howard says the company is seeking out sponsorships for many of its series. "It really gives brands the ability to get more connected on site," she says.

What do you think of the animated Modern Love series above? Tell us in the comments.

Image: New York Times

Topics: animation, Business, Media, The New York Times, Video, video series, web video series