DECODE DEMOCRACY
The democratic process is important. We have produced different films and interactive projects for the Dutch Parliament, the House of Representatives, the Senate and the European Parliament. Below are examples and compilations.
This is a multi media project to stimulate transparency in an open democracy and uses visual communication as a means to involve people and visitors. The heart of the concept is a grid that will continuously reshape by selecting different options. This clip is a sneak preview of what this multi media project has to offer.
The House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) has 150 members and is chosen every four years by the Dutch public. The MP's represent the voices of the Dutch people which is a great responsibility. But to whom did we give our vote? Who are they, what are their motives? How do we get to know them better? The grid will help us to learn more about our representatives.
LED screen video in front of the entrance of the House of Representatives
CREDITS - DESIGN: RENÉ GAST - INTERACTION DESIGN: JAAP
DUTCH PARLIAMENT - HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES & SENATE
We produced films, info graphics, animation clips and interactive tools for the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Government system and the process of legislation is complicated. The man on the street tends to class all the participants and daily activities as 'politics'. The challenge is to visually translate complex and to some, on the surface, boring material.
Compilation of different excerpts from films produced for the Senate and the House of Representatives. Knowledge of the democratic process remains important and some films were especially made for a younger generation.
CREDITS - DESIGN: RENÉ GAST - ILLUSTRATION: YVONNE KROESE - SOUND DESIGN: KH MUSIC
THE SENATE
This film is in the style of a documentary. The members of the Senate work part-time. We follow several of them during their regular jobs throughout the country and switch back to seeing them examining and verifying the law. The images below show the 17th century ceiling in the assembly hall.
The assembly hall has a beautiful 17th century ceiling. The panels are painted in trompe-l’oeil style and depict various nations Holland traded with in the 17th century. They look down with curiosity. The panel in the middle portrays the Children of the State. We have added a few contemporary figures.
Scene from the film: the panel in the centre of the ceiling represents the future, children who look down at their fathers - the rulers of the country - as they hold a meeting. The idea behind this is that the general public may listen to what is being discussed. An early form of transparency, albeit symbolic.
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Democracy is not limited to our own country. Europe has a parliament as well. The film – Europa Express – weighs up the facts and the fables about Europe. A fresh approach to the current discussion about identity, democracy and the relationship with Brussels.
The role of European Parliament within the EU is a diffuse one. The general public tends to group all the European institutions together under the term 'Brussels is bureaucracy'. Working with such an image is difficult for the European house of representatives, the most democratic institution of the EU. The metaphor used in this film is a journey through time. Travel across the continent on the "Europe express' along old and new tracks.
The map of Brussels as a metaphor for different interpretations on EU regulations
IT IS A FACT: every newspaper, television programme or magazine has its own fact check editor nowadays. Our little animated fact checker was born long before this trend. In fact it was a proposal for the EU to use as a campaign icon to fight Euro myths – from custard creams to condoms. Read this Guardian article about these myths.
For example 'banning prawn cocktail crisps' is a subject that has kept Boris Johnson busy for about 15 years. In 2002 he wrote that some of his “most joyous hours” had been spent composing “foam-flecked hymns of hate to the latest Euro-infamy”. Unfortunately the EU didn't go along with our proposal to introduce our campaign icon.