Travel television programs haven’t changed much over the past several decades. Two filmmakers are hoping to bring some innovation into the space, creating short HD travel documentaries for the attention span of Facebook users on a platform called Humanity.TV.
Rather than focusing on destinations, each two-to-three minute short film tells the story of a local the duo met during their travels. Humanity.TV co-founders Kerrin Sheldon and Gaston Blanchet recently released the first 12 episodes of what will be a 35-episode first season, during which they are traveling south and southeast Asia. Exploring their first batch of content, you’ll meet one of India’s earliest rock bands, a Nepali conservation biologist working to save the Bengal tiger, and tour guides who lead travelers through the Delhi slums and the Himalayas.
“There’s a need for high quality content, because travel is best portrayed through really nice imagery and video,” Blanchet told Mashable from Thailand. “Everything high quality out there is long form, so travel sites have tried user generated content. We’re somewhere in between. Our two-to-three minute shorts are designed for the Facebook generation’s attention span.”
Humanity.TV content is designed to be highly shareable on Facebook and Twitter, as well as social networks built around a visual experience like Pinterest and Tumblr. The site displays their travel route on a map with the episodes plotted where they were filmed.
The project’s name, Humanity.TV, reveals its focus on the people, or humanity, Sheldon and Blanchet meet on their travels, which so far have taken them through India, Nepal and Thailand. Unlike the original model of travel TV, you won’t see the producers in any of the videos.
“Our personal goal is to inspire travel and to remind people how awesome it is controlling your own life, fate and destiny,” Blanchet says. “We want people to get passports, get out there and explore the world because there are positive benefits to interacting more globally.”
The team hopes its struck the sweet spot between travel bloggers and high-cost products — they shoot on Cannon 5D DSLRs, for instance. In the long term, it hopes to compete with travel brands like National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel in the future.
Humanity.TV is entirely self-funded, though the team hopes to partner with travel or lifestyle brands in the future. For the second season, they’re hoping to add a couple of production teams, traveling to South America, east Africa and Europe. In fall 2013, they’ll take on north Asia and North America.
Does Humanity.TV sound like the future of travel entertainment? Let us know if this platform of storytelling inspires you to travel.
