Making One-Minute Mobile Movies
http://www.digitalforum.accenture.com/digitalforum/global/currentedition/faces cited 15.8.06
Rosario “Ross” Guercio is a Security Information Specialist on a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) project in Accenture’s Financial Services practice in Canada, where he helps provide capital market data research services for large financial service corporations around the world through Managed Reference Data Services, Outside of work, Ross is helping pioneer a new genre in filmmaking whereby short films—only about a minute long—are available for download to a mobile phone.
These films are called “mobile movies,” or as Ross has dubbed the genre, “femtosecond films.” A femtosecond is measured as one millionth of a nanosecond (one-billionth of a second), a measurement typically used in the laser technology field. At a running time of 38 seconds, Ross’ film The Date would seem infinitely longer than a femtosecond, but blink a few times and you might need to watch it again to grasp its concept.
The Toronto resident served as producer and co-writer of The Date, which can be viewed or downloaded on Canada’s Mobile Film Festival website, mobifest.ca. The films are listed under various categories, such as advertising, animation, humor, music and sports. The Date, for its depiction of a man and woman gazing into each other’s eyes and then reaching for the same piece of fruit—a date—is categorized as humor. The message of the film goes a bit deeper, Ross says.
“The Date is a film about modern relationships, communicating that people initially approach each other on an instinctual level,” Ross said. “We parody how modern dating is driven instinctually. The man and woman fulfill their desire to ‘eat the fruit’ rather than kiss each other.”
Ross explained that the proliferation of the home video camera gave the average person the ability to record the treasured moments of their lives, giving rise to such TV shows as America’s Funniest Videos. Digital movie cameras and improvements in mobile phone technology have essentially created a new art form and provided a new audience for filmmakers. Ross teamed up on the project with a fellow cinema studies major from the University of Toronto, Ilir Pristine, who directed and co-wrote The Date and shot it on a Sony PDI150 digital movie camera. They had done short films of 15 to 20 minutes in length together in the past, and were eager to try a “minimalist” approach—simple, clear images and no dialogue—to convey their thoughts on dating in less than one minute.
Another film Ross produced, The Score, takes the viewer on a suspenseful walk on the waterfront docks, but was actually filmed in a downtown Toronto park, offering a grainy, film noir quality to the picture.
With his colleagues, Ross has made a total of three mini-movies (The Score, The Date and The Trio) for the festival. Two of the films The Date and The Trio were selected as finalists; The Trio won best film in the “Best Caught On Trio” category.
Close-ups, sparse dialogue deliver impact
People who have embraced the latest mobile technology are more likely to download the films, Ross says. He believes the best producers of movies for the very small screen are those that keep in mind that their viewers are more likely to be using mobile phones while they are on the move, perhaps in a noisy bar or restaurant, and prone to constant interruptions. So, these movies need to grab attention quickly and hold it. Steady close-ups, rather than wide shots, and sparse dialogue usually deliver more impact.
“There are so many ways to be abstract, but if you want to follow a cinematic convention, you need to present a clear image of what the audience will see,” Ross said. “This type of filmmaking is an opportunity for me to execute a concept, not necessarily for commercial purposes, and to be challenged creatively.”
Ross said femtosecond filmmaking is still in its infancy, but growing in popularity as more people find innovative ways to develop mobile content. The technology to produce this content is advancing, and there are a number of mobile film festivals offered around the world, such as The World’s Smallest Film Festival.
