Mobiles give access to new generation of filmmakers

A short film with no dialogue filmed entirely on a mobile phone was the unlikely winner of both the People’s Choice and Best Film Awards at Tropfest in New York. On 9 October 2008 Antony Funnell from Media Report interviewed director Jason van Genderen about the challenges of creating the film and what this new form may mean for film-makers to come.

The piece is entitled ‘Mankind is no island’ and consists of words from street signs filmed around New York and Sydney, then set to music. But what’s truly exciting about this project is the fact that it demonstrates that it’s possible to produce a high quality film on an everyday mobile phone.

This has advantages financially to film creators, but also broadens the accessibility of film making to the general public. Now, theoretically, anyone can produce a film perhaps using an idea that’s been kicking around in their head for years. Instead of requiring the budget for film and the contacts within the industry, people can use the video capability which is standard on most mobile phones today.

Van Genderen stresses that the use of a mobile phone was not meant to be a clever ploy to gain attention, but rather demonstrates the universal power of storytelling. At the end of the day if you have something important to say, how you say it is not the point - so long as it gets said.

So will we see an influx of mobile phone films, or maybe even a feature film shot entirely on a phone? I, for one, hope so. Already video sharing sites like YouTube allow for the sharing of films worldwide. This is brilliant because it means we have a whole section of the community actively contributing to the social culture, whereas a decade ago many of these concepts and ideas may have gone unheard.

Again we can see an example of how technology is driving the face of media, changing traditional applications, expanding participation of the community and reaching a wider audience.

I thought the film was beautiful. Check it out on YouTube: Mankind is no island.

Transcript: Mankind is no island

Image source: http://www.tropfest.com/?ct=1