High definition cameras, 4k film, and other cinematic features are integrated into the most recent mobile phones. Also, improvements on other personal cameras (like GoPro) offer professional image quality and allow real-time content sharing. Those technological advances in mobile devices have contributed to a shift in media culture creation. Users now have the tools to create/recreate their own stories at their hands. In other words, new forms of storytelling are emerging due to the mix of old and new media (Berry & Schleser, 2014).
Apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat promote video sharing among users. Those videos have the opportunity to become viral, and others even trends on the web. Such platforms quickly gained popularity among young people who can freely share their content, communicate with a new language, and be actors of the social culture.
There is a place for amateurs but also for professionals in mobile filmmaking, photography and advertising. Apps by default and specialized apps created to support filmmaking are accessible to users in android and apple stores. Using lenses with different focal lengths, people can get close-ups and sequences that before were possible only with cinema cameras. Besides, it is now easier to edit frames modifying colour temperature, focus, brightening and exposure. Creators can then use their social platforms as a showcase and have feedback from the audience. These new narratives have become so popular that several international film festivals are promoting mobile filmmaking.
Here is an example of a short video’s making process for advertising:
Some international festivals:
References :
Berry, M. and Schleser, M. (2014). Mobile Media Making in an Age of Smartphones. Palgrave Macmillan US.
I love how mobile filmmaking has democratized the space to a certain extent (as long as learners have access to smartphone, etc). Do you think curriculums at all levels put enough emphasis on effective storytelling?
Hello Sam,
Sadly I think the affordance of mobile devices for filmmaking is misused in education environments. I see great potential, as you said, in improving learning competencies for storytelling, and now this is mainly happening in informal settings.