How Mobile Devices Are Mobilizing Filmmaking

Once used mainly for capturing the casual and (oftentimes) drunken bouts of friends, the lowly cell phone is now being used to make feature-length films—good ones, too. Considering that cell phones are like a fifth appendage these days and that cell phone manufacturers seem to continuously be one-upping each other with upgrades in camera technology, this is a trend we’re going to be seeing more of in recent years. Film festivals devoted to the art of mobile filmmaking are cropping up all over the world—the Hong Kong Mobile Film Festival, for instance, is already on its fourth year.

We’ve previously featured the beautiful work of João Krefer, whose “video poetry” capitalized on the low resolution of the cell phone camera and the short film The Commuter, commissioned by Nokia to showcase the filmmaking potential of the 12-megapixel camera on its N8 phone. One of our favorite piece of mobile cinema, a film called Night Fishing from Korean filmmakers PARKing CHANce (PARK Chan-wook and PARK Chan-kyong), is going to be screening at our upcoming Creators Project event in New York this October 15th.

So, suffice it to say that the filmmaking potential of mobile devices is incredibly exciting, not least of which for its democratizing power. Here, we take a look at some of the most remarkable mobile phone films to surface in recent months.

JW Griffiths: Splitscreen: A Love Story

Splitscreen: A Love Story directed by JW Griffiths is a romantic vignette with an inspired concept and flawless execution. It was shot on the Nokia N8 phone and was the 2011 winner of the Nokia Shorts competition. Many think that short films are the most appropriate content for mobile devices, and we think that they certainly go hand-in-handheld.

Sumo Science at Aardman: Dot. The World’s Smallest Stop Motion Animation

This charming film captures the life of a 9mm girl named Dot, struggling through a treacherous microscopic world. With the Nokia N8 and a microscope attachment, Sumo Science at Aardman Animations created the world's smallest stop-motion animation film.

Sumo Science at Aardman: Gulp. The World's Largest Stop Motion Animation

Conversely, Sumo Science at Aardman set out to break records again with the world's largest stop-motion animation on an 11,000 square foot set at Pendine Beach in South Wales. Also shot with the N8, the mobility of the phone proved to be a resource, as three phones were attached to a cherry picker to get a bird's eye view of the beach below it, with which they captured in high-def JPGs with the 12-megapixel camera.

Adam Green: The Wrong Ferrari

The Wrong Ferrari is the first feature-length film to be made on an iPhone and, in director Adam Green's words, a "ketamine classic." Starring Macaulay Culkin and Green himself, its absurdity makes it pretty difficult to stop watching. This one isn't so much about showcasing the incredible filmmaking potential of mobile devices as much as it shows the ease of turning your ideas into reality. It feels almost like an inside joke between Green and his friends.

So really, there's nothing stopping you from making a feature length film about your life if you've got an iPhone and a lot of time on your hands. And if Macaulay Culkin is one of your best buddies.