Mobile Filmmaking - should we take it seriously?

With the new technology of smart phones comes more tools and gadgets than you would ever expected. Not only now do you have access to send a homemade mobile video to youtube, they are giving you the tools to edit your videos directly on your phone. Apparently you too can be a mobile Spielberg. While riding on the train or waiting in the doctors office, you can now spend time catching up on the moments captured from your camera.

An announcement was made that there will be an Australian Mobile Film Festival.


The Festival has been hailed as a new age for (film)-making (a term that should be used lightly) , AMFF is festival about short films, short animations (use of still shots) that are completely made from your blackberry to Iphone 4.



"It gives everyone in Australia the ability to tell a story - without the need for funding" - Avi Ratnanesan (Inside Film)

However Tropfest has already seen the likes of short films completely made by a mobile phone, but this is apparently the first mobile focused festival.



Now this sounds like a god send to many people who cannot find the time or afford to edit at home.
The goodside is that it allows a new market open to film makers, getting more chances to place your best work and let it be seen by the world.


However there is a downside to this,  having this accessibility comes with inevitable consumer market.
Youtube is already filled with useless videos and pointless viral jokes such as a cat playing a piano to a bunch of kids jumping through a window from a trampoline. That giving them the option of editing allows even more opportunities to people who just want a rating hit.

Any true film maker would avoid this option, because of the millions and millions of videos on youtube. It makes it harder for any persons of real talent to be recognized, leaving the that Cat to have stranglehold on the viewership.


There are alternatives to watching true and artistic videos such as the video site Vimeo. But you cannot reach the larger market than on youtube.