Antti Tammela hopes that micromovies will soon tell very personal stories.
	- Wells a First-Time Judge of Micromovies - See Micromovies at Siperia - The Many Faces – and Uses - of the Palmtop - Micromovies - the Text Messages of the Future? - Peter Hobbie and Generic Media - Tomato (UK)

"Quit Your Whining and Start Working With the Restrictions"

– Expectancy and delivery are two different things, says John Warwicker. 

– I am impatiently waiting for devices to realise all my ideas for stories. Under the title "Micro-narratives" the art director of Tomato Films UK spoke about new ways to tell stories at the Micromovies Seminar of the Tampere Film Festival. For one day film makers, producers and technical designers discussed about new technologies, content production and the commercial distribution of micromovies.

Moving logos and one-second micromovies

– Micromovies can be compared with poetry, Warwicker explains. 

– With both we can abduct the viewers to different spaces. With his company the designer has already tried to realise micromovies in the framework of existing technologies: A logo for Sony is formed by a randomly and constantly moving network of circles. 

An advertisement campaign for the Australian company Lemon Ruski consist of 186 one- and two- second spots. With his six-minute film Headphone Girl Warwicker tries to depict the way of how people think. 

– When walking down the street one sees the existing, but also mixes in thoughts about past experiences and future precognitions, he explains the idea behind this micromovie. 

– Unfortunately we have found out that a linear form of story-telling is not adequate for the content.

Using the restrictions and the new features of existing devices

– There will always be restrictions for micromovies due to the devices, agrees Warwicker's co-speaker Peter Hoddie from Generic Media. 

– The screen will be small and for the next years audio quality will only allow voices and sound bites rather than music. As viewers use their mobile devices often in public, the application of sound should be matched with those situations. 

For the former Apple technician "Your own audience" is an example that has worked up existing restrictions. This micromovie can be played on a handheld while uploading data from a PC. A virtual audience sitting on rows of wooden chairs appears on the screen. Some of the viewers leave and new ones arrive during the whole uploading process. 

– Quit your whining and start working with the constraints, suggests Hoddie. 

Animated valentine cards and personalised birthday greetings

– Yes, it is restrictive to use small formats but it is also a challenge to do something that looks good, says Ciaran Harris from the Nokia Research Centre in Tampere. 

		Ciaran Harris is designing virtual greeting cards for mobile devices.

– Low frame rates can for example be used for jumpy animations or strobe effect films. At present the Irish research engineer is busy with designing concepts for Nokia's Multi Messaging Service (MMS) devices. In the near future owners of mobile devices will be able to send animated valentine cards and personalised birthday greetings. For Harris an ideal micromovie is quite short, still grabs your attention and can be played back in a variety of situations.

Formula 1 cut down to start, accidents and finish

– The most fascinating about micromovies is that everyone will be able to produce them, finds Antti Tammela. 

– My neigbour can make it and after seeing it I know a little bit more about him or her. Tammela works at the usability group of VTT, the Technical Research Centre of Finland. The senior research scientist is involved in developing a system for bringing digital TV to mobile devices. 

– The boring stuff is left out and only the important and dramatic parts are taken, he predicts for the future of mobile TV. 

– Formula 1 on a handheld would be cut down to the start of the race, some accidents and the finnish.

Micromovies integrated into architectural spaces

While Harris and Tammela focus on mobile devices, Marza Toivanen and Mika Ilari Koskinen of Mindworks/Valvomo have taken the concept of micromovies one step further. – All data will be ubiquitous, everywhere, Koskinen explains his philosophy that computing will move from laptops to any place. 

The architecture office Valvomo and the media company Mindworks have joined forces in order to integrate micromovies also to architectural spaces. Tilamedia or space media is the name of their concept. And its realisation can also be seen on the film festival: The Micromovies Seminar assistants' grey astronaut vests with integrated DVD-player are one example, more can be found in Sonera Mspace in Siperia.

	Marza Toivanen and Mika Ilari Koskinen are taking micromovies to architectural spaces.

TEXT: Isabel Hartman
PHOTOS: Tuija Lundelin
UPDATED: Wednesday, 13-Mar-2002 11:48:22 EET

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