Viewing a micromovie. Hannu Nieminen
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Micromovies - the Text Messages of the Future?

What is a micromovie, the text message of the future, and what do we use them for? Dr. Hannu Nieminen, head of the Nokia Visual Communications Laboratory, sums up the idea of micromovies with three core themes: a new viewing situation, free distribution and grass-root level participation.

The way in which micromovies are viewed fills a new niche in everyday life. Micromovies are watched when short on time, for instance during a short bus ride or while waiting in a queue. The mobile phones of the future make the sending and receiving of these new brand of text messages possible.

The messages can be Flash animations which combine images and sound with a narrative arch. They can be used to express anything imaginable, and their content ranges from art masterpieces to complete nonsense. Everyone has the possibility to make their own messages and send them on.

Micromovies in the Competition

This year, Tampere Film Festival includes for the first time the Micromovies Competition, which features three minutes and fourteen seconds long movies produced with the new technologies.

In Nieminen's opinion, the competition does not yet fully realize the idea of micromovies. The main point is not producing videos in a compact form. Instead, the movies can be sent as messages that use the MMS standard. When a user receives a message, it is viewed right away and possibly sent onward. In the competition, the messages are rated according to cinematic criteria.

The Micromovies Competition marks the first steps of a new, still unestablished form of cinematic expression with an open future.

TEXT: Anu Mastokangas
TRANSLATION: Antti Pasanen
PHOTOS: Anu Mastokangas
UPDATED: Thursday, 07-Mar-2002 20:02:58 EET

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