Max Schleser, Swinburne University, Australia
Smartphone Filmmaking: Theory and Practice
Mobile, smartphone and pocket filmmaking is a global phenomenon with distinctive festivals, filmmakers and creatives that are defining an original film form. This lecture explores the diverse approaches towards smartphone filmmaking and provides an overview of the international smartphone filmmaking community. Dr Schleser will talk about his book Smartphone Filmmaking Theory and Practice, which features interviews with smartphone filmmakers, entrepreneurs, creative technologists, storytellers, educators and smartphone film festival directors. His presentation will provide a source of inspiration and insights for professionals, emerging filmmakers and rookies who would like to join this creative community.
While not every story might be appropriate to be realized with a mobile device or smartphone, if working with communities, capturing locations or working in the domain of personal or first-person filmmaking, the smartphone or mobile device should be considered as the camera of choice. The mobile specificity is expressed through accessibility, mobility and its intimate and immediate qualities. These smartphone filmmaking-specific characteristics and personal forms of crafting experiences contribute to a formation of new storytelling approaches. Stylistic developments of vertical video and collaborative processes in smartphone filmmaking are evolving into hybrid formats that resonate in other film forms.
Smartphone Filmmaking Theory and Practice not only develops a framework for the analysis of smartphone filmmaking but also reviews the contemporary scholarship and directions within the creative arts and the creative industries. Dr Schleser will initiate a conversation on current trends. He will discuss the impact of smartphone filmmaking on adjacent disciplines and outline recent developments in emerging media and screen production, such as Mobile XR (extended reality).
As there will be – as usual – time and space for discussion, please visit Max‘ YouTube playlist with selected works and presentations. This might be useful for drilling into the topic a bit more deeply: https://bit.ly/3EZ6GWG.