Some bright spark took a clip of veteran film director, David Lynch, and turned it into a faux iPhone commercial.
While the iPhone trimmings are false, the clip and content is allegedly real and seems to be a very powerful emotional belief by the great man - namely that you can’t watch a movie properly on a mobile phone.
This strikes me as being somewhat technophobic and certainly intellectually snobbish, which we might expect from some like David Lynch. But as viewing movies on phones and other devices with small screen sizes (like iPods) takes off, isn’t the challenge for the film makers to take this into account and make versions of their art that do look and sound great in the new formats?
After all, going from full screen cinema to TV was a bit of a leap in user experience, but it didn’t stop Lynch and the rest of the industry from publishing on video.
Maybe it’s just the profit incentive that’s currently missing.
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1) I am pretty sure David Lynch himself does not make decisions on how to distribute his movies.
2) Studying history is useful. Poke around and see what happened when TV came into being. Film guys blew it off as stupid and low quality (it was) until it got too popular, then started competing; Cinemascope and multi-channel sound were one result.
Home theater has, decades later, closed that gap pretty much to zero, but what can portables be expected to do to make the viewing experience better? Wearable and projectable displays are good, but start to make it portable, instead of mobile.
3) Do you really think watching any video on any mobile device is a uniformly satisfying experience now? I love all sorts of mobile devices, apps and utilities. But I also like my entertainment enough I think I’d agree with the video. Even watching a movie on a laptop, in a Divx rip, on an airplane, is a totally different experience than watching it later in a quality home system (done it, and surprised by it).
I think it’s a question of designing for the environment, I’ve seen films that are boring and slow-paced on TV despite being enthralling and exciting on the big screen.
Huge, dramatic shots and loud sound effects really don’t work so well on a smaller screen with the sound low to not not wake the kids.
Mobile video has the same challenge, pacing and dramatic effect have to take account of this to work well in a more intimate environment.
Steven - was just about to reply, when Jim did it for me
Thanks for the comments, both.
Russell
Throughout history, new technologies have emerged that threaten to disrupt the establishment, and the mobile phone is no exception. But ultimately, new technologies tend not to kill-off the old, they simply force a change.
The launch of television ‘threatened’ to see the end of cinema; the same for CDs and vinyl, the internet and print media. All of the established mediums remain, but have adapted to suit ther new landscape.
And so to mobile TV. In an age of home cinema system, 40″ LCD screens and HD programing it seems contradictory that the same consumers looking to emerse themselves in their home theatre systems would be willing to watch media content on a 2″ screen.
Ok, so David Lynch has a point. There’s a reason why we go to the cinema and why we buy enormous flat-panel televisions for our home with Dolby 5.1 surround. It’s to be emersed in the action, to experience the director’s vision. But at the same time, this is a classic example of the establishment not fully understanding new technologies and how they can actually enhance existing media.
I think it unlikley, no matter what the advertisers might tell us, that anyone would settle down to watch a 90 minute movie on their mobile (in its current form). What is realistic is that the mobile suits our increasing appetite for media-snacking; taking bite-sized chunks of entertainment to fill our downtime, commutes etc. We’ ve already seen blockbuster cinema releases using the mobile platform as a marketing vehicle, delivering made-for-mobile trailers and viral campaigns. Cloverfield is a prime example.
Mobile TV is simply the MTV for Generation Y.
In no way will it replace existing media, but it may force a change.