Reiter's Camera Phone Report

Palm mobifest to present awards to mobile films in Canada

From the Canadian young adult Web site Dose, I see that today the Palm mobifest will be presenting awards in Toronto to films designed for mobile devices (see below).

Awards will be given to the best Canadian mobile film, the best of the festival and the best video shot by a Treo.  The videos could be shot with any recording device — camcorder or cellular phone — except for the “caught on Treo” category that requires a, duh, Treo.

Dose says more than 65,000 videos were submitted and the 60 finalists were selected by the public.  Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada were allowed to participate.  The videos — required to be no longer than 60 seconds — are displayed on the Web site and interesting to watch. 

Check out, for example, the “cell phone” video (see top left) that’s among the entries.

Viewing

The winning videos will be played on Movieola (a Canadian site for short films) and shown on Air Canada flights during the summer.

It would be interesting for cellular operators to include links to these type of videos on their Web sites and perhaps even on cellular phones they sell. 

It would show subscribers what can be done with short videos and help encourage users to play around with their camera phone video recorders.

Wall Street Journal examines TV, computer, mobile convergence

The Wall Street Journal today has published a technology section that includes an article about the integration of traditional television programs with new media such as computers, portable media players and cellular phones.

The article focuses (although not exclusively) on NBC’s efforts.  This fall NBC will offer a variety of TV offshoots for the Web, cellular phones and Apple iTunes.

Programs for cellular phones will be available for free, assuming you subscribe to your cellular operator’s video package.  NBC will include advertisements, but the type/mix of banner ads and video commercials hasn’t been decided yet, the WSJ reports.

NBC “Black Donnellys” offshoot

One show with Web and cellular offerings will be the "The Black Donnellys," a new show about organized crime. 

“There will be Webisodes with the show's narrator divulging the history of the Donnelly family.  There's also a blog from the executive producers focused on putting the show together,” the article says.

One of the leaders in cellular phone programs is News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox that established Fox Interactive Media to develop and coordinate these efforts. 

Sprint TV “Prison Break”

In addition to creating cellular-only “mobisodes” of the TV show “24,” Fox is developing “Prison Break,” a series exclusively for cellular, the article notes and a detailed press release in April says.

The show is on Sprint TV and since I’m testing two Sprint Samsung phones (a900 and a920), I checked to see if it was available.  Yep, there are 12 “Prison Break” mobisodes (see left) under the Fox menu, that also includes an X-Men trailer.  So I watched the first mobisode of "Prison Break" on the a900 and took a few photos.

Interestingly — and no coincidence, I assume — the first shot of the first episode features a woman staring at a Sprint camera phone and looking an MMS picture message that might set the tone for series (see left).  A guy is in prison and he wrote that he didn’t do it and needs the woman’s help.

I watch very few TV programs.  In fact, the only show I watched regularly was "The West Wing" but that, alas, ended yesterday.  The first mobisode of "Prison Break" looked pretty good and the quality over Sprint's 1xEV-DO network was just fine.

Emmy award created for cellular phones, iPods, PDAs and non-traditional programs

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has, for the first time, established an Emmy Award category for “non-traditional viewing platforms” that includes cellular phones, iPods, PDAs and similar products (see below), according to an article in CNET News from The New York Times.

The winner will be announced on April 22.

Nominees

The nominees are:

*  24: Conspiracy, produced by Fox Mobile Entertainment.  An original series of “mobisodes,” based in the "24" television show and viewed on Verizon Wireless' CDMA 1xEV-DO networks.

*  It’s Jerrytime, produced by Ozone.  A quirky animated weblog that chronicles the experiences of Jerry, a 40ish single male.

*  Live 8 on AOL, produced by America Online.  Live feeds and on demand videos from musical performances around the world to highlight global poverty.

*  mtvU Stand In, produced by MTV Networks mtvU.  Short episodes of celebrities asked to be substitute teachers at colleges and universities.

*  Sophie Chase, produced by CB Films.  An original series of a woman searching for the killers of her husband, produced specifically for webcasting.

*  Stranger Adventures “Helen Beaumont,” produced by Riddle Publications.  An online interactive adventure with videos and e-mails sent to viewers who were able to win cash prizes for solving clues.

Worth viewing

The press release (that I linked to in the lead) includes links to streaming and downloaded (QuickTime) videos of the nominees.  I looked at several and found them interesting.

Peter Price, the president and CEO of the National Television Academy, says in the press release, “In a little more than two months time from our call for entries to the deadline, 74 entries were submitted – more than any other Emmy Award category.

“These represent a broad cross section of what is being done in the broadband arena, and the six nominees display outstanding use of the media, including multiple feeds, interactivity and cross-media approaches as well as entertaining video content.”

Just the beginning

There's no doubt the Emmy will generate more interest in videos for cellular phones and other Internet-based devices.

I have been a fan and booster of videos and television on cellular phones almost since the concept was discussed.  I watch live television as well as videos on the phones I test (many of them from Sprint) and I like the services.

I realize there are doubters, even in the wireless industry.  But I am convinced that live and archived video services will become an integral part of cellular phone services.

In a few years, watching videos on cellular phones will be normal.

Cinequest Film Festival to include S.J. State University student camera phone film

The Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, Calif. is featuring "The Camera Phone," a short (less than three minutes) movie by a San Jose State University film student who combined 330 photos from a Nokia 3650 (see below).  It's one of many films at the event and listed under the student category.

Marcus Padro, the student director, was nice enough to send me an e-mail informing me of the event.  His Web site has a brief trailer of "The Camera Phone" as well as information about the film (see below).

"I have a short attention span.  It helps keep my work interesting," he writes on the Web site.

"The stills are in sync with the music. Every photo is in there for a reason, when watching it you see something different every time. That's what makes it interesting."

A professional photographer

Marcus isn't a young college kid who doesn't have any film experience.  According to his Web site, he was laid off from a job in California and started taking photos and videos of weddings and other events.

"Shooting and editing wedding videos made me want to make short movies," he writes on his site. 

The Web site includes the credits for the film -- just like a traditional movie -- listing the stars, extras, crew and music.  "The Camera Phone" was first shown at San Jose State Film Festival in December 2004.

Good way to get known

This is a great way to get known.  Nokia 3650 photos might not be close to the quality of even a modest digital camera, but the editing technique, story line, etc. are important.

It will be very interesting to see how the camera phone video business progresses.  As I've written before, this is a market segment to watch.