Over the last year Geomedia has had the good fortune to be involved in projects that will ultimately be displayed on all kinds of screens. From film projects displayed in all the glory of the high end neighborhood theater, to traditional spot TV ads you may have skipped thanks to your living room DVR, to video you watch on your computer at work, to corporate projects designed to catch your eye as you walk by a booth at your industry trade show — the challenge of taking projects like these from script to the many choices of screens is what Geomedia is all about. And now we’re helping companies and content creators move onto another distribution platform — the mobile device.
Expanding our ability to help clients in San Antonio and around the world use the promise of SMS and other technologies to deliver their messages to the mobile audience is exciting for us. Some of the methods are still a little raw, reminding us of the early web video projects that we were involved in. Sometimes choppy video, distribution channels trying to control what you can do…you’ve seen it before. But improvements are happening quickly, and if your company isn’t thinking about how you’re going to communicate to your customer or audience in a multi-platform world, you may be missing out on some opportunities.
For a glimpse at the current realities of delivering video to mobile devices, we compressed a 3gp mobile version of our existing demo reel that you can retrieve if you text geomedia to 66937. (thanks Mozes for the keyword) We’ll hit you right back with a link you can use to download the video to your mobile device. Taking a project like our demo reel that was produced to be delivered in one format and moving it “as is” to the mobile platform will give you an idea of both the promise and current limitations of using moving images to connect with the mobile audience.
With that in mind, here’s some tips to keep in mind when you begin to plan and storyboard your mobile video, film and animation projects:
Stay in tight – The close-up is your friend. Wide shots and small text may disappoint you and your audience on mobile devices.
Be brief – Some of the wireless carriers restrict the size of files that can be downloaded from third party sources. For example, Sprint currently limits these files to 2MB which translates into a couple minutes max for your story.
Keep camera moves minimalist – A lot of rapid movement may lose its appeal on the smallest of screens.
Keep it simple – Trust in the elegance of an uncomplicated background.
Quality matters – Still shoot with the highest quality format at your disposal. The better the quality of your uncompressed original, the more options you retain and the better the mobile version will likely be as well.
Focus on the content – Ultimately this is usually what really counts. If your piece is compelling, the audience tends to be more forgiving of any technical limitations your delivery format may present.
These are interesting times indeed, not only for those working in the media, entertainment and advertising industries but across the entire spectrum of public and private companies and organizations. Whether you’re involved in education, government, healthcare or are busy making movies or developing cross platform marketing strategies for your clients, you now have the power to put the democracy of distribution to work for you.
