Robert Redford was on CNN yesterday (Wednesday Feb 13), in an interview relating to his Sundance Film Festival. He made some good observations about the small screens such as the mobile phone, and short "mobisode" style films. Robert said that in his youth he didn't read much, but he was very fond of the "funny papers" ie the comic strips in newspapers (and obviously comic books). The standard style cartoon strip just like we have still today with Garfield, Peanuts, Dilbert etc. Robert observed that a standard comic strip, in only 4 or 5 frames will cover a story. A full story with beginning, middle and end. A story which makes an emotional connection with the reader. Yes, the comic book condenses the story down to its very basics, but a good joke will work in very many cases on a comic strip of only 4 frames and very limited dialogue.
Robert Redford also observed that to design a story for a very short medium, like the short stories shown at the Sundance Film Festival, or indeed a mobisode on a phone, "requires discipline". The artistic and creative work needs to be more thorough, to eliminate all that is not absolutely necessary, so that only the essense of the story is conveyed to deliver the emotional impact to its audience. Yes, the mobile, as the 7th Mass Media, has a small screen, smaller than any other visual media we have today, but that does not make it an "easy" or "simplistic" media; far from it. I'm sure its easier to tell a story in 1 hour 45 minutes in the cinema, than to tell the same story in 3 minutes on a 2.5 inch screen on a phone. Just like any author knows, its far easier to write the first draft of text, than to edit it down to something the publisher is eager to print.. This new mobile media should attract the most ambitious talent, who want to deliver creative excellence in a media which is the most prevalent, but also the most tightly constrained, as a story-telling platform.
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