lut
19
From brick-sized mobile phones that couldn’t even send text-messages and 35mm film cameras that could easily bruise your shoulder, to tech like the Nokia Lumia 920 with its on-board 1080p full-HD video camera, complete with a video light, zoom, optical image stabilization and five different white balance modes, mobile film-making has really evolved. But what mobile films have broken into the mainstream? And what’s next for the ambitious and tech-tastic young directors of the future?
Big success with small cameras
Notable big-screen successes for mobile phone film-makers have included Aryan Kaganof’s SMS Sugar Man (2005), shot on a Sony Ericsson W900i, and Cyrus Frisch’s Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me It Would Be This Bad In Afghanistan (2007), a silent movie shot on a 3.2 megapixel camera-phone and premièred at the International Film Festival, Rotterdam. Indie band The Presidents of the United States of America shot the entire video for their track Some Postman (2005) on smartphones—the first music video to jump on the mobile bandwagon.
The McHenry Brothers’ short film, The Commuter (2010), starring Dev Patel, Pamela Anderson and Charles Dance, was shot around London on a Nokia N8; and Park Chan-wook’s smartphone filmed feature Paranmanjan (2011) went on to win the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival.
Festivals getting in on the act
As Park’s success shows, not only have mainstream directors recognised the potential of mobile film-making (his previous credits include Old Boy (2003), and he’s won both the Jury Prize and the Grand Prix at Cannes) but film festivals have also really begun to embrace mobile shooting. New kid on the block, the Mobil Film Festival in San Diego, recognises the guerilla-style democracy of cell-phone film-making, and says it aims to ‘create interest and spark creativity in people of all ages with limited income or resources’.
Power in your pocket
This approach sets cell-phone filmmaking apart from its cinematic forefathers. Unlike Cannes or Berlin, cell-phone film festivals showcase films by award-winning directors alongside fresh and innovative films by young filmmakers, like those in World Film Collective, who are making films from the ghettos where they live. This film on the transport system in the townships of Cape Town was selected for screening at the Pocket Film Festival in Paris.
The world’s first mobile phone film festival, the Pocket Films Festival, has been running since 2005, and it inspired Japan’s Professor Masaki Fujihata, Professor at the School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University, to set up his own Pocket Film Festival. While the French event shows mobile films on big screens, Fujihata’s Yokohama festival is more interested in getting viewers to watch mobile films on mobile devices. In Japan, TV shows are being made specifically for smartphone consumption, and a couple of Fujihata’s protégés told Wired magazine back in 2010 that they believed the ultimate adapation of film for phones is to record and watch them all on the same device.
Size matters
Inspired? Back in France, Pocket Film Festival founder Benoît Labourdette runs regular workshops in Paris to encourage wanna-be mobile auteurs. His advice? Use your phone’s natural advantage—its size and portability. What creative shots can you get with your phone that would be inaccessible to traditional video cameras? And, of course, before you start, choose a good phone! We’re partial to the Lumia 920 of course, but use your imagination—you’re behind the camera!
Short and sweet
Fired up with enthusiasm? Then why not unleash your creativity by entering the Nokia Music Short Film Competition, launched last week in association with Sundance London. If your idea for a short film, about the underground music scene, is chosen you’ll receive two Nokia Lumia 920s and a $5,000 budget to shoot your film. What’s more, both films are guaranteed a premiere at the Sundance London Film & Music Festival (2013) in April, and one lucky grand prize-winner will walk away with $5,000 and a Nokia Lumia 920.
Now that’s what we call mobile movie magic!
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lut
19
In an unlikely location in South East London stands a small unit in the middle of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre. The objects on display through the windows are small plastic items in a range of colours, and just beyond the shelves is what appears to be a 3D printing machine. This is a 3D printing walk-in shop for the general public.
As far as we are aware, this is possibly the first such shop in the UK and its appearance on the high street could be a sign of things to come.
The shopping experience could change forever. Rather than hunting around a number of shops, looking for something specific, you could just visit a 3D printing shop and have it printed. It would also mean that you get exactly what you want, because it’s made to your specifications.
Could we all be popping into a shop on our lunch break, asking for something to be printed, and picking it up on our way home from work? It’s certainly a possibility, says Paul Widelski, shop assistant of Replicator Warehouse.
“At the moment, 3D printing is still in the hands of the hobbyist, or those who want to create prototypes. The designs that people create can be printed relatively quickly, within an hour in some instances.”
“I think we’re a couple of years away from it being mainstream yet, though.”
Paul is right, of course. One shop doesn’t constitute for a 3D printed future; but it is a start.
Nokia understands this, too. When Nokia released the 3DK (3D-printing Development Kit) for the Nokia Lumia 820 shells, it was about trying to help kick-start the 3D printing community into being creative with its products.
For example, you can download the template, rework it, and print a unique shell, for around £10 in about an hour. If you want to, you can then share that design with the rest of the 3D-printing community, and the cycle continues. One such community is thingiverse.com.
As 3D printers and techniques mature, printed products will get more and more refined and complex. Currently, machines can print at layers of about 0.1mm thick, and some thicker, depending on the equipment used.
One important thing to mention abut 3D printing is that there’s very little waste. You use the exact amount of material needed for the product you’re making. The support braces for the item are printed at the same time and can be recycled and put back into the machine.
As I was talking to Paul, I saw another 3D printer on another desk printing parts for another 3D printer. That’s machine building machines! Paul assured me that it couldn’t create a complete 3D printer, but certainly most of the plastic parts. Things like circuit boards and wires still need to be added by a human which means we’re not quite at the hostile takeover that the fictitious Skynet envisages.
This prompted a discussion about what materials can be used in 3D printing. Spools of plastic were stacked up ready to be used, which was no real surprise, but then I noticed one that looked like wood – and that’s because it was wood.
It wasn’t solid wood, of course, but a pulped wood and polymer composite. When an object is created using this material, it looks a lot like MDF (Medium-Density Fibreboard), but feels and smells like wood.
And what of other materials? Food material, or human tissue, for example? Both are possible.
Surgeons are currently experimenting with 3D-printed vital organs, and researchers at the Cornell University are looking at different ways to feed astronauts in space, using 3D printed foods.
While these aren’t yet available on the high street, it feels like there’s no reason why this can’t one day be the case. All that’s needed is a 3D printer and the material to print with. Although, it’d be highly unlikely you’ll ever be able to pick up a spare kidney from the local corner shop.
Imagine a one-stop shop where you can not only print household items, but also your clothes, and your dinner – to very specific requirements based on your preferences.
As we mentioned earlier, that reality is still in the future. But the creative push to use 3D printing as a method of mass production is just beginning. Be a part of it.
image credit: A. Buser
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lut
19
Click here to view the video on YouTube.
Mobile Learning Week 2013 gets underway today, which is an initiative organised by UNESCO and supported by Nokia that explores how mobile devices can contribute to literacy and education.
With more than six billion mobile subscriptions worldwide and twice as many people accessing the Internet from a mobile device as from a desktop computer, the potential for mobile learning to empower individuals is clearly huge.
Mobile learning also plays a key role towards achieving UNESCO’s Education for All goals by 2015.
Nokia leading the way
Nokia has been working with UNESCO, the UN’s educational, scientific and cultural organisation, since 2010 on these Education for All targets and has also been a significant partner to help promote mobile learning.
Nokia’s services and technology have been instrumental in getting many of UNESCO’s mobile learning initiatives off the ground in many countries.
At UNESCO’s Mobile Learning Week symposium in Paris this week, Nokia will be giving a keynote speech on Nokia Life, the suite of education and life services that has benefited over 90 million mobile phone users in countries such as India, China and Nigeria.
There will also be demonstrations of two Nokia tools that have been developed to aid learning.
Mobile Mathematics, or MoMaths, has already been used by 50,000 students in South Africa across 200 schools and is now being expanded as a global service.
Nokia Flashcards, created in partnership with the NGO Plan, is a mobile game that supports literacy and language learning. It will be available for you to try out very soon on the Nokia Store!
Leading UNESCO’s work
Professor Francesc Pedró is leading UNESCO’s work in education and technology. From his office in Paris, he spoke to Conversations about mobile learning, the part that Nokia has played and why it can ultimately benefit teachers, pupils and whole families.
Can you quickly introduce mobile learning for us?
UNESCO has been working in this area for the past two years. We wanted to explore how we could use existing devices, particularly for teachers and parents, to promote literacy and education.
That was when mobile learning was mostly related to mobile phones but we have experienced a transformation of the concept of mobile learning since then.
There are now opportunities offered by devices, like tablets, and if you look at the number of countries that are offering one-to-one initiatives using tablets or smartphones, then it is really an explosion.
Currently, we are supporting countries in the exploration of mobile phones for learning purposes and we are doing this through the continuous professional development of teachers.
Are there benefits to mobile learning that you might not get with traditional teaching?
Mobile learning empowers the learner to continue learning because he or she will continue to be connected when they leave the classroom.
Through mobile learning we are providing educational opportunities not just for the pupil but also for the family, household and social environment. We have seen this happening in a number of countries.
Can you give us some examples of the initiatives where you are using mobile learning?
In Pakistan we are using mobile learning to empower women and young girls and we have projects in continuous professional development in Nigeria, Senegal, Mexico and Pakistan. We are doing this to make sure that we support teachers in upgrading their skills.
We are also using existing tools to provide teachers with access to videos on their mobile device that can be easily connected to a TV set so they can communicate this content in the classroom.
There are many ways you can use the technology. What matters is that mobile learning is not one single thing, it is the idea of empowering individuals.
What are the obstacles to mobile learning?
The most important barrier is bandwidth. In harsh or remote areas where mobile learning could provide some wonderful opportunities we are ill-served either because we don’t have the devices or more importantly because there is not enough bandwidth or connectivity.
Click here to view the video on YouTube.
How has Nokia helped you?
Nokia approached us three years ago precisely with the idea of supporting UNESCO to become a powerful voice in the area of mobile learning. Almost no one was talking about mobile learning then.
Nokia has supported UNESCO financially and they have supported us in the review of existing initiatives all over the world.
Thanks to the support of Nokia we are also launching the UNESCO policy guidelines on mobile learning this week.
Nokia have made a very substantive contribution and we very much look forward to continuing this cooperation in the future.
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lut
18
Zgodnie z obietnicą przeczytaliśmy wszystkie komentarze i wybraliśmy nominacje do Złotych Blobów i Zgniłych Gruch na podstawie Waszych sugestii. Jako jedna z nielicznych firm pytamy Was o to co było super i o czym lepiej głośno nie mówić. Wyniki ankiety, jak co roku, zostaną pokazane na corocznym spotkaniu prezesów, dyrektorów i kierowników PLAY. Bardzo Was [...]
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lut
18
Zgodnie z obietnicą przeczytaliśmy wszystkie komentarze i wybraliśmy nominacje do Złotych Blobów i Zgniłych Gruch na podstawie Waszych sugestii. Jako jedna z nielicznych firm pytamy Was o to co było super i o czym lepiej głośno nie mówić. Wyniki ankiety, jak co roku, zostaną pokazane na corocznym spotkaniu prezesów, dyrektorów i kierowników PLAY. Bardzo Was [...]
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lut
17
Na prośbę kilku osób przedłużamy przyjmowanie zgłoszeń do jutra, do końca dnia. Przypominam, że czekamy na Wasze playlisty przygotowane na WiMP – playlisty pod tytułem “Nie słucham Weekendu w weekend”. Linki do playlist proszę wysyłajcie na konkursy@blogplay.pl Zobaczcie jaki prosty jest WiMP. Prezentuje Ola z męskim głosem 
pamiętajcie, że czekają dwa bardzo fajne smartfony ZTE [...]
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lut
17
W sklepie internetowym Play ruszyła właśnie przedsprzedaż super smartfona Sony Xperia™ Z. Spieszcie się! Do pierwszych zamówień dokładamy za darmo głośnik SONY 
Zapraszamy na stronę: http://www.play.pl/super-smartfony/ https://www.play.pl/telefony/sony-xperia-z/ 
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lut
17
W sklepie internetowym Play ruszyła właśnie przedsprzedaż super smartfona Sony Xperia™ Z. Spieszcie się! Do pierwszych zamówień dokładamy za darmo głośnik SONY Zapraszamy na stronę: http://www.play.pl/super-smartfony/ https://www.play.pl/telefony/sony-xperia-z/
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lut
17
Na prośbę kilku osób przedłużamy przyjmowanie zgłoszeń do jutra, do końca dnia. Przypominam, że czekamy na Wasze playlisty przygotowane na WiMP – playlisty pod tytułem “Nie słucham Weekendu w weekend”. Linki do playlist proszę wysyłajcie na konkursy@blogplay.pl Zobaczcie jaki prosty jest WiMP. Prezentuje Ola z męskim głosem pamiętajcie, że czekają dwa bardzo fajne smartfony ZTE [...]
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lut
16
We all have different priorities when it comes to smartphones; with some people it’s emailing, with some it’s games, and with others it’s apps. Somewhat depressingly, outside of core features, the most important thing a phone can offer me is golfing apps, and I’ve been trying out some of the best apps that Windows Phone has to offer.
When I first started using golfing apps on smartphones, it really was just a case of being lazy, having something to note down the scores and add them up for me at the end. Things have come on in leaps and bounds since then though, and apps now do everything from telling you exactly where you are on a hole, and how far you have left to go, to keeping track of your averages and statistics.
Here are some of my must-have golfing choices for Windows Phone.
Connected Golf is the app I’ve been using for the past few months. It’s particularly easy to use, it looks great, and it also combines everything you need in a golfing application. As with Windows Phone itself, all the buttons are large and finger-friendly, and it’s intuitive to use.
When you’re out on the course the GPS proves accurate within a couple of metres, and you can simply tap the screen to see how far away any point on the course is. When you get to the green, it’s also easy to keep track of all the scores, averages, distances hit and more.
If there’s a downside, it’s the fact that a lot of UK courses don’t have their details on there. You can still see the course, score and measure distances, but you’ll have to enter all the stats if you want to do things properly. A good choice then, but there are more complete apps out there.
Mobitee GPS Golf may be one of the more expensive apps on the Windows Phone Store, but what does it have to offer? It looks good, for a start, with big and easy to use onscreen buttons. This is increasingly important on devices like the Nokia Lumia 920, where you’ll be able to use the app without removing your golf glove.
There’s a good range of courses on offer, with an update after you’ve downloaded the app to search for more. All of my local courses are present and correct, and contact details are also included. Tapping a point on the fairway not only tells you how far away it is, but what club you need to use, and you can obviously edit the distances you’re capable of hitting the ball.
It’s the ease of use I really liked for Mobitee though – a lot of the time I’ll be rushing to get out of the way of people behind, and it’s here the clear menus really come into their own.
There are loads of apps that make it easy to find out where you are on a course, or what score you got on the last hole, but as soon as the winter comes along and things get difficult, golfing etiquette often flies out of the window.
Rules of Golf is a great little app to have on your Lumia, making it perfectly clear what happens in any given situation, and helping to avoid any arguments out on the course. Ball buries itself in a hole when it lands? Now you don’t need to make up the rules as you go along. Obviously, this may not help your game…
If a range-finder is more your thing, Golf GPS is a viable alternative to dedicated GPS hardware. It’s capable of highlighting exactly where you are, along with 100, 150 and 200-yard marks, so you’ll always know just how far away you are from the pin and what club you should be using.
With aerial maps of each hole, fairway and green, it’s an easy to use app and looks great. The publishers also point out: “You will NEVER need to map a course.”
SHOTLY is a compelling app, offering all the features I love about Connected Golf, and adding more choice when it comes to locating golf courses nearby in the UK. Again it’s an easy app to navigate, even if you haven’t used it before, and within seconds you’ll be flicking between scorecard and checking out distances from the tee to fairway.
Naturally you can enter the score for each hole, but if you have time (I don’t usually, I’m too busy dodging balls from impatient people behind me) you can also enter stats such as the amount of shots to the fairway and green, number of puts, chip shots and more. Enter these details regularly, and it’s a fantastic way to keep track of your progress, or indeed lack of. Overall, this is by far my favourite app on Windows Phone!
With an abundance of apps that do absolutely everything, sometimes it can be a refreshing change to see an app that’s simple and single-minded in its approach. Golf Scorecard is such an app, doing exactly what it says on the tin.
There’s no range-finder, no GPS tracking and no complicated features to get the hang of. It’s just a scoring app, pure and simple. And if you want an easy app to keep track of your rounds, it could be right up your street.
Not everybody wants a rangefinder and scorecard app in one, which is where FreeCaddie Golf GPS comes in. The app literally acts as a rangefinder, letting you access pre-mapped courses, or map your own if it’s not already on the list.
It’s a useful app if you play at a nicer course where people actually care about having scores written down on scorecards. On other occasions though, I ended up reverting back to Connected Golf or SHOTLY, as I’m a bit too lazy to keep counting up my scores!
image credit: kevin dooley
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