Storytelling and Filmmaking with Smartphones
The day that mobile technology changed storytelling.
There was a day in our most recent history that changed how we share stories. I’d like to share that with you from my own perception. It was a day that began like any other, but what was happening in my mind played a big part in how it would change my life later.
If you are a student, you know that before you walk into a class, the course topic is already revolving in your thoughts. That’s why I walked into my history of media class with thoughts floating like notes in my mind.
I was attending classes about broadcast media, journalism—at the same time, I was working for a local video production company.
This day, this every day of days, I walked into class and was broadsided by solemn faces in the dark watching a national news broadcast.
Prior to this day, I was learning about video for broadcasting. The features that cameras needed to have and how skilled we needed to be to operate these cameras in and out of a studio.
On this day, a Tuesday morning in Lower Manhattan, there were tourists and regular people going about their morning. Some tourists carried home video cameras and were recording the sights and sounds from New York City. Something they planned to experience over and over again at home days, weeks and years later.
What they did not expect was to have their video clips shown on national and international news stations. They didn’t even understand the meaning of B roll.
Another thing many people had at that time, were cell phones. Cell phones (at least in the U.S.) did not have cameras yet on September 11 and cameras on cell phones were not widespread until close to the mid 2000’s.
While cell phones did not have cameras to capture photos of this tragic day, there were people who shared their stories and contacted loved ones from and around ground zero, using their cell phones.
However, that became a very hard thing to do because a transmission tower on top of one of the World Trade Center buildings, the “Twin Towers”, was destroyed during the attack. It cut cell phone service in the area.
There is the 1story of a photographer, Bob Doyle. His story is just one of thousands who lost service on their phones and had to leave the area to contact their loved ones.
There were people calling radio stations to share their stories and others were calling news stations. Many used their cell phones. There were also victims, a couple in flight 93, who 2used their cell phones to contact family.
The story of September 11, 2001 has its prominent place in history for many. But it was a day that changed how we share stories.
You can listen to my personal experience on September 11.
I was convinced at the time that what I saw as a vision of the future, where cameras would be part of the evolution of cell phones and one day, we would use them to make movies. The ultimate storytelling format, in my opinion.
I believed manufacturers would understand how that day would motivate everyone to go out to buy a phone. It was not some crazy random notion.
That night, I went to online forums and there were conversations happening that the media was not reporting. The chatter was already taking place that all Muslims were terrorists. That they were everywhere ready to kill all of us. That the attack was not over and it would continue.
I was quite sickened by what I was observing, because it was paranoia and pushed racism. It set the tone in American society that terror came home to us. Terrorist attacks were not something that took place in other countries anymore and we needed to expect it everywhere.
Suddenly everyone wanted a cell phone. I remember them being around in the late 90’s. However, they were not something “everyday people” had.
It’s my opinion that 9/11 raided helped popularize cell phone ownership. It’s also my opinion that storytelling would change thanks to cell phones, the internet and the events of that day.
Just as cameras had to be on the minds of cell phone manufacturers, so did internet access to the mobile web. It was the 3G network that allowed that and it did not become popular in the U.S. until after 2001. It may have been with the Blackberry in 2007. However, it allowed us to connect to the mobile web.
The technology that is always with us allows us to consume and tell stories in many ways. But for me, I have always seen the most influential and advanced storytelling format as filmmaking.
I believe that 9/11 kick started an evolution in society through mobile technology. Communication and storytelling go hand in hand. As the evolution of mobile filmmaking continues to progress with us, the ability to empower ourselves with it becomes more accessible everyday.
Each new phone brings a better camera and more advanced abilities.
The one thing the technology does well, is mimic what we wish to do. However, I truly believe that technology by itself, as attractive and colorful as it can appear, cannot replace the connection between us as humans.
I believe it’s up to all of us who create art in all its forms, and make films, to continue to work on our craft.
As future and younger generations are bombarded with media, we can continue to create the type of media that can distinguish something made through automation with something made by a human with intent. Even if the difference is subtle, we cannot give up on storytelling from human to human. It’s how we inspire and empower each other.
It takes a lot of practice to be a great filmmaker. Screenwriting, directing, capturing and processing great audio…those skills go hand in hand with cinematography. The art of capturing the vision of a story into film is priceless.
Make it yours by sharing the stories only you can tell.
https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/snapshot/911-cell-phone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_during_the_September_11_attacks : “According to the 9/11 Commission Report, 13 passengers from Flight 93 made a total of over 30 calls to both family and emergency personnel (twenty-two confirmed air phone calls, two confirmed cell phone and eight not specified in the report).”