Is vertical video viewed on your phone the future of cinema? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

“Filmmaking is going more and more in the way of vertical videos,” said Younes Zarou, a 25-year-old German TikTok star with over 52 million followers who is attending the Cannes film festival, referring to TikTok’s format. “TikTok was the first mover in that space, and now other platforms request vertical videos.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/05/26/tik-tok-cannes-vertical-film/

 

[JohnRice]

Bullshit.

TikTok is not Filmmaking. "Platforms" are not cinema.

That is all.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Article is behind paywall for me so I can only comment generally.

I don’t think vertical video is the future of movie theaters / theatrical content / premium cable-streaming any more so than the screenshot films “Searching” and “Missing” represent the exclusive future of movies.

But as people’s relationships with technology and how they prefer to / have opportunity to consume content evolves / changes over time, sure, I suppose it’s possible that someone will make a film/show or a version of a film/show formatted for vertical platforms.

It certainly didn’t work when they tried that Quibli app (might be mistaken on the name) a few years ago, but as we keep getting inundated with new content but not more hours in the day, some people may find that watching on their phone or tablet is more preferable/convenient than other choices. I don’t necessarily see the movies going that way, but it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility that newscasts, sports and other programming that’s more about content than framing might be optimized for different platforms.

 

[John Dirk]

I couldn't access the article either but, no, whatever this phenomenon is, it is not "cinema." With all due respect to Younes Zarou, I have little interest in a 25 year old's opinion concerning what constitutes filmmaking. He [?] may very well be correct in that the attention of many consumers of his generation has veered to small, portable screens but what they see on those screens will never be mistaken for true cinema by anyone who's ever experienced it.

 

[DaveF]

I subscribe to WaPo so I forget it’s paywalled. Here’s the salient portion:

A TikTok star and filmmaker who goes by the name Samba, who was judging the app’s short-film awards at Cannes, said that he’s already seeing TikTok’s impact on the content young filmmakers are creating, especially when it comes to sound design, color and editing. Young filmmakers who leverage TikTok create films that are fast and engaging, with rapid pacing, bright colors and always shot vertically, Samba and other judges said.
“Filmmaking is going more and more in the way of vertical videos,” said Younes Zarou, a 25-year-old German TikTok star with over 52 million followers who is attending the Cannes film festival, referring to TikTok’s format. “TikTok was the first mover in that space, and now other platforms request vertical videos.”
Zarou said that he believes that soon major motion pictures may be presented in vertical format for people to consume on their phones. “Maybe in the future they can make a movie move in the vertical style, and for two hours you can watch the movie on your phone vertical.”
Lucas Millions Dutra, a 23-year-old TikTok filmmaker who wrote and co-created one of the films that won TikTok’s short-form filmmaking award, agreed. “People think they have to go to widescreen formats for long-form content,” he said. “But I think there’s power in short-form [vertical] content that we’ve obviously seen. I think TikTok is going to inspire more filmmakers to feel like they can start doing short form.”

Several film-related trends have gone viral on TikTok in recent months, most notably one where users create short films in the style of director Wes Anderson. On Tuesday, the Associated Press tracked down Anderson and asked if he was aware of the trend and if he’d watched any of the videos from the young filmmakers mimicking his style.
“I haven’t seen it,” he said. “I’ve never seen any TikTok, actually.”

 

[TravisR]

Another reason to like Wes Anderson.

As for the Tik Tok "filmmakers" mimicking Anderson's style, it's not mimicry- they're mocking an artist's style because they have none of their own.

 

[John Dirk]

Maybe I'm missing something. Most contemporary phones already support widescreen formats so I see no appeal in or reason for "vertical video." The portable experience doesn't necessitate it and it's clearly inferior, so why bother?

 

[BobO'Link]

Maybe I'm missing something. Most contemporary phones already support widescreen formats so I see no appeal in or reason for "vertical video." The portable experience doesn't necessitate it and it's clearly inferior, so why bother?

Because it's easier to hold the phone vertically while shooting video and photos. You can do it with one hand and still mostly keep control of the device. You pretty much have to use a mount or two hands when shooting horizontally to help keep your hands from blocking the camera(s) and still be able to see the action.

 

[Edwin-S]

I couldn't access the article either but, no, whatever this phenomenon is, it is not "cinema." With all due respect to Younes Zarou, I have little interest in a 25 year old's opinion concerning what constitutes filmmaking. He [?] may very well be correct in that the attention of many consumers of his generation has veered to small, portable screens but what they see on those screens will never be mistaken for true cinema by anyone who's ever experienced it.

Cinema will adapt to whatever the next generation consumes the majority of their content in. If the predominant format for the majority becomes tiny, vertical screens then cinema is going to need to account for it just like they did with the widespread adoption of TVs. I mean, where is it written that cinema is defined by the orientation of the screen?

While I don't necessarily agree with him that film making is really going to move in that direction, I don't see why his view should be discounted because of his age.

 

[Keith Cobby]

Viewing a film theatrically at an AR of 9:18 would certainly be a novel experience. As for the Tik Toker being 25, I doubt his output will have the longevity of the 25 yo who made Citizen Kane.

 

[DaveF]

Maybe I'm missing something. Most contemporary phones already support widescreen formats so I see no appeal in or reason for "vertical video." The portable experience doesn't necessitate it and it's clearly inferior, so why bother?

Watching YouTube videos widescreen on an iPhone is a constant recurring annoyance: vertical video is easier and doesn’t require rotating the phone and toggling orientation lock.

TikTok has a billion (or more) monthly users all watching vertical video.

TikTok says 1 billion people use the app each month

The company reported nearly 700 million monthly active global users last summer.

www.cnbc.com

Instagram has around 125 million monthly users enjoying square or vertical video.

U.S. Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok Snapchat users 2023 | Statista

How many active users are on Instagram?

www.statista.com

There is the well known reporting on kids watching YouTube instead of TV. Or talk with friends with kids to hear it.

There are massive numbers of kids and teens and young adults watching vast amount of video very differently than we or our parents or grandparents did the past 100 years.

Don’t know where video goes. But it could go places us olds don’t like.

 

[JohnRice]

Allow me to clarify.

Does vertical video exist? Yes. Will it continue to exist? Yes? Is it going to take over filmmaking? I doubt it. For one thing, there is over a century of horizontal filmmaking that already exists. Is it all just declared of no value? When the main argument is it's too inconvenient to turn your phone horizontally to record or watch your epic piece of cinematic art, I have to question how much effort actually went into creating it, or how much interest you actually have in viewing it. If your reaction is, "Oh, I have to rotate my phone to watch this, that's too much work, I'll watch something else." then by all means be my guest, and no, you won't be alone. Will it take over cinema? I tend to doubt it. At least, not until we have holodecks, in which case, it'll all probably be forgotten.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I know I’m in the minority because I only regularly watch one YouTuber {James Rolfe aka AVGN (The Angry Video Game Nerd)} and he has shot in widescreen for a number of years now. I don’t use TikTok and don’t spend any other time on YouTube so all of this is just noise to me.

Any TikTok “star” (read: influencer ) who thinks vertical video is the wave of the future is a lazy, no-talent hack who needs their head examined.

 

[John Dirk]

Cinema will adapt to whatever the next generation consumes the majority of their content in. If the predominant format for the majority becomes tiny, vertical screens then cinema is going to need to account for it just like they did with the widespread adoption of TVs. I mean, where is it written that cinema is defined by the orientation of the screen?

While I don't necessarily agree with him that film making is really going to move in that direction, I don't see why his view should be discounted because of his age.

Fair points. Here is my take on each.

• Age - He's too young to have experienced the evolution of the cinematic experience without tiny screens and portability being a factor. This doesn't make his opinions irrelevant, only of marginal interest to me on this particular topic.

• Cinema being defined by orientation of the screen - On this we agree but I believe "cinema" to be a more comprehensive term that includes suitable screen size and environment for [reasonably] full immersion. There's nothing wrong with content being viewed on (or even produced for) tiny screens, I just wouldn't personally refer to it as "cinema."

 

[John Dirk]

Because it's easier to hold the phone vertically while shooting video and photos. You can do it with one hand and still mostly keep control of the device. You pretty much have to use a mount or two hands when shooting horizontally to help keep your hands from blocking the camera(s) and still be able to see the action.

But wouldn't any serious content intended for commercial use be shot with professional level equipment anyway? These mounts already exist and are in heavy use by content developers.

 

[John Dirk]

Watching YouTube videos widescreen on an iPhone is a constant recurring annoyance: vertical video is easier and doesn’t require rotating the phone and toggling orientation lock.

This would be a trivial fix on any mobile device platform if the demand for it were recognized.

 

[Wayne_j]

I consider cinema to be movies seen in a movie theater. I doubt that vertical video will ever be shown in a movie theater on a regular basis. Content will probably continue to be made for vertical video but it won't be cinema.

 

[jcroy]

The future of cinema will have completely arbitrary screen ratios and angles, at the discretion of the producer.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Something viewed on a phone is not "cinema" but something viewed in a cinema is cinema. The future of "filmmaking" is likely TikTok style videos viewed on a phone. I've discussed this a bit in the past and people, including Spielberg have apparently been looking into this and the immersive 360 degree video as formats for filmmaking. For films that will be short, or shown in short sections of no more than 15 minutes, and interactive, in that you could choose to follow different characters and storylines. So, you literally are choosing what "film" you want to experience.

I think the only word that does not belong here is "cinema" because this filmmaking would have no requirement to go to a cinema.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

And yes, the younger generations love this because you don't need to go to a cinema, and the shorter length is much more appealing to them. They like short videos of no more than 2 to 15 minutes. Not 2 hour films that they have to visit a cinema for. It's almost like a format like VHS being replaced by DVD and then Blu-ray.

Cinema will be replaced by phones. Filmmaking as we've known it would be replaced by short videos that would require much smaller budgets.