mobile-mentary @ CREAM

In the CREAM symposium presentation on the 21st June 2007, I presented the current research stage of the mobile-mentary project. I created this neologism to emphasize the convergence of mobile technologies and documentary practice. The mobile-mentary research project is an experiment in cinematic communication.

The documentary / city film production The mobile-mentary – the record of a vblog (working title, Schleser, 2007 in post-production) is exploring Japanese metropolitan centres through the lens of a mobile phone. The practice-led research project investigates how the mobile-mentaries (mobile documentaries) contribute to and extend the definition of documentary theory and practice.

During the presentation I drew upon Hans Richter’s approach to documentary filmmaking and his conceptualisation of the montage technique. Furthermore I focused on contextualising a new emerging mobile filmic experience, which I illustrated as a ‘link’ between the contemporary cityscape and micro-movies viewed on mobile devices. Moreover I argued the case that the interdependency between cinema and the city is transferred into the mobile realm. In 2000 the first camera phone was introduced in Japan and the last years are characterised by a vast accelerated technological development of mobile devices. Despite the wide diffusion of mobile technologies (-in 2006 mobile phones have outnumbered the volume of film and digital cameras combined-) no examination of the distinctive mobile phone aesthetic is present.