XplanaZine

When I was in elementary school we used to make these short “animations” by drawing stick figures on the edges of the pages in our books. Then, by fanning the pages quickly, we could see our tiny creations run into walls or watch our silly cars explode when they hit trees.What I remember most about those short animations is that they were, well, short. There never seemed to be enough pages in the book to do anything particularly elaborate.

That ties in nicely with today’s theme, whether short is as good as long. Now, I’ll admit I’m old enough to have seen quite a few good “short” things in my life. I’ve experienced good shortcake, good shortstops, good short-sleeve shirts, good short irons, and a good short movie or two.

Of course, the question about those good short movies is precisely this — “Are they good enough to make any money?” That question is particularly pertinent in today’s expanding mobile phone market where many see video iPods and video–playing cell phones as the perfect opportunity to make a buck off a new genre of film.

What inquiring minds really want to know, however, is whether there’s any real market in short mobile films. On this matter, I’ll let you make up your own mind. Here’s some things to consider:

• films in this genre are really short ranging generally between 1-10 minutes
• films being made specifically for the mobile market are made with the small screen in mind (smaller, simpler stories and less movement)
• these filmsprimarily target
  mobile phone
  users who find themselves with a few minutes of spare time and want something entertaining to fill the space

Well, I’ve spent a good bit of time over at Cinequest in the last week checking out these films and I’ll admit some are pretty entertaining. Would I pay money for them? Not as individual clips, no. But, I can imagine paying a small amount for a package of 15-20 films that I can download anytime I want. It’s that attitude, along with the fact that these short movies are downloaded and shared in old Napster-style fashion, that has independent filmmakers concerned. They worry “about the possibility that people could stop
going to the theater for their movie experience if they can get content
wherever and whenever they want, losing out on seeing the film the way
it was meant to be enjoyed.”

Now, this is all well and good for the general folk out there. I mean, I support our capitalist ways and am all for anyone who thinks they can make a buck on a creative idea. But, my real interest in this phenomenon is education. What can we as educators learn from what’s happening in the mobile film space?

Just asking the question takes me back to the days of Schoolhouse Rock, the creative series of 41 short animations from the 70’s and 80’s that were designed to teach kids about everything from multiplication tables to getting a bill through congress. One of the creators of that series had an epiphany when he realized his son knew the lyrics to every Beatles song was clueless about his spelling work. This prompted him to ask, “Why not convert “school work” into fun and engaging short animations that fall within the limits of kids’ real attention spans?” Well, they did and the short clips played as commercials during cartoon blocks on Saturdays and after school during the week (on ABC).

The Schoolhouse Rock concept was effective because it reached out to kids where they were with learning techniques they found natural and comfortable. Using that as a springboard, I’d like t to list here some considerations for educators and content producers. These are things I think we can learn from the short film movement and by revisiting some of the fun work done by others in the past (does anyone remember Muzzy?)

• Think smaller. Begin reducing content to its smallest chunks. This will help you repurpose material more easily over time but it will also allow you to stay within the time parameters required for doing fun, short lessons.
• Recognize that there is not necessarily any correlation between the amount of time spent on a lesson and the amount of learning that takes place. As the Spanish poet Gracián once said, “That which good, when brief, is twice as good.”
• Realize that short audio and video clips are things young learners are much more likely to take with them wherever they go, and listen to/watch as “homework.”
• Remember that short media clips will most often be experienced on a tiny screen. The story/content is more important that the fancy production value.
• Don’t be afraid to be creative. The very idea has, as its root, the work create. That’s what education is really about. And the more you do it the easier it will be to get your students to want to do it too.

That’s when the party really starts.

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