Creating Mobile Content

What kind of video looks best on a portable device? And how can you tailor your work for the small screen? To find out, we spoke to Erika Lewis, vice president of content and programming for GoTV, about shooting small and creating a cross-platform strategy.

While you want your work to look good on a mobile screen, don't plan on only delivering it to cell phone users, advises Lewis. While 232 million people have mobile phones, she says, only 5 million subscribe to some kind of video service.
"You need to get visibility across everything to get people to want to buy your service," Lewis says. That means creating a cross-platform approach that supplies video for online broadband distribution and even television.
Mobile video "is a nascent industry," Lewis says. While it's the bread and butter for GoTV, which specializes in creating premium video content for cell phones, the company still looks for visibility in other markets.
"To try to maximize the number of people seeing your work, you really want to have a cross-platform approach," says Lewis.
Shooting Mobile Content Mobile content is brief and often episodic, so it's typical for content creators to shoot several episodes over a day or two. If you plan on distributing your content to mobile devices, use lots of close-up shots and keep establishing shots simple, so there isn't too much confusing detail. Keep in mind that you might want to create two edits: one for broadband and one for mobile. If so, get more close shots for the mobile version and more long shots for the broadband.

Here are five tips Lewis recommends when shooting video for mobile devices:
1) Emphasize medium and close-up shots. You want the image clear and simple, even on a postage stamp-sized screen.

2) Avoid heavy pans or movement. Too much movement on a small screen can turn into an indecipherable blur.

3) Standard definition video, even from an inexpensive camera, looks fine on mobile screens. There's no point in renting an expensive, fully-featured camera.

4) Audio quality is crucial. Viewers will put up with poor video quality but not poor audio quality.

5) Keep your work under four minutes. If you need to go longer, create a second episode. Viewers don't watch long content on mobile devices.
Follow these tips and your work will look great on whatever screens your viewers are using.