Loading ...Sally Potter’s Rage is as compelling for its mode of release as for the content. It was released exclusively to mobile phones last week over seven days, and then online and on DVD, as well as in select screenings in the UK. The premise of the movie is that a young man named Michelangelo is recording interviews of people involved in a fashion show, but he is doing it all on his mobile phone, so the premise fits the release. Shot on mobile phone, released on mobile phone.
My initial reaction was that I love Sally Potter but do I really want to watch a movie on my iPhone? I gave it a try, and it was an interesting experience. Each installment is around 18 minutes, so I made sure the phone was plugged in to avoid battery drainage. I watched the first two in quick succession, but then didn’t get around to viewing the rest, as I found it hard to find 18 minutes where I wanted to hold my phone in landscape mode. There is no crosscutting or editing at all, except to change from one interviewee to another, so it definitely feels like something shot on a phone.
The film itself is interesting enough; with a star-studded cast (Steve Buscemi, Dianne Wiest, Jude Law, Judi Dench…), and some intrigue, it holds attention. I ammore interested in the context , however — will people who watch this on mobiles form a different opinion from those who first see it in theaters or online?
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Look, emarsh! I’m deigning to read your sorry-assed blog.
Hil
I would image that those who first encountered “Rage” on their iPhones would have a different reaction to it–not only due to the method of presentation itself but also due to the nature of the audience.
You mention that it is difficult to find 18 minutes (per segment) in which you want to hold your iPhone on landscapet mode. This in itself will be a different experience from watching it on DVD or in the cinema. If you attend the movie at a movie theatre you have already block out the couple of hours for the event–not just watching but getting there, getting to the next place you are going, etc.
While not completely the same, not that different from watching on a DVD, assuming that one likes to watch a movie on DVD all the way through in one setting.
And while this might be the least important aspect of the reception based on various delivery methods, one could say that those who own/use and Apple iPhone are a self-selected different segment of the population than those who don’t. I, for example, still have the cellular phone I acquired over four years ago and still use it on an expired and quite cheap contract from my mobile service provider.
So it is possible that those viewing on their iPhones may have a different reaction based partially on the fact that they are viewing it on their iPhones.
Or somethng like that.