cinema in your pocket: a magazine about films for the small screen

Pqfilm

An independent magazine about film culture for the small screen. It does not show or distribute films and is not affiliated with any platforms, festivals or the previous website on this domain.

History

History

The journey from a phone made for calls to a pocket movie theater and film camera took about two decades. We don't name exact dates or celebrated firsts in this story: the changes came gradually, in many countries at once and without a single inventor. So below are just a few milestones described by decade, and the rest we tell in general terms.

First the phone learned to record, then to show, and only later did people realize it was one and the same device for cinema.

ā€” Editor's note

Timeline

  1. Early 2000s

    The first mass-market mobile phones with a built-in camera appear. Photos and short videos are modest in quality, but this is when the habit of carrying a lens in your pocket takes hold.

  2. Late 2000s

    Smartphones with large touch screens spread. Watching video on them becomes convenient, and for the first time the phone seriously turns into a personal screen for movies.

  3. 2010s

    Feature films shot on smartphones are released, and festivals and contests for films made on phones emerge. The mobile camera gains recognition as a filmmaker's tool.

  4. 2010sā€“2020s

    Vertical video becomes a standard format for short clips, and later it gives rise to vertical mini-series with their own storytelling and rhythm.

How the screen shrank but cinema stayed cinema

For a long time, film was associated with a dark auditorium and a big screen. Then it moved to the home screen, and even then many complained that movies were losing their scale. The move to the phone looked even more radical: the image shrank to the size of a postcard and ended up right in the viewer's hand.

Yet the foundations of film language survived this compression too. The close-up, changes of shot, the cut, and the use of sound and pauses still tell the story. What changed was the emphasis: faces and gestures became more prominent, while wide landscapes and complex crowd scenes became harder to take in.

The filmmaker's side changed at the same time. A camera that is always on hand made it possible to shoot where a large crew could never go, and to do it quickly. For many aspiring directors, the phone became the first tool on which they learned to think in shots.

Today the small screen is not a replacement for the movie theater but another environment, with its own limits and its own possibilities. We are interested in how filmmakers and viewers learn to live in it without losing what matters most: attention to the story.

  • Analysis

    How the first seconds of a short film work and how a vertical frame differs from a horizontal one.

  • People

    Director, camera operator, sound designer, editor, vertical series creator and programmer: the roles of mobile filmmaking.

  • Events

    Short film festivals, contests, film talks and mobile filmmaking workshops, and how to vet an announcement.

  • Articles

    Six magazine topics, from the screen in your hand to viewing habits, plus the catalog of articles for the English edition.

  • Archive

    The magazine's table of contents and why pages of the previous website on this domain have been removed.

Sources

  • Reference materials on the history of mobile communications and video (general overview)
  • Pqfilm editorial materials

We describe the history of mobile filmmaking and video only by decade and in general terms, without exact dates or figures. Always confirm the terms of festivals, contests, talks and workshops with their organizers.