hi my name is Tony and this is every
frame a painting today I'm going to
switch things up a bit and talk about
problem solving one of the reasons I
like filmmaking is that sometimes you
have to design a solution to a
particular stumbling block for example
how do you show a text message in a film
it's an interesting conundrum texting is
kind of visual so in theory this
shouldn't be hard and yet every time a
filmmaker cuts to an insert of a phone
you can hear the audience yawning a lot
of films just make it so the characters
don't text or they read the messages out
loud like idiots or worse they invent
some reason for the phone's not to work
97 percent nationwide coverage and we
find ourselves in that 3 percent but in
the last 4 or 5 years something's
happened filmmakers have started
adopting a new formal convention the
on-screen text message it has exploded
in just a few years I first noticed it
on the BBC version of Sherlock but after
consulting Twitter we found earlier
examples in soap operas teen movies and
in films from South Korea and Japan
regardless of where you first saw it
this is a great example of how film form
is always evolving so why are filmmakers
adopting this I think there's three
simple reasons first off it saves money
if you have a story where texting is
important the director can save a ton of
money by not shooting 60 close-ups of
phones all you need is After Effects and
this guy Andrew Kramer here for Video
Copilot net second it's artistically
efficient shot reverse shot is slow
because the phone has to be on screen
long enough to read it sometimes in huge
ridiculous Graham off on on screen
texting solves a lot of this it allows
us to combine action and reaction in the
same frame best of all it gives us an
uninterrupted view of the actors
performance which is always nice but
there's a third reason this has been
noticed elegant design and this is where
sherlock is definitive this is beautiful
in and of itself you'll notice there's
no bubble around the text because the
bubble is the first thing that becomes
outdated the font has remained
consistent for each season of the show
the color is white instead of different
colors for different characters we
aren't told who's sending or receiving
which is great because now the audience
has to infer based on the message which
increases our involvement the words
appear next to the phone but they float
independently compare that to this film
where the messages move as if they're
attached to the device weight note to
the person note to the device make up
your mind
so who knows maybe this will be a new
convention maybe it's just a stepping
stone no but while Sherlock seems to
assault how to do text messages we have
another
many many people have tried but we still
don't have that one really good way of
depicting the Internet some methods are
not exactly cheap others are kinda
inefficient and others well you know I
am actually a big fan of one new
development the desktop film where all
of the action takes place directly on
the screen let me show you I can't speak
for anyone else but these films are
actually pretty similar to how I receive
information on a daily basis some have
emotional resonance some are mysterious
and some are wonderfully experimental
but if you really want to explore the
cutting edge there's only one place to
go one tick to Tokyo please
where for the last two decades animation
has been coming up with wild and crazy
ways to show the world online whether
they be super flat and floating or
message board poses inner titles or
plugging into a separate green online
world and there's a bunch of other
fascinating possibilities that may or
may not work in other films but are
really interesting just to consider even
live-action films from Asian directors
have tried this physical rooms where
people chat for an animated world within
the cell phone all of these are
experiments and some are honestly
failures but that's good because people
are trying and for once this is a level
playing field you and I have as much of
a chance of figuring out the solution as
the next Hollywood film for something
like this
lack of money is an advantage remember
cheap efficient elegant for all I know
the solution is already out there from
hackers
L Sherlock may have figured it out but
in the meantime I think it's nice to
appreciate a small formal step in the
right direction this is proof that film
form is not set in stone people don't
stop inventing this stuff and right now
at least I see a big problem we haven't
solved yet and a very level playing
field for anyone who wants to go for it