Video Snacking

"If anybody says they've figured this out right now, they haven't."
-Christina Norman, President, MTV Music Television

The New York Times Magazine ran a story today, The Shorter, Faster, Cruder, Tinier TV Show, about the possibilities and challenges of video for the "third screen" - P.D.A.'s, iPods, game players and, most importantly, cellphones, using Sway Calloway's made-for-cell series Sway's Hip-Hop Owner's Manual as a case study.  "Filming to the phone" requires tight shots and avoidance of camera motion in order to produce videos that are compelling and clear.  Even the process of holding a meeting to review the material can be a challenge, as in  "Do we all stand behind each other or what?"

Marketing may be less of a problem, since the well-known techniques of getting the attention of 18-24 year-old males still work:

when the network began uploading cellphone clips of the new insult-takedown show "Yo Momma," and gave them titles like "Friday's 'Yo Momma' Sneak Peak," the snippets did O.K., but not great. Then they changed the titles to ones like "Yo Momma Is So Nasty" and "Yo Momma Is So Poor." The clips were consistently among the most-viewed of MTV's mobile shows.

Some memorable additons to the lexicon:

mobisode - short episode of a TV show especially crafted for mobile devices
video snacking - with the implication of brevity and empty calories

Some sites for short-form, consumer-produced videos:

SeeMeTV - British site for 12 second clips.  From 3, a 3G mobile system of Hutchison Whampoa Limited.
Heavy.com
YouTube
Google Video
StupidMedia.net
Weak Game
Mojo Flix
iFilm