Nokia N8 Direct and Project

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Trevor Boudreau (tb communications) invited me to be part of the Nokia Canada N8 Direct and Project event, at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This competition challenges 30 Vancouver-based artists and online influencers to direct an innovative movie that has been shot and edited entirely using their Nokia N8 smartphone.

During the event, each director will screen their minute-long short film in front of a live audience of their peers. Winners will be selected by judging panel presided over by well-known Canadian music video director RT! and audience reaction. After the event, 10 finalist videos will be uploaded to Nokia’s YouTube channel where they will be given a platform to generate buzz and potentially become the next Martin Scorsese.

Smartphones have become increasingly advanced and are breeding a new generation of “citizen” filmmakers. The Nokia N8 is equipped with a 12 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens that allows users to shoot HD-quality video and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. It’s also the first smartphone to offer a true home theater experience and only global smartphone that offers Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. Consumers can simply plug the device to their home theatre system with an HDMI cable that comes in the box.

I showed up very briefly at the event at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where I bumped into a few of my good friends, including Ariane Colenbrander, Roland Tanglao and John Biehler, as well as Peter Davies and April Smith (AHA Media) who documented the event almost in its entirety.

I wish I could have stayed for longer as it was a very well run event. I look forward to future Nokia Canada events.