Pockets Shorts have thrown down the gauntlet to hungry Northern creatives: they will commission short films and locative media projects devised using mobile devices from film-makers who've graduated in the last five years....

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Pocket Shorts, the UK’s only independent mobile phone film production fund will be commissioning again in November.

Pocket Shorts is a initiative from Blink - who screen and commission short films and devise locative media projects using mobile devices - and is aimed at filmmakers who have graduated in the last five years, and live in Yorkshire, the North West and the North East of England. It is funded by NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) as part of its support for new businesses in the creative industries.

Filmmakers can apply for up to £2,000 production funding to create short films of four x fifteen seconds or 60 seconds in length. Pocket Shorts seek ideas from all forms of moving image makers working in animation, games design, advertising, 3D design, music video, motion graphics, graphic design as well as traditional artists and filmmakers. Mentor guidance from a compatible industry partner will support awardees through the production process.

After a successful first year we are looking for ideas that really exploit the platform and engage the audience with something they have never seen before. With such a huge potential for play and a virtually blank canvas our message remains that restriction can stimulate creativity. Videophones deliver films on the move, simple and quick distractions anytime of the day or night. For filmmakers this new platform helps them to reach a new and diverse audience outside the realms of the traditional cinema.

Workshops to mobilise entrants...

Prior to the application deadline, free mobile phone filmmaking workshops will be held in each of the three regions. Here, filmmakers can view examples of short moving image work and find out about the distribution channels for the finished films. Workshops will be held in Sheffield, Middlesbrough and Liverpool.

All Pocket Shorts films are showcased at key UK film festivals via our new free mobile phone content dispenser Bluevend that uses Bluetooth technology to enable a free film takeaway for videophone owners.

Lisa Roberts, Director of Blink said: "Why graduate and follow the masses working as a runner for a film company when Pocket Shorts offers an alternative? This is your chance to be a pioneer in mobile phone filmmaking, a genre demanding a kind of creativity that can keep up with the pace of technology.”

For details on how to apply go to www.pocketshorts.co.uk

Deadline for applications: 30 November 2005


About Pocket Shorts:
Pocket Shorts is an extension of NESTA’s Creative Pioneer Programme, which is designed to encourage the growth of a new generation of creative entrepreneurs. NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) investing in innovators and working to improve the climate for creativity in the UK. www.nesta.org.uk

Blink is an arts project management company based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire and is dedicated to the creative use of new mobile technologies. www.blinkmedia.org

Bluevend is a wall-mounted Bluetooth vending machine designed for the wireless distribution of creative mobile phone content www.bluevend.com www.bluevend.blogspot.com