Here's the lineup:

Suzy Wang flew all the way from Singapore to give a fascinating talk on the rise of micromovies in Asia.

Suzie Wang, MediaCorp Studios (Singapore): Mobile TV in Asia

Kai Froese, Nokia (Düsseldorf): Learnings from the European Mobile TV Trials

Markus Otte, MTV Networks (Berlin): I Want My Mobile MTV

Manfred Neumann, ProSiebenSat.1 (Munich): The 3rd Screen - ProSieben.Sat.1 Perspectives on Mobile TV

All were presented in excellent English. I found myself thinking of how I could hop on this exciting new bandwagon. Imagine a massive global market of more than a billion potential customers for 2-3 minute films. Better yet, they're bringing back the idea of cliffhanger shorts from yesteryear, like the exploits of Lash Laroo that played in theaters in the '50s. MediaCorp is developing serials made up of a long series of three-minute drama bits that leave you dangling so you have to buy the next episode. The big problem for me was that the revenue models are not well thought out. Some sell individual episodes, while others sell monthly subscriptions. No one is making money on it yet. Nevertheless, these short mobile-dramas fit right in with the new Sundance initiative, encouraging the production of 2-4 minute micromovies for mobile consumption and they are not about to be stopped.

Versus from Supinfocom in Valenciennes, France, won the 3D category. © Supinfocom Valenciennes. Courtesy of Bitfilm.

Strangely, the festival started with a catered, invitation-only awards show. During the week you got a chance to talk with the various artists who created the winning entries. I think the awards show might have been better placed at the end of the festival to help build suspense as to who would win. My favorite winner was in the 3D category. Produced by Supinfocom in Valenciennes, France, it's called Versus, and it is a brilliant piece of short animation. The fact is, everything I've ever seen from Supinfocom has been superb. But I have to say the other category entries were a wild bunch of edgy animations with elements of humor that were clever and disturbing. Bitfilm takes all kinds of entries seriously. If your piece is experimental or cleverly makes a political point or just demonstrates really clever short storytelling, Bitfilm is a wonderful entry point to the international film festivals. They also consider different formats from micromovies for mobile phone consumption, to Flash animation and the unique Machinima class, which consists of stories filmed in realtime using game engines.

Bitfilm is all about digital entertainment. There were seminars on everything from new mobile video venues to a celebration of Japanese monster movies of the '50s and '60s, including a 17-minute all-digital homage to them. Presentations ranged from totally professional to interesting but poorly presented, to one or two that I found just plain awful. Fortunately, you can imbibe during presentations and you get your pick of what to attend.

Micromovies for mobile phones were the talk of the festival.

Cool Stuff at Bitfilm
My favorite was the Nokia Live! Film studio set up in St. Pauli's main square, Spielbudenplatz, across from the main venue. We were able to use Nokia's latest N series cell phone with its excellent Ziess lensed video camera built-in to create fun videos. People were given a choice of various greenscreen sets and a variety props to create short videos that Nokia people would edit for you, compositing in various backgrounds. One of the sets was the surface of the moon complete with large slices of green cheese, a full bore moon suit and, if wanted, a flashy ray gun. After a few beers, attendees would loosen up and make delirious fools of themselves, all documented and sent home on wrist mount jump drives. I assassinated a pretty girl in the basket of a balloon while flying high over the German countryside.

I'd Go Again
All in all, bit film was a unique experience. I met a ton of new contacts from Europe and Asia, discovered a very appealing city and learned a lot about micromovies. Bitfilm is still a little rough around the edges, but in a way that made it more interesting and intimate. I believe that I was part of something important that is growing. If your interests are in the areas covered by Bitfilm, by all means consider going next year. You're bound to have a good time and learn a few things.

Peter Plantec is a best-selling author, animator and virtual human designer. He wrote The Caligari trueSpace2 Bible, the first 3D animation book specifically written for artists. He lives in the high country near Aspen, Colorado. Peter's latest book, Virtual Humans, is a five star selection at Amazon after many reviews.