Mobile Media Tools: Fast, Cheap and Under Control

Quit the fundraising grind and get into production now. Mobile media tools can radically reduce budgets required to produce documentary work. Find out how you can bring your dream projects to life via the power of your mobile phone. Experienced producers, directors and innovators will discuss their mobile media work, tools and storytelling strategies.

Panelists

Matt Dessner founded The Original iPhone Film Festival and iPhoneFilmMaker.com to support emerging iPhone filmmakers and to provide a home for anyone that has a story to tell. Dessner has given presentations at Macworld in SF, SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX , and appeared on CBC Morning News, CBC Radio and ABC’s Electric Playground. He believes in the democratization of filmmaking through accessible technology. He is passionate about empowerment via new technology and shiny bright objects. Dessner’s background is as a producer/After Effects designer. He founded Creative Taco, a content creation company with over 15 years experience producing commercials.

Tristan Pope is an Emmy Award-winning director and photographer based in New York. He shot his festival-winning films Romance in NYC and Dancers of New York on mobile phones, demonstrating his work as an innovative cinematographer/director. He has served as a speaker and presenter at Apple Stores and at the Toronto International Film Festival. He was on the Blizzard Entertainment Emmy Award-winning team for the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft. As a passionate artist inclined toward capturing natural beauty and movement, Pope is thrilled to share his creative vision and to help companies develop their brands.

Jennifer Rizzi is the Director of Video Evangelism for Videolicious, a mobile video editing start-up serving brands like Hearst, Time Inc., and The New York Times. In addition to reporting with the platform, she trains journalists worldwide on mobile video strategy. Rizzi was the first mobile-only video reporter for The New York Daily News. A graduate of Bucknell University, she previously worked as an on-air reporter for WHTM-TV in Harrisburg, PA, and WSAZ-TV in Charleston, West Virginia. Her reporting has been recognized by the Radio and Television Digital News Association and New York Women in Communications.

George Spyros is creator of Filmakr the ultimate app for making cinematic iPhone films for beginners, enthusiasts and pros. Soft-launched in 2015, Filmakr has already been used by Bentley and VH1. He is the owner of Big City Pictures, Inc. a media company providing creative services and production for original content as well as marketing assets. As a filmmaker, Spyros has written and directed the feature film Last Days of May and as well as numerous short videos and marketing creatives.

Carol Cassidy (Moderator) is a multi-media director, producer, writer and editor who specializes in international human rights. She has worked in war zones, refugee camps and disaster areas in more than 35 countries. Carol teaches NYU and Rutgers students to shoot, edit and distribute news and documentary work on mobile phones.

Produced by Carol Cassidy, Amy Hurt, Pearl Park and Anna Pasztor