Social media saturates our everyday lives to the point of ubiquity, yet its visual role in film and television is still evolving. A few years ago, if a character were to receive a text message, email or tweet, the words would appear in large unrealistic text on the screen of their iPhone. But now, media makers are being more bold and pronounced in their depiction of social media interactions on screen. I think of the hit Netflix show “House of Cards,” in which Congressman Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, is secretly texting with a young female journalist. The texts appear floating in the air as Spacey’s reaction to them is apparent to the audience. We tried to employ a similar approach to incorporating social media interactions in our latest mini-doc “The Walking Gallery.” Watch below:
This was our latest work on artist/activist Regina Holliday. Our independent film 73 Cents chronicled Regina’s journey from a widow and mother to a major figure in the patient rights movement. Next we captured her inaugural Walking Gallery in 2011. That project grew in the following years, and Regina asked us to create an extended version that demonstrates the project’s reach. Thanks to the backing of her many supporters through a crowd funding campaign on MedStartr, we were able to produce the project. Regina’s art advocacy has been largely fueled by social media, which helps her connect the stories she paints on walls, jackets and canvases to the world. So it was important that we told this story through the lens of social media. At the first community event featured in the video, “walkers” stood up on stage to share their story in less than 6 seconds to be recorded on Vine. To demonstrate the connection between the live stage and social media, we cut between the Vine footage and the live footage. It was a technique to demonstrate the reach of this event beyond the four walls of the local church.
In the second scene at the medical conference, we aimed to demonstrate the role of twitter in communicating the presence of walkers at the conference. Tweets like “What are all these painted jackets about?” and “Are painted images on the back of your blazer a thing now?” helped to demonstrate the sense of curiosity that this walking gallery of medical stories was having on the medical community. We animated them on the screen as walkers (including Regina herself) were using their tablets and smartphones.
We’re really looking forward to the other ways media makers will continue to integrate social media communications in their storytelling.
