now by show of hands how many of you
here remember drive in cinemas come on
put up your hands okay that’s great now
for those 90s kids a drive-in cinema was
this place but there will be this large
open field and cars would park in front
of a large screen projector and then
movies would play on that projector yes
that actually used to happen and as an
80s kid one of my first experiences with
visual media was a drive-in cinema that
large screen projector and being
enveloped by hearty laughter floating
into the night sky it was just epic it
was almost a replication of storytelling
by the fireside today storytelling has
transformed screens have become smaller
and more mobile and the African
experience with visual media is a
fast-changing one by now we know that
Africa is fast becoming a mobile-first
continent in fact data shows that by the
second quarter of 2014 there were 20
million new mobile subscriptions from
Africa that’s a quarter of the 18
million new global subscriptions of that
year a quarter so what does this mean
what does this mean for how we consume
or the visual information who is
watching and what are they watching so
last year I went out on this quest to
find individuals working and the likes
of mobile video content creation
distribution and digital media and in
almost all my interviews one thing that
resonates
it was it is that there wasn’t anything
new mobile a content as we see right now
most of the conduct we are watching has
all been reserved repurposed from
television all of it so the next step
right now is to do you realize that
we’re in a new frontier with the way we
consume information to just take a look
back radio is the most a biggest
platform that we have reaching to the
most remotest parts of Africa while
slowly catching up with television but
it’s been a slow road smartphones are
providing access to masses that could
not be reached before and because I
getting cheaper they’re becoming
available to most income brackets that
means ladies and gentlemen that we’re in
a new place the next step here is made
for mobile content that’s content that
has been a short scripted and its head
and packaged for the mobile platform now
on to you to look at your neighbor and
are you ready a neighbor want you to
respond I’m not ready but I can be
prepared now I ask you all to watch this
video on your phones we’re going to have
a look at it here as well kumaoni nesic
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mother would leave an open the cursor in
a passive way ahead mom do you know who
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labora midi what if okati Mike mission
boogie man black a bunga bunga
matricaria Omaha Kiki Shia well- well-
well- akisho meso- feed Ariana when Zach
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magic idea chaoticmonki the steady
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Comanche in a steely gray aqua
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mehdi hockey keisha well- well- well-
way so earlier on this year a couple of
friends of mine and myself gathered and
we scripted shot and edited several
videos that we wanted to experiment with
and spread through what’s up to the
Tanzanian digital audience the topic
that we chose was a constitutional
referendum which is popular that moment
in time and the presenter was someone
that had a strong online following and
was well versed in the topic of
constitutional referendum and so we then
put out the video on facebook and asked
his followers to send us their numbers
so that we can send the videos to them
directly via what’s up and the response
was viral but we had not factored in a
couple of things one someone had to sit
down and save all of those numbers were
not prepared for and that to the mobile
bundles that we had to spend spending
sending all of those videos so we
thought we were ready but we were not
prepared Mobile has certain
now if you don’t want to be stuck like
this guy you better listen to me in all
of these things we must remember that
size matters a lot and like other areas
um where you guys going come back come
back okay and so to avoid this I’ve come
up with a couple of things I call them
legs Alice for length now I’ve got sad
news for all those pastors that do not
know the meaning of the words in
conclusion finally and as I wrap up
because for mobile my deduction is that
you have to keep it short two to three
minutes maximum or else you lose your
audience keeping it short also means
that you’re using less data bundles for
your users or your viewers and speaking
of bundles we’re talking at ease for
edge and mobile speeds need to be flying
over that edge data usage directly
correlates to the size of the video and
so you must keep your videos small 30
megabytes or less maybe maybe even 10
megabytes or less because if you keep it
small and you keep it short it’s easier
to upload even on slower connections and
you also avoid this little thing called
the loading circle which we all hate I’m
sure G is for graphics we must remember
that the mobile is a communication tool
that’s now being transformed into a
broadcast platform and the screen of
most mobiles are about the size of an
average palm of your hand so small
detail is going to be missed for
effective messaging you need to have
these large letters all across your
screen to get them to
22 to get him to follow your video
because we we can’t assume that your
user or your your audience is in a quiet
place all the time s is my favorite s is
for sharing a couple of years ago I was
in a shopping mall parking lot and I
bumped into a couple of my friends and
from afar I could see that they were all
huddled in around this small phone and
there was like the brief pause before
this huge laughter ensued and gets kept
repeating itself before huge laughter so
my curious journalistic self went to
are you calling me you’re putting me did
you call me here what’s your name my
name is can see me and items from cover
what’s your name y equal in me well take
me to your house e then you sleep in the
same bed then get married and give birth
children and live happy ever afters
that’s why you are quitting no don’t go
away you’re not going to go with you do
not wear encoding people you’re not
shaving what want to tell them next time
before you begin CCS hearing someone be
sure you know what today what’s your
phone number iya 787 4 6 135 wait I have
to call it a book to a number guy they
are not there hey say no that’s my name
it may be the hospital too cool we’ve
learned that humor is the doorway to
your mobile video audiences if you can
get them to laugh you can get them to
watch but there are other genres are
catching up there is drama this news and
there’s music but we also have to
prepare for the value chain dynamics the
relationship between mobile operators
and content distributors and creators
needs to be strengthened right now
mobile operators or gain about eighty
percent of the gross revenues leaving
out the rest for video aggregators and
content owners and this creates a
content block if you ask any producer
video producer out there what the
biggest problem is is production costs
mobile is easier to produce for its
cheaper the video i just showed you
initially pali pali naka teba took only
four people to create a small room and
even the editing could have been done
with a cheap mobile app so we’re
the key here is to create a situation
where there is an equal share of the pie
if mobile producers are able to get back
what they earn from their creative
output they get to create more meaning
there’s more content for you and for me
to consume now I know what you’re
thinking toulon Anna I’m ready addicted
to my phone you want to make me into a
phone zombie I wanted to calm down and
hear me out earlier this year was my
best friend’s birthday now my best
friend and I have been friends for like
five six seven years if you cut out the
time that it took to stalk her pin her
down and make her submit to my
awesomeness but that’s neither here or
there and in all that time we haven’t
had like really really hard because
we’re like emotionally devoid and
retarded somehow so when a birthday came
along I struggled to find a way that I
could show her how much he is loved
without actually hugging her and so I
called up a few my friends and her
family and we gathered at her house
showed up at her door with gifts and
drinks and we gathered around her
veranda outside and during the course of
the evening I pull up my phone and show
you this enjoy birthday happy birthday
and have fun bye happy birthday CeCe I
like you like a cold beer after day of
shooting happy birthday and TCC
like sunny days after she watched this
she looks at me and she gave me the
biggest hug I’ve ever received and she
just said you get me so well the phone
then went round in that circle and there
were smiles across everyone’s faces so
here we are under the night sky Mobile
has the ability to individualize our
stories but the minute we share it the
way we do as Africans become a community
again we become we’re just taken back to
that point or being under the night sky
by the fireside storytelling once more
thank [Applause]