Cell phone cinematographers make feature debut

Directors Marcello Mencarini (R) and Barbara Seghezzi hold up a cellphone to film their movie, Nuovi Comizi D'Amore

Italian filmmakers used a Nokia N90, a higher-end cell phone sold around the world, to produce the 93-minute Nuovi Comizi D'Amore (New Love Meetings), which they say is the first feature film to be entirely shot with such a tool.

"With the widespread availability of cell phones equipped with cameras, anybody could do this," documentary co-director Marcello Mencarini said. "If you want to say something nowadays, thanks to the new media, you can."In news gathering, early footage is often shot with a cell phone, and, in the case of major events, authorities and news outlets have been known to call on amateurs to come through with video. When it comes to movies, though, cell phone cameras present limitations, such as the difficulty to film in darkness or the lack of high-quality microphones.

As a result, the movie mostly features close-ups, and the image, while overall clear when seen on a computer, is slightly shaky. Mencarini said the movie could be viewed on big screens, though "it wouldn't be high-definition." The movie's directors said no post-production manipulation was made on the image.

Low costs and greater flexibility were among the reasons why Mencarini and co-director Barbara Seghezzi decided to use a cell phone camera.

The approach offers the advantage of being intimate, leading people to open up a little more easily, directors say. In a documentary about love and eroticism, that doesn't hurt.

For two months last year, the directors interviewed some 700 people across Italy -- at bars, open markets and on the beach. About 100 of them ended up in the movie.

The phone had enough memory for about an hour of footage, and scenes were transferred to a computer approximately every two days, Mencarini said.