"I like working with people who have talent but aren't in film school," Lee said in the article. “I’m interested because it's a great collaborative effort. Within five years, new movies will be made with devices like these."
The film will consist of three segments, each three to five minutes long. Creators can upload content, including video, music, photos and text, to NokiaProductions.com. Lee and his staff will edit them and other users will be able to combine their own materials with those posted on the site to create new content.
The theme of the film is “humanity,” and the contest is open only to residents of the U.S.
Three posted entries will be chosen by online voting. The winning entries will be combined to make the final version of the short film.
The film will be screened in Los Angeles in the fall, as well as be available for viewing online. Nokia has not yet contracted with a carrier to make the content available on mobile devices.
Although it remains unclear whether racy or explicit content would be eligible for the contest, such content is likely to be eliminated in the contest’s screening process.
However, the implications of user-generated content shot on mobile devices for adult-oriented applications are far reaching, especially as mobile devices evolve into multiuse platforms for music, photos and video.
"The notion of social networking and entertainment is real," Nokia Vice President for North America Craig Coffey said.
Last year, Finland-based Nokia took a survey of 9,000 consumers, which indicated that by 2012 one in four consumers would create, edit, or share entertainment with other through alternative media outlets, instead of accessing traditional outlets like TV or movies.
Several contests and film festivals have been held, internationally, that feature films created specifically for mobile devices, as well as content created with cell phones.
In late 2006, Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute and the global trade organization GSM Association commissioned six Sundance Film Festival participants, to create six short films for distribution specifically on mobile devices.
The commissioned filmmakers included Academy Award nominated Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, whose mobile film “A Slip in Time,” was a study of slapstick comedy.
"This is a new medium with a lot of challenges that we are all just beginning to explore," Dayton said at the time. "But what is exciting is that you have a couple more billion screens to show your movie."
"Seven billion dollars was spent [in 2006] on ringtones," GSM Association Chief Marketing Executive Bill Gajda said. "And if people can pay $7 billion for ringtones, I think there is a market to expand the mobile video market."