Aalto University: First ever miniature film festival on Instagram!

The film and TV industry is currently undergoing a massive transformation. In recent years, the industry has witnessed a fragmenting of digital consumption of film and TV content. Audiences have a multitude of new platforms and on-demand services to choose from, and movies and TV series can be watched anywhere with the tap of a finger on laptops, tablets or smartphones. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to permanently alter the ways creative audiovisual content is produced, distributed and viewed.

This means that the film and TV industry is currently reinventing itself by exploring new technologies but also by making new combinations of different kinds of art forms.

As part of this trend of positive disruption, ELO Film School decided to embark on a short film exploration on Instagram. Lecturer Hanna Maylett’s course stretched the possibilities of this social media platform to the max. ELO students created tailor-made miniature films for @aaltoarts Instagram feed, and managed to portray whole universes within the limits of this platform. The miniature films were inspired by legends such as Fellini, Tarkovski, Wim Wenders, Yorgos Lánthimos, Gaspar Noé and the Finnish comedy group Studio Julmahuvi. All works were filmed and produced on Otaniemi campus.

The results show that Instagram is a surprisingly apt digital platform for creative content. However, regardless of change, sound storytelling and a high level of technical expertise will always prevail.