A couple of weeks ago I was scrolling through Instagram when a regram from Agent’s of SHIELD star Nick Blood caught my eye, it was a trailer for something called Shield 5. Suitably intrigued I went to the Instagram account for the movie only to find something quite different.
Billing itself as the dawn of Social Cinema, Shield 5 is a 28 “episode” series, each instalment lasting just 15 seconds and broadcast exclusively on Instagram each day through February. Want to know more? Here’s the synopsis.
London. Present Day. Security driver John Swift is arrested for his involvement in a diamond heist and subsequent death of a colleague.
Determined to prove his innocence, he finds himself on the run from both the police and those he believes have framed him.
Embroiled in a perilous game of cat and mouse, will he be able to evade capture long enough to uncover the truth?
I got in touch with the creator/director Anthony Wilcox (Hello Carter) to find out a little bit more about the genesis of Shield5.
When asked where the initial idea came from for a series based on Instagram, Anthony replied, “Whilst developing my new feature film I was keen to shoot something quickly that could potentially reach a big audience. Instagram felt like the perfect platform to do this. Shooting lasted 4 days across over 10 different locations in London. Editing took about a week. The stills that accompany each episode are an ongoing process. In terms of the 15 second episode limit, much of the work to address that was done in the writing and prep stage.”
I then asked a little about “Social Cinema” and whether they think others will follow where Shield 5 leads.
Anthony: “I hope so. There have been people who’ve created series for Instagram before but perhaps ours has greater cinematic ambition. We wanted to push some boundaries and surpass expectations about what may be possible within the restrictions we were working to.”
I also wanted to know how they would decide if the series was a success, Anthony told me that he would like to “create a discussion about the different way we watch things these days. And if how we make them can, or should, be more dictated by that. Of course I want as many people as possible to see it. If there’s a steep increase in followers once the episodes start airing, that will be a good sign. At the moment, much of the time is spent trying to explain the concept to people – soon people will be able to see for themselves!”
Well the time for people to see for themselves has arrived, the first “episode” went live on Instagram a few hours ago, the still image to accompany it was a Police Appeal for Assistance asking for sightings of main characters John Swift. So far, fan reaction is positive and the first episode is certainly a bold opening. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how the rest of the story unfolds from here.
Check out episode 1 on Shield 5’s Instagram, follow them and don’t forget to like and comment if you enjoy what you see. Meanwhile, let us know what you think about the idea of “Social Cinema”, is it a promising new platform for distributing content or should it remain the preserve of selfies, food and pictures of your pets?
