Samsung Mobile — Galaxy S21 Ultra Long-form Editorial
Telling big stories with a pocket-sized camera
Project brief—
Samsung creates powerful mobile technology.
So powerful in fact, that with just one device, becoming a director in your own home isn’t so much a fantasy, but indeed reality.
To capture this in word, I wrote a long-form editorial piece for the Samsung website on their partnership with Chinese director, Sha Mo.
Key skills: copywriting, conceptualisation, research, cross-cultural communication
Project extracts—
Gone are the days when filmmaking was for only big movie studios and established icons. What once involved multi-camera setups, technical lighting and big bags of cash can now be done with a single device that fits right in your pocket.
Anyone with a smartphone has the power to craft compelling stories through film. In partnership with Samsung, Chinese director Sha Mo did just that, creating his new short film, Kids of Paradise, using only the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
A fairy tale told with visual poetry
Trained at the Beijing Film Academy, Mo has directed five works, including Black Fish, Senior Teacher, Honey Trap and My Huckleberry Friends. Producing both colour and black-and-white movies, his stories paint a picture of humanity through different lenses. With Kids of Paradise, Mo tells a new story.
“This is a fairy tale about the relationships between the individual and the collective,” he says. The film centres on two child protagonists, Douzi and Fatty, and an oversized hat. What starts out as an everyday case of classroom bullying soon develops into a story of forgiveness and friendship. Using the hat as a vehicle for the message also adds to the story’s charm.
As Mo explains, “Short film is a kind of visual poetry.” So what better way to bring that poetry to life than with Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Taking mobile filmmaking to new heights
The Galaxy S21 Ultra has an advanced array of features for aspiring filmmakers. “It’s intuitive for the director to choose the shots and consider the setting of the scenes,” says Mo of Director's View on the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
For cinematographer Li Jianeng, picture quality is a top priority—and the Galaxy S21 Ultra gives you the very best. It’s been built to capture those crisp, detailed visuals and ultra-smooth gimbal-like shots you expect in a film. With this kind of power in your pocket, the options for creative filmmaking are limitless.
Find the full editorial here.
Project learnings—
Switching from snappy, short-form ad copy to this editorial style was a mental shift but one that paid dividends. I enjoyed the medium far more than I expected to.
I found inspiration in the creativity of another. Seeing how Sha Mo was pushing his ability through new technology to tell his own stories was encouraging.