Screenlife

Screenlife or computer screen film is a form of visual storytelling in which events are shown entirely on a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen. It became popular in the 2010s owing to the growing impact of the Internet and mobile devices. Within a video essay, the format is often called desktop documentary.

Self-imposed limitations

According to Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian-Kazakh producer of the film Searching, a computer screen film should take place on one specific screen, never move outside of the screen, the camerawork should resemble the behavior of the device's camera, all the action should take place in real time, without any visible transitions and all the sounds should originate from the computer.^[1][2][3] There have, however, also been movies that switch between screens and are still categorized as screenlife.^{[citation needed]}

Features

Further information: Category:Screenlife films

Screenlife footage can be displayed such on devices a computer, smartphone, smart TV or tablet and show actions of the main character on the device, such as web browsing, online chatting and video calling.^{[citation needed]}

Screenlife film can be made in different genres, horror, thriller, comedy. It was originally regarded as a new storytelling format because the computer or smartphone screen is used in journalism and advertising as a visual source.^[4][5][6][7] Screenlife takes elements from the pseudo-documentary and found footage formats (e.g. The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity).^[8]

The earliest experimentations of a combination of a classic film format and the use of computer screens were made in the 2000s such as the drama Thomas in Love and the horror film The Collingswood Story shows everything through the web cameras of the main characters.^{[citation needed]}

In 2014, the full-length screenlife film Unfriended by Levan Gabriadze was released. It earned $64 million at the box office on a budget of $1 million, and spawned a sequel called Unfriended: Dark Web in 2018.

One of the first successful screenlife films is the 2018 thriller Searching, directed by Aneesh Chaganty. The main roles were played by John Cho and Debra Messing. The film received the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the Sundance Film Festival^[9] and collected in world box office over $75 million with a budget of about $700,000^[10][11][12] and received a sequel, Missing, in 2023.

Format

In the screenlife format the movement of the cursor is sometimes important because the viewer's attention is concentrated on it.^[13]

Screencasting software is usually used to decorate the device screen, and a GoPro camera is used for shooting. The cast members often need to be the camerapeople to bring life to the film.^[14]

See also

• The Den
• Found footage
• Real time
• Screencast
• Films about computers