Sask. filmmaker harnesses vertical format for interactive short film

A Sask. filmmaker is using an interactive app to let viewers watch his film on their phones and decide the ending. Sierra D’Souza Butts reports.

A Saskatchewan filmmaker has used a vertical storytelling approach in his most-recent production, allowing viewers to watch and take part in the interactive experience on their phones.

“As you’re watching the film you get to choose what you think the character should do next, and you’ll be presented with different options and depending what you choose, will change kind of how the story plays out,” said Aaron Sinclair, a Regina-based filmmaker and director.

While watching the film through the mobile-app Choosewise, movie lovers have the chance to decide how the story unfolds by choosing the outcome of different scenes throughout the movie.

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Sinclair said the idea for creating the interactive short-film “Singleness” sparked from his personal interest in filmmaking and the dating scene.

“I’ve been personally been single for a little while and I started to think there’s a lot of experiences that I think are unique to living that life, whether it’s going to the grocery store alone or going on first dates or going on the apps,” he explained.

“I just started writing down these experiences. At first I thought I could just make Instagram Reels or TikToks about, but then I got the opportunity to do this interactive film and I thought I could maybe put those together and make that a longer, bigger project.”

The production follows an international trend where filmmakers are starting to use a vertical storytelling – also referred to micro drama format - as an approach to make it easier for people to watch movies directly from their phones.

“It’s blowing up. There’s a lot of projects that are shifting into this micro drama format. We see companies like Disney and Fox looking into the micro drama format as well. It’s very brand new,” explained Style Dayne, an actor and producer with Bars S Studios.

Dayne added the industry is shifting on how people consume content.

This whole change and shift in the industry really speaks to how people are just changing how they watch in terms of storyline and narratives,” he said.

“We’re getting away a little bit away from the more traditional type of storytelling into this new format simply because folks are scrolling and we want to keep their attention span.”

Although the app to watch the film is based in the U.S., Sinclair said he takes pride in shooting and casting the entire movie locally.

“It’s Regina cast and crew with a couple of Saskatoon add on. It’s really great working with Saskatchewan talent to make something like this,” he expressed.

“I think that we can offer this sort of production value here that if you’re doing the same production value in L.A., it would just cost so much more. It would be so much harder to do, but people are just excited to be a part of something cool here.”

With plans to start working on his next production, Sinclair said it’s an exciting time to be a filmmaker in Saskatchewan.