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Stellar Video, Just Smaller

Tiny viewers are everywhere, allowing you to show a video from the palm of your hand. Learn how to creatively shrink movies and launch your career the micro way.

There's nothing better than a private screening room, but how about one no bigger than a soap bar, on a 3-minute timer? Current mobile devices can carry a huge store of video and are becoming clearer and easier to use. Smaller screens aren't just for kids anymore - everyone's using them. Here are a few tips to help you jump onto the tiny-viewer bandwagon.

A Mobile Pitch Gets the Greenlight

At a recent seminar, where world leaders in wildlife filmmaking gather annually to share tricks of the trade and hobnob with distributors and broadcasters, a young videographer didn't realize that he was about to get his break. As they shared exotic tales from the field - about state-of-the-art camera equipment, horrific shooting conditions and beautiful results - he sank into his chair. He had spent hours taping fiddler crabs on the Monterey Peninsula and had nothing to compare to these successful pros. But he won the day and his project was greenlighted, all through the simple tool he held in his hand: a video iPod that caught his audience with perfect timing.

There were two ingredients that brought this aspiring videographer into the limelight that day: insight into the untapped market for innovative mobile device videos and creativity. He knew what played best when his idea literally balanced on his audience's knee.

For video producers, the tremendous benefits of portable video technology can't be overstated. Cell phones now stream your projects from mobile web browsers or store downloaded clips on standalone applications, and mini video players are the norm in most PDAs. But, as with any small tool, you've got to know the limits. In the same way that a paring knife can still do big jobs if you know what you're doing, you can successfully use many of the tried-and-true shooting and editing skills on the small screen. But some great video techniques are lost on portables, and using them can ruin your video career like a dull knife cuts a fool's…