How Mia Mullarky made the world’s most a-mew-sing Lumia cat video

Love cats as much as you love your Lumia?

Surprise, surprise, you’re not alone. Last month the winning video for our Social Media Week creative contest combined the two puurfectly. At the time of writing, Mia Mullarkey’s “catz using Lumia 930” video had over 279 thousand views on YouTube. If you’ve yet to enjoy its feline frolics, check it out below.

As you can see, Mia’s victory was very well deserved. But one question we were keen to get answered was how she created her cattastic film. So, we hooked up with her to get the answer to this and other movie making questions. Here is what she had to say.

Catz using Lumia 930

1. Your amazingly cute catz video won the #SMWCreative contest at Social Media Week in London and has had around 280 000 views on YouTube. How did you get the idea to film cats using the Lumia 930?

Our cat Vania had just had a litter of kittens so I thought maybe I could include them in the video somehow, for the cuteness factor. And then it occurred to me that actually they should be the main characters because they’re so charming.

2. As an experienced filmmaker you’re used to working with people rather than cats. What were the biggest challenges with these purring actors and how did you overcome them?

Kittens will look at anything that moves, so my brother just moved his hand in the air to create the ‘watching tv’ shot. The dinner scene was improvised by the kittens, once the table was set they let their feline imaginations go. For the older cats, the mother and uncle of the kittens in real life, we held them under their clothes or held their paws, kind of like living puppets.

3. Where was the film shot and what was the process like compared to your usual short film? How long did it all take from start to finish?

It was a pretty slap-dash shoot. The set was my bedroom table on its side with some postcards and a plant. The kittens kept destroying the set and eating my poor plant so we had to tire them out with chasing games to calm them. The cat playing the dad is a fussy tom in real life so he kept miaowing and intentionally falling off his chair or pushing the phone away. We shot it in small chunks over two days and I edited it in a day. And I almost didn’t get it in on time.

4. There’s a lovely tune in the background, which we found out is by your sister’s band My Fellow Sponges. How many other people were involved in creating the film?

I wrote the script (if you can call it that) and then my brother Eddie, my boyfriend Colm, and my friend Ashka helped me with the shoot. Essentially the production required a lot of cat handlers, or personal assistants to the cats. And as you mentioned, I used a track by My Fellow Sponges, composed by my sister Anna.

5. The whole film was shot on a Lumia 930, as per the rules of the #SMWCreative contest. How did the device fare: what did you like best about it and how was it different to the kind of video cameras you’re used to shooting with? And finally, how did the catz like it?

The video quality of the phone is great, it’s full HD and the colour comes out well. Of course, it’s much more basic than what I usually shoot with but it’s got a good lens (zeiss) and very good audio so I really enjoyed using it. And the photo quality is great too, in the right light. All of the pics in the video were taken on the phone. And the cats loved using the phone.

There you have it, a unique behind the scenes look at how to make a viral video with your Lumia. Got any ideas for your own viral Lumia videos, we’d love to hear about them down below.