There are people who will watch the nearly four-hour epic Lawrence of Arabia in one sitting, and then there are those who prefer to break up their entertainment into, say, 15-second segments. Members of the latter group will be thrilled to find out that social-media platform Instagram has launched a new scripted show called Shield 5, which will be told in 28 15-second chunks airing throughout February. Deadline reports that each episode of the show—created and directed by Anthony Wilcox (Hello Carter)—will also feature a photograph intrinsic to the story. The photographs will work in tandem with the videos to create what is being dubbed “social cinema,” presumably not a euphemism for movie-theater audiences that talk at the screen.
The show follows security driver John Swift, who “is arrested for his involvement in a diamond heist and subsequent death of a colleague. Determined to prove his innocence, he finds himself on the run from both the police and those he believes have framed him.” It seems like a lot to be arrested, go on the run, and then outwit the police and the people who framed you in the span of only seven minutes, but the genius of the plan is that the entire show could be over before viewers realize that it’s not very good. Catch the very low-risk Shield 5 on Instagram now, between the video of the golden retriever puppy trying to surmount stairs and those arty-fartsy shoelace pictures your roommate always posts.