While there are quite a few celebrities on Instagram posting pictures and videos of themselves, there may soon come a time when these celebs start appearing in short movies and TV shows made exclusively for the social network, as today sees the launch of Shield 5 - Instagram's first entry into filmmaking.
Shield 5 is a 28-part thriller series that follows the story of London security driver John Swift, who goes on the run to clear his name after being arrested for his involvement in a diamond heist and murder. Each day a new 15-second episode of the show will be broadcast on its dedicated Instagram page. You can watch the first episode below.
The series is directed by Anthony Wilcox, who also worked on Hot Fuzz, Pearl Harbor and Layer Cake. Wilcox, who is an Instagram user, said that the idea for the show came when he took on some online projects while developing his next full-length movie.
"It dawned on me that no-one had utilized Instagram in the way of telling a dramatic story. There's potentially a big global audience built in and users that aren't used to seeing that type of content on the platform," he added.
"I did quite a lot of research and looked at some film trailers and advertisements that were 15 seconds long and quickly realized that, if you're clever, there's a lot of story you can squeeze into any 15-second slot."
Because of the short length of the episodes, there will be images added to the Shield 5 Instagram account between episodes that will help add context to the clips.
The star of Shield 5, Christian Cooke, said that the 15-second clips were the perfect length for this brand of "social cinema."
"Each 15 seconds is about giving the audience another piece of the puzzle and try and entice them enough to come back and watch the next one," he told the Press Assocaition.
"It's very experimental," he added. "It's high concept, there's a soundtrack, special effects and the production values are incredibly good. It has all the elements of a feature film or a television show - it's just that it's made for Instagram."
Should Shield 5 prove to be a success, don't be surprised to see more of these mini-series and very short movies appearing on other social media platforms.