Making movies with a smartphone - WHY?

the cool factor

 

How does this sound any different than any other current song recorded in the traditional sense? An iPhone is just a pocket computer with recording capabilities not that different from a regular ol' desktop computer.

 

I've watched Hollywood films that look worse than this and this was shot with a 2 generation old iPhone.

 

I know because I've seen it attempted. There is a quality level below nobody should go, unless it's a home movie or a student project. My biggest three problems with iPhone images are a) lack of control over manual exposure, b) lack of control over manual focus, c) lack of control over lenses, and d) horrible audio. (I won't get into syncing issues and no timecode, which is more technical.) The iPhone is just a toy in terms of what it can do as a camera. I can't think of a situation where a halfway decent DSLR -- which is still not a professional camera -- can't outperform it. Those at least have manual exposure, manual focus, better lenses, and the audio problem is solvable.

I concede there are cases where camera phone video is all you can get, like in a situation where somebody's being shot at, a celebrity is having an affair, or some other newsworthy-type incident. For scripted narrative, it's insane to shoot on an iPhone because there are so many better, controllable alternatives out there.

 

yes...give an artist a brush and they will paint.

 

yes, at least one can get the proper color as Hollywood only knows of 2 colors...

 

I hadn't heard of The 88 before and I must say I do love that track. I reminds me of someone...a whiff of The Beatles?

 

I have a number of professional and prosumer HD cameras and I will tell you that the iPhone, combined with the very affordable Filmic Pro app, should not be dismissed.

 

"For me the great hope is now that 8mm video recorders are coming out, people who normally wouldn't make movies are going to be making them. And that one day a little fat girl in Ohio is going be the new Mozart and make a beautiful film with her father's camcorder. For once the so-called professionalism about movies will be destroyed and it will really become an art form." -- Francis Ford Coppola

 

Let me know when they shoot a network TV show or a movie with a budget more than $9 on an iPhone. To me, it's lame, unprofessional, and stupid. It's as bad an idea as trying to record an album on an iPhone: lousy microphones, automatic gain, terrible sound quality. It's technically inept.

I have no problem with people using modest camcorders, provided the movies are well-lit, well-exposed, and they know what they're doing. The movie I cited earlier, Shane Hurlbutt's Act of Valor, shot a lot of footage on $2000 Canon DSLRs, and it did very well. Here's a making-of doc that goes into a lot of what was done on that film (which made over $70M):

http://bit.ly/1wEF4NX
[can't embed due to Vimeo issues]

I also don't have a problem movies that occasionally go to a GoPro shot or something like that. I would have a problem if the entire film was shot on GoPro, because it looks like crap.

Coppola said that 30 years ago, and it still hasn't happened. (But the girl is still fat.)

I have no problem with students learning how to use cameras, how to light, how to compose the image, and how to direct by using cheap cameras. I do have a problem with people believing that they can shoot worthwhile 4K images on an iPhone.

 

And that would have been "The Blair Witch Project." Hmm, I wonder if that was what he had in mind?

 

@Vidiot

I don't think anyone is arguing for shooting feature-length films or actual TV shows on an iPhone (at least I'm not), so I'm not sure why you keep arguing against that point. Obviously smart phone cameras are not fit for that level of production. My point was that the iPhone is perfectly adequate for making short, amateur films. It's great technology because it lowers the cost and difficulty of entry for curious filmmakers. It's a starting point for budding artists, who can/should upgrade to better equipment when they're able to. That's all.

 

For serious filmaking no. But for for someone who is young and playing around with the idea of filmaking why not. I bet the image looks better than any home movies shot on the old VHS camcorders.

 

I saw this type of thing done on BBC's "Click" programme years ago, with an iPhone 4. They fixed it up with all the right apps and gadgets and made a short film which worked quite well.

 

I have no problem with that. But the name is this thread is: Making Movies with a Smartphone. And that's a bad idea, for all the reasons I state.

 

I guess I don't interpret "movies" as being synonymous with feature-length films or even TV shows.

 

The reason is obvious. People love smartphones. People don't line up and camp out overnight in order to buy the latest digital movie camera the day it is released....

 

I would like to say, that I am in my 20s and I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOU. I was born in the wrong generation and I too am so confused about phones. I am also very nervous about their capabilities, so I put a bandaid over the camera on my computer and my phone! hahaha.

No more privacy anywhere. It's really sad. And the constant distraction doesn't allow for people to do important things, like read a real novel or go on a walk in silence --

I taught 12th grade high school English for one agonizing year a few years ago and even though the students were only a few years younger than me, they were ZOMBIES about their phones; and when I would take one up because they weren't paying attention at all, they would get separation anxiety about it. It's insane. I assured the offender that he would get his phone back immediately after class and it was locked up in my drawer with a lock and key but each time the student would nervously tick a hand to his pocket and begin to get REAL anxiety about not having it on his person. How scary is that?

 

I've read dozens of novels on my smartphone. And I always have it with me so I can read whenever I want. And my bookmarks and highlights are backed up and synced across devices. I could go on and on about how devices like smartphones make reading better.

 

it does at 1080...anything that gets the juices flowing for creativity is wonderful...who knows a future filmmaker may be developed...wish I had a smartphone when I was a kid...

 

Me too. When I was young I really wanted a super8 camera. I eventually got a few of them 20 years ago and shot a lot of stuff. But I wonder what I would have come up with all those years ago.

 

I laugh when I think of the hoops we had to jump through...now it's all at ones fingertips! I love the digital age having nothing like this when I was growing up! I having a blast! Analog is a faded memory.

 

I have to say I would rather watch a well filmed movie shot on a $200 iPhone than a shaky-cam "found footage" film shot on a $500K camera.

 

Can you point me in the direction of a couple? I'd love to take a look.

 

Thanks for posting this. Have to say though, I watched the trailer for the movie that's noted in the article and while it looks freaking amazing, the story and acting are pretty bad. That's something Iphone can't improve. For now... Until Apple develops an "Improve Acting" App or a "How to Make Your Script Not Suck" app