Paris 9/19

An ordinary holiday video about life in romantic Paris? No, not when acclaimed director Rian Johnson is behind the camera. His Paris 9/19 transport you right to the heart of the French capital. Discover the old streets, the wonderful monuments and have a delicious dinner at a charming French restaurant. All you need to do is watching this short film.

Daughter

Thanks to the celebrated director Theodore Melfi and Daughter, we can re-live the Chinese New Year celebrations. His short film follows a devoted mother with her adorable daughter living a difficult life. Life isn’t easy as the mother is a single mom who’s trying to make ends meet as a taxi driver but still, they have each other and that’s what matters for them. That family has always been important becomes clear during the flashbacks showing us the mom when she was a young girl. How she grew up with her mother, what was expected from a woman during that time and how life in China was. We see Chinese New Year celebrations through the eyes of three generations of Chinese women.

Their stories are coming spectacularly to life thanks to cinematographer Lawrence Sher who brought us Joker last year. The three leading ladies on-screen each put on an emotional and captivating performance that feels very relatable.

Holding

It could have been a short film that could have been included in our ‘COVID-19 in movies’ list as Holding is about a woman living in LA during the current terrible times. She comes out of the house to do grocery shopping, which is in her case, going to her garden. During the movie, we hear that she’s not alone during this lockdown as a male voice is coming from somewhere in the house. While we don’t see the man, we certainly know how he feels: Locked up, angry, and agitated. As if the real-life feeling isn’t complete yet, we also see a video call between the leading woman and a person close to her. One she loves dressing up for… That surprise as well as ‘who’s the man shouting from across the house’ element is being highlighted wonderfully by the use of zoom-ins and tense music.

The Movie Star

Do you want to be next Meryl Streep or Leonardo DiCaprio? Then the audition room is the perfect place to start according to director Blake Calhoun. In his The Movie Star, a security guard has an unexpected encounter with a female wanna-be movie star. It will certainly be a meeting he will never forget. Not only because the actress refuses to leave the set unless the guard helps her with her audition but also because of what follows next. There’s an immense theatrical element to this movie, especially because of the lady leading portrayed captivatingly by Susana Gibb. The cinematography might be a little bit too flashy or too over-the-top but that’s part of the acting world, isn’t it?

Cold Wave

Surfing the waves can be joyful, especially during this sunny weather. However, mastering the surfing board isn’t something everyone can do. That becomes clear from watching Cold Wave by Matt Allen. The short movie, that was filmed over two days at the Mountain Wave in Kananaskis in Alberta, shows us that surfing is clearly not for everybody. For those who can tame the board, surfing is the most liberating sport that exists. That delightfulness is perfectly captured in a lively and entertaining way.

If you can’t get enough of the stunning movies shot via iPhone, then catch the iPhone Cinema on Vimeo.

Also Read: COVID-19 In Movies: Five Films About The Virus That Shook The Earth

The post Five Stunning Short Films You Wouldn’t Believe Were Shot On An iPhone 11 appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Why would an A-List Hollywood Director, film a movie on an iPhone? Well because Steven Soderbergh (SD) is not your typical A-Lister. In an interview with Hey U Guys Steven Soderberg said it was a creative choice, as he saw the iPhone 7Plus as being a small capture device which gave him a flexibility he couldn’t get from a bigger device.

It seems the iPhone was instrumental in pulling off certain shots in this movie. So instrumental, that Soderberg also said he’d use the device again in the future! Well if It’s good enough for him, it must be good enough for us, right?

iPhone vs Arri

So now that we’ve realised we have a Hollywood capable film camera in our possession right now, it kind of begs the question: What do we actually need from a movie-making machine and what’s the difference between the iPhone and a proper film camera? There are actually many things to consider when choosing your capture device for video production: resolution, frame rates, audio bit-rate, sensor, lenses, how the camera reacts to light.

At the time of writing, a popular film camera used in Holywood is the Arri Alexa. This camera could be considered an Indusrty Standard and has been used to film movies like The Avengers, Drive and a million other huge titles. Let’s take a brief look at how that compares to the iPhone used to film Unsane.

iPhone 7Plus Vs Arri Alexa
Resolution: 4K (30 fps)  Vs 2K (60 fps)
Frame Rates: Up to 60 fps Vs Up to 120 fps
Audio: 44.1KHz Vs 48 KHz

Potato Jet did a video review which shows that although the iPhone can produce good pictures, it really doesn’t compare to the might of the Alexa. You’ll lose something in terms of quality, but then you’ll gain in terms of mobility and It’ll be great for your budget.

iQuality

With filmmaking being an art, it’s always difficult to debate whether the increasing pixel count of the new technically superior digital cameras are actually producing better images than those of analogue film cameras. Does sharper and more crystal clear actually mean the story will look better? We’ve gone from grainy black and white pictures, to full-colour Standard Definition, all the way up to 4K and beyond. But someone out there will tell you they prefer the way a vintage Alfred Hitchcock movie filmed on a Mitchell BNC looks, compared to the sharp and polished 4K look you get from a modern Red One.

iMovies

Rage (2009) may have been the first major theatrical release shot on smartphones and there’s been a number of notable smartphone movies since. #STARVECROW is the world’s first selfie movie and Tangerine was filmed completely on the iPhone 5s. This iMovement has picked up pace since it’s inception in 2010 and now the iPhone Film Festival judges received over 2000 submissions in 2017. IndieWire has some interesting movies in their iMovement list if you want to find out more about this sub-culture.

iGear

Dougal Shaw (Senior Video Journalist at the BBC) decided to delve into iPhone videography himself and his kit list included the following: iPhone 6S Plus, Filmic Pro App, some sort of rig to stabilize the phone, a collection of lenses, a tripod, a microphone and a computer with video editing software. All of this is so much cheaper than getting a pro Arri Alexa setup!

iMoney

The fact that Steven Soderbergh did shoot a movie on an iPhone, is proof that you don’t need a huge budget to film a movie. Having said that, there’s a lot more involved in shooting a movie then just having a camera and pressing record. Also, the budget for Unsane was pretty low for a Hollywood movie, at $1.5m. But that’s astronomical in terms of a low budget indie production. Unsane only made $10.7m in the Box office, which is Soderberg’s lowest grossing movie by far. I wonder if a better camera would have equated to better box office sales?

iDirector

If iPhone’s are so great, do you need to bother buying a camcorder or DSLR? This is where personal preference comes in. Me personally I know how things can go wrong with technological devices and I prefer to have separate bits to do specific jobs. The thing is sometimes we’re short on space (so we buy a printer and scanner 2 in 1). Sometimes we’re short on budget (so I bought an all-rounder DSLR instead of a camera excellent at taking stills and a separate video camera). Using your iPhone all day to film movies will drain your battery and constant charging will shorten the lifespan. Steven Soderbergh has years of experience, a team of professionals and a million dollar budget. His iPhone movie would be awesome but I doubt you could get the same results. If you’re asking me could I film a movie on an iPhone? The answer is yes. Would I? No. But Steven Soderberg did.

Check out the trailer for Unsane. The full movie is available to purchase on Youtube now.

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