Filmmaking / Directing : Smartphone Film by Kinan Soliman

Pamela Bolinder hope you to make your point clear please

It’s kinda silly to use a smartphone but if that’s all you got, you gotta use whatever.. You can fix and spend $$ in postproduction.

What’s the endgame. Are you shooting movies to make money (to sell), or it’s just for fun, sample reels and festivals (then use whatever).

As a filmmaker, I think your primary objective is to cinematically convey a compelling and truly interesting story. It matters little what equipment you have - just get the best you can from it.

Ummm, wasn’t Tangerine filmed on a trio of iPhone 5s? Unsane was filmed on iPhones as well. A whole slew of films have been filmed on phones. Lol! I say go for it. Use whatever means are available to you! :)

Tangerine $100,000++ budget. Unsane $1M. I guess when i hear “smartphone” i think under $1000 short movies, not theatrical features.

Figure out the work flow from camera. That is part of filmmaking- knowing each step to assembly. Postproduction is not cheap.

The new iPhone10 has "cinematic" 4K60P - but really chews up memory. You can also get a Steadicam for it pretty cheap. It records in stereo, so it's not really that bad of a platform.

It does not have great lowlight capability AFAIK. Postproduction as Dan said is the big part of the deal.

Personally? I own a Lumix that has all those features AND shoots ASA23000+ but, you have to have blazing fast RAM cards to get 4K60P. But with a Tascam ext. recorder and a cage it's a nice shooting rig.

Edit; Oh, a feature I just started playing with is you can pretty much completely control the Lumix from a smartphone app. Zoom, exposure, mode, the works. The camera with an "average" zoom is abt $2.5K.

Personal opinion... An iPhone is great for some shots, but not the entire movie. YMMV.

Oh, I know, Dan M. I’m currently looking at cost options.

Smartphone, FilmicPro app (get the cinematographers kit add on, add'l $9), lenses (optional), stabilizer - DJI Osmo 2 for $140, Zoom audio and mic, and a tripod. Shoot Log or Flat, and formats include 1080, 2k, 3k and 4k. Couple of bounce cards/panels, simple lighting and have at it. Lots of tutorials on the FilmicPro app on YouTube, and a Mobile Filmmakers group on Facebook.

I've been wanting to attempt making a short with just my iPhone. I just have yet to give it a go, I've seen some pretty impressive ones, that's for sure!

I'm shooting my next two shorts on iPhones.

nope. MIrrorless and dslr's are pathetic options and unacceptable in professional feature film quality land. Smartphones are far worse and even less usable. A nice and inevitable gimmick of the moment, but not for everyone... meaning not for anyone.

Shawn Speake Good Good wish you all the Luck

"Mirrorless and dslr's [sic] are pathetic options and unacceptable..." To my way of thinking, they are the best/only option we have available to the burgeoning Indie filmmaker world right now. I've shot in 8K and burned up a lot of storage space - when projected onto those Mall Cineplex screens - you can't show me the difference between 4K and 8K. Few (if any) Indie houses have the necessary financing/training to step up to the full-blown Panasonic setup (which you can only rent). So I have to disagree with your opinion, Shadow

Doug, you're absolutely right, but even more crazy is that most movie screens (unless otherwise marketed as a 4K or IMAX or 3D theater) only show at 2K, so even 4K is too high-def for movie screens, so those with DSLRs and Smart Phone cameras that can at least shoot in 1080p can still turn in a great-looking project if we know how to use what we've got. Hell, Sean Baker has turned in two highly successful and critically-acclaimed films (Tangerine, The Florida Project) and both of those were shot on iPhones. Calling it a "pathetic" option is just plain elitist.

Depends what the script is. It's all about the story, not the camera. Steven Soderbergh's last film (shown in theaters) was shot on an iPhone.

“The Florida Project” was entirely shot with a digital Arri Alexa for 35mm film print.

Soderbergh with 35++ years of filmmaking experience could use a fisher price camera and make the movie look cinematic. Anyone here know his postproduction cost for his iPhone movie?

Anyone that has seen "Tangerine" on a real monitor or better, projected, will never tout the image as being worth watching. The decent storytelling makes some people skip over the quality of what they are watching. Is that elitist? No, that is called a professional opinion based in knowledge, experience, artistry and talent.

There is a reason that we choose specific equipment to bring stories to the screen. The decisions about which camera or cameras will deliver the images, which lenses have the right look for the picture and which for some actors, and the record formats we will use, are crucial in bringing quality stories to the screen. Thinking that a phone delivers the same images because of overview tech specs is like saying I am a screenwriter because this message is in English (mostly).

Use your phone for things that do not matter, but don't make the mistake of justifying their usage by thinking they are the same as real gear. The conspiracy theorists think that professionals say these things to justify rates and rental fees and that their phone is secretly just as good. Yep, just get that Hollywoody Moovy app and you to are instantly an elitist making a blockbuster.

If your project is more than a personal play piece, use your phone as intended. Call people who know what they are doing.

Dan MaxXx why postproduction cost for is iPhone movies may be higher than others?

https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/23/17156978/unsane-movie-review-iphone-7-steven-soderbergh-claire-foy

There are a lot of comments already but I'll throw in my 2¢.

For choosing any camera for any shoot I think there are several things to consider. 1 - budget. 2 - work flow. 3 - distribution.

1 - budget. Don't own a camera and just want to use your phone? Ok. Fine. Will it give you the look you want? The dynamic range you need? Focal length (lens) choices you need to tell your story?

2 - work flow. How will you transfer footage daily? Is the codec compatible with your editing system? How easy is it to transfer and backup your footage? How much time and money does this take? Will the phone over heat and corrupt files due to long/multiple takes? What is your plan for capturing good audio. (Most internal mics are awful) How long will your battery last?

3 - distribution. Are you planning to show your finished work on TV, Youtube, Amazon, or an arthouse theater? What are the image specifications required. Netflix and some Film Festivals are really strict on this.

Don't pick a camera for it's novelty or because of the latest trend. Cameras are tools and there is no such thing as a "perfect" camera. What is the best tool for the story you are telling with your budget?

How can you get it done creatively AND efficiently?

Tangerine already capitalized on the novelty. Soderbergh is experimenting to satisfy his own curiosities with the tool itself because he's Soderbergh.

Very creative and maneuverable. Can be easily transported and film from multiple angles with multiple perspectives. Accesible network and symbiosis singularity have harmonic conglomerative capabilities. Great production arsenal for any film company or independent film artist. Transcend art to a new level of playing field once an evolutionary breakthrough in narrative directive sparks an alchemical chain reaction in the consciousness cohesive. It can be a game changer.