Behind the Scenes of This Beautiful Short Film Shot on an iPhone 12

The power of modern phones when it comes to taking images and videos has been growing at an alarming rate. This short film, made for Apple, showcases just how professional a production can look.

I'm not particularly interested in which individual phone has the highest quality cameras. I'm also not particularly interested in the premise of things that are usually shot with high-end cameras being shot with an iPhone; it has been done to death. The sensors are strong enough that with the right set design and masterful lighting, videos can look superb. What I am interested in is the use of a phone as part of a videographer's toolkit.

With incredible, crisp, OLED displays and the added perk of it always being on your person, modern phones have a chance to be a part of a photographer's arsenal. In fact, the threshold of usefulness is much lower, given you can also use it to — you know — contact people. Both as external monitors, and indeed extra cameras, phones today are gradually wheedling their way above their original station. 4K video at 60fps is still a desirable combination that even fairly recent hybrid stills and video cameras don't always have available.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvf9pgUEZ7s&feature=emb_title

This short film is of course attractive, but that speaks more to the set, actors, extensive lighting, and cinematography than it does the iPhone's camera, which has been capable of this standard for some time now. My interest is how long it will be until mobile phones are just a standard part of a photographer's kit, in one way or another.

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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7 Comments

Yet they will still doubt

"...but that speaks more to the set, actors, extensive lighting, and cinematography than it does the iPhone's camera..."

Mais bien sûr! Still, it looks fantastic!

Well said. When you put thousands if not tens of thousands in a production just add a few hundred and rent a cinema camera :) None the less this was clearly good enough :)

"My interest is how long it will be until mobile phones are just a standard part of a photographer's kit, in one way or another.". For me it already is, a vital part I must say. It's always with me, quick to take out and take a shot. it's the embodiment of the saying; the best camera is the one you have with you...

The choice of camera is about 10% of what went into that production. Other than doing things for sponsored shot on an iPhone ads or proof of concept videos are there people choosing to show up on set with a case of iPhones to shoot a commercial, music video or other film?

what tripod are they using!!