Lights,
Cameraphone,
Action!
How Smartphone Filmmakers Are
Changing the Movie Landscape
Most of us use our smartphone video cameras to capture cool, funny
or silly personal moments, or to record random events happening
around us, like the aftermath of an accident on the road or a fight
on the bus. The footage, oftentimes out of focus or blurry, is shared
amongst friends or on social media and sometimes goes viral. This
is what the average Joes and Janes do; then there are the creatives
who use their phones and tablets to shoot actual movies, everything
from high quality shorts to feature length films.
Smartphone filmmaking is a buzz term right now, but it’s not exactly
new.The first feature length smartphone film, Aryan Kaganof ’s SMS
Sugar Man, was shot in 2007 on a Sony Ericsson W900i. Patrick
Gilles and Hooman Khalili’s Olive (2011), shot on a Nokia N8,
was the first ever smartphone film to get a cinematic release. Sean
Baker and Chris Bergoch’s Tangerine (2015), shot exclusively
18
on iPhone 5S, was the talk of this year’s
Sundance Film Festival. It was picked up by
Magnolia pictures for distribution. Matthew
A Cherry’s 9 Rides, the first film shot on
the iPhone 6S, was also officially selected for
the SXSW Film Festival earlier this year.
It’s clear that mobile or smartphone movies
look set to take off in a big way, opening
up the world of filmmaking to many people
with great ideas, but no funds to rent or
purchase expensive camera equipment.
Phone companies are also constantly
improving the specs on their cameras to
ensure the highest video quality.