Lights, Iphone, Action: The Smartphone Cinema Revolution

Could iPhones be the future of cinema?

After the release of Apple’s iPhone 4 in 2010 – the first model to shoot HD videos in the iPhone family tree – tech-savvy, budget-conscious and experimental filmmakers were quick to hop on the bandwagon and capitalise on its potential. By adding lenses on the iPhones used for filming, a creative aesthetic was achieved as these lenses tend to make the entire frame have an unnaturally sharp focus. With the help of film editing apps, as well as new iterations of the iPhone thanks to upgrades happening every 12 months or less, these tiny portable devices are becoming increasingly capable of matching large and expensive cameras in terms of the scale of their ambition and potential.

The birth of the iPhone cinematography revolution began in 2011, with Night Fishing, a 30-minute minifeature, fantasy-horror flick by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Shot on an iPhone 4 with a 35mm lens attached to the phone’s camera and a budget of $133, 000, which was funded by KT (South Korea’s largest mobile network), this film gave way to iPhone cinema.

Fun Fact: co-directors Hooman Khalili and Pat Gilles opted for a different route when filming their 2011 hit, Olive. They taped some film lenses to an N8 Nokia phone instead of an iPhone 4, which made for a very interesting look with a wacky depth of field that makes it look like a mid-2000s commercial.

The following year, one of the most successful films to emerge from smartphone technology won an Oscar for Best Feature Documentary at the 2013 Academy Awards. After director Malik Bendjelloul ran out of 8mm film whilst filming Searching for Sugar Man, a documentary about a 1970’s rock n’ roll artist, he turned to his iPhone and downloaded a $1.99 Apple app called 8mm Vintage Camera to finish the shoot.

The most notable film that received more attention than any other iPhone-shot movie was Sean Baker’s 2015 hit Tangerine. Using an iPhone 5s with attached lenses and an $8 film editing app, the film premiered to critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, gaining mainstream attention in the process. Following the story of a transgender sex worker on the streets of Los Angeles, it was quickly marked as a landmark LGBTQ+ moment in cinema. Whilst Tangerine was mostly praised for its story and humble representation of the queer community, the fact that its iPhone videography didn’t divert from any of that admiration shouldn’t be cast aside. It was an integral instrument in shaping what smartphone filmmaking could be and would become. The growth of utilising phones in filmmaking, especially iPhones, was perhaps predominately motivated by budget restrictions; instead of paying for expensive cameras and lighting equipment, directors were too quick to enthusiastically say yes to iPhone cinematography and use the money for unavoidable expenses like extras, locations fees and props.

One of the most famous filmmakers to turn an iPhone lens into their cinematic tool is Steven Soderbergh. Launched at many film festivals and theatres, his 2018 full-length thriller Unsane was filmed on an iPhone 7s which captured all the action, but faced some criticism for appearing a bit blurry and dark. However, the director stood by his film and hailed it “the future” of videography in a 2018 interview at Sundance Festival.

Making an impressive follow-up from Unsane, Soderbergh felt “liberated” after upgrading to an iPhone 8 with his sports drama High Flying Bird. Distributed by Netflix to critical acclaim in early 2019, the budget was upped to $2 million, unlike the $1.5 million budget for Unsane. He pushed the iPhone further by using wide-angles lenses to capture extended hand-held tracking shots smoothly. As an established fan of digital photography, Soderbergh has become a high-profile advocate for iPhone filmmaking.

There have been many significant steps towards mainstream appreciation of iPhone videography, meaning that the number of smartphone film festivals have been growing in numbers and success. For example, one of the largest, innovative mobile film festivals in North America is Toronto Smartphone Film Festival (TSFF). It began in 2012, and the organisation was committed to serve amateur and professional creative filmmakers who wanted to pave a new way of what cinema could be with the help of a phone devices. TSFF has hosted over 600 films from 50 countries over its 8-year span. With no plans of stopping, it is devoted to showcasing new ways to create cinema.

Another example which has been ranked as one of the Top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals by FilmFreeway is Mobile Motion Film Festival (MoMo.) MoMo was set up in 2015 using Kickstarter and now it is organising its 6th festival. The Zurich based company believe that “the festival will showcase new talent using a tool so simple and readily available that it’s often overlooked: the mobile phone”. This demonstrates how anyone with a thought-provoking idea or a moving story can make a great film.

Searching for Sugar Man

Tangerine

Unsane