Credit: Simon Evers
TECH COLUMN
Is Your iPhone Ready for Your Close-Up – or Wide Shot?
T
here’s been a huge buzz around the launch of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus and not just because it’s the latest and greatest from the Apple lineup with its cult-like following. It’s the photographic upgrades that have
26 • Canadian Cinematographer - January 2016
captured attention, such as a front-facing 5 Mpixel Facetime HD sensor camera with a 12 Mpixel iSight sensor in the rear-facing camera. Behind all this is the A9 Apple Image Signal Processor which has accelerated
performance of the cameras. There’s a complex explanation of how that works from Apple engineers which translates as: faster, cleaner, smoother and less noise. Bottom line: video captures up to 4K at 30 fps while 1080p is captured at 30 and 60 fps. Which brings up the question: why would a mobile device which is ostensibly used by the masses to post selfies and what they had for lunch need the hyper-crisp reality of 4K? Both Facebook and YouTube aren’t capable of running 4K clips and the upload process strips out quality. Even sharing peer-to-peer becomes problematic because of the file sizes. The answer is because Apple can, Apple does. Clearly, Apple is talking directly to filmmakers and potential filmmakers given the burgeoning wave of peripherals available: lenses from Olloclip and Moon Dog Labs, EnCinema adaptors that allow SLR lenses to be fitted, similar offerings from Turtleback, rigs from Camlite and Owle and editing software. Which leads to the neverending conversations among cinematographers: can you shoot a money job on an iPhone? And the answer is: Yes, no and why? Yes, the iPhone has already proved itself as a viable storytelling tool. There’s even competition not just between films, but also sites. Check out the features online at the upstart iPhone Film Festival site (www.iphoneff.com) and the Original iPhone Film Festival (iphonefilmmaker.com). Tangerine (youtu.be/ALSwWTb88ZU) directed by Sean Baker drew raves at Sundance and was shot entirely on an iPhone 5s. Cinematographer Luc Montpellier csc – no slouch with any technology over the last 21 years – notes we had the same debate when RED first appeared, then Blackmagic and then GoPro. Really it’s no different that whether back in the day we shot on Super 8, 16, 35 or 70 mm, each technology has its benefits and each will bring something to how the story is told. Of course, story always trumps
