iPhone 5S with Anamorphic Adapter makes big Splash at Sundance

[jcs]

http://nofilmschool.com/2015/01/feature-film-blew-everyone-away-sundance-shot-on-iphone

Another example of a compelling story is what makes a film. They did use high-end audio gear: Sound Devices 664, lavs, and boom mics (well over $5K in gear). Doing something great with a popular, low cost camera is an interesting marketing angle, similar to the Bentley ad shot & edited on iPhone and iPad (in a Bentley).

If you ever wanted to try anamorphic shooting for low cost and you have an iPhone 5S, $160 for the moondoglabs adapter looks pretty cool: http://www.moondoglabs.com/store/#!/1-33X-Anamorphic-Adapter-for-iPhone-5-5S/p/39381552/category=8525657.  

[Andrew Reid]

Whilst it's true obstructions make you more creative (See Lars Von Trier's The Five Obstructions for a fun watch) shooting on an iPhone is usually a gimmick designed to make headlines.

A simple camera is good though, I like when the camera gets out of the way.

[jcs]

Agreed using a smart phone can be a marketing angle, though it won't make any difference unless the film is good. More info about the film here: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/28/7925023/sundance-film-festival-2015-tangerine-iphone-5s .

I've used the iPhone 5S for outdoor and well-lit shots (including slow motion) cut with much higher end cameras. It's a useful tool and takes excellent video with nice skin tones at 1080p. While folks (in LA at least) are catching on to DSLR video, the iPhone is still useful for guerrilla shots (folks don't think it's for anything professional).

In the future, lightfield or similar sensors will be high enough quality to provide adjustable shallow DOF with quality that rivals full frame. And the ability to adjust DOF in post!

[Andrew Reid]

Look at Dancer In The Dark... perfect marriage of shit image quality and brilliant acting, writing, directing.

Lars Von Trier was onto something with the Dogme stuff.

However he is now shooting Alexa and Anthony Dod Mantle is shooting C500.

Must be a reason for that.

The reason is you need more than one brush, more than one type of paint on your palette.

Because good stuff is shot on an iPhone doesn't meant it couldn't have been even better shot with a GH4 & Iscorama in 4K. Depends on what suits the content.

If it's lavish scenery, Koyanisquatsi, natural light, Kubrick style cinematics... then iPhone is the wrong kind of brush stroke.

If it's documentary, dogme style handheld, then the dirty 'video look' is actually pretty useful.

Here, they took the iPhone and made it look clean and cinematic. Impressive achievement. But it just shows, if anything, how good a small sensor looks with an anamorphic and how good the video mode is on the iPhone any way, great detail for a phone and not much compression with Filmic Pro.

[jcs]

Sure, different cameras, different lens, different brushes & paint.

The camera we have with us most of the time- on our phones. We can shoot now with decent quality any time, anywhere (low light is tricky, but works well using the LED when up close). Great practice and sometimes useful for picking up shots for more elaborate shoots when we don't have a higher-end camera on hand. I have Filmic Pro though haven't used it much. For anything that requires high quality, I use a different camera. I don't have any anamorphic lenses- the $160 lens for the iPhone could be interesting to experiment with.