Monday, September 4, 2017

WHY YOU SHOULD NOT SHOOT A MOVIE ON YOUR I-PHONE

(Filmmaker Mark Duplass - SXSW Film Festival 2015)

     “The cavalry is not coming” those iconic words were spoken by Mark Duplass during his impactful speech at the SXSW film festival on March 15, 2015.  What he meant by that was as indie filmmakers we often hope to prove ourselves with a movie or two and then expect that Hollywood will come calling, well times have changed.  That was the old paradigm, before the digital camera revolution led to at least 10 times more features being made each year.  In 1998 just over 500 features were submitted to the Sundance film festival, in 2015 that number surged to 4,105. (1)  “That’s the bad news,” Duplass said, the good news is that “you are the cavalry.”  This poignant comment was met with applause, we recognized what he meant before he even finished his thought.  These days creatives need to make their own opportunities for themselves and not wait to be bankrolled by an angel investor that will never land.  This really is an important speech for any indie filmmaker to listen to at least once.  Here it is in its entirety:



     I could not agree more with everything Mark says here..... except for one part.  During the Q and A he exclaims just go out and make your movie, shoot it on your I-Phone, that's what we did.  With that point, Mark was referencing the 2015 Sundance hit Tangerine which writer/director Sean Baker chose to shoot entirely on an I-phone.  The movie made waves in the press and got a wide release which even included a theatrical push.  It sounds like an indie filmmakers dream, any first time filmmaker from off the street can just make a movie with their phone and become a Sundance darling. Right?  I think not, this article will explain why I feel that is not the case and why you should not make a feature on a cell phone.

The reasons break down like this:

- There is much more behind the scenes that helped to make Tangerine the success it is.

- Nothing to gain from shooting it that way.

- The press knows that this is old news now.

      Headlines say: A movie shot on an I-phone is a hit at Sundance.  Since then many articles and members of the media proudly boast that aspiring filmmakers can just make their movie on a cell phone.  But what the majority of these stories leave out are the technical details of the production of Tangerine and that these filmmakers were already successful from their prior features.

      Tangerine was reported to have been shot on an I-phone with important accessories including an anamorphic lens adapter made by Moondog labs.  This gave the movie a full scope widescreen aspect ratio.  They used a great app called Filmic Pro, which is a powerful pro video app that gives you fine tuned control over the video quality with simulated frame rate, exposure and focus settings to let you capture high end video on your phone.  In addition they used a Smoothee brand steadicam rig designed to get you smooth camera work on your cellphone.  Sean Baker has made it clear that they had professional sound gear and microphones to record the street-wise dialogue of Tangerine. That is expensive gear that requires a professional sound mixer.  If you want your audio to be of a professional quality, you cannot use the audio recorded on your phone.  The movie also had the standard amount of post-production work done to make the colors picture perfect and the audio crystal clear.  Again that would require a lot of time from dedicated people skilled in post-production.  So, when you look at it like that, it is not as easy as just “go on, make a movie with your phone.”

      How about the filmmakers behind Tangerine?  Among the executive producers of the movie we have Mark and Jay Duplass.  Up until that point the Duplass Brothers had produced around 30 shorts and feature films, many of which premiered at Sundance before Tangerine did in 2015.  Because of that that had Hollywood agents, lawyers and Managers on their side to help promote their projects including Tangerine.  It is clear that the Duplass Brothers had a good relationship with Sundance by the time Tangerine was was submitted for their consideration.  I am not saying this connection between the filmmakers and the festival is fowl play, but it goes without saying that this is a big advantage.  Sean Baker was no newbie either, he had directed four features before Tangerine including Starlet (2012) about a young single female pornstar trying to find her way.  Starlet stimulated quite a response at SXSW when it screened there, establishing Sean Baker as a filmmaker worth keeping an eye on.

      It is safe to say these filmmakers involved with Tangerine had a leg up compared to any unknown, first time filmmaker who might decide to shoot a feature on a cellphone.  As a first time filmmaker trying to break in today you need this debut film to act as your calling card, it must be as good as it can be.  It has become increasingly difficult for indie films to garner attention while the competition gets more crowded each year.  You may have seen The Puffy Chair (2005), the debut film that put the Duplass Brothers on the map.  It was a small, micro budget road trip comedy that really set them on a path for the rest of their careers.  Well guess what, this was the debut feature, but it was not their first.  In 1996 Jay and Mark Duplass produced a feature length, black and white exploitation flick called Connect 5.  That movie remained unseen for about a decade.  Jay Duplass has discredited this movie in interviews saying “I made a feature called Connect 5, which only about 17 people have seen.  It was not very good.” (2)  So even they made a movie that was a disappointment for them.  The Duplass Bothers and many other successful indie filmmakers have one thing in common, they persevere despite countless rejections and miss-steps.

     My next point is that you have nothing to gain from shooting your movie on a cellphone.  While apps like Filmic pro will enable you to get top quality 4K video out of your cellphone, it is all simulated.  Having a camera with a real lens on it makes a difference, it gives you real focal depth and will also teach you more about the art of camera operation then moving a settings dial on a cell phone app.  If you use a set of lenses to make your movie, a wide angle lens will give you a totally different dramatic feel than other shots through a long lens.  A cellphone does not give you that option.  The small size of a cellphone is handy, but a DSLR camera that can shoot 4K like the Nikon D500 is about the same size and can get you the same flexibility in tight spaces.  But wait, the price of shooting on a cellphone set up is better right?  Only marginally.  Let's break it down using what they had on the set of Tangerine as an example:

(Newest model of the I-phone for this example)
  • Apple I-phone 7 plus $669.99
  • Moondog lab lens $175
  • Smoothee steadicam (w/mount) $200
  • Filmic Pro App. $20
     TOTAL: $1,059.99

     You can buy a brand new 4K DSLR camera with a lens for around $1,800 - $2,000.  So the cost really should not be a factor.  But look at all the publicity Tangerine got for being shot on an I-phone.  That could happen for my movie right?  Sorry true believers, I think not and that brings us to the last point I hope to make on this topic.

     Members of the media do not care about an unknown filmmaker who shot a movie on an I-phone.  Yes, Sean Baker got a lot of press with Tangerine and the focus of most of this revolved around shooting it on a cellphone.  But remember that these filmmakers had established careers already and the movie premiered at Sundance.  The odds of getting into Sundance are bleak, and should never be something an indie filmmaker should expect as part of their marketing plan.  Sean Baker is quick to point out that Tangerine was not the first feature to be shot on an I-phone.  In an interview I heard Baker mention this and the filmmaker’s name…. but he blanked on the title of the movie and so would anyone else, because that movie got no attention.  You might say, “I’m seeing all these articles about Unsane, the new movie Steven Soderbergh shot entirely on an I-Phone, so that story still has interest Curt, ya big dummy.” While I appreciate your Sanford and Son reference I have to remind everyone that Soderbergh is a HUGE name in the filmmaking world.  Not just with his indie hits like Sex Lies and Videotape (1989) but also his blockbuster studio movies like Traffic (2000) and Ocean’s Eleven (2001).  Soderbergh at this point could shoot a movie on one of those worthless Game Boy 8-bit cameras and the press would write about it (see below).

                                            Game Boy 8-Bit Camera


    In closing I must say there are exceptions to this.  Red is about to release their Hydrogen cellphone in early 2018.  The Hydrogen will not only give you top quality 4K video capture but you can attach real proprietary lenses to it.  This phone is also said to have a holographic display that will not require wearing 3-D glasses.  This is not a phone, this is a high end pocket camera that can also make phone calls.  Maybe the first feature shot on the Hydrogen will make headlines, I would not be surprised.  While I do not recommend you shoot an entire feature on a cellphone, I do see it as a valuable option for filmmakers.  Shoot a web series on your I-Phone.  Use it to do quick camera tests on technical scouts for your feature.  Why not shoot insert shots on your phone during post production if you do not have any other option.  Further proof of this is Sean Baker's latest feature The Florida Project, which was shot on an Arri Alexa Mini camera.  He did choose to shoot one scene of the movie on an I-Phone, they have not said why they shot one scene that way, maybe time will tell. The heart of everything Mark Duplass said in his landmark 2015 speech is correct, as creatives you MUST create and not make excuses for yourself.  You need a body of work, not just talking about how this project was almost produced or how so and so was interested in that script.  By all means go out and create, but please be as prepared as possible before production and be smart about it.    


- Curt Wiser is the Writer/Director of the suspense movie Cam-Girl.  He also works in Visual Effects and is a published author.  

(SOURCES:) 
1- Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film.  By Emanuel Levy NYU Press 2001. 
2- Directing on a Dime: Puffy Chairs, Cyrus and the Film School Question.  Moviemaker.com Andy Young 2011.  

       

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