(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.
