The following short film was shot and editing entirely on the new iPhone 4. Yes, you read that correctly… I said shot AND edited on an iPhone. The quality of the images is incredible for such a small device. Editing was achieved using the new iMovie app for the iPhone. I know it is easy to be wowed by Apple’s publicity and Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field but this is really impressive stuff. When iMovie was first released on the Mac just over 10 years ago it blew me away. It was one of the features that led me to purchase my first Mac in 1999 (a blueberry coloured iMac DV). The potential that iMovie offered for regular (non-expert) users to make high quality movies with relatively inexpensive equipment was very significant. As is so often the case, Apple’s integration of hardware and software was critical. Along with iMovie they introduced the Firewire connectivity that made the process of getting footage from a DV camera to the Mac really straightforward. iMovie on the iPhone 4 is a similarly significant development in video editing, and not just for consumers. The fact that you can now carry both the shooting hardware and the editing software and hardware in your pocket is remarkable and would have seemed unbelievable back in 1999. The fact that the picture quality of movies made on the iPhone 4 exceeds that of the movies that I was able to make on my iMac DV is even more extraordinary. Who knows what will be possible in another 10 years time?
iPhone 4 film – “Apple of My Eye” from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.
Perhaps more interesting than the initial movie shown above is the ‘making of’ documentary that follows. It is clear that the guys that made this film know a thing or two about movie making. They also have the benefit of some specialist gear to help them get those great shots with the iPhone. The use of a tripod (and in this case, dollies) makes all the difference (as I am forever telling my students when they learn to make their own movies).
I’m keen to see other examples of movies made entirely on the iPhone so please feel free to post links in the comments below. I can’t wait to see what kids can do with this technology.
#1 by Keith on 21st July 2010 - 2:36 pm
Thanks for this Jeremy…fascinating and as you point out it is remarkable how far the technology has come. What I love is the physical simplicity of it. I like the way the iPhone easily slots into the gaps on the train enabling the shots from onboard; it wouldn’t be so easy with a standard DV camera to set this up. What other shots are out there waiting I wonder? I hope you get some other examples here on the blog. Will be good to see how people exploit the technology.
#2 by Matt P on 22nd July 2010 - 12:05 am
Must download iMovie and give it a go. Perhaps I’ll be the new Antonioni. Or perhaps not.
#3 by Sina on 22nd July 2010 - 10:32 am
Interesting, but a little bit too glorifying. We need to be very careful what we are getting excited about here. I very much doubt that iMovie on the iPhone 4 is a significant development in video editing. Because it is not the technology that makes people turn into great video makers / editors, but the mindset. The people that made the little short video you posted here clearly understand video making. So they just use a new technology for the same classical approach of making a video. This is pre-planned and thoroughly thought through. Yet the iPhone 4 might give the impression that video making is just an ad-hoc exercise as it is so easy to press the record button and then edit something together. This is not so significant, yet I am worried that iMovie on the iPhone could do to video making what Word has done to essay writing. There is the tendency to start up the equipment a lot earlier and therefore reduce the research and planning time to a minimum. What is better: to make a video “on-to-go” on an iPhone 4 or to make a good video? We are putting too much emphasis on what we are using for video editing, but it is not the software or hardware that determines how good the outcome is. It is skill and hard work and time spent on it. This goes for essay writing as well as video making. The technology might be new, but the essentials have not changed.
#4 by Jeremy on 22nd July 2010 - 3:16 pm
Me over-hyping Apple kit? Never!
Seriously though, if it hadn’t been for me discovering iMovie back in 1999, I’m not sure that I would have developed my interest in digital video editing and if iMovie on the iPhone turns a few people on to making movies then I’m all for it. Who knows which brilliant film directors of the future might develop their initial interest in this way? If it makes the medium accessible to a wider range of people then I think it is almost certainly a good thing. That’s not to say that we won’t have to put up with a lot of poorly shot and edited movies, in the same way that the desktop publishing revolution led to a lot of dire amateur print publications. But are you telling me that you don’t like the idea of carrying a movie making studio in your pocket? You’re kidding, right?
#5 by Sina on 23rd July 2010 - 12:09 pm
Seriously, I definitely do not thrive on the idea carrying a movie making studio in my pocket. It’s just a nice gadget. It is more likely that people underestimate the effort that needs to go into making a film, if their first contact of video editing software is iMovie on an iPhone. You have to take you rose-tinted, apple-shaped glasses off. I can’t see the future David Lynch emerging as a direct result of Apple putting iMovie on their iPhone (maybe a future Mike Figgis though, which would be good indeed). And sorry for pointing this out, but your discovery of iMovie in 1999 hasn’t turned you into a brilliant film director either. To turn up the geek level a notch – i started editing in 1997 on Avid (6 GB external hard drives!). Avid is the pro, the serious stuff, the one to use – hasn’t turned me into a brilliant film director or editor at all. It is not the technology that makes people do great things. It’s their mindset. Apple’s iMovie on the iPhone is just another way for them to make money. That’s all.