Professional Video right from your pocket!

We utilize a lot of big guns over here at the Studio for our productions. The F5, Epic and C300 are our workhorses and they serve us well but what about the little phones in our pockets?

Like many of you (I hope), I’m a fan of the practical and cost-effective. While I still catch myself sometimes thinking about making purchases that I have practically no need for,  I never forget that I’ve got such incredible tools at my disposal already. More than enough to tell a story: something heartfelt, a piece that other people can relate to.

Exponential improvements in tech is making film making readily accesible to the average consumer/ film maker. Like the recent “1.24.14” video by Apple shot completely on iphones.

http://youtu.be/vslQm7IYME4

The 5s with its slow motion capabilities  as well as its built in video stabilization add a lot of production value in such a small form factor that it can’t be ignored.

Check out this stabilization test I ran with a 5D Mkiii + 50mm 1.2 and my Iphone 5S mounted together on a Manfrotto Rig:

http://youtu.be/jAX-t-CABVc

You can see the results speak for themselves: As suspected, the 5D’s image quality and color range far surpasses that of the Iphone but the small phone camera makes up for it immensely in a way more viewer friendly fashion. (By that I mean less motion sickness and more down with the sickness) Jokes aside, this may not seem like a lot but if you break it down by cost, the MKiii stands at a price point unreachable for many as it goes for around 3.3k right now. Body only. That means you’re missing a lens, memory card, assorted other accouterments that you need to start shooting.

The iphone 5s on the other hand comes in at around 700$ without a contract and is able to shoot video right out of the box @ 1080p and has a slew of apps to edit and “insta” filter it to oblivion . As one anonymous vimeo commenter stated: “theoretically you could take a video from shooting to editing all on your phone”. Not to mention the 5S’ most discerning feature: the abilty to shoot @ 120 fps in 720p.

You can see with a bit of color grading and maybe a little bit more planning before shooting, one can achieve quite cinematic results. Now the average Joe can shoot all the action sports, b-roll, behind the scenes he wants, the possible uses are endless. As mentioned earlier, the slew of apps and now even the release of an anamorphic lens for the iphone, continue to solidify the pocket phone as a viable tool in the film maker’s arsenal.