iPhone 15 Pro Max for making movies? 5 aspiring Bollywood filmmakers share their experiences

Apple CEO Tim Cook, while introducing the iPhone 15 Pro Max last year, had mentioned that the cameras are meant for professional filmmaking. Actually, Apple had shot one of its launch events with the iPhone 15 Pro series. Now, five filmmakers took up the challenge and actually filmed five short films using the iPhone 15 Pro Max. These short films are available for free aunty youtube channel And if you look at them you might start to believe that it’s not about megapixels, but about perspective and the art of storytelling.

Five filmmakers – Sourav Rai, Archana Atul Phadke, Faraz Ali, Soumyanand Sahi and Pratik Vats – released five short films under the guidance of industry stalwarts like Vishal Bhardwaj, Vikramaditya Motwane and Rohan Sippy. ‘Crossing Borders’, ‘Mirage’, ‘Obur’, ‘A New Life’ And ‘Jal Tu Jalal Tu’ Using the iPhone 15 Pro Max and MacBook Pro with M3 Max chip, respectively.

Filmmakers selected Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) To create short films for the 2024 MAMI Select – Filmed on iPhone initiative.

Ace director Vishal Bhardwaj, who shot his film Fursat on the iPhone 14 Pro, believes that filming with a non-traditional camera can be liberating. He said, “You don’t have to control yourself about the shots you capture, the depth or the colors… If you go all out with your vision, the results will surprise you.”

“The iPhone is a real boon for filmmakers. It gives everyone a chance to shoot great things,” said Vikramaditya Motwane.

While the results of using an iPhone to shoot a movie are available on YouTube for everyone to see, what’s interesting is each of the five filmmakers’ perspective on what they felt while filming on the iPhone. Was different.

Using ProRes to get it right

‘Prateik Vatsa on filming’Jal Tu Jalal Tu‘Using the iPhone 15 Pro Max it’s mentioned that they shot the film in a 4:3 aspect ratio, reminiscent of the box television sets of the ’90s. Using the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 24mm main camera, he frames character portraits that allow the audience to see them through their own eyes. They used the iPhone’s ProRes log recording capabilities by precisely tuning specific areas in terms of exposure and color.

The short film which he co-directed with Shubham is inspired by Anton Chekhov’s short story The Death of a Government Clerk. Titled Jal Tu Jalal Tu (You are water, you are almighty), it depicts the angst of a factory worker who accidentally angers his employer. The film highlights power dynamics and social hierarchies in a blue-collar environment.

Using Cinematic Mode to Tell Stories

“We shoot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and then send it for color correction… no fuss, no gimmicks,” said producer Saurav Rai.crossing borders’, The short film tells the story of a woman who smuggled goods like sarees and umbrellas across the India-Nepal border to meet her needs.

“Having used Apple products for a long time… the iPhone 15 Pro Max is built for filmmakers. Cinematic mode keeps its richly developed characters in sharp focus while blurring the foreground or background. “Shooting this way gives you a beautiful depth of field that you can only control in post or on an iPhone,” Rai explains.

Getting the right mix of 24mm to 120mm shots

Archana Atul Phadke nominated for her short film ‘Mirage’, preferred long shots as a remarkable way of storytelling. The film focuses on a young boy who spends all his time on his iPhone, but loses it and himself in the desert. To juxtapose the vast landscape with the budding hero, Phadke used the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s native cameras to compress and decompress the storytelling.

“With the default 24mm main camera, I explore wide shots initially. Finally, the 120 mm telephoto camera – which gives amazing depth – makes the boy’s world smaller and smaller,” explained Phadke.

Using the Voice Memos app for audio

Filmmaker Faraz Ali obur (Cloud) is a tragic comedy that tells the story of a teenage boy who loses the memories of his terminally ill mother. The memories were on his iPhone, which he had pawned off to a pharmacist in exchange for his mother’s medical help.

“Color can tip the scale toward tragedy or comedy,” he explained. “ProRes video with log encoding gives my grading artist and me the raw material we need to find that delicate balance.”

For this film, Ali recorded ambient sounds on an iPhone 15 Pro Max using the Voice Memos app and an external mic. On Mac, he also uses Final Draft to work on his scripts, as well as Adobe Photoshop to color grade stills during pre-production.

the rig is getting right

Saumyananda Sahi’s film ‘a new life‘ is the story of a migrant factory worker who leaves his pregnant wife in search of better job opportunities. Shot in Kolkata and Bengaluru, the film explores fatherhood and long-distance relationships.

Cinematographer Runal Hattimattur used a small rig cage on a tripod with an iPhone 15 Pro Max for the film.

“We are shooting video calls in real time, and the iPhone is a part of the display. This kind of storytelling is only possible here… I can shoot exposures or logs as I usually do on an Arri Alexa Cinema camera,” he explained.