In praise of iPhone film “Apple of my Eye”

I was stunned to see this movie yesterday shot and edited on the new iPhone. It was brought to my attention by @standupkid and @vimeo on Twitter. Take a look.

“Apple of My Eye” – an iPhone 4 film from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo

Amazingly good quality video shot on a phone, done by a professional on non-professional kit. Maybe some people will see this as a green light for every man and his dog to get into video journalism, but good quality handheld phone cameras and flip cams have been around for some time – this is just one of the most impressive uses of that kind of technology that we’ve seen so far. Remember, you can still have all the gear, but no idea. My feeling is that although it might get more people in general shooting more video, this is even better news for us as visual storytellers – which yes, still is a skill – by bringing down the costs and bulk of the equipment we might sometimes use to report.

Having seen the quality that’s possible using the iPhone, we know it’s not always necessary to shoot on bigger, more cumbersome and high maintenance kit. But there are some other things worth nothing on this issue.

This is a fiction feature, so the environment is a lot more controlled than it might be if you were shooting a more news / documentary style piece. You can see the camera’s exposure adjusting to different light changes on some of the footage shot outside of the window. But Michael Koerbel clearly knows what he’s doing, with some excellent use of the camera and some real depth of field, mainly in the shots where the camera is mounted on the train.

It would be interesting to see how the iPhone would stand up in more documentary style storytelling, where one was more on the hoof and less in control of environmental conditions. And does it have manual controls, where you can set your own exposure? It certainly looks as though it lets you set the focus….

Either way, an important development not just for every iPhone user, but for us as visual storytellers being increasingly limited by big budgets and less time. Can’t wait for the behind the scenes video they’re promised…

Category: Featured, editorial, journalism, media, video