In the frame

Can major movies really be shot on iPhone?

Can big movies really be shot on the iPhone?

DIRECTOR STEVEN SODERBERGH shot 2018’s psychological thriller Unsane on an iPhone 7 Plus and 2019’s basketball flick High Flying Bird on an iPhone 8. To anyone unfamiliar with cinema gear, that might seem unsurprising — iPhone video looks great, right? But a glance at the camera rigs lugged around on even a modest production, accompanied by grips bearing lenses, monitors and terabytes of storage, suggests it can’t be quite that simple.

Sean Baker shot 2015’s Tangerine with just an iPhone 5s (well, three of them). Having made the choice for cost reasons, he was pleased with the way it gave his movie a more intimate feel. But there’s a little more to it than point and shoot. Tangerine’s look was achieved with an anamorphic lens adaptor, a stabilizer and post– production color grading, and the crew recorded sound separately on professional equipment. Soderbergh uses similar add–ons, but says the iPhone makes shooting quicker and better.

Still, shallow depth of field, a staple of cinema composition, remains physically impossible in a sensor small enough for a phone. It’s simulated by Apple’s Portrait Mode, but much harder with video, though Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10 attempts it. Adding a full range of lenses is possible with adaptors, but unsatisfactory, and ultimately sensor size limits image quality. Even with third–party apps that apply less compression than Apple’s Camera, footage lacks the latitude for heavy post–production. On the plus side, it’s easy to hit sharp focus. Although Netflix funded High

Flying Bird, it’s officially not that into iPhones. The most basic option on its approved list is Panasonic’s S1H, a 6K mirrorless stills and video camera that costs $4,000 without a lens. It’s not the high resolution that qualifies it — 4K is enough to make the cut — but high dynamic range, bit rate and color depth. Realistically, iPhones will never replace movie cameras entirely, but you’ll certainly see more iPhone movies on the cinema screen.