Top Short Films Made with Smartphone Cameras
As new mobile devices become more equipped with better lenses and powerful processors, it’s no surprise they’re being used by filmmakers as tools to create their visual masterpieces. Thanks to this equipment, artists are able to weave tales with great visual quality without the burden of heavy production costs. In this entry, we will provide you with a list of the most dazzling smartphone short films that you must watch.
Matt Morris – iPhone 5S Adventures
Ever wondered what a film shot with an iPhone 5S would look like? Matt Morris‘s feel-good movie follows the comedic adventures of an “iphoneographer” duo and their quest to discover the various capabilities of Apple’s latest handset. With a dubstep track as their background music, they traversed a skateboard park, parking garage and even a cliff just to capture the best video clips. The team heavily used slow motion (Slo Mo) effects to depict most of the characters’ actions.
Six Degrees of Summer
Using the “exquisite corpse” method of storytelling, six mobile filmmakers united to create a 22-minute short with six different segments showing the beauty of the Great British Summer. The stories were captured using a combination of different brands like the iPhone 4S, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X+ and a Sony Xperia S. Although each has their varying lenses and specs, the final product is so well-stitched that you won’t notice the difference in quality.
24 Months Later
This entry won the Audience Favorite Award and Grand Prize at the 3rd Olleh International Smartphone Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea. Directed by 24-year old film student Kim Chan-nyeon, this dystopian tale shot using the iPhone 4S tells a story of a man trying to survive in a world ravaged by a “disease” that turned everyone into mobile-addicted zombies. Instead of relying on funny dialogue, the film is replete with humorous slapstick action scenes and a very interesting ending. Although the film didn’t use any fancy special effects, the director was successful in showing the horrific implications of a world addicted to technological tools.
Run Lumia Run
This title features free running World Champion Ryan Doyle and his fellow traceur Will Sutton in an exhilarating two-minute race across the bustling city streets of Europe. The director used a Nokia Lumia 920 to shoot the running scenes. Thanks to the device’s famous Optical Image Stabilization, the performers’ death-defying stunts leaping over rooftops were very clear and visible. And to add to the excitement, it uses a very catchy and energetic soundtrack to add to the race scenes.
Red Earth Hip Hop
Another movie that showcased the Finnish handset’s camera capabilities is Red Earth Hip Hop. Directed by Australian filmmaker Jason van Genderen and shot in the stunning yet remote areas of Queensland, it tells the story of how the country’s native communities used the upbeat tunes of hip hop to pass on cultural heritage to their young members. Because of the captivating sceneries and compelling storyline, this masterpiece bagged the first prize in the 2013 Sundance London Film and Music Festival.
With surveys by the operators of mobile gaming company Pocket Fruity revealing that we now use our phones everywhere—from in church or other places of worship, to at school or at work, to waiting for the bus—it comes as no surprise that we now have filmmakers trying to make the most of their smartphones and using them as tools of the trade. These are just some of the highly-recommended smartphone short films that we have found so far. But if you know other titles that worth watching, feel free to join the discussions in the comments section below.
Videos:
Matt Morris – http://vimeo.com/76054506
Six Degrees of Summer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uESHKWt6d5Q
24 Months Later – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hslml0gwL2U
Run Lumia Run – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aso1ShDhNkw
Red Earth Hip Hop – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Lewbdm8lg
Film Capsule 