One of the first well known feature films that was shot on an iPhone was Sean Baker's Sundance hit "Tangerine". He shot with an iPhone 5s and embraced the digital look of the image (albeit it still had a pretty nice cinematic feel using the FiLMiC Pro app).
Since then several other movies have been produced this way including two from Hollywood heavyweight director Steven Soderbergh. He shot a horror film called "Unsane" on an iPhone 7 Plus (that looked more like "iPhone footage" than a traditional film) and then a drama called "High Flying Bird" on an iPhone 8 Plus (that looked a lot more cinematic and dynamic with lots of camera movement).
So while a few filmmakers have taken this route, it's still newsworthy and a bit of a novelty when you hear that someone shoots a full length movie using a smartphone (lots of people shoot short films this way - including us, but not features).
And so when we heard about Stef Harris' film called "Blue Moon" we were definitely intrigued. Not only because it was shot on an iPhone 7 (and looks very good), but also because he made it in only six day and for $12,000 (New Zealand dollars). Oh, and in those six days they only shot 5 hours a day... So ONLY 30 hours to shoot a feature film! That's really remarkable.
The normal day on a film set is 12 hours. But that often creeps up to 14 or 16 and even 18 hours a day. So the fact that they shot this so quickly is really amazing and Stef says it's largely due to the fact they shot with an iPhone.
Check out this episode from our YouTube channel to hear more about the production...
And to learn more check out our podcast episode that expands on the interviews from the video and also goes into a lot more detail about using FILMiC Pro and the production process from both the cast & crew's perspective.
The podcast is available at most places that they can be heard (links to Apple, Spotify and more on our Anchor page).
Btw, we got to see a screener of "Blue Moon" and it's a really good movie. Actually liked it better than any of the aforementioned iPhone shot films. And the main thing is that it doesn't matter that it was shot on an iPhone. It's a good movie no matter how you look at it.
So what are you waiting for? If you want to make your own indie film or web series or YouTube channel or whatever... there really are no excuses!
Get out there and just do it. Don't wait to create. :)
Happy filmmaking!
P.S. Save 10% on our course "The Complete Guide To FiLMiC Pro" using this link: http://bit.ly/FPGuidePOD10