![]() “ We thought that we were going to be filling up our phones nonstop and would need a media manager on set to be downloading constantly, ” says Baker. The lack of professional image calibration options to make images from different devices consistent was one of the few technical drawbacks Baker encountered. ![]() Although they initially purchased three iPhones for the project, they sidelined one because the images it produced were slightly noisier than those from the other two devices. He got signed releases from anyone who stepped into the frame: “We had to have a couple PAs chasing everybody down, ” he notes.īaker and Cheung shot each scene with one or two iPhones, depending on the number of actors and the setting. “I think that for the most part, people probably thought that we were just playing around on our phones, ” says Baker. The passersby, store clerks, and customers in the film are all real people going about their business, not hired extras. “We wanted to use the iPhone to its full potential, and part of that was shooting in a way that was clandestine and small and not making a big footprint, ” says Baker. Using such minimal gear allowed Baker to work with a small crew and shoot in real-world locations that would otherwise have been expensive and onerous to close off for a film shoot. Otherwise, the crew stayed away from the bulky rigs typically found on a professional film shoot, with the exception of the sound engineer ’s standard rig. ” They also used an 18-foot painter ’s pole for a bird ’s eye view in a couple scenes, and Cheung augmented available light with small light panels and bounce cards for fill. “I was able to control the speed just by controlling my bike. “I was able to get 360-degree shots, ” he explains. To create his own swirling version of the dolly shot, Baker got on his ten-speed and put his skills as a former New York City bike messenger to work. ” The app allowed Baker and his co-cinematographer, Radium Cheung, to lock the frame rate at 24 frames per second, control exposure and focus settings, and capture footage at a higher-quality compression rate than the iPhone ’ s native camera supports.īaker and Cheung also used Tiffen ’s Steadicam Smoothee to reduce camera shake, as well as tripods for the few locked-down shots in the movie. It was really the combination of using the Moondog adapter and an app called FiLMiC Pro. “ I probably would not have shot the film if it wasn ’ t for a couple of these tools that allowed me to elevate it to a cinematic level. “ It was really their footage that I saw that totally sold me, ” says Baker. The adapters, now available for purchase, made it possible for Baker to stretch the iPhone video aspect ratio out to Super 35 format. One of the key factors in Baker ’ s decision to use iPhones was the availability of anamorphic lens adapter prototypes from Moondog Labs. Shot in the bright winter daylight and neon-tinged nights of Hollywood, the fast-paced film follows its characters through the city streets and into cars, bars and kitchens before circling back to Donut Time, the mom-and-pop venue where the story begins. ![]() She sets out in hot pursuit of her rival, intermittently in the company of her friend Alexandra and her cab-driver client, Razmik. ![]() Set in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, Tangerine tells the tale of Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender sex worker who hears a rumor that her boyfriend/pimp was two-timing her during her recent stint in the clink. ![]() Having made previous movies with film and pro HD video cameras, Baker warmed to the idea of using smartphones when it became clear that they would make it possible to produce the ensemble-cast movie on a meager $120,000 budget, as well as create a less-intimidating experience for the first-time actors who star in the film.Īs the production got under way, Baker and his crew embraced the iPhone ’s unconventional cinematographic characteristics to create a film whose punchy, distinctive look does a remarkably effective job of conveying its frenetic energy, melancholy undercurrent, and mixture of humor and anxiety. “ As a cinephile, I ’ d say that if I heard a film was shot on the iPhone, I probably wouldn ’ t rush out to see it, ” says Sean Baker, who directed Tangerine, a feature-length film shot exclusively with a pair of iPhone 5s smartphones. ![]()
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