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Filmmaker Joey Helms has produced a shocking example of cinematic videography from iPhone 14 Professional , complete with a video tutorial on how to do the same.
Considering Helms uses two props, this isn’t your average “technically shot on the iPhone, but utilizing an entire film crew and tens of hundreds of dollars worth of lighting and filmmaking package” movie…
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Instead, as he reveals in a much-requested tutorial video, he mostly just used a gimbal and a low-cost variable-density unbiased filter.
In fact, Helms is an extremely experienced cinematographer and editor and admits that while the shoot could have been done with little equipment, it was big on time. He said his final cut sometimes uses anywhere from 1% to 5% of the footage he shot, and I'm sure he spends a lot of time on editing as well - but it certainly shows what could be done with enough experience and dedication.
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The video is a 2m 15s tour of Chicago.
He initially mentioned little about it.
Shot in Chicago on the new iPhone 14 Professional in both ProRes and Cinematic modes. Edited in Ultimate Minimize Professional X and graded with Dehancer Professional.
But he asked viewers if they wanted a tutorial video showing how it was filmed and edited, and that got a strong response. This video is 15m 30s long.
First, he says it's important to lock in each focus and ad, so that none of them change throughout the clip. This is probably one of the biggest giveaways that someone is simply capturing cell phone footage in the car. He also recommends underexposing by two-thirds of a stop or a full stop, because the sensor tends to overexpose.
If you also want to control the shutter speed (and you better), then you'll definitely want to use a third-party camera app to do that. Helms uses Filmic Professional and shoots at 24 fps. This is a commonplace in cinema because it creates a very natural-looking movement.
Typically, you'll want to use what's often called the 180-degree shutter angle rule, which is just a technical way of saying that at 24 fps, you want a shutter speed of 1/forty-eighth of a second - with 1/fiftieth of a second being close enough.
Typically, it will be too vibrant to shoot at this speed in daylight, so you will also need a variable ND filter to reduce the sunlight as needed. If you already have an ND filter for a dedicated digital camera, there are several methods for connecting it to an iPhone; for those that don't, the only option is a cheap plug-in unit. This is what Helms uses.
He uses the DJI Osmo Cell 6 gimbal , next to a larger one, but the latter is only because he has it.
Helms shoots in ProRes, which he warns generates really bad log data. huge . It does this to provide more flexibility for color grading in editing.
He makes occasional use of a few different instruments, mentioned in the video, but the gimbal and variable ND filter are the most important.
In the tutorial, Helms talks about the types of photos he takes, including careful use of Cinematic mode. He then does the same for the editing, with special attention to sound design. I know from my own limited knowledge that audio is at least as important as video, and sound design makes a huge difference. He also says he spends hours figuring out the right background music.
Personally, I'm not sure if I'm more impressed or intimidated by his footage! It certainly showcases the potential of the kind of cinematic iPhone 14 footage you can create, but it also has an extremely high bar. Let us know in the feedback if this evokes or deters…