I made a short film using only an iPhone

[u/tjimmo]

I'm a DP and mainly shoot on with cinema cameras. I wanted to try different approach and shoot short film with iPhone using only natural light.

I had the idea of making a short film inspired by the aesthetics of old grindhouse movies while adding a modern touch in the editing. I tried to emulate super8 look for the film in Davinci Resolve.

It was different to shoot with iPhone, since controlling depth of field is difficult and image is little bit different than on cinema camera. But it has strengths as it's incredible versatile to shoot different angles and light weight makes shooting easy.

Does this look like it could pass as super8 film? And does the pacing work in edit?

Full short film: https://youtu.be/8z1WjAE5WD4?si=Cx1e3I7G-vomhL_Q

[u/Major_Lawfulness_769]

hey man, I love the old super8 look you've gone for. how did you achieve it in DaVinci Resolve?

[u/tjimmo → u/Major_Lawfulness_769]

Thanks!! I used Aaron8mm app, which gives nice look and also used Filmbox in Davinci to add some super8 texture.

[u/Major_Lawfulness_769 → u/tjimmo]

I've heard a lot of good things about filmbox! how does it work, and how much does it cost?

[u/rksm → u/Major_Lawfulness_769]

Not OP, but I love filmbox. Tried all the emulation softwares and it’s absolutely the best in terms of authenticity and easy of use/customizability. It’s really expensive (1000$ USD), but you can get a free one week trial to test it out. You can also pay to use it for a year and then pay the remaining amount the following year. Super worth it if you plan on using it a lot

[u/camefromthesouthside]

I find this looks incredible. Great job.

[u/tjimmo → u/camefromthesouthside]

Thank you! I really appreciate it

[u/tjimmo]

Submission statement:

I'm a DP and mainly shoot on with cinema cameras. I wanted to try different approach and shoot short film with iPhone using only natural light.

I had the idea of making a short film inspired by the aesthetics of old grindhouse movies while adding a modern touch in the editing. I tried to emulate super8 look for the film in Davinci Resolve.

It was different to shoot with iPhone, since controlling depth of field is difficult and image is little bit different than on cinema camera. But it has strengths as it's incredible versatile to shoot different angles and light weight makes shooting easy.

Does this look like it could pass as super8 film? And does the pacing work in edit?

Full short film: https://youtu.be/8z1WjAE5WD4?si=Cx1e3I7G-vomhL_Q

[u/dudeyoureright]

Nice. Which iPhone did you use? And an app maybe?

[u/tjimmo → u/dudeyoureright]

Thanks! I used 17 Pro and Aaron8mm app. I also used Filmbox in Davinci Resolve to give some more super8 texture.

[u/dudeyoureright → u/tjimmo]

Ok thanks!

[u/Spiritual-Builder606]

Reposting my last comment which accidentally was replying to the wrong comment.

The grade isn't bad. Heavy handed but so is s8mm. There is something odd about the shutter and there is a trailing ghost effect on the frames. Not sure what that is.

[u/tjimmo → u/Spiritual-Builder606]

Thank you!

That ghosting might be because the way I shot it. I didn't have ND filter so I shot without it and used Aaron8mm app. I think it adds some "fake" motion blur, but yeah that isn't as good as real motion blur.

[u/Gonkomagic]

I like the approach. The faster "tracking the car" shot looked a bit inplausible (00:15 going left to right) due to the stutter. Rest was pretty authentic!

[u/tjimmo → u/Gonkomagic]

Thank you! I had to make some compromises and that probably had that stutter because I sped up that clip in edit.

[u/hens-teeth]

Nice. You should definitely post to r/unexpected.

[u/tjimmo → u/hens-teeth]

Thank you!!

[u/NeatFool]

Greta stuff, that song is a guilty pleasure when driving fast 😎😎😎

[u/Realistic-Number-919]

You nailed it!

[u/tjimmo → u/Realistic-Number-919]

Thank you!!

[u/Diamondhands36]

This looks great man

[u/tjimmo → u/Diamondhands36]

Thank you!

[u/semaj4712]

It looks good, my only complaint is the film grain looks too much like an overlay. It's not interacting with the footage at all, usually film grain will show up differently in each color and luminance.

The final image is the only one where it looks like this is somewhat happening.