Why what you shoot on is not as important as you think
- Thread starter mainstreetprod
- Start date
David W. Jones
Veteran
And yet the only reason I could think of to use an iPhone to shoot a commercial, would be... Apple promoting itself.
j1clark@ucsd.edu
Veteran
Even if they shot, cut, and finalized their ad spot on their iPhone... it wouldn't matter... as once a clip is captured, by any camera, there is work done to present it for a 'pro' ad.
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Yeah, well...
There is some rumor, that it is not exactly shot only on a iPhone.
Twitter:
There is some rumor, that it is not exactly shot only on a iPhone.
Twitter:
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Finn Yarbrough
Well-known member
Plenty of "Negative Nancys" on this one. I suspect it's because we all place a certain amount of importance in the agony of owning and upgrading our expensive equipment.
Rather than letting this anger and threaten us, I'd say something more like "wow, that's some beautiful framing, motion, and getting up super early to catch beautiful light. I guess that all the gear in the world won't get me beauty: I have to get out of bet and point the gear at it, edit it, and get it out there. If someone can do that with an iPhone... imagine what my gear has the potential to do!"
So it can be inspiring, too!
Rather than letting this anger and threaten us, I'd say something more like "wow, that's some beautiful framing, motion, and getting up super early to catch beautiful light. I guess that all the gear in the world won't get me beauty: I have to get out of bet and point the gear at it, edit it, and get it out there. If someone can do that with an iPhone... imagine what my gear has the potential to do!"
So it can be inspiring, too!
starcentral
Veteran
my negative nancy is they go on to claim;
"Thanks to the power of the Mac and the innovations it has inspired, an effort that normally takes months was accomplished in a matter of days."
Then go on to read how many crews, teams and resources around the world went into actually making it.
So what is their point? Nothing.
"Thanks to the power of the Mac and the innovations it has inspired, an effort that normally takes months was accomplished in a matter of days."
Then go on to read how many crews, teams and resources around the world went into actually making it.
So what is their point? Nothing.
rogar-BigGrin(DBG)
David W. Jones
Veteran
No, not that at all.
As the owner of a number of cameras over my 35 years in the business, including an iPhone, it's a matter of choosing the right tool for the job at hand. The iPhone is a great tool, but it's form factor and tool set makes it the wrong choice to use as a main camera for the majority of the work I do.
starcentral
Veteran
That was my exact point.
Then Apple makes it sounds like only because of Apple was this possible.
Over a dozen crews worldwide fully equipped. They have fooled the majority of population but they haven't fooled me.
Then Apple makes it sounds like only because of Apple was this possible.
Over a dozen crews worldwide fully equipped. They have fooled the majority of population but they haven't fooled me.
egproductions
Veteran
exactly, the production value was great, the set design great, the editing great. The only part of the ad that could have been improved upon was the camera used..so I don't get it. The "phone" is taking credit for things it was not responsible for. How many hoops did the crew have to jump through in order to get the shot they were envisioning or did they just simply get what they get from the camera and have worse shooting ratio. Web compression masks quality issue, how does this look when being played on a less compressed source?
I do agree that the camera is one of the least important factors of a high quality production, however, it can't be forgot either, especially if you've invested a lot of time and money in everything else. Sometimes a gopro is the right camera for the job, sometimes its an Arri Alexa. As mentioned before, only in iphone commercials is an iphone the right camera for the job.
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Canon 5D II, 60D, L-Series lenses, Iphone
I do agree that the camera is one of the least important factors of a high quality production, however, it can't be forgot either, especially if you've invested a lot of time and money in everything else. Sometimes a gopro is the right camera for the job, sometimes its an Arri Alexa. As mentioned before, only in iphone commercials is an iphone the right camera for the job.
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Canon 5D II, 60D, L-Series lenses, Iphone
Once the budget is over a certain size the camera cost especially rentals becomes a really small part of the total and not a real consideration.
If you have this sort of budget shooting on an Arri or Iphone is close to the same things in terms of total price of production. It might have added 1% or 2% to the total budget to shoot this entire commercial on rented Arris, not a cost that will make or break you in most cases. Over 90% of the budget is the crew, wardrobe, sets, location, insurance, talent, craft services, and so on.
If you're shooting your friends music video and you only have 50 bucks, sure it's a big deal what camera you use in terms of cost. If you can afford to hire Roger Deakins you can afford any camera he wants to shoot with and he's not going to request an Iphone.
Darren Levine
Veteran
some of you are focusing on the commercial and apple, that wasn't the OP's point, the point is that what you do with the camera is more important than the camera.
as much as we all like our equipment, there has never been an oscar category for "best camera"
just like avatar can lose out to hurt locker, an alexa can lose out to an iphone if you're putting the alexa into the hands of some freshman in film school and the iphone in the hands of shane hurlburt and the rest of the production crew of say... the greatest game ever played (still when shia lebeuf wasn't a hemorrhoid on hollywood's arse)
as much as we all like our equipment, there has never been an oscar category for "best camera"
just like avatar can lose out to hurt locker, an alexa can lose out to an iphone if you're putting the alexa into the hands of some freshman in film school and the iphone in the hands of shane hurlburt and the rest of the production crew of say... the greatest game ever played (still when shia lebeuf wasn't a hemorrhoid on hollywood's arse)
To prove your point you could hand Shane Hurlbut an Iphone and 50 bucks and tell him good luck, go shoot something pretty. I"m sure he'd do as good a job as you can with an Iphone and 50 bucks, but even Hurlbut isn't going to make 50 bucks look like a 2 million dollar budget. Used properly a 2 million dollar budget is going to look pretty nice on just about any camera made in the last 5 years.
Why is there always someone who flies right over what people actually say, and right to "you just feel threatened"?
Postmaster
Dark Side of the Camera
Finn Yarbrough
Well-known member
I guess I should clarify: I feel threatened, so I therefor assume that some others must as well. I am not reacting against "Negative Nancys" so much as I am, by being one of them myself, trying to transform my own feelings of angst into something more productive. I own and operate equipment that it better than an iPhone for my own reasons, but it's all too easy for me to get caught up in the techno-race and forget what really makes good pictures. So rather than looking at the Apple ad and saying "well, but they had $100k to work with, they're telling us that anyone can be a master if you buy their product, and we have enough amateur competition as it is, so screw them," (which IS my first reaction to this kind of thing, btw), I prefer to try and transform my internal monologue to something more positive. Advertising is advertising, it comes with the territory that something would be misrepresented in some way, so no surprise there.
My comment on "Negative Nancys" was just teasing, not actually chastising. I don't hold myself any higher.
jghenderson
Well-known member
Maybe, but it certainly helps when you have millions to spend on post processing.