Since being born in 1957, Stephen Soderbergh has been credited on many of Hollywood's most well-known movies such as Oceans 11, and Magic Mike. Every year, directors and filmmakers are constantly evolving the way they are telling their stories and Stephen's latest endeavor is no exception. Even Justice League's director Zack Snyder has dabbled in the realm of smartphone movies!
Many of Stephen's latest movies have been shot on none other than a smartphone. With the iPhone and Google Pixel cameras getting better and better each year, and the iPhone 12 just around the corner, you don't have to have an $8000 camera to make a feature movie. Some of these other projects show that you don't need a massive ensemble cast, lots of locations, or fancy VFX. Here are some of Soderbergh's smartphone projects amongst others you may not have seen before.
Snow Steam Iron
From the visionary director of Justice League, Man of Steel, and 300, Zack Snyder's Snow Steam Iron was fully shot on an iPhone 7 plus. Set in the alleyways of New York City, the film was named due to the snow falling on the sets of the streets of New York, Steam covers up the horrors that take place in those alleys and the Iron is the will of whoever stands up to the corrupt.
This film is arguably the most cinematic looking of them all. Snyder makes use of slow-motion shots, and a desaturated color palette to make a dialogue-less masterpiece. The film was released in 2017 and Snyder put the film out for the world to view on Vero, which Snyder regularly uses to posts other teases of his upcoming films including Justice League: The Snyder Cut.
Unsane
Shot with the iPhone 7 Plus and released in 2018, Unsane tells the story of Claire Foy's character Sawyer Valentini who is labeled as crazy as she tries to convince everyone she is being stalked by a man who follows her to a mental asylum where she is being held. As Soderbergh's first smartphone movie, this is an incredible piece of work, and his subsequent smartphone movies get even better. Even for established directors, there's always a learning curve when trying something new.
Perhaps you think you don't have the time to make a feature film, but Unsane was shot in just over 2 weeks. Using handheld gimbals to run the phone down a corridor, and attaching the phone to Claire Foy's body all were just two techniques used to shoot the movie and give it the psychological thriller feel. There are many cheap gimbal options nowadays from brands such as DJI, so you don't need a Hollywood quality gimbal to create an award-winning piece of cinema.
High Flying Bird
Shot with an iPhone 8, High Flying Bird, one of the best streaming films of the decade, stars Andre Holland, Zazie Beetz and Melvin Gregg during an NBA lockout where Holland's character, Ray Burke introduces an intriguing business proposition causing controversy between the league and the players.
You can tell by watching High Flying Bird that Soderbergh worked out a lot of the kinks from his first venture Unsane. The wide-angle lens of the iPhone 8 also really serves its purpose here as the shooting looks more "movie-like" than Unsane too. The film has less VFX but is still a credit to what these smartphones can do in the right hands.
Romance In NYC
Shot by Tristan Pope on the iPhone 6, Romance In NYC shows audiences an intimate look at exactly that, a Romance in NYC, starring Tristan Pope himself and Rachael McOWen as "the girlfriend". The first person nature of the movie was purposefully designed to make audiences watch it and believe that they were there, just as they would if they watched one of their own iPhone videos.
If you're an aspiring filmmaker and not sure what route to go down or how much money you'll need for equipment, look no further than outside your window and in your pocket. Some romance movies can be hit or miss but with a good story and solid acting, a great romance movie can easily be made with just those four cheap and easily accessible elements.
And Uneasy Lies The Mind
And Uneasy Lies The Mind comes from Ricky Fosheim who shot this movie with an iPhone 5. The film is a drama/thriller and tells the story of how a man's mind unravels when his friends visit him on a couple's retreat at his winter home.
Is location perhaps what's stopping you from completing your project? Not only was this shot using an iPhone 5, and even slightly older one than many of you will have now, the entire project took place inside a ski chalet. When the movie bends toward the horror side, it does so very strongly with blood seeping out of mouths amongst other places, but after all "uneasy" is in the title.