The latest movie to be shot on iPhone launches tonight and proves what you can do with the smart device in your pocket.
It might look like a big-budget blockbuster movie, but the latest short film arriving on YouTube has been filmed entirely on an iPhone. Big Man, which stars R&B legend Stormzy, tells the fictional story of Tenzman, a world-weary musician, and the two bright, mischievous kids who come into his life by chance.
Directed by Academy Award-winner Aneil Karia, the mini flick has used the iPhone 16 Pro’s triple-lens snapper to capture the action rather than a high-end production rig.
“I’ve never shot an entire piece of narrative filmmaking on an iPhone before, and it’s been a really invigorating process,” Karia explained.
“It’s much smaller than the traditional cameras used for television, film, or music videos, and the lightness and flexibility that comes with that is boundless in a sense. I like trying to strive for an intimacy with characters, and sometimes a big camera is not particularly conducive for that. So it’s been huge, being in smaller spaces, being lower key for the actors.”
Big Man will go live at 8 pm tonight on YouTube, but you can watch the trailer here before its official release.
Considering it’s been filmed on a phone, it looks good enough for the cinema, and that might have something to do with the upgrades found on the latest models from Apple.
The iPhone 16 Pro now features the ability to capture cinematic slow-motion scenes with 4K 120 fps. This is then able to add a more dynamic quality to the shot. There’s also the clever Cinematic mode, which is able to add a blurred background and foreground effect to what’s being filmed, plus the 16 Pro now gets improved low-light capabilities.
Speaking about the process of movie making on a phone, Director of Photography, Stuart Bentley, said: “Traditionally, filmmaking was the reserve of a small section of people and you couldn’t access it.
“It felt completely impenetrable to me as a young kid. And I think now people have this amazing camera in their pocket, and it’s like everybody can do it. If you’re hungry and passionate about cinema, there’s no reason you can’t make an amazing film.
“Do it all on an iPhone, it’s all there for you.
“I guess ultimately what’s been really interesting is it’s a super versatile camera with all these different kind of tools. You can use Cinematic mode so you get that shallow depth of field, and it automatically pulls focus to follow the action. You can shoot 120 frames per second at 4K, which is obviously insane. It’s got an incredible dynamic range. It can handle dark, low-light environments in a really amazing way, and shooting with Apple LOG gives you even more options in post.
“We’re pushing the camera to the very limits of what it’s capable of, and we’ve found it to be really resilient.
This isn’t the first time things have been shot on an iPhone.
Back in 2023, Apple revealed that its entire 30-minute MacBook keynote had been shot entirely on an iPhone 15 Pro.
If you want to watch the Big Man movie, it will be available on Apple’s YouTube page from 8pm tonight, June 18th.