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Latest David Leitch movie is an epic "Shot on iPhone" short

by Victor Hristov / Dec 03, 2019, 2:28 AM

Apple has just released a brand new promo video that was shot on the iPhone 11 Pro and that looks all sorts of amazing.

Directed by David Leitch, a guy described in iMDb as "a billion dollar film director" behind movies like John Wick and Atomic Blonde, this production is truly epic and you would enjoy watching it a great deal.

We, however, have one gripe with it. And it's the way it ends with the tagline: "Make your holiday videos epic". The idea is to make it sound inspirational, convince you to go ahead and create awesome videos, but let us be those boring guys that point out the obvious: it also sets the wrong kind of expectations. You really cannot make your holiday videos that epic, even if you buy a bunch of new iPhones. Sure, you will end up getting better quality video than you did on your previous phone (you would actually probably the best quality video out of a smartphone), but still you are not very likely to get anything even remotely as epic as what the professional production team at Apple has made. Nuh-huh.

If the tagline were to adhere to reality, this short film should end with the following: "you can make your videos epic IF...

you spend thousands of dollars on specialized equipment
hire dozens of actors
hire a helicopter for the opening scenes
buy a gimbal
hire a professional video editor
carefully plan a full-scale movie production
write a story board
hire a sound effects guy
hire a color grading specialist

And we are probably forgetting a few things.

So yeah, no, you cannot really make your holiday videos that epic, no matter what phone you use. But it's still a cool promo and we recommend you watch it and enjoy it.

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14 Comments

3. Shkselectah

Posts: 49; Member since: Jun 26, 2018

and where is the news on this site how they shot the clip Eminem on pixel 3?

posted on 3 days ago, 3:25 AM 0

4. midan

Posts: 3121; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

Search Eminem, you're welcome

posted on 3 days ago, 3:54 AM 2

5. tbreezy

Posts: 168; Member since: Aug 11, 2019

Absolutely brilliant, looks great to :D

posted on 3 days ago, 4:00 AM 1

7. rsiders

Posts: 2012; Member since: Nov 17, 2011

Thanks for the disclaimer.lol But this was pretty cool though. Can't wait to tag my kids with a few snowballs when we finally get some snow.

posted on 3 days ago, 9:43 AM 0

8. RoryBreaker

Posts: 253; Member since: Oct 11, 2015

I love this article!

posted on 3 days ago, 10:23 AM 0

9. MrMalignance

Posts: 329; Member since: Feb 17, 2013

*PERSONAL OPINION INCOMING* I'm over all of these "shot on..." Videos/commercials/films. It feels so gimmicky, because we all know that you need some skills/effects/equipment/software I'm order to achieve the results shown. It feels like they want us to fool ourselves into believing that we can imitate these and come out with a super finished product. I do know that video editing software exists, but seriously, who can honestly say that software can make them equal to paid professional?

posted on 3 days ago, 10:56 AM 1

10. RoryBreaker

Posts: 253; Member since: Oct 11, 2015

Don't forget, by the mere fact that you are on a site like this you are in the exclusive minority so I wouldn't agree with "we all know." I'm sure the idea is just to showcase the capability of the camera to make the general consumer say to themselves, "wow my phone can do that???"

posted on 3 days ago, 11:27 AM 0

12. MrMalignance

Posts: 329; Member since: Feb 17, 2013

@rory: yeah, you're right that we're in a minority. Exclusive? Not so much. This is a free to join site for people who like phone stuff and tech. I know the point of it, but my opinion is that it feels overused at this point. Also it's disingenuous as you require more than just picking up the phone and filming.

posted on 3 days ago, 12:36 PM 1

11. midan

Posts: 3121; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

I don't understand your point, if you buy DSLR it doesn't mean you can make those professional photos without skills, but it's possible if you know what to do. This is just for showing what is possible with today tech. And it's pretty incredible. Also if you look the behind scenes video there's not that high or lot equipment used. Also like the behind scene video says, this opens whole new level of inspiration because the camera tech is so small and light you can use it more freely. Like you see from the video, there's some interesting camera driving going on. There's lot of people in this world who can do incredible things with some cheap gear and skills. For example YouTube is full of those. There's even those opensource free video software which have all kind of features, color grading and all kind of features free to use. Just play with them and see what "you" can make. And maybe after practising you can do some great stuff without all that high tech! That's Exactly what i've been doing years with photography and music producing. Eventually you might be surprised what is possible without professional tech! It's not like i thought years ago that i can make radio ready music without super expensive Gear. I just started doing and learning stuff. And this video should work exactly like that, make you creative and challenge Yourself to make your ideas come alive and make them better, you have great tool inside your pocket, just go to have fun with it without thinking what you can't do.

posted on 3 days ago, 12:07 PM 1

14. MrMalignance

Posts: 329; Member since: Feb 17, 2013

@Midan: yes, I do have to agree that this does show what can be achieved and how far along the tech has come, but my annoyance is that regardless of how much or how little you use, the average (or even more tech savvy) users will not achieve the same result. Obviously ymmv, but as a whole, I find the promise to be misleading at best. I would be more convinced if they gave the phone to a random person and had them film the short. I'm not specifically referring to your experience, Im speaking on the average user with no experience editing, color correcting, or directing.

posted on 3 days ago, 4:12 PM 0

16. midan

Posts: 3121; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

"Im speaking on the average user with no experience editing, color correcting, or directing." If you are thinking to buy most expensive iPhone in the market which is all about camera, you are propably more interested about photography or making videos than average user and lot of buyers knows about those things, especially when Apple tend to get interest of visual and creative persons, graphic designers, video makers, sound guys etc, just saying.

posted on yesterday, 2:14 AM 0

17. MrMalignance

Posts: 329; Member since: Feb 17, 2013

@midan: this is where you have departed from the point(no insult intended) in my original comment I didn't claim it was apple or Android. My claim was a personal opinion about the method of using "shot using" type commercials.

posted on yesterday, 3:48 AM 0

13. midan

Posts: 3121; Member since: Oct 09, 2017

This is very inspiring to know you have this kind of tool inside your pocket. After i got the Pro and noticing the quality i’m very interested to do some videos and test what kind of quality i would get out from this. So far It’s been mainly photography for me. I already find out that there’s great completely free open source video editing softwares for PC. I downloaded openshot and shotcut. And there’s so many others to choose from. With shotcut (Maybe with openshot too) you can even mixing audio like a pro if you know what to do. But getting something like this for free is amazing!