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This is a video I filmed back in 2016
I'm showing you this
Because I want you to know
You don't NEED a pro camera to start filmmaking
Don't trust me?
This is Steven Soderbergh Filming a movie
With one of these
Originally, this video was intended as a shopping list
For beginner filmmakers
But as the idea developed
I realized...
You don't NEED to buy anything
Today, let's take a look at
Some high concept movies that you, too
May have the resources to make
Features made on phones Webcams
And also some EXTREME examples
"The whole thing was shot with the camera"
"On the back of a Toyota Prius"
It's going to be wild
This video is dedicated to people with a filmmaking dream
Who are too intimidated to get started
You don't NEED a camera to start filmmaking
All you need
Is some creativity
[Filmmaking Without a Camera]
[Chapter One]
When people think of movies with bad cameras
They think of found footage
But that's just too easy
These days, you have a camera in your pocket
That's good enough to make a feature film
Unsane is probably the most well-known example of this format
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Of Ocean's Eleven fame
This 2018 low budget horror film
Tells the story of a woman trapped in a psychiatric hospital
Slowly being convinced that she might actually be crazy
And its narrative is made more engaging
By the aesthetic of a smartphone camera
Look at that dirty color palette
That grainy image
Phone cameras are notoriously sensitive to these ugly colors
Like the green tint you get in a public bathroom
But in this hospital
It feels appropriate
Both sterile, and sickly
Now, look at the wide-angle composition
Framing close-ups like this is unflattering
The wide-angle feel realistic, like a documentary
Yet also, off-kilter
This conflict between real and surreal
Perfectly encapsulates the premise of the film
Is she really insane?
But if it's too extreme
You can also go in the opposite direction
Yes, this is shot on an iPhone
I Play With The Phrase Each Other
Is a 2013 film about a young man moving to a big city
And subsequently being stranded there
This lo-fi, mid-20th-century monochrome look
Can only be described as "cinematic"
Presumably, it was shot like this
Still impressive though
The cinematography is intimate and still
But most importantly, it's fitting
Not only was it shot on an iPhone
The entire film is also nothing but phone calls
The presence of phones throughout its production and narrative
Adds to it a sense of urban life
Perfect for a story about drifting in the city
Finally, there is Tangerine
Tangerine is a 2015 indie comedy
About a transgender sex worker's rampage through Los Angeles
Trying to find her cheating boyfriend
Smartphones often produce highly saturated images
And this film embraces that
It's wide, bold, colorful, and energetic
Bringing in both the energy of the streets of L.A.
As well as the chaos of it
It has some seriously grainy footage
Yet none of it detracts from the film's undeniable beauty
This craziness is what brings the story to life
Just the image alone makes us feel both the stress
And the mayhem the sex workers face
The same story would lose all of its impacts
If it was shot on a cinema camera
Sure, they look different than a quote-unquote "real movie"
But what's wrong with having a personality?
While all these films are good
None of them is the definitive smartphone movie, yet
Unlike the found footage genre
There has yet to be a successful smartphone movie
That marries its camera with its plot to a high degree
This could be your opportunity
[Sponsor Message]
While today, we focus almost exclusively on fiction
Documentaries and non-fictions can also be experimental
Tower, for example
Recounts a tragedy that happened in 1966
The film is composed mainly of this sublime rotoscope animation
Like looking into vivid memories of old
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[Chapter Two]
Even cheaper than phones
We have screenlife movies
A new film format that tells stories via a computer screen display
While some examples came before
To most people
Unfriended was the first true example of this format
Set during a Skype video chat session
This 2014 film tells the story of a group of teenagers
Being haunted by the ghost of a dead classmate
And you can tell Unfriended is among the first examples
Because its execution is hit or miss
There are good moments where the diegetic camera
Is brought in as a horror element
But then most of the deaths have little to do with the format itself
The film utilizes the Internet remarkably well
Allowing us to see both the performances
And the investigation being done at the same time
But its strict adherence to the computer screen
Also becomes its biggest constraint
This limitation would be broken in 2018
By not one
But two screenlife films that one-upped Unfriended in major ways
Based on true events
Profile is about a journalist that pretends to be a Muslim girl
And investigates how ISIS recruits people via social networks
Just from the premise
It feels different
Instead of being a gimmick
Profile is a movie where
Being told in any other format
Would not work nearly as well
At the same time
It also takes more liberty with the screen aspect
In both time and space
No longer confined to a single continuous shot
Profile spreads its story over weeks
Reintroducing cuts back into the format
This allows the characters to transform and develop
And it is definitely a much more character-centric experience
And then
There is Searching
John Cho plays a father
Who utilizes the Internet
To look for his missing daughter
Even more than Profile
This is a character and emotion-based experience
Music
Sound effects
Zooms
Cuts
This film reintroduces these techniques back into the format
Techniques that depict a subjective experience
It is as if the camera is now inside the screen
And can look around the cyberspace itself
As a result
This film feels less like we are staring at a screen
And more like we are looking through the eyes of the main character
It elevates a gimmick
Into an emotional experience
With the Covid pandemic
Screenlife became the new hotness in town
And the landscape of the genre is rapidly shifting
Host, for example, eliminated most of the computer screen
It merely presents a clean and minimalistic impression
Of a user interface
And the result is much cleaner
This format is just one major hit away from being the next craze
But the sensational film has yet to emerge
And the best part
All you need to hop on board
Is a webcam
[Chapter Three]
And then, we come to the crazy stuff
"Alfred Hitchcock"
"Stanley Kubrick"
"Orson Wells"
"None of these guys have even thought about shooting a film"
"On a Prius backup camera"
Ok, this whole thing
It's just a sketch
A sketch with a joke
That was already 12 years out of date when it came out
Now, I only have the trailer for this movie
But as you can see
This entire movie is filmed
Using a dashcam
This is Invasion, also called Infection
A 2005 zombie thriller
Filmed entirely from the perspective
Of a cop car
So, joke's on those guys
Films from strange perspectives are actually pretty common
Unknown Visitor, for example
Is a 2019 horror featurette
Shot entirely from the perspective of a doorbell camera
It's an inspiring piece
Because this is the entire cast and crew
Half of them are relatives of the director
The film has an excellent atmosphere
And some amazing scares
But sadly, the story could've functioned just as well
With a traditional camera set up
The camera remains a gimmick
It feels like a missed opportunity
To see a good example of utilizing its format well
Let's take a look at this
Look is a 2007 film
Shot entirely from the perspective of surveillance cameras
In this American Beauty style comedy thriller
We get to see the secret lives of everyday people
Generous shoppers turn out to be killers
Bullying victims can also be monsters themselves
With this voyeuristic perspective
Sometimes with full-on censored parts
The film's images are distant yet intimate
As if you are watching things you are not supposed to
And the stories became more powerful because of it
Sometimes, good films start with a gimmick
But with a well-constructed plot
The gimmick becomes part of the story
If you look around
There are cameras all around us
Many of which have their own stories waiting to be told
You don't need a pro camera to make a good movie
As long as you have a good story to tell
And you can tell it in a creative way
Then, your film has value
We are creative artists, right?
Why not take our creativity
To its logical maximum?
[Conclusion]
Regular viewers may be wondering
Why this video is so different from our usual topics on this channel
That's because
I need this video
For myself
For the past year, I've been writing a martial art short film
And the thought of pushing it into production is intimidating
Especially now that I have an audience
The possibility of making a movie no one sees
Scares me
That is, until I watched the films I talked about today
These movies are bold, loud, and expressive
Many of them are unique experiences
Rather than generic products
It's clear that these filmmakers have things to say
And they had an excellent time saying it
Whether or not the world chooses to listen
Is the world's problem
The point is
The film exists
With or without an audience
And, I want my film to exist
So, for this winter
This channel will slow down a bit
As I prepare to be a filmmaker once again
I have stories I can't wait to tell
And hopefully
My short film will exist proudly
Just like the films we talked about today