As part of its long-running Shot on iPhone series, Apple has recently given acclaimed Japanese director Takashi Miike (known for Audition or 13 Assassins) an iPhone 15 Pro to shoot a short film.
The 19-minute film, titled Midnight, brings to life a manga by the legendary artist Osamu Tezuka in which a mysterious taxi driver helps a young woman pursued by assassins.
As planned, this action-packed film showcases many of the capabilities of the iPhone 15 Pro when it comes to capturing a series of cinematic-style shots, and it must be said that the results are impressive.
Does the iPhone 15 Pro have the perfect camera for young directors?
Low-light shots look great, as well as the colors, tracking sequences, and slow motion. Interestingly, the LiDAR feature of the iPhone 15 Pro was also used for some of the visual effects that appear in the film.
But it’s worth noting that Midnight is not the result of Miike simply showing up with an iPhone 15 Pro in hand and a scribbled shot list on the back of a coaster.
As shown in the “making of” video, this expensive-looking production had the support of a highly skilled filming team, equipped with cranes, carts, and dollies, as well as a post-production team made up of expert editors and special effects wizards skilled in touching things up.
“While we were shooting, I started to consider the challenge of thinking about how we could make a film exclusively for the iPhone, beyond the usual approach of a movie,” says Miike in statements collected by The Hollywood Reporter.
“I really felt that the iPhone has the power to do things that a conventional film camera cannot”. The director praised the Action Mode of the iPhone, which allowed him “to accurately capture the facial expressions of the subjects in a scene dynamically, reflecting their emotions and thoughts at the same time”, and said he was impressed by how the focus could be adjusted after shooting.
That is to say, the iPhone 15 did a great job for a smartphone, but the reality is that a professional team of lighting experts, cameras, and post-production engineers were involved in the project.
