#iphonenichtimax
IMAX is awesome. Great format, great camera and lenes, great sound. Rich. Powerful.
And very expensive.
We often use the best as the measuring standard and moviemaking is no different. And even though my iphone now shoots 4k images that look great, an iphone camera is not an IMAX camera. Since you have $4k, you will not be shooting on IMAX. Does that mean your project will look "bad" and thus be unmarketable? Not necessarily. It won't be mistaken for an IMAX movie, but that doesn't mean you won't have something marketable. The first step in this process is to accept what is so about the format you chose and know when and how to get the results you want within the limitations of the format, IMAX or iphone.
Back a long time ago I shot landscape photography with a Rollei medium-format film camera, but I also shot Polaroids. Each had their virtues and their limitations, but no one said work done with an SX-70 (by the likes of Warhol and Ansel Adams, to name a few) was "not as good" simply because it didn't meet up to a different format's standards of excellence. It was just a different aesthetic. iphone is not IMAX. That's better in some ways, worse in others. Embrace it for its advantages and in the areas where it falls short of IMAX, do what you must, then allow it to be whatever it is.
Using an iphone creates an aesthetic with its own calculus. For the moment, it is most certainly an "outsider aesthetic", due to certain technical specifications compared to studio output, but it will quickly become the norm. With the transition from scheduled network tv to internet-based delivery there is a growing appetite for content -- but at a much lower rate. It will be interesting to see what is "outside" at the point of complete digital conversion and content shot on cell phones becomes the majority of the product consumed. For now, if you make a film for $4k, you are part of an "outsider aesthetic".
Which is not to say that working in an "outsider aesthetic" means the work is, by default, interesting. Not all punk bands were interesting. You still need to create something worth a response. This is about discernment, not a judgement. Good vs. bad is a lame, lazy way to breakdown the world. Don't think that you'll magically end up with a hip indie movie just because you shot it on an iphone. And besides that, very cool work is done every year in IMAX, almost always using an "insider aesthetic" (the business calls them genres).
So don't think that because you edited together 85 minutes of iphone footage you have something watchable, or a project you can sell, because it's "outside". If no one wants to sit through it, maybe it's not because it's too hip for your audience; maybe it's just boring. For me, an outsider aesthetic comments on insider norms by turning those norms in on themselves, calling their authority into question. For certain, your $4k project is going to have an "outside aesthetic", no matter what you do. How you play in that aesthetic is what will distinguish you.
For the most part, my iphone 4S and GoPro cameras did what they did and I went with it. The image I got was the image I worked with.
Sometimes it was really good and sometimes with the iphone the contrast range was too much and either shadows went dark or highlights popped over 255. Sometimes the focus drifted -- not an issue with the GoPros since they are fixed focus. The GoPros, however, when I was first started using them, I didn't know what I was shooting because I didn't have a display for the cameras (I later bought one for the Hero 3+). I could see through the lens with an app on my iphone (as long as I wasn't also shooting with my phone), but when the camera rolled the image blanked out. Some worked, some didn't.
Most of the time I didn't use less than technically well-executed images, but sometimes I did. The only question was: "Does the image effectively convey the emotion of the moment?" I had one person tell me those shots were "bad" shots. Sure compared to IMAX.
I did pay attention when it came to the lighting, especially with the iphone. The GoPro was awesome -- I sometimes pointed right into the sun and still got a good image. At this level of filmmaking you need to just go with what it gives you. The auto-focus, auto-exposure, auto color balance all solve many issues, but create new ones, as well.
I loved having an instant synced production soundtrack and it was great to shoot around crowded areas without attracting attention -- I just looked like another tourist with a cell phone.
But the main advantage an iphone has over IMAX every time -- speed.
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