”Recording Videos with your Smartphone”
Typically, we carry out a project each year in a topic we find exciting, and enjoy preparing. Just for fun. Over the past few years we created the
Szeged Timelapse videos, but this time we decided to choose something completely different. However, before the release of iPhone6, several new developments had been announced; we were mainly excited about its photo functions. Apple has improved a lot on their devices’ photo-, and video functions lately, so the iPhone6 is now equipped with slow motion-, and optical image stabilization features. Before the new series was launched in Hungary, we pushed against the limits of the device. Our aim was to carry out such a project in which we can get out of our comfort zones. So, we prepared a video with only one device, and by using only one angle of view, we managed to create a video in which we can make use of the given possibilities of the device available for the ordinary users as well.
From the first step till the last
First of all we created a short script; we started looking for ideal places. The plan was to create an urban style video, in which the leading character is wandering around the city with an analog camera - drawing a parallel between digital and analog techniques. We chose to capture the everyday life of our capital city, Budapest, with its everyday people in it. With this concept we aimed to indicate that the topic itself is also casual.
The final project is the result of many people’s collective work: brainstorming, planning, video shooting, and post-production. Unlike our previous videos, this one was shot in only one day, and the editing - such as color grading, cutting, stabilising - was made in a relatively short time; it didn’t take us more than a fortnight. During the shooting, except for the phone, we only used a few additional camera-moving equipment. The music, composed by
Attila Kothencz, makes the whole video complete. We also created a minimalist landing page for the project, presenting ‘behind-the-scenes’ photos and a video.
Result
After the debut of the video, it appeared not only in the Hungarian, but also in foreign media, circulating among several Apple - related blogs. It has been viewed 300 thousand times on Vimeo: from 182 websites, in 151 countries. As a result, we got an invitation for the
International iPhone Film Festival in 2015, where we
won the first prize in the category of Cinematography, out of more, than 100 competitors.