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Apple Shares 'Life is But a Dream' Shot on iPhone 13 Pro Film

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Apple today shared a short movie called "Life is But a Dream," which was created by South Korean film director Park Chan-wook, who is known for "Oldboy," "The Handmaiden," "Lady Vengeance," and more.


The 21 minute film was commissioned by Apple, and it tells the story of an undertaker who needs wood to build a coffin for the savior of his village. He digs up an abandoned grave, awakening the ghost of an ancient swordsman.

Apple has also uploaded a separate "making of" video that explains how Park and his film crew used the iPhone 13 Pro's features to create the short.


"Shot on iPhone" is a long running Apple ad campaign, and Apple has previously commissioned other short films. Most recently, Apple shared a short film from Chinese director Zhang Meng to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Article Link: Apple Shares 'Life is But a Dream' Shot on iPhone 13 Pro Film
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/02/17/apple-shot-on-iphone-13-pro-film/
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I liked it up to the 14:39, then the ending trying to tie the dual wedding celebration with the dreamer was a bit odd. Still a very good effort on only a iPhone 13 Pro.
 
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Judas Priest man…..look at that set-up with this Rig-

CF619F99-F058-4A35-95A3-981C87C48340.jpeg
 
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This is Hollywood level production design - they must have had dozens of people working on this project. That said, it’s still incredible what can be done with an iPhone, even if it’s somewhat illogical to pair a million dollar production with a consumer smartphone.

Over time, I’m optimistic that iPhone will offer 1) greater control over depth of field so everything isn’t in focus all the time and 2) better dynamic range. Both of these features need to improve in order to bridge the gap between an iPhone and a professional video camera.
 
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You can really see the failings of "cinematic mode" in the scenes with the woman wearing the hat with fine holes in it. Instead of all of the circles of the hat being in focus and the background visible through the holes being bokeh (which is how it would have looked had it been shot with real cameras and lenses with real shallow depth of field), large portions of the hat and background are all blurred together. Of course, it's also not in 24p.

I'm not upgrading until we can adjust aperture and get larger sensors.
 
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This is a great little movie, loved it. Thank you, Apple for funding movies like this that would otherwise never be made. You should make a business around it. :)

This has a big production crew supporting it but this shows us that the iPhone isn't that far off from being production-worthy and could have big cost savings because of its size. Smartphones are already used in specific scenes and this will only grow in importance.
 
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Does Apple TV+ have Asian shows? I'm asking due to the short film they have shared [on their YouTube page] and I am not subscribed to Apple TV+ so I have no idea... The shows I've seen so far are mostly of English language...
 
julesme said:
This is Hollywood level production design - they must have had dozens of people working on this project. That said, it’s still incredible what can be done with an iPhone, even if it’s somewhat illogical to pair a million dollar production with a consumer smartphone.

Over time, I’m optimistic that iPhone will offer 1) greater control over depth of field so everything isn’t in focus all the time and 2) better dynamic range. Both of these features need to improve in order to bridge the gap between an iPhone and a professional video camera.
Click to expand...
A tiny sensor and a short focal length doesn’t leave much option for depth of field. Which is why everybody is resorting to AI.

The other option is to use Beastgrips DoF adapter and mount a proper lens onto the phone.
 
erikkfi said:
If they mean to imply that it’d be easy to shoot this with just an iPhone, I beg to differ.
Click to expand...
They don’t mean to imply that - I think it’s fairly clear.

That said if you mean to imply that if you had an iPhone 13 pro and all of the gear and crew that this guy did and you could shoot the same thing, then I bet to differ.

It’s merely an example of what is possible with a phone camera these days - in the right hands.
 
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Sorry, but the footage looks partly so bad on a decent sized screen.
Once there is not enough light in scene, their faces looks like mush, and i didn't even pick on all the grain and artifacts.
Typical smartphone issues, Apple can't fool physics.

1645181934039.png
 
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£1000 phone. £100,000 worth of lighting, haze machines, relfectors etc. I have a 13 pro max and a Panasonic s5 rigged up with cinema glass etc and there is nothing that the iPhone can do that my cinema rig can. Nothing.
 
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That honestly looked a lot better than I expected it to. Obviously it’s got the benefit of a full rig of gear around it and some serious lighting, but this is probably the first one of these videos that I wouldn’t have guessed right away was filmed on a phone.
 
That was pretty entertaining and impressive. Regardless of the equipment used to support the iPhone, it still doesn’t change the fact that it was the iPhone imaging system that captured everything. I don’t think anyone would’ve dreamed a decade ago that you could capture that quality, resolution, and dynamic range, from something anyone could carry in their pocket.
 
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