Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

[vladi]

28 Days Later was just horrible production. It was shot on prosumer DV camera which is absolutely fine, but then they combo-ed it with classic cinematic shot framing and lighting. I didn't think these two matched back in 2002 and I don't think these two match today. Either you go guerilla like Blair Witch did with camerawork or you shoot classic feature film with film cameras.

And that was such a shame because 28 Days Later as a movie had a great premise and storywise it did tell a great story about human relationships rather than finding a cure. Walking Dead comics was inspired by it 1:1 Some people might claim that both were inspired by Day of the Triffids and that could be more true for 28DL than TWD.

 

[UltimaKilo]

If they wanted to actually pay homage to the original film they would have shot the movie with a modern 'camcorder' .... something equivalent to what that Canon was back in the day(in that semipro-pro area) not a smartphone rigged up with probably $50-100k worth of gear to the point they had to get Apple to help engineer the thing.


Thats why it's a gimmick. The original movie shot on XL1s instead of film for actual technical reasons to make things easier/faster for guerilla filmmaking. This is literally the opposite. On the surface level if you just read the headlines yes it sounds like it’s easier but anyone with even a passing knowledge of cinema cameras knows this did the opposite. Filming with an iPhone makes the production much harder so it’s more of an engineering feat so a $75 million budget helps. This was obviously done for marketing reasons to create buzz which is their choice and it is working since people will talk about the iPhone headline. "hEy i hAvE aN iPhonE!"

I don’t understand how it was done for “marketing reasons” given not a single movie goer has ever been convinced to watch a film in theater based on the camera equipment used.

 

[CapitalIdea]

Not impressed. Last time I went to a wedding they used 75 iPhones to film it.

28 Days Later was just horrible production. It was shot on prosumer DV camera which is absolutely fine, but then they combo-ed it with classic cinematic shot framing and lighting. I didn't think these two matched back in 2002 and I don't think these two match today. Either you go guerilla like Blair Witch did with camerawork or you shoot classic feature film with film cameras.

And that was such a shame because 28 Days Later as a movie had a great premise and storywise it did tell a great story about human relationships rather than finding a cure. Walking Dead comics was inspired by it 1:1 Some people might claim that both were inspired by Day of the Triffids and that could be more true for 28DL than TWD.

It was fine. You had a low budget with multiple up and coming huge stars making what they could in a way they wanted. They did things a bit differently and we are talking about the movie now, unlike 99.9% of the films that year that did it “the right way.”

 

[vladi]

I barely went through it. For me it was a distraction honestly. Instead of embracing DV camera defects to add to watching experience they tried to hide it and mask it sometimes, other times they just didn't care at all. And then the end of the movie was shot on film due to injected additional budget. Creatively it made sense cause the group moved on from the grit and grim adventure and it shows new chapter in their lives. Business wise it was shot so there could be a sequel and to let us know it will be filmed on film.

 

[DevNull0]

20 iPhones is a lot cheaper a basic cine camera like a Red V-Raptor. Before we even talk about the glass.

 

[fathergll]

I don’t understand how it was done for “marketing reasons”

We are talking about it right now in a three page thread on a Apple rumor website that has nothing to do with zombie movies(thats free marketing....we have been reminded yet again that this movie is coming out next month and thats all for free via Macrumors covering the story. The film studio didn't have to spend a dime to get Macrumors to post this story). The first thread did 11 pages last year. It's covered all over the place since last year talking about how this was shot on an iPhone. Below is just Mac related websites covering it. Between Youtube, X, IG, and other websites covering this specific story since last year it has to be the reach is incredible.

Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via...

www.macrumors.com

'28 Years Later' to Be First Blockbuster Movie Shot on iPhone

With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone,...

www.macrumors.com

iPhones help bring new life to the '28 Days Later' series

Apple's iPhone has taken a bite out of Hollywood horror, playing a key role in the visual storytelling of the new "28 Years Later" movie.

appleinsider.com

Danny Boyle uses iPhone 15 Pro Max to film '28 Years Later'

The upcoming Danny Boyle horror sequel "28 Years Later" was shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, marking another movie that took advantage of Apple's product lines.

appleinsider.com

Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later Was Shot on an iPhone—Here’s How They Did It - SimplyMac

Danny Boyle is once again disrupting the filmmaking world. For his upcoming sequel 28 Years Later, the acclaimed director made an audacious choice: the entire

www.simplymac.com

given not a single movie goer has ever been convinced to watch a film in theater based on the camera equipment used.

15-perf 65mm says otherwise.

 

[QquegChristian]

Their reasoning for shooting on the iPhone makes sense but then they did way too good of a job in execution as the trailer looks great. Don’t see why you’d bother if you are just going to try to mimick a good camera with big lenses and a ton of post work. Just shoot on an Alexa at that point and maybe bring out the special 20 iPhone rigs for specific shots.

I shot a cult classic zombie movie on the 5Dii 15 years ago (The Battery). I shot on a cheap camera because we only had a budget of $6,000. But I did recognize that the look of the camera had a lot to do with the vibe of the movie that struck a chord with people. So many years later when I finally had a larger budget for my next movie After Midnight (still only $250,000 which is nothing for a movie) I went hunting for the best real cinema camera we could access that would come close to the full frame sensor of the 5D for some of my established look. Ended up having to shoot in 8K raw on a Red Epic as that was the largest sensor available to us at the time and it cropped in if you shot in anything other than 8k.

Had 160 TB of footage and it was a pain, but I’ll never look back and wish I’d filmed on a worse camera.

 

[QquegChristian]

On a related note, I have a filmmaking friend who filmed a full feature film on the iPhone around 10 years ago. Almost no budget so he shot in an app that made the footage look very grindhouse-y with film scratches etc. he came back after filming for weeks and showed me some of it and the app made it look cool but I immediately noticed all of his footage was dropping frames…. Just never holding a steady 24fps, sometimes dropping to 20fps or even lower.

There was no fixing it and there was no way to get distribution for the movie.

 

[emulator]

I’m still mad at how grainy the first movie looked…it was intentional.

I love both movies, though. I can’t wait for the new one to be released!

It still looks 10x better than "Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise" that is just incredibly ****** even for a TV movie.

15-perf 65mm says otherwise.

Indeed, the statement you quoted just blatantly stupid and ignorant. Yeah, the theater was empty for the 70mm screening of The Hateful Eight, too.

 

[polaris20]

Doesn't matter how great the glass is or features on it...SD resolutions scaled up and projected on movie screens hurt my eyes then and hurt my eyes now too.

Awesome. Anyway, that’s what it was back then, regardless of your likes or dislikes.

 

[polaris20]

Why would you even do this?

I have found my last few iPhone cameras to actually be terrible. I suppose if you got rid of all the software features that constantly tick me off such as multiple second exposures and if they resolved the constant annoying lens flairs on my 12 Pro Max that made me never want to use the camera and regret buying a flagship for its camera, or the fact that my iPhone 15 Pro Max has trouble focussing on macro stuff (I take odometer photos multiple times a day, and man does it hate focussing in on it)... then sure, maybe i'd consider using the camera for something important.

I’ve had none of those issues on a 12, 13, 14, or 16.

 

[UltimaKilo]

We are talking about it right now in a three page thread on a Apple rumor website that has nothing to do with zombie movies(thats free marketing....we have been reminded yet again that this movie is coming out next month and thats all for free via Macrumors covering the story. The film studio didn't have to spend a dime to get Macrumors to post this story). The first thread did 11 pages last year. It's covered all over the place since last year talking about how this was shot on an iPhone. Below is just Mac related websites covering it. Between Youtube, X, IG, and other websites covering this specific story since last year it has to be the reach is incredible.

Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via...

www.macrumors.com

'28 Years Later' to Be First Blockbuster Movie Shot on iPhone

With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone,...

www.macrumors.com

iPhones help bring new life to the '28 Days Later' series

Apple's iPhone has taken a bite out of Hollywood horror, playing a key role in the visual storytelling of the new "28 Years Later" movie.

appleinsider.com

Danny Boyle uses iPhone 15 Pro Max to film '28 Years Later'

The upcoming Danny Boyle horror sequel "28 Years Later" was shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, marking another movie that took advantage of Apple's product lines.

appleinsider.com

Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later Was Shot on an iPhone—Here’s How They Did It - SimplyMac

Danny Boyle is once again disrupting the filmmaking world. For his upcoming sequel 28 Years Later, the acclaimed director made an audacious choice: the entire

www.simplymac.com

15-perf 65mm says otherwise.

If this was a detriment, they wouldn’t do it. The marketing you get from this might sell a total of 100 tickets. Movies live and die today by Rotten Tomatoes scores, which in some ways is good and others, not so good.

 

[jonnysods]

Why would you even do this?

I have found my last few iPhone cameras to actually be terrible. I suppose if you got rid of all the software features that constantly tick me off such as multiple second exposures and if they resolved the constant annoying lens flairs on my 12 Pro Max that made me never want to use the camera and regret buying a flagship for its camera, or the fact that my iPhone 15 Pro Max has trouble focussing on macro stuff (I take odometer photos multiple times a day, and man does it hate focussing in on it)... then sure, maybe i'd consider using the camera for something important.

Ok so you have this too. I have the iP15Pro, and I'd say a few software revisions ago, or more closer when I got the phone originally, the macro lens was superb, and quick and intelligent. Its brutal now, I have to close and reopen the camera, it takes a few taps for it to figure out that I'm using the macro lens - its bencome so bad.

 

[I7guy]

We are talking about it right now in a three page thread on a Apple rumor website that has nothing to do with zombie movies(thats free marketing....we have been reminded yet again that this movie is coming out next month and thats all for free via Macrumors covering the story. The film studio didn't have to spend a dime to get Macrumors to post this story). The first thread did 11 pages last year. It's covered all over the place since last year talking about how this was shot on an iPhone. Below is just Mac related websites covering it. Between Youtube, X, IG, and other websites covering this specific story since last year it has to be the reach is incredible.

Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via...

www.macrumors.com

'28 Years Later' to Be First Blockbuster Movie Shot on iPhone

With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone,...

www.macrumors.com

iPhones help bring new life to the '28 Days Later' series

Apple's iPhone has taken a bite out of Hollywood horror, playing a key role in the visual storytelling of the new "28 Years Later" movie.

appleinsider.com

Danny Boyle uses iPhone 15 Pro Max to film '28 Years Later'

The upcoming Danny Boyle horror sequel "28 Years Later" was shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, marking another movie that took advantage of Apple's product lines.

appleinsider.com

Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later Was Shot on an iPhone—Here’s How They Did It - SimplyMac

Danny Boyle is once again disrupting the filmmaking world. For his upcoming sequel 28 Years Later, the acclaimed director made an audacious choice: the entire

www.simplymac.com

15-perf 65mm says otherwise.

It wasn’t done for market reason as much as artistic choice. I love the free publicity.

And also I don’t go to iMax, so what it’s shot on makes little difference to me.

 

[fathergll]

If this was a detriment, they wouldn’t do it.

Detriment for marketing? No why would it be?

The marketing you get from this might sell a total of 100 tickets. Movies live and die today by Rotten Tomatoes scores, which in some ways is good and others, not so good.

I don't know what the conversions are but I do know you pulled that number out of thin air. How many tickets will be sold for this billboard that they spent money on? Who cares?

The point isn't about selling tickets because of an iPhone. The point is the movie gets free press because of the iPhone. On Macrumors alone there has been 25,000 views on both threads and if it wasn't for the fact they used an iPhone those stories never would have been posted here.

It's not relevant what the conversion is....whats relevant is Macrumors posting two news story does a similar thing to this billboard that they had to spend money on which is simply to remind people that there is a movie coming out, in fact the article ends with "28 Years Later is set for release on June 20, 2025."

Now take everything I said about the Macrumors and then figure in 100+ other news outlets are reporting the exact same thing and how many eyeballs that gets. Then add in all the Youtube videos and TikToks, and Reddit threads....etc all for free.

Also no Rotten Tomatoes does not dictate box office. It can influence box office obviously but high score does not mean $$$$ like this box office flop which they will lose money on ---> https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furiosa_a_mad_max_saga or this one that made almost half a billion with subpar ratings https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/venom_the_last_dance

Marketing still matters a lot which is why studios spend many millions on it. It's not as simple as getting some good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

[fathergll]

It wasn’t done for market reason as much as artistic choice. I love the free publicity.

And also I don’t go to iMax, so what it’s shot on makes little difference to me.

I can tell you don't go because you wrote "iMax" exactly how I would expect a someone who doesn't go to it. 😂

 

[I7guy]

I can tell you don't go because you wrote "iMax" exactly how I would expect a someone who doesn't go to it. 😂

Basically your original statement is incorrect. It does matter to the director how the movie is filmed. Does it matter to the consumer?

 

[I7guy]

Detriment for marketing? No why would it be?



I don't know what the conversions are but I do know you pulled that number out of thin air. How many tickets will be sold for this billboard that they spent money on? Who cares?

The point isn't about selling tickets because of an iPhone. The point is the movie gets free press because of the iPhone. On Macrumors alone there has been 25,000 views on both threads and if it wasn't for the fact they used an iPhone those stories never would have been posted here.

It's not relevant what the conversion is....whats relevant is Macrumors posting two news story does a similar thing to this billboard that they had to spend money on which is simply to remind people that there is a movie coming out, in fact the article ends with "28 Years Later is set for release on June 20, 2025."

Now take everything I said about the Macrumors and then figure in 100+ other news outlets are reporting the exact same thing and how many eyeballs that gets. Then add in all the Youtube videos and TikToks, and Reddit threads....etc all for free.

Also no Rotten Tomatoes does not dictate box office. It can influence box office obviously but high score does not mean $$$$ like this box office flop which they will lose money on ---> https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/furiosa_a_mad_max_saga or this one that made almost half a billion with subpar ratings https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/venom_the_last_dance

Marketing still matters a lot which is why studios spend many millions on it. It's not as simple as getting some good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.



[…]

Macrumors provides a lot of free marketing.

 

[AL2TEACH]

Some are so ridiculous they have to be trolls, lol marketing!!??? It was explained why he/they went with a bunch of iPhones lol.

15 years ago (The Battery).

Congrats, it was a good zombie flick

 

[fathergll]

Basically your original statement is incorrect. It does matter to the director how the movie is filmed. Does it matter to the consumer?

Whats my original statement?

 

[I7guy]

Whats my original statement?

15-perf 65mm says otherwise.

 

[fathergll]

.....and what is specifically incorrect about that statement?

 

[seanmcbay]

So stupid. It’s not the 2010s anymore and no one is impressed with this kinda stunt. Use a real camera.

 

[DownUnderDan]

You know that…. How?

Clue is in the article title.

 

[QquegChristian]

Some are so ridiculous they have to be trolls, lol marketing!!??? It was explained why he/they went with a bunch of iPhones lol.


Congrats, it was a good zombie flick

Thank you!