Crazy Rich Asians Director Films With iPhone “Naked”
Jon M. Chu, who helmed this year’s comedy hit Crazy Rich Asians, is the latest director with some renown to use a smartphone as a camera of choice. But unlike those who went before him, he chose to shoot “naked”. He himself was fully clothed, however his iPhone carried no attachments, such as lenses or gimbals.
“I had literally zero equipment,” says Chu. “I see a lot of samples of iPhone videos, and sometimes they use different lenses or professional lights. I didn’t have any of that.”
Chu’s camera is like an intimate, unobtrusive eye, as it views dancer Luigi Rosado’s rehearsal in a garage at night. Titled Somewhere, Chu shot the film in 4K using the iPhone’s native camera app.
Chu shot his iPhone film handheld using the phone’s default stabilising system. He edited the video on a computer, but Chu didn’t apply any colour correction or any post-production effects. What you will see in the film is the default output of the iPhone’s camera.
“I wanted to stretch it in a harsh environment,” says Chu, shooting at night, under florescent lights. Testing as many of the camera’s features as possible, Chu sometimes adds a slow-motion shot. This was created with the iPhone Camera app’s built-in slo-motion setting, shooting at 240 frames per second.
“I knew those bright fluorescents were in there. When I’m pushing at 240, you can see the light noise,” he says. Chu was also impressed with the iPhone’s ability to handle moving shots. “I’m moving around a lot, and the focus was adjusting as I was moving, but it was finding the subject really well,” he says. “There’s a shot at the end where I’m rushing toward the garage—that’s using the built-in stabilisers. It’s pretty smooth.”
“You can see the colours, they really pop. I did some shots in the daytime that didn’t make it into the movie, and the daylight images felt a little cooler. But shooting at night, the video warms up. You can adjust the colours however you want, but I was shooting with the defaults.”
Chu grabbed an overhead shot without a grip-stand or any other accessory: “There was a hanging piece of wood on the ceiling, and I put the phone on it and angled it down. It was as raw as that.”
So which iPhone does Chu prefer to film with? “The XS Max. No question.”
“I was coming from the iPhone X,” he says. “The hardest part actually was going from an 8 Plus to a X, then getting used to the X’s size. I thought that getting the XS Max would be hard, since it would mean going back to another big phone. In fact, the XS is lighter than the 8 Plus, and doesn’t feel like a ‘plus’ phone. The weight, the density—it doesn’t feel like an inconvenience to hold it.”
Apple loaned the director a grey phone to shoot his iphone film, but also showed him the gold version. “I’m definitely going to get the gold,” Chu says. “I’m not a gold type person, but that gold, they did a good job.”
Watch Chu’s short film Somewhere below:
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