Netflix Originals Content to be Shot on Samsung S20 Smartphones?
Samsung recently announced their latest flagship smartphones (S20, S20+ and S20 Ultra), with their 8K video-shooting capabilities making headlines. The new devices beat the latest iPhone 11 range in a number of other departments, too. And now it looks as if Samsung might be joining Apple in employing high-profile film directors.
Samsung say they are working with video streaming giant Netflix to create content for their Netflix Originals series, using Samsung S20 devices.
“Taking advantage of the Galaxy S20’s pro-grade camera, Netflix and Samsung are working together to put the Galaxy S20 in the hands of renowned directors to capture bonus content based on popular Netflix Originals.” Samsung Newsroom
Samsung go on to say “Users can also discover Netflix’s best-in-class content through an improved integration with Galaxy devices”. Which sounds like a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” kind of deal. In other words, ‘help us spread the word of Samsung phones’ video shooting capabilities and we’ll get more people to visit Netflix’.
So, they aren’t at this moment actually looking to shoot a Netflix Originals series with an S20. Rather, “bonus content”. But still, they are talking about giving Galaxy S20 smartphones to well known directors to shoot stuff for Netflix. This is another step in the direction of smartphone cameras being used professionally, by seasoned professionals.
Big Tech Companies meet Filmmakers
In the last few years, top filmmakers like Steven Soderbergh and Sean Baker have encouraged people to see the iPhone as a serious filmmaking tool. For the first time in the history of cinema, filmmakers used a camera consumers carry around in their pockets to shoot professional content.
Not so long ago, companies making cinema cameras dealt only with professional filmmakers. There are no consumer-level Arri or RED cameras. Going back further, no matter how much you paid a David Lean or a Sam Peckinpah, Kodak could never have persuaded them to shoot a feature film with a camera aimed at consumers.
Two Worlds Meet
So, it’s something of a significant shift that a company like Samsung would work with Netflix. The world of mass-produced, consumer devices is merging with the world of professional media and content makers. What used to be clearly defined lines are now heavily blurred.
And consider the quality of the content currently provided by many YouTube channels, set up in ordinary folks’ back rooms and garages. What’s being produced is broadcast quality, in image and sound, by people often working on their own. These people are usually self-taught videographers and audio engineers, who got their knowledge from blogs and… other YouTubers.
Again, go back 20 or even 10 years, only a fully equipped TV station with staff trained at film and media production schools could produce this quality level.
We are approaching the point where those two worlds – hobbyist and professional – become one world, with no distinct border between the two. Essentially, we are all going to be working within different areas of one content-creating universe. And much of this change comes down to the invention of the smartphone.
Smartphone Revolution
I once had a long 1 hour 20 minute journey on the Piccadilly (London Underground) line. There was no wifi, but I was able to pull out my smartphone and write a blog post. I hadn’t planned to do so, but an idea came to me and I had nothing better to do. So why not?
In another moment, I was walking when I spotted an interesting frame. I was taking a break from editing the latest episode of a show we have on Amazon Prime (a major video streaming platform, remember). The image, of mist blowing across ploughed land, had a post-apocalyptic look to it. So I quickly took out my smartphone, booted up FiLMiC Pro and started filming.
These are just 2 examples of how having a smartphone in your pocket allows you to work very spontaneously. 10 years ago, this would not have been possible. But also, it illustrates once more how there’s now no clear line between hobbyist and professional.
For fun or for profit?
These are examples of writing and filming on a whim using the device in my pocket. I’m not getting paid by the hour and nobody hired me. I simply took it on myself to create some content in the hope someone somewhere in the world might find it relevant to their lives.
It’s a much more fluid, organic way of creating TV shows. If you want to film some fog for a BBC TV show, for example, it will require dozens of staff and weeks of preparation, which prohibits this level of spontaneity.
In the past, you needed a book deal or a job at a newspaper to be classed a writer. You needed a movie deal with a studio or a job at a TV station to be a classed a filmmaker. Although those jobs still exist, they are no longer the only way in. And there’s no clear quality difference between newspapers, TV & film studios, and bloggers and YouTubers.
And we’re only just getting started…
It was only a few years ago people were being ridiculed for shooting video in vertical mode. And some still carry that perception. But I have to tell folks who still think that way, you’re living in the past. And talking of living in the past…
One of our selections for MoMo 20 is a story about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The TV series is produced by NDR, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, a major German TV station and featuring rising star Hanna Binke. The show was shot on an iPhone in vertical mode and released via Instagram.
Of course, they’re not the first high profile company to employ social media platforms, especially as a way of reaching younger generations. But the point here is to show that professional filmmakers and cast are using equipment and styles which derive from the way consumers shoot video.
As I say, the line between what is professional and what is amateur is disappearing, if it hasn’t already. For people who enjoy their status as “professional” this might be sad times. Personally, I think it’s a great liberation which will refresh moving images as storytelling medium.
So if you’re out there shooting video on your smartphone, desperate to be seen as professional, you’re probably chasing ghosts. On the other hand, if you’re hoping to make a living at it, that challenge probably hasn’t got any easier.
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