“Life in a Tiny Town” explores locations in South India. It was shot on iPhone XS Max,  with the Movi Freefly Cinema Robot providing stabilization. The Texas-based director—Prakash Gandhi Natarajan—says about the film: “I wanted the audience to feel connected to the people,  so I took them inside my house and onto the streets where I grew up, while capturing both daily life and festivals.” Following the movie, you can read his observations about the technical advantages in shooting a travelogue on an iPhone XS Max.

Natarajan previously shared his mini-doc  “Diwali Pongal,” a travelogue that combines smartphone and drone footage. Here, he gives reasons for shooting on the iPhone XS Max  with the Movi Freefly Cinema Robot.

iPhone XS Max

I moved from the iPhone X to the iPhone XS Max because a larger screen is always welcome while you are shooting. Also color reproduction—including contrast and saturation—is  far superior to what you get with previous iPhones. This reduces the need for color grading since the footage out of the camera is well processed by the software. Finally, the battery of iPhone XS Max is amazing. I can shoot the whole day without needing a recharge.

Movi Freefly Cinema Robot

This is the best gimbal I ever used. I was a heavy user of DJI Osmo Mobile and did several productions with it. However, because the DJI Osmo Mobile couldn’t handle the heavier weight of the iPhone XS Max,  I purchased DJI Osmo Mobile 2. But I had the same issue with it. Internet community suggested that I use a counter weight on the DJI Osmo Mobile 1 and 2 to balance the weight of the iPhone XS Max.

While that solution worked, it worked against the big advantage of smartphone filmmaking: spending less time setting up the equipment and more time capturing moments. So I tried Movi Freefly Cinema Robot and it handled the iPhone XS Max weight with ease. Also it has different shooting modes. The opening shot of the movie was shot using barrel roll. If you use it effectively the shots turn out very cinematic. The speeded up shots of my dad driving a scooter and my mom with her friend walking in a street was done using Movi, available at the App Store, that has several shooting modes, one of which is movielapse. Finally, because of its design, when you are done shooting you can just set it on any surface unlike other gimbals on the market.

Post-production Notes

I edited the movie primarily using LumaFusion on the Apple iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil. For polishing, I used Final Cut Pro X on my MacBook Pro.

The music is “Wanderer” performed by Remember the Future. It was licensed from from Premium Beat Music Library.

Shooting locations—all in South India—were Mayiladuthurai, Kuthalam, Thirumanamcheri, Aadudhurai, Kovindhapuram, Sivaramapuran, Naranamangalam, and Kumbakonam.

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You can follow Prakash Gandhi Natarajan, whose company is Dhara Visual on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

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The editors of MobileMovieMaking Magazine have chosen “Life in a Tiny Town” as a Mobile Movie of the Week.