A Beautiful Smartphone Mini-doc

The concept that beauty is subjective dates back to Plato. For the modern wording of that idea we must thank novelist Margaret Wolfe Hungerford. In her 1878 novel “Molly Bawn” Hungerford wrote the famous words: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” That said, we’re confident that “Made in Paris” is objectively one of the…

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Single-shot Music Video Turns Bridge into a Stage

Beraat Gökkuş is a jack of many genres. A Turkish-born journalist by trade, his body of smartphone videos includes a docudrama (“The Lost Pen“), a fantasy (“Take a Breath“), and now a single-shot music video (“Sweat”). An interview with the director follows the movie. Interview with Beraat Gökkuş MobileMovieMaking: How did you connect with Joseph Langley?…

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Seeking Liberty in the Lockdown Era

“Take a Breath” is a short animation about a man named Murat who takes a walk in Paris while dreaming of nature and freedom. The film was directed by Turkish journalist Beraat Gokkus and shot on an iPhone 11 using the FiLMiCPro camera app. The director provides a brief note about the production following the film…

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Experiment with Your Camera

A key part of Apple’s marketing scheme is to invite celebrated filmmakers to shoot movies using the iPhone. Recently, the company gave an iPhone 11 Pro to Rian Johnson, the director of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”  The result is “Paris 9/19.”  This is not a memorable example of  the travelogue genre. At first glance,…

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You Need a Mobile Camera to Shoot Like This

Mobile moviemakers often point out that they can achieve visual results equal to those obtained using traditional cameras. Slow mo, freeze frame, time-lapse—it’s all possible with phones, tablets, and other devices. Less discussed are the visual surprises that you can do only with a mobile. Case in point: Nigel Sylvester’s “London to Paris,”  which takes viewers on a BMX athlete’s wild ride.…

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