"Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter how cheesy, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Put your name on it as director. Now you're a director." - James Cameron
Depending upon who you ask, digital video is either the greatest or the all-time worst thing to happen to filmmaking since the invention of Super 8. What used to require a film crew, set, lighting rig and reels upon reels of expensive film stock can now be accomplished with an iPhone and a little imagination. Whether we stop to consider it or not, we're all filmmakers now — whether snapping vacation photos or making silly YouTube video with our friends, the potential to create serious, meaningful works of art is now always within our grasp.
So why not use the tools at our disposal and make something meaningful, unique and creative?
To help give you an idea of just how powerful your cell phone can be, check out a handful of professional quality music videos shot entirely on phones just like yours:
Kurt Vile
"Baby's Arms"
(Director: Todd Cole)
Noted fashion photographer/video director Todd Cole shot this evocative clip using a Windows Phone, a modest lighting rig and two actors with tangible chemistry. No computer effects, no lavish stage set-up... just normal, every-day life, rendered absolutely gorgeous by the director's eye for interesting angles, backdrops and moods.
Goldfrapp
"Yellow Halo"
(Director: Lisa Gunning)
Goldrapp tapped their close friend Lisa Gunning to film some footage to accompany their new single "Yellow Halo." Using only an iPhone, Lisa managed to gorgeously capture the wistful wanderlust of being in a touring band, seeing the word and experiencing life in all its shapes and forms. The images are incredibly raw, lo-fi and bursting with homemade tangibility — something you'd lose with a big, expensive film camera.
Vintage Trouble
"Nancy Lee"
(Director: Alen Petkovic)
The old-timey film effect is a little much, but this video by indie R&B group Vintage Trouble is full of energetic performances from the extras and band members, whose charisma transcends the fact that director Alen Petkovic shot it in a warehouse with his iPhone 4. A good editing job and a little After Effects goes a long way!
flakjakt
"Cascades"
(Director: Marty Martin)
Speaking of editing, this fantastic video by singer/songwriter flakjakt and director Mary Martin (also recorded with the iPhone 4) takes a handful of performance shots and turns them into a stunning collage of warm colors, interesting found locations, and subtle visual details that work perfectly with the phone's soft picture resolution.
See? Not as far removed from your average, run of the mill YouTube video as you thought! Think you have it in you to direct your own cell phone music video masterpiece? Of course you do — find yourself a free, easy-to-use video editing software, call up a few of your friends and let your imagination do the rest. You already have all the tools you need — all it takes is a willingness to experiment, a creative mindset and... oh yeah, a song!
Follow Brett Warner on Twitter: @Erasurehead
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