iPhone 4S Wedding at DVinfo.net

Nicholas de Kock · June 2nd, 2013, 12:10 PM

I've been intrigued with filming a wedding with nothing but iPhone's for a while and recently got an opportunity. It's definitely a challenge as you don't have control over exposure, focus & white balance except for locking it but given the challenges it wasn't that bad. I was blown away with the overall image quality at FullHD, obviously not as good as a dedicated video camera but impressive for a phone. A fun experience, hope you enjoy the results.

We used 4x iPhone 4S 16Gb phones with the SlingShot tripod mount. We had a Macbook Pro 13 on standby to dump the footage & swapped between phones to keep them charged. For audio we used the Zoom H1 & H4n. Support gear included the Glidecam 2000, Manfrotto 561BHDV-1 Monopod, Kessler Crane PocketJib Traveller, Glidetrack. Macro lens adapter. App used: Filmic Pro.

Al Gardner · June 2nd, 2013, 12:39 PM

Excellent work. It had a real organic feel to it.

Too bad the iPhone doesn't have replaceable batteries.

Noa Put · June 2nd, 2013, 12:58 PM

Looks great Nicholas! If you wouldn't have told me I never would have thought it was from a mobile phone, the image quality looks very good, it did seem to struggle in lower light though.

Was this just some one time thing, just to see if it could be done? How did the client react when you said you were using mobile phones?

Funny is that the language is very similar to Dutch, I can understand almost everything that's being said. :)

Donald McPherson · June 2nd, 2013, 01:16 PM

Just goes to show it's content first then a good camera.

Nicholas de Kock · June 2nd, 2013, 01:29 PM

Noa it's Afrikaans (South Africa) very similar to Dutch yes. It was a one time thing, we asked a bride if we could film her wedding with iPhones for free & gave no guarantee that we would actually delivery anything as we didn't know if we would succeed. We chose a morning wedding I don't think the iPhone will do well in low light so we planned for good lighting most of the day. It felt weird filming as the guests would look at us funny wondering what on earth we are doing but on a positive we could get closer to the guests, people felt very comfortable around us. We where pressed for time so we couldn't get all the shots we wanted the ceremony started at 9AM.

A lot of shots was over exposed which we tried to compensate for in editing however what I took home from all this was that we put so much emphasis in the latest and greatest gear that with a little imagination & creativity there are no limits. It was fun to do something a little differently.

Noa Put · June 2nd, 2013, 04:24 PM

Quote:

we put so much emphasis in the latest and greatest gear that with a little imagination & creativity there are no limits.

Now you did use quite some extra "gear" like the jib, the slider and the steadicam which does give the production some added value but I wonder how it would have looked if you would have gone for the bare essentials like just a few iphone's and maybe only monopods and some small external audio recorders as you do need those for decent sound anyway.

Dave Blackhurst · June 2nd, 2013, 05:41 PM

I'd bet that most of the "support" gear could have been left out - the advantage of a small image capture device is that you can mimic shots if you know how they "should" look and can move the camera in a stable fashion. That IS a bit tricky, but once you realize the flexibility, you start to get crazy ideas!

The look was good, exposure did seem to be a bit of a challenge (a bit overexposed?), but overall I'd guess your bride was thrilled!

Once again reinforcing the idea that it's not the camera that makes the image, but the "nut" behind it!

James Manford · June 5th, 2013, 08:36 AM

Just wow.

Fantastic example of what can be done in the right hands. Your editing style had a big part to play too.

Adrian Tan · June 5th, 2013, 06:29 PM

Hey Nicholas, I have to say your iPhone wedding puts my DSLR weddings to shame. Brilliant motion graphics title sequence as well.

June 2nd, 2013, 12:10 PM	#1
Nicholas de Kock Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: KLD, South Africa Posts: 983	iPhone 4S Wedding I've been intrigued with filming a wedding with nothing but iPhone's for a while and recently got an opportunity. It's definitely a challenge as you don't have control over exposure, focus & white balance except for locking it but given the challenges it wasn't that bad. I was blown away with the overall image quality at FullHD, obviously not as good as a dedicated video camera but impressive for a phone. A fun experience, hope you enjoy the results. Dirk & Annuschka (iPhone 4S) on Vimeo We used 4x iPhone 4S 16Gb phones with the SlingShot tripod mount. We had a Macbook Pro 13 on standby to dump the footage & swapped between phones to keep them charged. For audio we used the Zoom H1 & H4n. Support gear included the Glidecam 2000, Manfrotto 561BHDV-1 Monopod, Kessler Crane PocketJib Traveller, Glidetrack. Macro lens adapter. App used: Filmic Pro.

June 2nd, 2013, 12:39 PM	#2
Al Gardner Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: San Diego CA. and New Orleans, Loiuisana Posts: 355	Re: iPhone 4S Wedding Excellent work. It had a real organic feel to it. Too bad the iPhone doesn't have replaceable batteries.

June 2nd, 2013, 12:58 PM	#3
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,510	Re: iPhone 4S Wedding Looks great Nicholas! If you wouldn't have told me I never would have thought it was from a mobile phone, the image quality looks very good, it did seem to struggle in lower light though. Was this just some one time thing, just to see if it could be done? How did the client react when you said you were using mobile phones? Funny is that the language is very similar to Dutch, I can understand almost everything that's being said. :)

June 2nd, 2013, 01:16 PM	#4
Donald McPherson Major Player Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Aberdeen Scotland Posts: 815	Re: iPhone 4S Wedding Just goes to show it's content first then a good camera.

June 2nd, 2013, 01:29 PM	#5
Nicholas de Kock Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: KLD, South Africa Posts: 983	Re: iPhone 4S Wedding Noa it's Afrikaans (South Africa) very similar to Dutch yes. It was a one time thing, we asked a bride if we could film her wedding with iPhones for free & gave no guarantee that we would actually delivery anything as we didn't know if we would succeed. We chose a morning wedding I don't think the iPhone will do well in low light so we planned for good lighting most of the day. It felt weird filming as the guests would look at us funny wondering what on earth we are doing but on a positive we could get closer to the guests, people felt very comfortable around us. We where pressed for time so we couldn't get all the shots we wanted the ceremony started at 9AM. A lot of shots was over exposed which we tried to compensate for in editing however what I took home from all this was that we put so much emphasis in the latest and greatest gear that with a little imagination & creativity there are no limits. It was fun to do something a little differently.

June 2nd, 2013, 05:41 PM	#7
Dave Blackhurst Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Apple Valley CA Posts: 4,874	Re: iPhone 4S Wedding I'd bet that most of the "support" gear could have been left out - the advantage of a small image capture device is that you can mimic shots if you know how they "should" look and can move the camera in a stable fashion. That IS a bit tricky, but once you realize the flexibility, you start to get crazy ideas! The look was good, exposure did seem to be a bit of a challenge (a bit overexposed?), but overall I'd guess your bride was thrilled! Once again reinforcing the idea that it's not the camera that makes the image, but the "nut" behind it!

June 5th, 2013, 08:36 AM	#8
James Manford Trustee Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,393	Re: iPhone 4S Wedding Just wow. Fantastic example of what can be done in the right hands. Your editing style had a big part to play too.

June 5th, 2013, 06:29 PM	#9
Adrian Tan Trustee Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 1,149	Re: iPhone 4S Wedding Hey Nicholas, I have to say your iPhone wedding puts my DSLR weddings to shame. Brilliant motion graphics title sequence as well.