“Shot on iPhone” is Not a Marketing Gimmick

Apple filmed its entire Scary Fast event with iPhone 15 Pro Max, and a lot of people are claiming it’s disingenuous to say “Shot on iPhone,” because there was lots of other filming gear involved.

From lights to cranes to drones and microphones, hundreds of thousands of dollars surrounded the iPhone in order to accomplish this impressive feat.

And frankly, the argument that Apple’s claim is solely a marketing “gimmick,” is bull.

First off, the claim “shot on iPhone” is flatly true. Apple gave us the receipts with a 2-minute behind-the-scenes video. No other camera captured any of the video. All of the images you see come directly through an iPhone lens.

And to say “the iPhone couldn’t capture that kind of video without tons of equipment,” also applies to any camera found on set. Even movies using the most expensive cameras also require flags, lights, cranes, dollies, and more!

It’s called filmmaking.

Take another recent film, The Creator. Director Oren Soffer used a mirrorless camera, the Sony FX3 for the entire shoot. Was that camera the only piece of gear on set? No! You need gimbals, microphones, preview monitors, batteries, cages, and lights, the actors need costumes, makeup, and a thousand other things.

And yet, the images captured by the Sony FX3 are still impressive! Why? Because previously, you needed cameras that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve a cinematic picture. Also, no one raised any argument about The Creator being disingenuous in their claim of using an FX3.

Today, technology has advanced so far that mirrorless cameras can replace film cameras, they’re used on the sidelines in football games, and their accessibility has allowed millions of aspiring filmmakers to create professional quality pictures.

Even the old adage, “lights, camera, action!” implies the need for lights to turn on before the camera rolls, regardless of the camera!

The second part of this argument implies that this level of filmmaking isn’t possible for regular iPhone users because they don’t have millions of dollars in gear. And the phrase “Shot on iPhone” is just some marketing ploy Apple is using to trick you into thinking, “If you buy our phone, you can make videos like this.”

Let’s be clear, that was never said, nor does Apple hide the fact that it takes other pieces of gear to make professional video. Even in the keynote announcing iPhone 15 Pro Max, they show it being used in professional environments, with a bunch of film gear! Cages, lighting, preview monitors. They’re not hiding the truth.

But I would argue, that if someone does get the idea that with an iPhone, they have a chance to make incredible, cinematic video, they would not be wrong.

I know many video creators who shoot exclusively on iPhone, and one of my most-viewed videos ever was shot on the front-facing camera. The fact remains, that the iPhone is an incredible camera for both photography and filming.

Sebastian de With and Austin Mann prove to us every year in their iPhone reviews that you can capture incredible photos with this device. Does the fact they use a tripod or Austin Mann flew in a helicopter make the claim any less genuine? No! The camera is still the camera, and it’s done exclusively with iPhone.

I recently had an independent film shoot across the street from my house. And whatever camera they were using required dozens of people, lights, flags, grips, and a parking lot full of crew to make it happen.

The idea that the iPhone “needs” all this gear to “look good,” also would apply to cinema cameras used in movies. Go on any set and you’ll find just as much if not more gear than Apple used.

The point is not that iPhone can film this kind of video without all that additional gear, it’s that Apple replaced a cinema camera with a mobile phone camera, and we couldn’t tell the difference.

Now, I’ll allow one concession in this argument. When you watch a movie, especially a big-budget film like Marvel, it’s mind-blowing to see the thousands of names that roll in the credits. It confirms the idea that it’s not just a camera and a director, it’s a massive team of people that make it possible.

It would have been nice to see the names of people who filmed and edited this event video. We saw some names in Apple’s behind-the-scenes video, but if we had seen a hundred names on screen after the “Shot on iPhone” tag, it would have been nice.

Does it take lots of gear to make film-quality videos, sure. Even the room I’m in now has several thousand dollars of equipment. But even dropping a few hundred on a good key light, a decent tripod, and a quality mic, your iPhone videos can look pretty great.

By the way, the video above was Shot on iPhone