Every filmmaker, no matter how established, hits the same walls around budgets. Indie films in particular face the harshest constraints, with no camera package, no crew, no budget. But these days, you don’t actually need one. Or at least, as much as you think. Two iPhones, you and your friend’s, can carry a short from your living room to a festival screen.
What the iPhone 15 pro max brings to your a-camera setup
Shooting with just one camera is very common, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. When shooting an iPhone film, why wouldn’t you use two? There are usually two in most (American) rooms already.
The a-camera does the heavy lifting (master shots, close-ups, basically anything that has to hold up when it’s projected big). But assuming you don’t have the latest model, we will be conservative and say it’s a refurbished iPhone 15 Pro Max. Highly affordable, and its 5x tetraprism zoom (because it’s the Pro line) means you can get 5x zoom without pixelation. The ProRes video edits brilliantly too – it’s 4K at 30fps, but you can also choose the more typical 24fps.
You also want a gimbal for steady shots, and various power banks because 4K fiming can drink the battery quickly.
If you’re still skeptical a phone can carry a whole film, that’s fair, but remember that Steven Soderbergh shot his thriller Unsane entirely on an iPhone. NPR called it a low-budget, high-stakes psych-ward horror, and when Soderbergh later saw it projected forty feet tall, he said it looked like velvet. After the success of Obsession and Backrooms, both YouTubers, a path forward has never been clearer for amateur filmmakers.
The b-camera
Now the second camera (not a backup) but an actual second angle. A reverse shot without moving the main rig, or a way to edit out mistakes by switching to the second angle. A wide safety take rolling while your A-cam grabs the tight coverage is also important insurance and the kind of behind-the-scenes footage you’ll genuinely use for your festival submission reel.
This is where the iPhone 15 will do just fine. Again, refurbished is fine if you don’t already own one. It’s not trying to be the hero camera, but it has a 48MP main sensor, A16 Bionic, plenty of range for coverage work. Hand it to whoever’s free for thirty seconds, even just your sound person or a patient friend. Suddenly a scene you only had time to block once has two angles instead of one.
Kitting out both cameras without festival-budget money
While you can just use whatever phone you already own, there is some sense in having a dedicated phone for the film. You don’t want to turn up to the shoot with 60% battery because you’ve been scrolling reels that morning, or receive notifications mid-way through a shoot.
iPhones are the gold standard for smartphone filming, while a model a few years old now is where you get maximum value (great specs but a drop-off in price). Go with a refurbished one from Back Market, and you’ve saved even more money. Plus, after the film, you can just sell the phone back to Back Market if you wish. The difference may be a couple of hundred dollars, which is much cheaper than renting a “proper” camera set-up. Plus, iPhones fit the many third-party gimbles on the market, which can be picked up second-hand.
So no, you don’t need a full cinema package to land a festival slot. You need a story worth telling and two cameras that won’t let you down. The gear might already be in your pocket.
