I filmed an entire short film on a Sony Xperia 1, just to see if I could

One of the most important hurdles for budding filmmakers is getting respectable gear. A good film digicam, just like the Sony Alpha A7S II, can price a four-digit worth, then you definately’ve acquired to purchase or lease tripods, lights, gentle stands, growth or lapel mics, subject recorders, and far, way more – in short, filming could be inaccessible for these with restricted funds.

One of the important thing promoting factors of the Sony Xperia 1 is the Cinema Pro app. This app, which comes loaded on the telephones, recreates the expertise of a Sony Alpha digicam, with a related interface and expertise. It helps you to document high-end-quality video on your not-as-high-end smartphone, making film recording accessible and simple.

At least, that was Sony’s pitch, and it was definitely a good one, because the smartphone (and app) have confirmed fairly widespread. Indeed, in our personal assessment, primarily based on some hands-on time with the cellphone and our experiments with the Cinema Pro app, we praised the benefit of the app.

However correct budding film-makers aren’t going to merely film some bushes and rocks, as we did for our assessment; they’re going to be utilizing the cellphone to film correct tasks, with a number of scenes, in numerous places, and capturing totally different photographs.

So as a budding film-maker myself, I determined to use the Sony Xperia 1 to film an entire short film, just to see if it could be performed.

About the undertaking

The short film was primarily based on a poem by a good friend, and the footage can be b-roll model materials to play excessive. That manner the cinematography wouldn’t want to be too wild or experimental, as it may well usually be a little complicated capturing with a new digicam – particularly if that digicam is a lengthy, fragile smartphone.

The equipment I used to shoot with included two smooth lights on tripods, and a smartphone-specific tripod to maintain the Xperia 1 for static photographs. I additionally did some handheld capturing, and you’ll make certain we’ll get into that later.

(Image credit score: Future)

As a last level, I truly wrote and adopted my shot record on the cellphone itself, as a substitute of getting it as a separate kind – this made it tremendous simple to shortly discover what shot to arrange subsequent, and the way I had envisaged every scene, as as a substitute of digging by means of a stack of papers I could simply swap apps to Google Sheets.

Once I had my shot record, and equipment ready, and the Sony Xperia 1 charged, with loads of reminiscence spare, I was prepared to film.

Setting up on a Sony Xperia 1

The first shot I wanted from the Sony Xperia 1 was a static shot of somebody sitting in mattress – simple sufficient. I arrange the cellphone tripod on the finish of the mattress, with the 2 smooth lights behind it, and acquired prepared to film.

Or, a minimum of, I tried to prepare to film. You see, my tripod used a grip to maintain the smartphone in place – which was conveniently place in order that when it gripped the cellphone tight, it pressed the facility button, turning off the cellphone. Eventually I managed to angle the clasp so it sat between the quantity rocker and energy button, however the cellphone was decidedly lop-sided when I did.

No matter, after a whereas…