Apple bolsters its 'Shot on iPhone' campaign with an epic vertical short film

Directed by Academy award winner Damien Chazelle, it's a tribute to classic Hollywood genres shot entirely on an iPhone 11 Pro.

That iPhone captures excellent quality images and videos, isn't something new. It is part of the base on which the brand's fans and sales stand. Apple, from time to time, has released ads to reaffirm this fact.

Over the years, this fact has become part of the folklore surrounding the tech giant's prowess. Its latest ad about the history of cinema only adds weight to the evergrowing folklore.

It all began in 2015 when Apple launched the 'Shot on iPhone' campaign. People got to show off their images shot from an iPhone camera. Billboards across the world showcased these eye-catching images. Apple never had to resort to the boring 'product feature explanations ads'.

This campaign extended to a video in 2019, with the 'Shot on iPhone 11 – Snowbrawl'. An entire snow brawl was captured on excellent quality video using the iPhone 11.

While this was part of iPhone's campaign, organic coverage wasn't far. In 2017, newspapers reported that ace movie director Zack Snyder (of ‘300', 'Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice' and 'Man of Steel' fame) shot 'Snow Steam Iron', a four-minute short film entirely on an iPhone.

Now, to further bolster this 'Shot on iPhone' campaign comes Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle's (of 'La La Land' and 'Whiplash' fame) journey through the history of cinema, reimagined for the vertical screen, in the short film 'The Stunt Double' shot on an iPhone 11 Pro. It was made with TBWA/Media Arts Lab and Grammy award winner Lorne Balfe contributes with an original score.

The nine-minute-20-second-long film takes us through a gripping cinematic journey that reimagines classic Hollywood genres. What caught our eye was that it was shot through the lens of a stunt double, hence, the name and the romantic story on the side that was brewing as the film rolled on.

Chazelle, in another video that marks the making of this film, says, “Part of the fun of this was to try to think purely in terms of vertical aspect ratio and what that does,” adding, “I just think back to when I was a kid playing with much less sophisticated technologies than the phone, like old VHS camcorders and things like that, and just trying to do my version of Hollywood movies with what I had.”