Smartphone Filmmaking Rewards You Forever
The intimacy of using a mobile phone as a camera comes with the ability for anyone with access to a phone to make films. Even though there is a learning curve to storytelling through film, any one has the opportunity to do it.
Our guest in episode 144 of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking is Levi Austin Morris. Listen online or download to listen anywhere, anytime.
There is a personal story we all want to tell. All filmmakers have a desire to share a story with the world. Filmmaking is a business, but it’s also an art — which makes it personal. During the 12th Edition of the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego during the last weekend last month, I mentioned how ‘art comes from the heart.’
Telling stories is an art form and a form of expression which we use to communicate deep messages. If a scene in a movie moves you, if you feel something by looking at a photograph, if a painting freezes you in a gaze…that is art doing its thing.
The intimacy involved in telling stories with a phone is due to not only the size of the camera. It’s due to the familiarity of the camera you use everyday for many things.
Levi Austin Morris has been making films for a long time. Even though he’s made a feature before, this was the first time he shot a feature film with his smartphone.
His story in mobile filmmaking began with the iPhone 4 and he’s been making short films using iPhones for almost a decade. His film, 90 Minutes to Live was an official selection during the San Diego IMFF in 2015 and The Tea was an official selection in 2020.
We congratulate Levi on taking home the well deserved Best Feature Film Award during IMFF 2023.
Levi is an actor who also casts himself in the films he directs, edits, writes, and shoots.
With each film he learns more about telling stories and filmmaking. Levi is an artist who not only writes and makes films, but he paints and brings his heart into his projects — just as any passionate artist does.
Paralysis is a horror film that was shot with two iPhones and runs about 1 hour 47 minutes. Even though most of the film takes place in and around one location, due to the dressing of the set and the pace of the film, you don’t notice. There are scenes shot in the woods, on the streets, in front of a church, in a car, inside and outside the house; there is even a basement. Every scene is purposely paced for effect and affects the perception of the story.
The performance by Allison Lobel and the rest of the actors was top-notch. It’s important for narrative films to have very talented character actors in order to pull the viewer into the story, and not out of it. In horror filmmaking, just as in comedy, timing and pace are quite detrimental for things to work. Without giving away any spooks, let’s just say that this was very well done. Well enough that Allison Lobel spooked herself during a scene while watching it during the festival screening.
Levi led a workshop: “Make Your Dream Movie” during the festival with Paralysis protagonist Allison Lobel, and producer Jamie Tobias. The workshop shared many details. The entire process from writing and storyboarding to production with the filmmaking gear they used. The team also shared their funding campaign strategy and their post-production process. The IMFF features a workshop each year sponsored by San Diego’s Mobile Film School (unaccredited).
While we speak about the intimacy of using smartphone cameras to film, we may as well share that when I asked Levi about his experience about his experience during the festival, he shared how intimate the festival was for him and the team he brought with him. We then spoke about the filmmakers who attended on a first name basis, which was a testament to the intimacy of the experience for everyone.
It was a real treat for Levi and everyone who attended to meet Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit actor Jed Brophy. Jed has been an Honorary Ambassador to IMFF for a number of years due to his exposure to smartphone filmmaking with Blue Moon, shot with iPhone in New Zealand by Stef Harris. Jed Brophy and Mark Hadlow starred in the feature and have become friends to the International Mobile Film Festival and have lots of respect for the global mobile filmmaking community.
Watch the Trailer for Paralysis:
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