Mobile Movie Making

Technology is amazing. That goes without saying. However, sometimes it takes a second to step back and realize just how far we have advanced. Case and point: mobile filmmaking. Now, before I'm totally discredited by the filmmaking blogosphere, let me qualify that statement. True professionals will always opt for professional tools. However, technology is advanced enough that the only limiting factors to making a great film lie in the artist, not the equipment they use. Filmmaking, long the realm of big budgets and big people, has now been democratized.

And the results are quite impressive. So impressive, in fact, that it's good enough for even some of today's blockbuster films. That's right! Upcoming comic book hero conglomeration, "The Avengers" had some sequences filmed on an iPhone 4. Some shots were even included in the trailer! I challenge you to spot the difference:

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey said, "I understand that sometimes there is no choice and you have to go for the cheapest option, but if you are limited for choice, you can still make poignant decisions that will effect the look of the film." And if it's good enough for filmmakers with a 200 million dollar budget, it's certainly good enough for many others. Filmmaker Park Chan-wook and his video artist brother Chan-kyong won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival for a 30-minute film that was also shot on a iPhone.

And for the mobile phone auteurs with more of a budget, there are even more options. Companies make hundreds of different tripods with iPhone attachments, and even some high quality lense packages are available to attach on to your mobile shooter. The possibilities are truly endless.

Once the film is shot, however, you of course need to edit and distribute it. Well, your phone can help you out here too. Though somewhat limited in scope, Apple's own iMovie mobile application is more than capable for simple edits and trims. And when your done, you can even upload directly to YouTube, Vimeo, CNN's iReport, or any site you can think of.

The world of mobile phones presents an exciting future for the world of filmmaking. With a camera in everyone's pocket, anyone can try out their moviemaking skills, and put together a high-quality final product without ever booting up a workstation. The only limit now is our imaginations.

And just to prove this point, this entire post was written on a smartphone.