Posted on 06/30/2010 9:28:39 PM PDT by Swordmaker
It's easy to see how the iPhone 4's high-definition 1280x720 video would be a handy feature. It's an entirely different thing to see just how impressive it can be in the right hands.
Watch the Video Production here on Vimeo
In this case, those hands belong chiefly to Michael Koerbel and Anna Elizabeth James, students at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, who wrote a short video called "Apple of My Eye." Koerbel recorded it with an iPhone 4, and James edited it on the same hardware with Apple's new iMovie app--all in less than 48 hours.
As with Vincent Laforet's "Reverie," shot with Canon's first video-capable SLR, the EOS 5D Mark II, the appeal of "Apple of My Eye" isn't the acting or plot. Instead, it's the demonstration that a new generation of relatively mainstream equipment can achieve what only professional gear could earlier.
And as marketing executives know, such works also are a potentially powerful draw for all those budding artists who aspire to produce something beyond snapshots of the family. Many never will, of course, but that won't stop them from buying premium products.
Don't expect most iPhone 4 owners to craft comparably high-quality video vignettes. "Apple of My Eye" is pleasant to watch in part because its relatively professional production values--carefully arranged camera perspective, suitable lighting, a sweeping musical score--just aren't going to make it to most amateur video. There was more gear involved than just an iPhone, too--a tripod for still shots and a camera dolly for moving shots, for example. And James said it took 14 hours to edit.
Do expect cinema to be changed, though, as Moore's Law collides with Hollywood. The Red cameras at the high end, Canon's 5D Mark II, 7D, and Rebel T2i in the middle, and the iPhone 4 at the low end--these sorts of digital tools will fuel innovation among the experimental crowd and likely draw fresh talent to the industry.
The spread of high-end technology to the mainstream is a broader trend than with just video. The high-quality photos a person can produce with a digital SLR and Photoshop opened the doors for the microstock photography business, letting part-time amateurs elbow in on professionals' turf. Junior-high-school rock bands can mix and dub music with tools better than professional studios had a generation earlier. And the Brushes app can turn an iPad into an artist's sketch tablet in a way a $2,000 Wacom Cintiq tethered to a computer never could.
Again, such tools are most impressive in the skilled, capable hands that most of us lack. But the spread of technology means more people will be able to learn, and the Internet means there's a place for the rest of us to find what they've done.
So, while you shouldn't hold out Oscar hopes for that video of your child blowing out the birthday candles, you should expect for some engaging new art.
This still from 'Apple of My Eye' shows a little bit of what it takes to record a higher-end video with an iPhone 4.
Nothing worse than a double drone huh!?
I'm in upstate NY, in the Ithaca area. AT&T coverage sucks here. I have friends with iPhones and they just don't cut the mustard, nor do any other phones with AT&T. Verizon, OTOH, is all over and powerful here. So yeah, regional.
Mine doesn't. Where is your friend located?
That's why I told you of my own concerns and theory... I know when they iPhone was first introduced and it was said then it was a five year exclusive. That may actually expire in 2012...
Not sweating... just giving it as an example... because they were starting to use the thread to talk about how great the video was. I wanted to nip THAT in the bud.
Thanks for the explanation, Niteflyr
In my younger/dumber days, I was this close to buying a Bose Lifestyle 12 system.....boy am I glad I decided not to!
funniest video I’ve seen in awhile
“It prints money”
“I don’t care”
haha
Most of those that Jail broke their phones, but not those, that don't try to alter the operating system.
Not really, I spend less than 1% of the phone battery on phone calls. That is probably why you guys don't get it. I have excellent coverage with AT&T, and travelled to the mid west without noticing any dead spots. I think most of AT&T's problems are in large cities, and certainly low population centers.
In any case AT&T will soon be a moot point, then we can move on to some other defect, that seems to always concern people that don't and won't ever have an iPhone.
One, you don't have iMovie or anything close on an EVO, so you'd just be downloading all your video to a desktop for editing anyway. Two, kind of hard to edit a movie containing video that's on the 32 GB SD card you just pulled out.
The same town I am in. I have an Iphone3 and mine doesn’t drop calls so it’s definitely the phone.
Yes, so I can edit my video with decent tools. That’s hardly a bad thing.
And I can do it by popping my microSD card into my PC and have immediate access to the ENTIRE video, versus waiting an hour to download to my PC to edit.
And of course, if I’ve filled up my phone, it takes just a few seconds to remove the full card and insert a new one. Quick way to get the videos off the phone. Now I don’t have to second-guess myself about what I want to capture today, because I don’t know what I might miss later in the afternoon because my phone is full.
Have you tried a sleeve on the iPhone 4? It won’t solve all your reception problems, but many people are reporting it helps somewhat, so you go from zero reception to some reception...
Until Apple comes out with a better fix, that might be your best option.
That's also nothing new. The whole reason for the existence of the article was that you can now shoot AND EDIT a professional-level movie entirely on a phone. You in turn suggested a phone where you can't do that. How helpful was that?
I don't WANT to edit on my phone, and I personally see very little functionality in that feature. When I'm out using my phone, living life, I don't want to spend it editing, I want to spend it having fun and living. I want to capture photos and video at will.
Later on that night or a few days later I will edit, sort, filter as needed.
For me, I see no reason to spend 40 minutes capturing video at the alligator park outside of Bangkok, then sitting in the middle of the elephant show, and spend an hour or two editing the video. That's something I'll do later in the evening, or even 2-3 weeks later.
But if someone wants to edit on and Android phone, you can look at Photoshop, or you can use Arcsoft's tools. Those are pro-grade tools if want them.
Then what were you doing on a thread that was entirely about the ability to edit on a phone?
But if someone wants to edit on and Android phone, you can look at Photoshop, or you can use Arcsoft's tools.
Now that would have been a useful, informative post, especially since I have a Droid, and recently had the need to do a quick edit on a video before emailing it. However, I can't see that one can actually buy that Arcsoft mobile video editing program anywhere. Looks like vaporware to me.
Providing information about alternatives that people may not be aware of. Just informational purposes that there are valid options out there. Is that a problem?
And if you want more video editing options, there Qik, and of course Google is rolling out their own integrated cloud solution.
There are options out there, contrary to your insinuations.
And of course I have the option of taking all my videos and editing on my PC in a matter of seconds, since I can remove the memory card. I am not tied to a USB or WiFi or 3G tether.
Everybody who does video knows the alternative because that's the way everybody does things now. The article is about a new way of doing things, a way that the product you mentioned cannot do.
And if you want more video editing options, there Qik
So far I'm still waiting for one. You gave vaporware and now Qik, which at most can trim a video. Still waiting for you to give me an iMovie level of video editing for the Android. Keep searching the Internet. I've already searched the Android Market for video editing software.
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