HAPPENSTANCE
After failing to connect with a pretty girl on a streetcar, a young man happens upon a second chance to make a first impression.
- 2009 | 8:52
- Starring Anthony Greene, Saffron Cassaday
- Dialogue by Tomas Street
- Directed & Edited by Ken Simpson
According to the people over at smartmoviemaking.com this just might be the first narrative short ever shot with an iphone! http://www.smartmoviemaking.com/is-this-the-worlds-first-iphone-film/ I shot this short on a "jailbroken" iphone for the Viewpoint Film Challenge. Directed by: Ken Simpson Starring: Saffron Cassaday, Anthony Greene Workflow: 1. Filmed using the Cycorder app (The 3Gs wasn't out then) 2. I used Netatalk to acces the root directories of the iphone in order to pull the footage off the phone. 3. Converted the footage to 29.97 Apple Prores files 4. Edited the video in FCP in a 16x9 timeline (thus cutting off the top and bottom of the original 4x3 footage but allowing me to reposition if needed) 5. Exported two versions A. 360 x 180 (size as master) and B. 640 x 360 for viewing at the festival Interestingly enough, I found that using the audio from the reverse angles was considerably better than using the audio from the actual subject I was shooting. For example, most of Anthony's final dialogue was taken from Saffron's close ups and vice versa. Given the source's low resolution, slow shutter and wild frame rates I doubt that most people could tell there were any lip-synching issues. Shooting with the iphone was a really liberating experience, since I knew at the get go that visual fidelity wasn't paramount, I was able to let go and just experiment with the angles and freedom of locations...I would've been stopped immediately if I tried to board a street car filming with my bulky XL-1 :(
"I know you have heard all the claims, people saying [they've made] the world's first iPhone film. The truth is, this is the world's first iPhone film." - Tony Myers, smartmoviemaking.com
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Frame Grabs
Soundtrack
Happenstance packs a lot of great tunes into its nine minute running time. Where else will you hear a short film that incorporates Belle & Sebastian, The Beatles, Neil Young and Gene Autry!
Adapted ViewPoint Script
Read my adaptation of the first ViewPoint script. Notice at the end of the script I originally toyed with the idea of Anthony speaking the end credits out on camera… Luckily for everyone I dropped that idea (although we did shoot it)!
Raw Footage (1:23)
Happenstance is quite possibly the first narrative short ever to be filmed with an iPhone (3G). In order to capture full motion video on that version of the iPhone it first had to be "jailbroken." The Cycorder App was used to record the video and the NetaTalk app was used to connect the phone to a computer in order to access the root directory of the phone so that I could transfer the footage. Below is some raw footage of Happenstance in all of its 384x288 glory, the actual size of the original source footage. Enjoy!