A Story Told Through A Smartphone Camera Makes An Impact with Alexandra Guillossou

Before we all had access to an exceptional camera built right into our smartphones, we could not share stories like we do today. Our Community Stories program for mobile film was created to fill that need. Episode 63 of the SBP Podcast: The Voice of Mobile Film™ shares the story of Alexandra Guillossou, the Second Prize winner of IMFF 2019.

People from all walks of life, people who are not professional videographers or filmmakers, or even those who are, simply did not have access to their cameras when the opportunity arises to capture our stories. Community Stories is about sharing stories through filmmaking using smartphone cameras as a participating member of a community or culture.

Alexandra Guillossou was on vacation spending time with her family. Her brother has Multiple Sclerosis and as a member of the family, Alexandra began to record her family out by the lake. As she did so, she began to think about focusing on her brother and capturing her brother who is dealing with MS. Later, as she watched her footage, she decided to make documentary to share her family’s story.

When she submitted the film to the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego it was a film with a good story that we decided to select and screen in the festival. So I contacted Alexandra and notified her about how her film qualified as a Community Story and offered her the opportunity to present her film as such, in San Diego.

Alexandra Guillossou won Second Prize at the film festival and also won an Honorary Award from a selection of judges made up by winners of the Global Mobile Film Awards™, Matteo Tibiletti who won Best Experimental with “Yes, No” and Brian Hennings who won Best Cinematography with “Focus.” The films participating in the GMFA Honorary Award contest were only short films from attending filmmakers participating during the film festival in San Diego.

We asked Alexandra to share the experience of going back to visit with her family and telling her brother his story won.

During this episode, we discuss a topic I hope our listeners find informative and motivating. We address the power of how our films should be focused on storytelling because it can bring people together. We find ourselves spending most of our time connecting with technology and stories help us feel human emotions and I believe stories help us connect to our humanity.

We also discuss the trend in mobile filmmaking where people are sharing formulas and processes for making films with smartphones at the risk of destroying the opportunity that mobile filmmaking brings to storytellers without filmmaking experience to realize their dream. The democratization of mobile filmmaking is worthy of preserving and it has many different genres, and creates new genres too.

Alexandra inspires us. All of us. Alexandra made a film with her phone without filmmaking experience and her film touches people in ways that it has been selected in different film festivals and has already won awards. Most of us create things and we do not realize the potential of our creations. Some of us don’t even believe something we create can have an impact in some way or win awards. But after listening to her story, I hope you are inspired to go for it. You will never know your potential until you complete it and put it out there. If you like what you made, don’t hold back.

SBP Podcast: The Voice of Mobile Film™ is for everyone who ever wanted to or is curious about making movies and videos using smartphones.

International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego is open for submissions right now for feature length films and short films. If you shot your film with a smartphone, submit your film to our film festival, and if you can, make a point of attending in beautiful San Diego.

Watch the trailer for “The Deepest Cut”: https://youtu.be/cm-kLe74om4

Follow Alexandra and her film online:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deepestcutdoc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/onemousecreativ

Our Links:

Submit a short or feature length mobile film to IMFF 2020: https://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com/mff/rules

Subscribe, support and listen to bonus episodes and more on Patreon: http://patreon.com/sbppodcast

SBP Podcast Blog: http://sbppodcast.wordpress.com

SBP Podcast Website: http://sbppodcast.studio

iTunes/Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sbp-podcast/id1296673665

International Mobile Film Festival Website: http://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/sbppodcast

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sbppodcast

MFTV (Mobile Film Network Distribution Channel): http://MobileChannel.tv

Hashtag: MobilizeStories Mobile Film Community Website: http://mobilizestories.com

Susy Botello on Twitter: http://twitter.com/susybotello

SBP Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ISEF0SZOLyRpw20loXzlo#upsell

Smartphone Filmmaking Publication on Medium: https://medium.com/smartphonefilmmaking

Are you starting a Podcast? Create a new podcast or network and use the code sbppodcast to apply a 25% discount and save: https://pcast.link/sbppodcast/

© Copyright 2019 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

The Camera Details Of Feature Filmmaking With iPhones with Ryan O’Rourke

Episode 62

You have heard of it as more and more filmmakers talk about making movies with smartphones. There are countless short films being made every day but there are not enough good features shot with smartphones and that reality is coming to a close soon as more films like, “Blue Moon” are emerging.

Director of Photography Ryan O’Rourke is the person behind the iPhone 7 camera who shot, “Blue Moon,” the feature length film in a very short period of time. Our guest for Episode 62 of the SBP Podcast shares a behind-the-scenes look with our listeners. Ryan is in Nelson, New Zealand, which is about 30 miles from where the film was shot.

Ryan O’Rourke and I had a great discussion about his part in the filmmaking process. Ryan is from Nelson, New Zealand and he and director, Stef Harris have worked together before. After all, they both worked on the police force together. He shared many of the people involved in the film had a similar background. But hey, let’s stick to the story behind the other story: The feature film shot with iPhone that is going viral around the world.

Episode 62 of the SBP Podcast is a wonderfully informational episode from a filmmaker who shot a cinematic Hollywood style film using an iPhone in a single location with a small crew of about 8 people and two reputable actors, Jed Brophy and Mark Hadlow best known for “The Hobbit.”

Ryan shares the different settings he used to film with the iPhone from the native camera and the FilmicPro app. He also went on to share some in-depth details about the settings and why they were set. The settings were very helpful to Judd Resnick who edited the footage into a complete cinematic film.

Ryan also shares why the anamorphic lens from Moondog Labs was instrumental in giving the footage it’s cinematic aesthetics.

We go into many details about the process to make this film work and if you watch the trailer, below, you will realize that the movie’s visual and audio quality is truly cinematic. All the elements of any other film we are used to seeing in many films in theaters or streaming services online…they are there. Are you inspired?

“It’s never been easier or more accessible, I suppose, to make a feature than it has now. If you’ve got a good story and you want to tell it then…the technology’s never been more enriched.” Ryan O’Rourke.

If you are a filmmaker making short films and want to make a feature film, then this is one way to do it with a much lower budget. And not only is it about the budget…Ryan and I share the opportunities available to feature mobile filmmakers due to a demand in the industry.

SBP Podcast: The Voice of Mobile Film™ is for everyone who ever wanted to or is curious about making movies and videos using smartphones.

Watch the trailer for Blue Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJV_vtIg-BM

Film Credits: Rueben: Doug Brooks, Gina: Liz Mullane, Security Guard: Nathan Green, Police Officer: Mathew Crawford, Police Officer: Nicole Gardiner, Newsagent: Kyle Abbott, Police Officer: Jeshurun Scheib, Police Sergeant: Robert Ballantyne, Veronica Jones: Alison Lenton, Wahoe Chan: Lai Zhouwen, Gilly: Doug Brooks, Motorist: Simon Paynter, Geoffrey the cat. Directed by Stefen Harris Written by Stefen Harris Director of Photography Ryan O’Rourke Editor Judd Resnick Sound Design Chris Winter Composer Tane Upjohn Beatson Sound Ben Dunker and Janja Heathfield Production companies Dark Horse Films & Kahu Media Producers Stefen Harris and Pegeen O’Rourke Executive Producer Tim Riley and Rich Vizor

Follow Ryan O’Rourke:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kahumedia/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryanorourke_dop and https://twitter.com/KahuMedia

Our Links:

Subscribe, support and listen to bonus episodes and more on Patreon: http://patreon.com/sbppodcast

SBP Podcast Blog: http://sbppodcast.wordpress.com

SBP Podcast Website: http://sbppodcast.studio

iTunes/Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sbp-podcast/id1296673665

International Mobile Film Festival Website: http://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/sbppodcast

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sbppodcast

Hashtag: MobilizeStories Mobile Film Community Website: http://mobilizestories.com

Susy Botello on Twitter: http://twitter.com/susybotello

SBP Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ISEF0SZOLyRpw20loXzlo#upsell

Smartphone Filmmaking Publication on Medium: https://medium.com/smartphonefilmmaking

Are you starting a Podcast? Create a new podcast or network and use the code sbppodcast to apply a 25% discount and save: https://pcast.link/sbppodcast/

© Copyright 2019 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

Australian Film First Screening Wins First Full Feature Mobile Film Award in San Diego with Ross Perkins

Episode 61 Would you like to take a true story, perhaps something sensational in the news that happened in another country, and re-tell that story as a film? Our guest for the SBP Podcast Episode 61 did just that.

Ross Perkins is an actor turned filmmaker. He wrote a screenplay based on a true story. The film was a feature film. He then shot it with his iPhone. He filmed it in his parents house, as the principal location, and then, after spending about a year editing it himself—he submitted “Mad House” to the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego, where he and his producer, Kimberly Hart attended. He flew back home to Australia with a trophy and the "Best Feature Film" award.

The film had never been screened before, anywhere. Imagine that. His first screening wins and he was present to accept the award. Are you inspired yet?

Ross Perkins studied acting in theater and mentioned how lucky he was to have encountered good teachers who taught him, not only acting, but writing and directing. Because in Australia, the opportunities for filmmakers are limited, according to Ross, he feels the mobile phone allows anyone to make films.

He emphasizes how helpful Kim was to him during his production because she designed the main set, the house. Which happened to be the house Ross grew up in as the youngest of six children. He recalled a moment before the first scene they filmed on the first day of production. The actors began to arrive on set. As a director, he was a bit nervous. So he asked Kim, how he could get the actors to do what he wanted them to do in the scene. Her response was, “You just have to trust them.” Ross said, that simple statement felt like a a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. It worked, and it still works.

Ross says he is in the “rejection business,” as a filmmaker. He cannot let it get to him, “the numbers game.” He was grateful that his film was accepted to IMFF 2019 and the film festival in San Diego was the premier screening. Receiving the Best Feature Film award was a very good moment for him above the film festival experience of having a film accepted into a film festival.

Ross had not watched the film in about six months and had never seen it in front of an audience. He recalls the experience of sitting in the back of the room as his film screened during the festival. He could see the reactions of the audience as it played. Mad House is a harsh film to watch. Partly because it is so realistically performed.

The story is about a home invasion with “junkies” holding a family hostage. As he watched the audience wince during the right moments was an exceptional experience for him. And that is an experience most filmmakers want to have after completing their film. Ross shares how they pulled off some harsh scenes for the right effect.

SBP Podcast: The Voice of Mobile Film™ is for everyone who ever wanted to or is curious about making movies and videos using smartphones.

Watch the trailer for Mad House: https://youtu.be/CGVUUlDqftY

Watch the Red Carpet Extravaganza! during IMFF 2019 with Ross Perkins and Kimberley Hart: https://youtu.be/HRDrbSkqXwI

Listen to Episode 45 with Ross Perkins for in-depth details about the film “Mad House” with Ross Perkins: https://sbppodcast.podiant.co/e/36e60863058b1a/

Follow Ross Perkins on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rossperkins28/

Our Links:

Subscribe, support and listen to bonus episodes and more on Patreon: http://patreon.com/sbppodcast

SBP Podcast Blog: http://sbppodcast.wordpress.com

SBP Podcast Website: http://sbppodcast.studio

iTunes/Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sbp-podcast/id1296673665

International Mobile Film Festival Website: http://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/sbppodcast

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sbppodcast

Hashtag: MobilizeStories Mobile Film Community Website: http://mobilizestories.com

Susy Botello on Twitter: http://twitter.com/susybotello

SBP Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ISEF0SZOLyRpw20loXzlo#upsell

Smartphone Filmmaking Publication on Medium: https://medium.com/smartphonefilmmaking

Are you starting a Podcast? Create a new podcast or network and use the code sbppodcast to apply a 25% discount and save: https://pcast.link/sbppodcast/

© Copyright 2019 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

Tedious Post Effects Of A Smartphone Winning Film with Blake Worrell

Episode 60 His film won First Place during the International Mobile Film Festival in San Diego 2019. All the judges on the panel gave our guest, Blake Worrell the highest rating. Episode 60 of the SBP Podcast Mobile Filmmaking is a discussion about the work involved in post production, the importance of audio, and some of the challenges he experienced during production as he shot the film with his iPhone 6S.

Blake’s film was originally a six minute film that he shortened to five minutes to qualify for the film festival’s short film competition. Blake is an artist. He brings his experience in music and acting to his film and spent a lot of time in post production working with several software applications to elevate the quality of the film in both audio and video. The story came together during post production for Blake in his film, Upend. Blake and his wife, Arly Jover, acted in the film and gave a star performance.

Upend is an emotional sci-fi story with some special effects. Blake shares a lot of details with techniques and in-depth advice on the making of his winning mobile short film. His film also won the 2018 Global Mobile Film Awards™ for Best Visual Effects.

Below is the six minute version of his film along with the five minute version which won IMFF.

SBP Podcast: The Voice of Mobile Film™ is for everyone who ever wanted to or is curious about making movies and videos using smartphones.

Blake’s Original film version of Upend (Six Minutes): https://vimeo.com/283887857

Upend: First Prize Winner IMFF 2019 in San Diego: https://youtu.be/9HFOZlLlLGM

Blake’s Website: https://www.blakeworrell.com

Follow Blake Worrell on social media, below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blakeworrell/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BlakeWorrell/

Song featured in this episode Bumperz from The Beast Within Album by Blake Worrell Released April 5, 2013 https://blakeworrell.bandcamp.com/track/bumperz

Our Links:

Subscribe, support and listen to bonus episodes and more on Patreon: http://patreon.com/sbppodcast

SBP Podcast Blog: http://sbppodcast.wordpress.com

SBP Podcast Website: http://sbppodcast.studio

iTunes/Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sbp-podcast/id1296673665

International Mobile Film Festival Website: http://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/sbppodcast

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sbppodcast

Hashtag: MobilizeStories Mobile Film Community Website: http://mobilizestories.com

Susy Botello on Twitter: http://twitter.com/susybotello

SBP Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ISEF0SZOLyRpw20loXzlo#upsell

Smartphone Filmmaking Publication on Medium: https://medium.com/smartphonefilmmaking

Are you starting a Podcast? Create a new podcast or network and use the code sbppodcast to apply a 25% discount and save: https://pcast.link/sbppodcast/

© Copyright 2019 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.

The Acting Performance Of A Feature Smartphone Film with Mark Hadlow

Episode 59 The smartphone camera is the window to your story. As your story unfolds on your screen you are watching your film as you record it. Acting in front of the iPhone camera was a lot like acting in theater on a stage. Blue Moon was shot in one location with a small crew. Mark Hadlow is the lead actor in the film, Horace Jones playing alongside Jed Brophy (Darren Cates) as co-lead. The 85-minute feature film is an incredible performance and a great story that begins in a gas station lit up like a spaceship in the dark night. Episode 59 of the SBP Podcast brings a deep conversation with actor Mark Hadlow.

In this episode we speak about the making of Blue Moon and Mark shares some behind-the-scenes stories, including his real-life daughter Olivia Hadlow who plays Lucille Jones as Horace Jones’ daughter. Mark also shares a story about when he and Jed worked in The Hobbit, cast as Dwarf brothers Dori and Nori. One important part of the message from Mark is how you need to surround yourself with the right people and build a family that supports you.

If you are thinking about making feature films with your smartphone you need to realize it’s not an easy task as a filmmaker. You need to take the focus of your story out of the technology and captivate your viewer closely by the performance. While the technology inspires anyone who has a smartphone to believe anyone can make a movie with a smartphone, it requires some skill in storytelling. But the story is king. And to deliver a good story, the performance has to stand out. Mark shares and emphasizes the work that actors need to put into their careers in order to deliver a good performance.

“You can have the best camera and the best person that believes that they can actually film it because they’re really good at what they do. And they can see the magic of their camera angle and they can see what’s going on to film it. You could have the worst sound recording equipment but yet the person who’s doing the sound recording knows exactly—they’ve got the confidence to put it in the right place at the right time. You’ve still a good sound track, you’ve still got a good picture that you filmed.” Mark Hadlow.

Mark Hadlow has been an actor for many years. His work is spread between Hollywood films and television to theatrical performances. It is no wonder after listening to the lead actor in Blue Moon why the film is doing so well. Not only does the film look and sound amazing, but the story absorbs its audience into a story through to the very end. That is the magic of making feature films with smartphones. You can make features with amazing landscape with cameras that cost almost as much as a house. You can carry your audience through mesmerizing footage in that sense and you can still deliver a good story. But with a smartphone camera, we are still limited by the size and capabilities of the lens. Take away all that footage and you may be left with a short film.

Instead, focus on a great story and a great performance. Having confidence in your actors to develop their characters on screen and bring your audience inside the story to experience it as if they were there, in the middle of it…that is one of the virtues of smartphone filmmaking.

“Mark Hadlow, ONZM, is one of New Zealand's best known actors. He has performed in countless theatre shows throughout New Zealand. Mark has made dozens of film appearances, several television series, commercials and radio voice-overs in the thousands. He has directed many plays throughout New Zealand, some independent productions and for the Court Theatre in Christchurch. Playing the dwarf Dori in The Hobbit Trilogy, was Mark's third Peter Jackson movie. Mark has been nominated for and won several awards,” Mark Hadlow “loves the one man show format and ‘MAMIL’ written by his best mate Gregory Cooper opened in 2014 and has since numbered 179 performances to over 40,000 people throughout NZ with a highly successful 2nd season in 2018 in Christchurch at the Isaac Theatre Royal.”

"Blue Moon" by Stef Harris of Dark Horse Films is a thriller. It was filmed in Motueka, New Zealand and held its world premiere in the NZIFF in 2018 in New Zealand. It is currently in film festivals and won the Gold Remi Award at the WorldFest Houston film festival 2019.

Special thanks to Richard Vizor, one of the Executive Producers of Blue Moon for connecting us to this wonderful team, or family, in New Zealand.

SBP Podcast: The Voice of Mobile Film™ is for everyone who ever wanted to or is curious about making movies and videos using smartphones.

Watch the trailer for Blue Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxmyCH8-ztk

Mark Hadlow on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0352921/

Mark Hadlow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealmarkhadlow/

Mark Hadlow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mark_markhadlow

Biography: https://www.nzonscreen.com/person/mark-hadlow/biography

Listen to Jed Brophy podcast episode 55: https://sbppodcast.podiant.co/e/373e0139b4fe44/

Listen to Stef Harris podcast episode 54: https://sbppodcast.podiant.co/e/37387c24b3e82c/

Our Links:

Subscribe, support and listen to bonus episodes and more on Patreon: http://patreon.com/sbppodcast

SBP Podcast Blog: http://sbppodcast.wordpress.com

SBP Podcast Website: http://sbppodcast.studio

iTunes/Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sbp-podcast/id1296673665

International Mobile Film Festival Website: http://internationalmobilefilmfestival.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/sbppodcast

Twitter: http://twitter.com/sbppodcast

Hashtag: MobilizeStories Mobile Film Community Website: http://mobilizestories.com

Susy Botello on Twitter: http://twitter.com/susybotello

SBP Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ISEF0SZOLyRpw20loXzlo#upsell

Smartphone Filmmaking Publication on Medium: https://medium.com/smartphonefilmmaking

Are you starting a Podcast? Create a new podcast or network and use the code sbppodcast to apply a 25% discount and save: https://pcast.link/sbppodcast/

© Copyright 2019 S. Botello Productions™. All rights reserved.