To prove that the much-maligned category of vertical video could be cinematic, we tapped a team of acclaimed filmmakers to craft a short film that was specifically written and designed for the vertical screen. These filmmakers included the youngest Oscar-winning director in history Damien Chazelle, Oscar-winning cinematographer Linus Sandgren, and Grammy-winning composer Lorne Balfe. The resulting 9 minute film, “The Stunt Double,” which was shot entirely on iPhone, takes viewers on a romp through cinematic history, reimagining what classic cinema can look like if made for the vertical format.
But it wasn't enough just to raise the bar for mobile filmmaking. A key component of Vertical Cinema was education. We created a behind-the-scenes film that pulled back the curtain on the creative process, leaving filmmakers and iPhone users alike with actionable tips for improving their vertical video in their everyday lives. To demonstrate this, we used the film and its accompanying BTS as a teaching tool with a group of young filmmakers from Ghetto Film School to create Shot on iPhone Student Films – a series of four short, vertical films which we collaborated with these students to make, and launch on Apple's Instagram handle to an audience of 25 million.
Finally, we passed the baton to the Shot on iPhone community around the world in a community assignment, asking them to show us how cinematic vertical video can be.
In so doing, "Vertical Cinema Shot on iPhone" took that notoriously crappy video format, vertical video, and with the help of the iPhone’s best-in-category video features, transformed it into something people can be inspired by— something approaching real cinema. It proved that creativity and storytelling can take on any shape — and that with the camera in everyone's pocket, anyone has the power to flip cinema in its side.