Sony
The information that Danny Boyle’s new movie «28 Years Later» will be the first blockbuster to almost completely filmed on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, is no longer news — however, nowadays in IGN interview The director revealed the details of the work, showing exclusive footage from the filming.
«28 Years Later» — is a post-apocalyptic horror film and the sequel to «28 Days Later» (2002) and «28 Weeks Later» (2007), which depicted the consequences of the spread of the rage virus in the UK. The sequel began filming last summer using the iPhone 15 Pro Max as the main camera with additional equipment (specialized holders, lens attachments, etc., which was obviously technically assisted by Apple itself), but Boyle claims that the film still has a full 2.76:1 widescreen format, which is usually used for IMAX or Ultra Panavision 70 mm.
Interestingly, in some scenes, up to 8, 10, or even 20 iPhones were used simultaneously, mounted on a special rig, which provided the so-called «bullet time» — the same visual effect in movies and video games when the action slows down, and the camera continues to move around the object, giving the impression that the viewer sees the scene in super slow motion (the term first became widely known thanks to the movie «The Matrix», where the hero Neo dodges bullets in midair, which is the classic bullet time).
«Either way, it gives you a 180-degree view of the action, and during editing you can choose either a normal single-camera perspective or instantly move around reality, splitting the subject into parts, jumping forward or backward for emphasis. Since it’s a horror movie, we use it for the violence scenes to emphasize their impact,» Boyle explains.
The director says that this will give the audience a greater sense of reality, as they will be momentarily inside the scene rather than just watching a moving image:
«You feel like you’re in a room with Jodie Comer and her son, venting their rage at Aaron Taylor Johnson, like you’re on an abandoned train with a naked man with a split spine and head».
Boyle’s team was joined by Alex Garland, the screenwriter of the original film, as well as cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle. The latter won an Oscar in 2009 with Boyle for the hit film Slumdog Millionaire, and in 28 Days Later he also used the innovative and inexpensive Canon XL-1 — digital cameras that recorded data on MiniDV cassettes.
This was partly due to the need to shoot complex scenes depicting an abandoned central London in a very limited time frame, when setting up bulky traditional film cameras would have been too much effort. However, at last, this technique became an iconic element of the film, and the use of the iPhone for the sequel is a tribute to the franchise.
«I’ve never said this before, but there’s an incredible shot in the second half of the movie where we use a camera with 20 rigs, and you’ll know it when you see it… In a striking way, it takes you to a new world, rather than making you feel like you’ve seen it before».
It should be noted that this is not the first time the iPhone has been used for filmmaking: earlier, art house films such as «Tangerine» by Sean Baker (2015) and «Mad Men» by Steven Soderbergh (2018) were notable for this. However, the projects were low-budget and had limited distribution, while «28 Years Later» was produced with $75 million invested — and this is only a part of the funds allocated for the trilogy that will continue the franchise. The next two are being shot by Nia do Costa (although Boyle has said that No money for the third one yet and it all depends on the box office of its predecessors), and at least one of them should feature Cillian Murphy, who played the lead in the original «28 Days Later».
First trailer «28 years later», which was released last year in December, gathered 60 million views per day — in addition to the fact that it is a record for 2024 and the second result for horror films in general, the video was received by the main prize at the Golden Trailer Awards. Interestingly, the trailer caused some confusion among fans, who recognized one of the zombies as Cillian Murphy — although the character was later revealed to be a fictional one, played by British art dealer and fashion model Angus Neill.
The film «28 Years Later» takes place almost three decades after the rage virus broke out of a biological weapons lab and sent people into forced quarantine. One of these groups lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, securely protected causeway — and it is the family of Jamie, Ayla and Spike, whose peace is shattered when they leave their shelter and discover «the secrets, wonders and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but also the survivors».
The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Rafe Fines and Alfie Williams. «28 Years Later» will debut in theaters around the world on June 20 (probably a day earlier in Ukraine).