Apple presents Big Man, a short film shot on iPhone 16 Pro from director Aneil Karia, starring Stormzy
Apple presents Big Man, a short film shot on iPhone 16 Pro from director Aneil Karia, starring Stormzy
Apple presents Big Man, a new short film shot on iPhone 16 Pro, produced in association with Somesuch and #Merky Films, directed by Academy Award-winning director Aneil Karia, and starring UK music legend Michael “Stormzy” Omari.
Big Man tells the story of Tenzman, a world-weary musician, and two bright, industrious kids who come into his life by chance. Soon, the trio find themselves on a journey — one that will reinvigorate a sense of warmth, spontaneity, and optimism in the faded star, before revealing a better way forward for them all.
“I’ve never shot an entire piece of narrative filmmaking on an Apple iPhone before, and it’s been a really invigorating process,” said Karia. “Apple iPhone is much smaller than the traditional cameras used for television, film, or music videos, and the lightness and flexibility that comes with that is boundless in a sense. I like trying to strive for an intimacy with characters, and sometimes a big camera is not particularly conducive for that.”
“With Apple iPhone, you now have this amazing camera in your pocket,” said director of photography Stuart Bentley. “If you’re hungry and passionate about cinema, there’s no reason you can’t make an amazing film. You can use Cinematic mode for shallow depth of field, and it automatically pulls focus to follow the action. It’s got an incredible dynamic range and can handle low light, and shooting with Apple ProRes Log gives you even more options in post.”
Big Man utilises many of the latest camera features on the iPhone 16 Pro to capture the true beauty of everyday life. Slow-motion scenes were captured at 4K 120 fps, adding a dynamic quality to a trampoline sequence at the pier. Cinematic mode added a beautiful blurred background and foreground effect to a scene where the boys see the sea for the first time. Low-light capabilities enabled the team to shoot multiple scenes outside at night, in dimly lit arcades, and dark music studios.
Big Man premieres today on Apple’s YouTube channel at 8 p.m. BST.
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Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: joanne@theappwhisperer.com
