High-Speed Cinematic Mastery: The Role of iPhone Technology in F1: The Movie
High-Speed Cinematic Mastery: The Role of iPhone Technology in F1: The Movie
In collaboration with director Joseph Kosinski and Director of Photography Claudio Miranda, ASC, Apple and Sony successfully captured the essence of Formula 1 racing in the film F1: The Movie, utilising the innovative VENICE 2 compact camera and a bespoke iPhone-based system. This partnership has established a new benchmark for high-speed cinematic capture.
When the team behind Top Gun: Maverick set out to explore the world of Formula 1, their primary goal was to immerse the audience in the experience of racing at 200 mph while ensuring the image quality remained suitable for IMAX presentation. This ambition prompted two years of collaborative camera engineering with Sony and Apple, resulting in systems capable of enduring the extreme heat, vibrations, and speeds of actual F1 cars, all while producing footage that integrates seamlessly with traditional cinematic visuals.
As a personal reflection, I must admit that I have often found watching Formula 1 races on television to be rather monotonous. The typical bird’s-eye perspective offered by broadcast cameras distances the viewer from the action, making the cars appear less rapid despite their actual speeds of 200 mph. Cinematographers will recognise that this detachment stems from observing the race from afar, lacking the immersive experience that a more engaging viewpoint could provide. While recent live cockpit streams have emerged, they remain infrequent and fail to enhance the overall viewing experience. The aerial vantage point, while beneficial for tracking race positions, diminishes the sensation of being part of the race itself.
Thus, I fully appreciate the filmmakers’ challenge: they needed to create an immersive experience that transcended previous television broadcasts to captivate audiences for a two-and-a-half-hour Formula 1 film.
The filmmakers behind F1: The Movie deserve commendation for their remarkable achievement. The directorial duo of Miranda and Kosinski successfully placed viewers in the driver’s seat of an F1 car, evoking sensations of excitement and anxiety akin to those experienced by actual drivers. Their innovative camera angles brought forth perspectives that were previously unattainable.
At the heart of the film’s primary photography lies the Sony VENICE 2, renowned for its dual-base ISO, expansive dynamic range, and full-frame capabilities. Miranda and Kosinski adeptly harnessed the VENICE 2’s versatility to navigate the intricate lighting conditions encountered in racing, from the blinding daylight on the track to the contrasting shadows within paddocks and garages. Having previously championed the original VENICE with the Rialto Extension Unit during Top Gun: Maverick, it is a natural progression for them to employ the VENICE 2 in this high-speed racing narrative, even if the environment is considerably closer to the ground.
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Joanne Carter
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
