Here’s a super solid reference for the art of filmmaking. The acclaimed movie director, Steven Spielberg, filmed and directed his first music video, by using an Apple iPhone as the sole camera on set. The clip was filmed and edited as one long take (Oner). Explore it below.

The famous director didn’t use his favorite camera- the Panavision XL2, paired with Panavision anamorphic lenses. Nor he didn’t use a top-tier ARRI ALEXA 65 for the shoot. But he chose an Apple iPhone as the sole camera.

Oner, iPhone, and Steven Spielberg

6 months ago, not else than Steven Spielberg, has shot his first music video. The famous director didn’t use his favorite camera- the Panavision XL2, paired with Panavision anamorphic lenses. Nor he didn’t use a top-tier ARRI ALEXA 65 for the shoot. But he chose an Apple iPhone as the sole camera. The clip is called Cannibal and stars singer Marcus Mumford. “On Sunday 3rd July in a high school gym in New York, Steven Spielberg directed his first music video, in one shot, on his phone. Kate Capshaw was the almighty dolly grip” said Mumford. Oh, and the ‘dolly’ was a simple chair. As mentioned, the clip was shot as one single (beautiful but not perfect) take – defined as an Oner. Watch it below:

The master of long takes

Spielberg is a master of long takes. For tens of years, he has filmed many scenes in a single continuous shot. That is called an oner. The ‘Spielberg Oner’ captures one scene in one shot but with multiple setups. With Spielberg’s subtle precision, the viewer often doesn’t ever realize that the scene they’ve just watched was all captured in a single take; one that may have lasted as long as 2 minutes or more. Spielberg has established the foundations for the art of the single-take, which has been implemented numerous times, by top-notch DPs (Emmanuel Lubezki, Roger Deakins, and more). For  instance, explore this video which demonstrates eight of Spielberg’s longer examples:

Techniques used in Cannibal

Although there is only one BTS picture, we can clearly examine the setup used to shoot the music video, Cannibal. Spielberg was attached to a rolling chair while holding an iPhone. We don’t know the model of the iPhone, but we can guess it’s the iPhone 13 Pro as the quality is decent. We’d guess that it was shot on Cinematic Mode and ProRes for the codec. Moreover, Spielberg likes to shoot in wide angles (21mm most of the time), thus, the iPhone was perfect for the shoot. As said, it’s an Oner and shot as an Oner (without ‘smart cuts’ within the edit). The technique for the shot was pretty simple. By looking at the BTS picture and the final clip, every junior filmmaker can do that kind of a long-take, and this is the reason why this music video is so inspiring. The simplicity is what makes it brilliant. Now – get your smartphone and go shoot a great Oner.