Yet another impressive marketing maneuver, and this time by Samsung, that has recruited the acclaimed director, Ridley Scott, to shoot an action film using only the smartphone flagship, Galaxy S23 Ultra. What does Ridley Scott think about the S23 Ultra? Read below and watch the first film shot on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Using acclaimed directors for marketing smartphones
This is not the first time that a cellular company utilizes famous directors and cinematographers to market its smartphones. As you remember, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki has shot a short film on the iPhone 13 Pro, and Greig Fraser, ACS, ASC, together with award-winning director Kathryn Ann Bigelow, have used the iPhone 13 Pro to shoot short films. Now it’s Samsung’s turn, calling for duty the top-notch action director Ridley Scott, with his cinematographer Flavio Labiano, to produce an action short film shot entirely on Samsung’s flagship, the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Ridley Scott and the S23 Ultra
It’s no secret the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a hell of specs. Armed with the mighty ISOCELL 200Mp professor, impressive HDR capabilities, and 8K resolution, transforms this smartphone into a powerful video camera in your pocket. However, Samsung has decided to copy-paste Apple’s strategy, and recruited one of the most famous action directors in the world, to try this phone in an actual production. Indeed, Ridley Scott utilized the S23 Ultra on various complex shots, by rigging it out to dedicated gimbals, with the help of cinematographer Flavio Fabiano (have a look at the BTS images spread across this article). “At first, I feared it wouldn’t give me the range of options I normally have available when working,” said Scott, and added: “But once I became accustomed to its settings, I was pleasantly surprised by how versatile it was. Once I became more familiar with the S23 I was impressed with its capabilities. The quality of the image and the dynamic range of the sensor” stated Fabiano.
At first, I feared it wouldn’t give me the range of options I normally have available when working. But once I became accustomed to its settings, I was pleasantly surprised by how versatile it was.
Director Ridley Scott
Using the S23 Ultra to shoot a horror movie
That’s what director Na Hong-jin had to say after he shot a horror movie entirely on the Galaxy S23 Ultra: “Filming a movie with a smartphone can seem simple at first. But we need to ask ourselves, how does this change our production process? To deliver a movie quality, what do we need to consider? The biggest challenge was that most of the filming took place in an extremely dark environment. However, with HDR, we were able to capture details in the dark which was extremely helpful, and similar to how we approach such scenes with a traditional camera. This is a game-changer that makes things really interesting. You can have fun with this. When filming with a smartphone, one of the big considerations is to avoid moving or panning the camera as much as possible. But the S23 Ultra allowed natural motion wishing the scene”.
A new era of mobile filmmaking?
“When I started working as a cinematographer the cameras were mechanical and you had to do all the thinking, and I think that the X will allow filmmakers all around the world to make films that otherwise are impossible because you don’t have the means or because the cameras are too heavy or too complicated. Shooting with X allows me to be quite free and spontaneous – a little bit like a jazz musician finding the best images”. “The Y is a professional filmmaking tool”. These lines were quoted by Emmanuel Lubezkim, Greig Fraser, and Kathryn Ann Bigelow. The X is iPhone 12 Pro, and Y is iPhone 13 Pro. And now Samsung brought the great Scott to convince you that the S23 Ultra is a professional filmmaking tool. Does it mean we are seeing a new era being emerged of mobile filmmaking? Or is it just a marketing gimmick? Something to think about. Anyway, here’s the final film shot by Scott on the S23 Ultra:
Post Game Questions
- What do you think about the quality of the final film directed by Ridley Scott?
- Is it practical to use a smartphone in professional production?
- Can ‘Mobile-Filmmaking’ be defined as a ‘new era of filmmaking’?
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As a professional designer, I’m glad that Samsung considered giving us (Powerful zooming) what other huge brands like iPhone or google pixel have never thought of. With the highest number of pixels, you might not need camera lenses, you get sharp & quality images which is very important
Also, the videos & photos are already color graded. you just take the shots & share (just as they are marketing). If there’s need to edit, you will only do simple touch-ups.
It was cool and all and it did look great, but more importantly how expensive was the phone and gimbal mount used, 2, 3x the price of the phone probably? Was it custom made, or is there a company will all could buy this from?