Cell phones have certainly come a long way in the past couple of decades. The clunky device with actual buttons, antennas, and minutes that aren’t free until after 9 p.m. have become full-fledged computers and sharp cameras that are the size of our hands. In fact, iPhones have become a method for several filmmakers to create their works on instead of using more expensive equipment. Apple’s series of “Shot on iPhone” ads have featured some really cool clips and this new clip isn’t any different. John Wick and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch recently teamed up with the tech giant to create a 90-second snowball fight and it’s pretty epic.
The clip, aptly titled Snowbrawl, features a girl who teams up with her friends against her brother and his friends. Snowbrawl is only a bit longer than your average commercial, but it packs in all the punches of a full-action sequence. The ad begins with the girl’s team team on the losing end of the snowfall fight before she comes up with a master plan to defeat the enemy.
There are some slow-motion moments and super cool shots that don’t look like they could have been created with an ordinary cell phone. But anything is possible, especially when you have a skilled filmmaker behind the camera with a few tools and tricks up their sleeve. It will make you hype about creating your own mini movies.
Don’t be surprised if your video doesn’t have exactly the same quality as Snowbrawl. Apple released a behind-the-scenes video about Snowbrawl to show fans how it all came together. The video, which is longer than the actual ad, reveals that Leitch and his crew had some additional equipment to enhance the process.
Snowbrawl was definitely filmed with an iPhone 11 but most people don’t have all of the extra goodies to make it come together. Leitch himself talked about the choreography telling a story and how the kids worked with real stunt performers to learn how to execute things properly. He also spoke about how the phone was able to do things that traditional cameras cannot do.
“We were getting creative with the flexibility of the camera—how light they are and how mobile they are. Things that are hard to simulate with big film cameras, we were able to make this classic Kung Fu composition very quickly and easily. It was fun. I could tell from the first show where we had the backlight going through the smoke and she’s running at 4K 60 frames per second and it was really beautiful and epic and again we were embracing the strengths of the camera.”
The director hopes that Snowbrawl will inspire filmmakers to use their device and the resources they have to create epic stories. Or, at the very least, it could lead to a fun video shoot with you and your pals on a snow day or during a summer water balloon fight. Either way, Snowbrawl is an incredibly fun clip that will make you want to check it out over and over again.
Header Image: Annie Australia/YouTube
