Apple knocked Chan Wook Parkamong Korea’s most successful and critically acclaimed directors to make a film entirely shot on the latest iPhone.
Pak’s “life is only a dream” is the first project in Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” marketing campaign, which is entirely produced, filmed and edited in Korea. (Watch the Park movie below or at this link.)
The film combines martial arts with romance, dark comedy and pansors () – Korea’s traditional musical storytelling technique – to tell a surreal tale that includes both a wedding and a funeral.
In the 21-minute film, a gravedigger digs up an abandoned grave to steal the coffin for the burial of the White Marten, a warrior who died saving the village. While digging, he accidentally wakes up the ghost of an ancient swordsman. When this ghost tries to take back his coffin, he, in turn, awakens the recently deceased spirit of the White Marten: two ghosts who died young and now cross blades … or emotions? Or is it all just one long night’s sleep?
The Korean cast includes Yu He Jin (trumpet player), Kim Ok Vin (White Marten) and Pak Jeong Ming (swordsman).
“Life is just a dream” seems to begin as a horror film and then gradually manifest itself as a mixture of fantasy, martial arts, rum coma and musical. This is a story I have always wanted to tell, ”says Park in Fr. behind-the-scenes clip released along with the film. “When I was writing, no specific camera came to mind. Surprisingly, we can capture such a story in a movie with the iPhone. ”
The film was shot iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. The team used several features of Apple’s latest flagship phone models, including cinematic mode, macro video, night mode, ultra-wide camera, camcorder, optical image stabilization and video recording in ProRes.
Pak, whose roles include “Oldboy”, “Thirst”, “The Maid” and the upcoming HBO limited series “The Sympathizer”, has experience shooting on an iPhone. In 2011, he made the short film “Night Fishing” on the iPhone 4, which won the “Golden Bear” for a short film at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.
The film was made for Apple TBWA Media Arts Lab Seoul and sounds original music by Chan Yong Gu. “Life is only a dream” will appear in broadcast, digital, social and non-home media, as well as on apple.com, in the application Apple TV and Apple Music.
See Pak Chang Wook’s “Life is a Dream”: