FIlmMaker Magazine in Brazil published an interview about Romance in NYC. Check it out if you speak the language here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2y4Qekl6Xz9czV4bjd0am42VW95ako4OGRDMTZfZjViM19J/view?usp=sharing

Rough English Translation

A romantic short film entirely filmed with an iPhone6 has dadoo to speak at international

festivals. Romance in NYC, the American Director Tristan Pope, takes advantage of smartphone mobility

to reproduce the intimacy of a couple on the streets of New York in a production round in three days

and with a budget of just $ 7, 5mil (cercadeR $ 22mil), obtained by crowdfunding. The short film is shot

from the viewpoint of the boyfriend. Pope, 31 years, operates the camera as a narrator-character:

during a hug in bed or a walk in the Park, seeking to give the impression that the public sees the same as

him.

To capture such personal moments, the Director wanted to shoot was close, no grand

equipment and large team. “I chose the iPhone because it was the best way to tell the story. I felt like I

had finally found the media that I wanted to achieve that feeling of intimacy and candor, “he says. But

Pope also knew that, to go beyond the homemade video, needed to master the technique. “Even when

you shoot with the cell phone, is still needed to understand, some light. It’s not because you have a

camera you can make a movie, “he says.

Pope’s first experience with mobile filmmaking was Dancers of NYC, shot less than two minutes.

During filming, he was impressed with the quality of an image of the Sun captured by the camera of the

iPhone and decided to pursue a more ambitious project. In Romance in NYC, he accumulated the

functions of Director, editor, executive producer and director of photography. Featured seven more

people on the team, starting with the creative Assistant Natalie Deryn Johnson, who did a bit of

everything: helped with the script, held doors for Pope could pass while filming and, on occasion,

operated the camera so that the Director used both hands on stage.

Virag Gulyas commanded the casting, which was attended by more than 1,000 actresses. The

chosen was Rachel McOwen, who made a tip in a film in the Spider-man franchise and played Miley

Cyrus in a viral on the internet. The role of the girlfriend, her look was in charge of the costume designer

David Crowley and make up artists Paige Campbell and Missy Scarbrough, who had the Mission of

keeping the face of actress with natural appearance. “The iPhone shows the skin extremely clear, more

than the normal cameras,” explains the Director. Finally, Milan Maric helped in lighting and recorded

behind the scenes footage with a CanonEOS 7 d. Pope didn’t want the making of it filmed with a cell

phone that didn’t have the same aesthetic of short. “In addition, needed he used a telephoto lens to be

away from the action, filming without appearing in the frame,” explains.

EQUIPMENT

The backstage images were used in making the release on the internet and in videos made for sponsors:

companies Glidecam Blackwing and MoviePro application, who donated products and/or contribute to

the crowd-funding campaign. In general, the equipment used by Pope sought to give stability to the

filming. In scenes in which the characters walked or ran, the Director chose a Glidecam HD-1000

stabilizer. In more static, takes the Blackwing which allowed stall iPhone safely.

A malleable tripod Joby Gorilla Pod DSLR was operated curiously: Pope held only one of the

“legs” of the accessory and used the other two in own face, to position the iPhone a little above the

eyes. This allowed him to move his head while filming, which created “the boyfriend”. According to the

requirements of each scene, were used different brackets, stabilizers, tripods and monopods, plus a

portable battery charger Anker. To improve contrast, reduce glare and create other lighting effects, the

team resorted to a polarizing filter, a portable reflector Newer and a reflector of Amazon Led Basics.

“The iPhone can blow the light easily, and we needed to be prepared,” he justifies.

The application allowed MoviePro extend the functionality of the camera phone in questions

such as exposure, temperature décor and soul-capturing rate. Pope was attracted by the promise that, if

the product fails, the chances of losing the material would be less than 1%. Before shooting, he

contacted the developer and gave suggestions. “We work together to create and implement ideas that

are now available to the public,” he says. “The application has saved my skin on several occasions and

the result was amazing: helped me understand how the iPhone could shoot better and allowed me to

take it to the limit,” says

SOUND AND POST PRODUCTION

As Romance in NYC has no dialogue, the script just listed locations and the feelings and ideas which

should be transmitted in each scene. The improvisation was frequent and welcome. The absence of

dialogue also ruled out the need for equipment for audio capture. Post-production, which took between

two and three weeks, urban sound effects have been added (such as the sound of the subway) and a

soundtrack created especially for the movie by independent artists. All correction and audio editing was

done on computer with Adobe Suites (Adobe Premiere eAfterEffects), while the color correction was

made with Magic Bullets, Custom LUTS and Davinci Resolves. And the nearly 30 hours of material

resulted in a short 17 minutes and 44 seconds which will be distributed on the internet (probably in

iTunes) after ending his career at festivals. Romance in NYC has been displayed in New York, Madrid,

Zurich and Toronto, and yielded the Pope calls for talks in the Apple stores.

THE STORY DICTATES THE CAMERA

Excited as low cost and portability of filming with the cell phone, the Director has already made another

short with the iPhone, Snowday, you have three minutes long and captures the movements of a dancer

during a Blizzard. “It’s a format extremely liberating. I have a really awesome equipment, which allows

me to stabilize and create paintings that would cost me thousands of dollars in any other way, “he says.

This does not mean that Pope will never shoot with other cameras – in fact, he says to keep an eye on

the SonyAlpha 7S. “If my next movie be better on the lenses of a RED or BlackMagic, I’m going to use

them,” he says.

For him, the technology allows the filmmaker choose your camera according to the story you

want to tell, without bothering to follow the industry standard. “When I was younger, rented equipment

and accessories not because were using them, but so that people take me more seriously. With the

success of mobile filmmaking, is no longer the case. A story is a story, no matter if you see it in 1080 p or

4 k “says.

EXPERIENCES

It was during college theatre that Pope discovered his interest in direction. Without formal training in

filmmaking, it considers the work as the actor, dancer, photographer and theatrical director helps

behind the scenes. “I feel like everything is blended in “do it now”: drive. If one side I’m self-taught, on

the other I think my life, my experiences and what I’ve learned with tentative and mistake, or just

watching the many movies and plays, they helped me have the skills I have, “says.

It was also crucial to passage by the software and games company Blizzard Entertainment. For a

little more than four years, Pope directed, edited, and produced material for Warcraft and Diablo,

besides working in the episode Make Love, Not Warcraft SouthPark television show, which combined

animation and video games and was awarded the Emmy, the Oscar of American television. Pope says he

has left Blizzard to “work with people”. He claims that, as a Director, wants to focus more on the human

aspects and history than in technical aspects. “But you can’t do one without the other, so I’m grateful for

the technical prowess I learned,” he says.