In December I shot a webseries called ‘Butt Dial’, directed by Annie Duckworth. It was a particularly interesting shoot because we decided to shoot the whole thing on a phone – a Samsung Galaxy Note S9, using the Filmic Pro app. It was also an interesting shoot because it was shot entirely in toilets!

Shooting with phones carries its own set of advantages and challenges. It worked because the story demanded to be shot on a phone, as it is supposed to resemble a facetime call between two friends. Using a phone also reduces the space you take up, a big advantage in bathroom locations! I don’t think the project would have worked on any other camera.

There were also some challenges. I shot in a log profile and at the highest settings available, but having never edited/graded phone footage before (besides the test!), it’s difficult to predict how it will look once it’s been onlined. I also found that the frame rate tended to drift a little bit and not be a 100% accurate 25fps.

Another fun aspect of the shoot was our small female crew. It was a female driven concept, so it made sense to make it a 100% female crew. It can be done!

Butt Dial will be on TVNZ On Demand in April.

BTS photos kindly provided by Zihan Chang.

~ Ainsley Calderwood, NZCS committee member