HomeDanny Boyle's '28 Years Later' Shoots on 20-Camera iPhone Rig
The upcoming horror threequel 28 Years Later isn't the first Hollywood film to utilize an iPhone, but it might be the first shot with 20 of them. Director Danny Boyle mounted that many phones onto a specialized rig for select scenes in the movie, which hits theaters on June 20th.
For Boyle, using iPhones is more than a mere gimmick. Returning to helm the franchise after directing the 2002 original 28 Days Later—which was famously shot on a digital video camcorder as a nod to the home video aesthetic of that era—he and returning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle saw the phone as the modern equivalent. They took that as an "influence" for choosing to shoot portions of the sequel on the device.
Initial reports last year suggested Boyle filmed 28 Years Later solely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, according to IGN, the production employs a mix of traditional cameras, drones, and iPhones. This includes three custom rigs designed to hold eight, 10, or 20 iPhones simultaneously.
"There is an incredible shot in the second half [of the film] where we use the 20-rig camera, and you’ll know it when you see it," Boyle told IGN. "It’s quite graphic but it’s a wonderful shot that uses that technique, and in a startling way that kind of kicks you into a new world rather than thinking you’ve seen it before."
This isn’t how I shoot my home movies, I’m not gonna lie. Image: SonyBoyle describes the 20-phone rig as "basically a poor man’s bullet time," explaining it enabled the crew to capture the film's more violent sequences in innovative ways. "It gives you 180 degrees of vision of an action, and in the editing you can select any choice from it, either a conventional one-camera perspective or make your way instantly around reality, time-slicing the subject, jumping forward or backward for emphasis."
This isn't the film's only unconventional cinematographic choice. It was also shot in an extremely wide 2.76:1 aspect ratio, equivalent to 70mm film. The intention, Boyle says, is to keep audiences guessing about where the infected might appear: "If you’re on a widescreen format, they could be anywhere… you have to keep scanning, looking around for them."
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The upcoming horror threequel 28 Years Later isn't the first Hollywood film to utilize an iPhone, but it might be the first shot with 20 of them. Director Danny Boyle mounted that many phones onto a specialized rig for select scenes in the movie, which hits theaters on June 20th.
For Boyle, using iPhones is more than a mere gimmick. Returning to helm the franchise after directing the 2002 original 28 Days Later—which was famously shot on a digital video camcorder as a nod to the home video aesthetic of that era—he and returning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle saw the phone as the modern equivalent. They took that as an "influence" for choosing to shoot portions of the sequel on the device.
Initial reports last year suggested Boyle filmed 28 Years Later solely on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, according to IGN, the production employs a mix of traditional cameras, drones, and iPhones. This includes three custom rigs designed to hold eight, 10, or 20 iPhones simultaneously.
"There is an incredible shot in the second half [of the film] where we use the 20-rig camera, and you’ll know it when you see it," Boyle told IGN. "It’s quite graphic but it’s a wonderful shot that uses that technique, and in a startling way that kind of kicks you into a new world rather than thinking you’ve seen it before."
Boyle describes the 20-phone rig as "basically a poor man’s bullet time," explaining it enabled the crew to capture the film's more violent sequences in innovative ways. "It gives you 180 degrees of vision of an action, and in the editing you can select any choice from it, either a conventional one-camera perspective or make your way instantly around reality, time-slicing the subject, jumping forward or backward for emphasis."
This isn't the film's only unconventional cinematographic choice. It was also shot in an extremely wide 2.76:1 aspect ratio, equivalent to 70mm film. The intention, Boyle says, is to keep audiences guessing about where the infected might appear: "If you’re on a widescreen format, they could be anywhere… you have to keep scanning, looking around for them."
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