Shot on iPhone productions are something I look forward to watching. They can be done so well, and Apple usually hires well-known directors and filmmakers to produce them. With this new short film, it isn’t any different—and Apple CEO Tim Cook even gave it a shout-out.
This specific one Cook tweeted about is a short film made by David Gelb. You might be familiar with Gelb’s work if you’ve seen Chef’s Table and Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Netflix. Watching Apple’s short film that he made, it actually seems like you’re watching an episode of Chef’s Table—with the mouth-watering food cinematography and the number of details.
The short film, Poached, tells the story of two competing chicken rice hawker stalls in Singapore’s Maxwell Food Centre. According to Cook, the film “captures the nuances of Singaporean street food culture and the simple beauty of Hainanese”—and it’s entirely shot on the iPhone 13 Pro.
“Big ambitions clash in tiny kitchens, all in the name of Singapore’s beloved hawker dish—chicken rice. Apple presents a documentary about hawker pride and conviction, set against the backdrop of the famous Maxwell Food Centre,” writes Apple.
Watching the “behind-the-scenes” video, Gelb explains how he shot the short film documentary using the iPhone. He says that he could use Cinematic mode which can help automatically change focus from one subject to the next.
Gelb also mentions using Macro mode to “get extremely close to the food” that he’s shooting. Additionally, he mentions using the Apple Watch as a viewfinder for the iPhone when shooting in really tight spaces.
Gelb has done many productions like this before through his previous works, just not with the iPhone 13 Pro. But it’s really cool that something like the humble chicken rice can be the subject of an exciting “Shot on iPhone” food documentary.
Last year, Apple released an incredible short film shot on the iPhone 12 Pro Max. It retells audiences about the legend of the Nian monster for Chinese New Year, and it was helmed by director Lulu Wang behind the Golden Globe-nominated film The Farewell. Apple has also produced other pretty good short films, like the popular Underdogs series.
