There is a horror movie called ’28 Years Later’ that’s coming out on 20 June 2025. Horror fans will know it’s the third movie in the franchise. Danny Boyle directed the original ’28 Days Later’ in 2002.
In this latest movie, Boyle used a unique 20-camera iPhone rig for some shots, which he describes as ‘basically a poor man’s bullet time.’
Bullet time is a visual effect in filmmaking that creates the illusion of time slowing down or freezing while the camera moves around the scene at normal or accelerated speed. It’s designed to show action from multiple angles in extreme slow motion, giving viewers a dynamic, often impossible perspective of a moment.
The film was shot using a combination of iPhones, drones, and traditional cameras, including rigs that can hold up to 20 iPhones simultaneously.
Boyle says there is a particularly graphic and impactful shot in the film that uses the 20-camera rig, and he says it provides a fresh visual experience for audiences.
However, the fact that he said a 20-iPhone rig is a poor man’s version of something tells you just how expensive movie-making is. It’s reported that the iPhones in question here are 15 Pro Maxes.
However, this all shows us that we actually have the tools to make movies of our own. If shots taken by phones are making it into movies with million-dollar budgets, then we have no excuse.
28 Years Later is not even the first movie to include phone shots. There are some movies which were shot entirely on phones. Netflix’s High Flying Bird was shot on an iPhone 8 back in 2019. A full length movie shot on a phone whose camera is probably bested by the one on your phone’s today.
Most of these guys love their iPhones but we have seen other Android phones used in the same manner. We’ve even seen phones used to film music videos. So, go out there and make that movie, you don’t need that $50,000 camera.
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