[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Sean, what came first, the decision to make the movie Tangerine or the decision to shoot on an iPhone?
Sean Baker, Filmmaker: The decision to make Tangerine came long before the decision to shoot on the iPhone.
Shooting on the iPhone was something that we eventually got to because when we started budgeting the film and looking at how we’re going to make this on the limited budget that we had, that option eventually arose. So I say the idea of Tangerine came long before.
Film Courage: And also to the beauty of the iPhone in being less conspicuous than using this [larger camera].
Sean: Right. I wish that I could say that I was going about this intentionally and I was going to embrace all the benefits that the iPhone would be giving us, but quite honestly a lot of those benefits were revealed to us while we were shooting and we just took advantage of them and then we made the most of what we had but it really started from a place of a budgetary constraint.
Film Courage: Did anyone try to talk you out of shooting on an iPhone?
Sean: Oh, most definitely. We had many people when I mentioned it for the first time to some of my producers, all the eyebrows were being raised.
I was trying to talk myself out of it to tell you the truth. Once I convinced myself, then I had to convince the rest of the crew but we did it by doing tests. We shot a lot of tests. At one point Technicolor was nice enough to allow us to bring some footage over there and blow it up on the big screen to present it to our financiers and our producers and just know that this thing would hold resolution, look presentable on the big screen.
Film Courage: And forgive me, when I came over today, I was thinking that this was one of the first few films to be shot on an iPhone (a feature film) but apparently it’s not and…(Watch the video interview on YouTube Here).
About:
Sean Baker is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is an award-winning writer/director/producer known for Take Out (2004), Prince of Broadway (2008), Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), and The Florida Project (2017). Sean’s latest feature, Red Rocket, premiered at Cannes on July 14, 2021. Red Rocket was acquired by A24 for theatrical and home entertainment release.
Baker is also the co-creator of the long-running comedy show Greg the Bunny (2005) which had incarnations on IFC TV, FOX and MTV Warren the Ape (2010).
Sean Baker made history by winning four Oscars for his film “Anora” at the 97th Academy Awards winning for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. This makes Sean the only person to win four individual Oscars for the same film in a single ceremony.
Advertisement – contains affiliate links
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)
New book from Film Courage – Now on Payhip!
Camera we use for interviews – https://buff.ly/3rWqrra
Sound we use for interviews – https://amzn.to/2tbFlM9
Other books on Amazon that Film Courage recommends – https://buff.ly/3o0oE5o
