Director Takashi Miike and TBWA\Media Arts Lab Tokyo release 19 minute Shot on iPhone film

March 7 2024, 2:25 pm | BY Kim Shaw | No Comments

For the latest Shot on iPhone film in Japan, Apple partners with highly renowned director, Takashi Miike, and TBWA\Media Arts Lab Tokyo to create a 19-minute, live-action adaptation of ‘Midnight,’ a 1986 manga series by the Godfather of Manga, Osamu Tezuka — shot entirely on iPhone 15 Pro.

 

‘Midnight’ is a thrilling, suspense drama about a taxi driver who encounters strange passengers while making his night rounds. In Apple’s latest film, the driver is pulled out of his way to help a female truck driver, Kaede, who is running from a hitman.

Primarily filmed in dark streets of Tokyo, “Midnight” illustrates the robust low-light and cinematic capabilities of iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. From capturing crisp details of the characters under the colorful city lights to the stabilization of the live-action fighting shots, iPhone 15 Pro has the best features for creating films right in the palm of your hand. The film combines live-action shots with CGI and pioneers the use of the LiDAR scanner on iPhone in film post-production, in order to create the 3D model base for the Taxi and its iconic fifth wheel.


“Midnight” premiers on YouTube on the 6th of March, and will be released on apple.com/jp, Abema TV, and Apple TV on the 7th of March. The full film and the behind-the-scenes will play in select taxis all around Tokyo after 10 PM until morning. The campaign will also be supported by broadcast, magazine, OOH, DOOH, digital and social.

Miike said: “Mr. Tezuka is something of a god among manga artists so it was an honor to take on the challenge of expressing his work using only iPhone. As we were shooting, I naturally began to challenge myself to think about how we could make a work unique to iPhone, beyond the usual approach to a film. I truly felt that the iPhone has the power to do things that a conventional movie camera can’t.”

Credits
Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab Tokyo
Production Company: OLM, Inc.
Editorial Company: Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc.
Finishing: Imagica Entertainment Media Services, Inc.
Director: Takashi Miike
Executive Producer: Misako Saka
Director of Photography: Nobuyasu Kita
Original Music: Koji Endo
Licensed Music: “Midnight Klaxon Baby” by THEE MICHELLE GUN ELEPHANT