As a popular saying —where there is a will, there is a way—filmmaker Jason Lopchan and his friends created an opportunity for themselves.
With a passion for filmmaking and a skill set, even without financial aid, these youths made a feature film—A Place Under the Sun—using an iPhone 14 pro. The 105-minute-long movie revolves around the story of three childhood best friends who are at their reunion party. The movie takes a twist when an uninvited guest joins their gathering.
The movie is set to be released on OTT platforms in the last week of July.
The initiation
Lopchan is a graduate of Shepard College in Kathmandu who studied filmmaking. He and his friends were frustrated by their earlier film projects that could not be released after the producer stepped down from the project due to the financial crisis. They had no idea what to do next.
Out of their frustration, Lopchan and his friends decided to take things on their own. The scripts were there and it was only a matter of selecting, working on them and meeting a few producers for investment.
However, things did not go as planned. Stuck in a murky situation they could do only one thing, invest in the movie themselves. So, Lopchan with his friends managed finance from their savings and collected money from their friends and families.
Even doing so, they still did not have enough money for a camera and other gear. So a random thought of shooting an entire film from an iPhone 14 pro came amid a conversation. Why specifically iPhone 14 pro, while being asked about it Lopchan says his friend Prabin Limbu, also the cinematographer of the movie, owns the same device.
“We watched a few films shot by iPhone, we all liked it and decided to shoot the movie using an iPhone,” says Lopchan.
Later the team named the movie A Place Under the Sun. Moreover, the idea to shoot a feature film on iPhone 14 pro has worked well for the entire team of A Place Under the Sun, as the film has been accepted by popular OTT platforms such as Prime Video, Apple TV and Peacock TV. This is one of the rarest incidents that ever happened with Nepali filmmakers.
“Due to financial limitations, we were compelled to use a cell phone. We did not do it for publicity. If we had money, we would make the movie from a professional camera,” says Lopchan.
The challenges
Actor Prabesh Mahatara Chhetri says that while acting in front of an iPhone, he did not feel much of a difference.
“Initially, it felt strange to face the mobile,” says Mahatara, “But soon I took it normally.”
But, technically, director Lopchan had a different experience. The experience includes both pros and cons of shooting films from a cell phone.
According to Lopchan, as the cell phone was handy, it was easier to handle and unlike professional cameras, the device consumed less time to set. However, the cons of using the iPhone for the movie shoot were it had limited functions and features and less depth of field. People who watch movies can easily identify that the movie has not been shot with a professional camera. Another main problem was heating.
“As the movie was shot during the summer, we encountered recurring issues with mobile devices overheating. Due to this, we had to halt shooting every 15-20 minutes,” says Lopchan.
The major technical issue they had was with the colour grading. “The footage shot from a mobile device had an over-saturated colour and no good details, this has consumed our high time,” says Lopchan. “We worked for three months in colour grading.”
Shooting a movie from an iPhone was not merely a challenge to Lopchan and his team. It was great learning for them. They technically learnt various new things, one among them was the use of anti-filter. “If any scene is shot in direct sunlight from a mobile device a double reflection appears, and to block it we need anti-filter,” says Lopchan.
Journey to OTT
After completing the shooting, the next step, which was to find a distributor for the film, was the toughest task for Lopchan and his entire team. They went to some potential distributors but all of them remained unheeded. They even faced humiliation.
Afterwards, Lopchan went to some of the foreigners with whom he had worked earlier. They helped him to reach out to the agent who had a connection with various OTT platforms. The agent asked Lopchan to send the films. Gradually, various OTT platforms accepted the film.
“We were desperate to show our works. So at one point we even thought of releasing the movie by creating its official YouTube channel,” says Lopchan. Getting acceptance from the popular OTT like Prime TV, Apple TV and Peacock TV was beyond their expectations.
The realisation
The making of A Place Under the Sun made Lopchan realise that challenges can indeed be overcome if one dares to confront them. “We should try to make the best use of the resources that are available to us,” he says.
Akin to Lopchan and his team many others have found themselves stranded due to insufficient budget and resources for shooting the film. “If only one among them gets inspiration from the making of our movie, we would be grateful,” says Lopchan.
However, in the coming days, Lopchan does not wish to make another movie from a cell phone. “The idea to shoot a film from an iPhone came out of a crisis but now I don’t want to go through such a crisis,” says Lopchan.
