Unsane, the latest film from acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh, starring Claire Foy. While not the first film to be shot entirely on a smartphone camera, but in my opinion is the most impressive. Now don’t get me wrong, the iPhone 7 is no match for a 35mm camera. But the camera grains perfectly depict the madness in the mind of the lead character.
“Sawyer Valentini relocates from Boston to Pennsylvania to escape from the man who’s been stalking her for the last two years. While consulting with a therapist, Valentini unwittingly signs in for a voluntary 24-hour commitment to the Highland Creek Behavioral Center. Her stay at the facility soon gets extended when doctors and nurses begin to question her sanity. Sawyer now believes that one of the staffers is her stalker — and she’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive and fight her way out.”
As Sawyer navigates a world that has zoned into her privacy. The camera angles make it appear as if you as the viewer are the stalker, holding up a grainy iPhone camera. The iPhone flattens an image’s depth of focus. Nothing looks right even when everything is in order. How better to communicate the feeling of a woman losing her mind? Despite being shot on an iPhone, you can still notice the attention to detail in cinematography and camera movements. The iPhone as a tool was used in the same manner as any other camera for a film shoot.
