Helmer phones it in with cell-shot feature
'Sugar' shot using 8 phones over 11 days for $164,000
Director Aryan Kaganof has shot a feature film using only camera-equipped mobile phones. "SMS Sugar Man" was filmed using eight phones over 11 days with three main characters at a cost of $164,000.
Kaganof says he made the film to show what was possible for filmmakers with the new technology and to open up new distribution and exhibition opportunities. "We wanted to make a radically low budget film to show that anyone can do this. There are a lot of people in Africa who want to make films and can't afford it."
He said "SMS Sugar Man" -- about a pimp and two high-class prostitutes cruising Johannesburg on Christmas Eve -- was "blazing a trail for a new, democratic approach to film that will slash the cost of both making and viewing movies."
Pic is planned to be beamed to cell phones in 30 three-minute episodes over the course of a month this May, but Kaganof is also seeking traditional distri bution opportunities. The helmer insists the footage "looks fabulous" when blown up to 35mm feature film size.
Producer Michelle Wheatley said the technology used to shoot "SMS Sugar Man" allowed the cameras to keep rolling unobtrusively, which encouraging a more natural-feeling, fluid film in which the actors felt comfortable improvising.
Kaganof says Africans love their cellphones, so this could be a medium of the future on the continent. However, to watch the film, viewers will need late-model video camera-equipped handsets, which are not yet widely owned in Africa. The director says this should change soon, however.
