Malcolm Owen
Apple's latest "Shot on iPhone" video "Poached" celebrates Singapore's beloved dish of chicken rice, with Chef's Table' creator David Gelb producing the piece on an iPhone 13 Pro.
Released on Sunday to the official Apple YouTube channel, "Shot on iPhone 13 Pro - Poached" explores food served at hawker centers, food halls in Singapore, with the main focus being on chicken rice. Referred as the "equivalent of pizza to New Yorkers" by chef and restaurateur Bjorn Shen, chicken rice is a staple, and forms the basis of the video's story.
Made by David Gelb, the creator of "Chef's Table" and director of "Jiro Dreams of Sushi," the mini documentary discusses the "chicken rice war" of business Tian Tian at the Maxwell Food Center. After founder MDM Foo's daughter Ms Loi took over, a difference in opinion for working practices prompted the departure of head chef Mr Wong.
Wong went on to open another similar-looking business a few stalls away, serving what he considered to be the way Tian Tian's chicken rice was cooked before the transfer of control. Now, the two businesses are offering the same dish but with slight differences, with each garnering their own audience.
A making-of video released the same day showed how Gelb filmed the documentary on the iPhone 13 Pro. This included mounting the iPhone onto professional-grade sliders and tripods, the use of various mounts and turntables, and other equipment.
With space at a premium in the small hawker kitchens, the iPhone was seen as a way to capture video in cramped conditions. Along with macro mode and the variety of tools on offer, Gelb singles out cinematic mode's focus changing options as being an essential post-production tool.
The ability to mount the iPhone in places where it's hard to position bigger systems was also extensively used by the team. At one point, the iPhone is held in a rig attached to a large knife, used to prepare food on the stalls. The Apple Watch was also used, as a monitor while lining up the unusual iPhone placements.
"Poached" follows on from the February film "Life is But a Dream," which Apple commissioned from Park Chan-wook, an internationally renowned director known for films including "The Handmaiden" and "Oldboy."
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Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
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7 Comments
With the release soon of the 14 there will be a 48 Mega Pixel camera. I can’t wait!!
The Apple logo animation at the end was fantastic. I don’t want to spoil the fun. See it for yourself
That chicken looks good!
Amazing quality
I tend to count the number of people in the credits after a show ends. This one had three times as many people in the credits as they had in The Wizard of Oz.
Let me explain the above comment: I was making two points: (1) They put a lot of work into this. (2) Old movies don't list all the people who worked on them.