Provideo Coalition wrote, back in January, that videographers were going to love the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra as, for the first time on a Galaxy smartphone, it is possible to shoot in 4K at 60fps across all lenses so filmmakers can shift to a different perspective with the same quality. Samsung’s flagship smartphone features a quad rear camera (ultra-wide, wide and dual tele-lenses) that includes an upgraded 108MP pro sensor, from which you can capture 12-bit HDR photos with 64 times richer color data and more than three times wider dynamic range.
Putting all the power of the S21 Ultra to test, world-renowned director Joe Wright known for Pride and Prejudice and Atonement partnered with Samsung to create Princess & Peppernose, the tale of a princess in search of love who defies convention to pursue her own desires. The heartwarming musical uses puppetry and live-action choreography to tell a unique story captured entirely with a Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone.
The campaign, Filmed #withGalaxy, aims to inspire budding creators to bring their own stories to life, aims to create a new content series featuring films from the world’s best directors, to show the power hidden inside Galaxy’s new smartphone for photographers and videographers. To kick off the campaign, Samsung partnered with director Joe Wright.
“My parents ran and founded the first dedicated puppet theater in the UK, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get back to my roots,” Wright said. “What surprised me the most throughout this process was how quick and easy it was to get right in there and be present with the characters and the story. The camera is always ready, and all you need to do is point and shoot.”
During the creation of Princess & Peppernose, Wright and his crew took full advantage of the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s 13mm Ultra-Wide lens to capture the full view of every scene.
“We chose to embrace the wider lens, something we’d never done before,” a cinematographer said. “Moving in for close-ups with the same lens we used for wider shots gave the film a very specific look and feel, a kind of ghostly, hallucinatory quality and took us back to the times shooting with a Super8.”
Princess & Peppernose and Kids of Paradise will be unveiled at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in October.
Following Wright’s film, Samsung will release additional Filmed #withGalaxy stories from respected directors around the world, including China’s up-and-coming director Sha Mo, known for Love Will Tear Us Apart and My Huckleberry Friends.
Sha Mo used the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G to capture footage for his new film Kids of Paradise, a poetic look at conflicts between children in a small school by the countryside. To capture the story, Sha Mo relied on Director’s Mode of the Galaxy S21 Ultra to record three different shots at once for an intuitive, almost professional-like filming experience.
“Filming is one of the most powerful storytelling tools, and one of the best ways to connect emotionally with your audience,” said Stephanie Choi, Head of Marketing for Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Business. “With this series, we want to show people that they really don’t need fancy studio equipment or big budgets to create amazing films — all they need is a little imagination and the Galaxy device in their pocket.”