Writer/director Chris Blake’s Distancing Socially, starring Alan Tudyk, Sarah Levy, Andy Buckley, Jim O’Heir and a host of others, is a film about relationships and miscommunication in the age of COVID. It’s available to stream on Apple TV+ and on VOD through iTunes, Prime Video, Dish and Google Play.

Chris Blake

The film was shot on iPhones during quarantine from each actor’s home. Blake sent a phone, tripod, mics and lights to the cast, along with how-to videos to get them familiar with the kit — the best option available when trying to stay safe during a global pandemic.

Let’s find out more from Blake about the unique challenges that came with shooting and posting during a global pandemic and with tools that aren’t considered typical for a feature film.

You shot on an iPhone. What version and what format did you shoot on?
Options were limited at the time, and COVID protocols hadn’t been established yet, so we knew we wouldn’t be making this film on a normal set, which led us to the iPhone 11 Pro early on in the process. We were familiar with using iPhones as a “B” camera or for B-roll and felt that most of the cast would be familiar with a smartphone too, so it made sense to us.

We shot AVC (H.264) and used a tabletop tripod that came with our mic package. It worked really well.

You were relying on the cast to get the “camera” and kit up can running. Can you walk us through how this was done?
Every actor was different, and there was a bit of trial and error with each. We tried to mitigate confusion by making how-to-videos and step-by-step PDFs. We also had a prep call the day before each shoot to walk the actors through the process and make sure they were comfortable.

We used an app called Filmic Pro and dialed in the settings we wanted and saved it to a profile before shipping the phones to the cast. All they had to do was click the saved profile and make sure they set the focus. We had them set the phone (screen facing opposite them) in front of their laptop’s built-in camera. We were on Zoom. So this is how we were able to set up our shots and dial in the look.

Since each scene was filmed in each actor’s own home due to the lockdown, how was your DP Josh Moody able to get the look he wanted?
We used the prep day to our advantage on this one. We did a virtual location scout of the cast member’s home, finding the most efficient spot to set up our shot. We were obviously looking for something with depth, good color and plenty of natural lighting. We then used Zoom to make any adjustments.

What are some of the benefits of shooting with an iPhone, as opposed to a traditional camera?
In our case, the most obvious would be the lack of turnarounds. There was minimal blocking, no lights to reset and the camera stayed locked in, so that was nice. The iPhone’s size is a major advantage, which can open up opportunities like improvised shooting. Sometimes with improvised shooting, you can capture spontaneous performances, and I think the images hold up well.

Storytelling isn’t about resolution or compression anyway. Not to mention, if you’re shooting in a public place with an iPhone, nobody cares. If you’re lugging around an Alexa, people are going to pay attention.

What were some of the challenges of shooting with an iPhone? And can you talk about lighting setups? All natural light?
There were a few hiccups, but ultimately it was pretty smooth. The phone would freeze up/overheat occasionally in the middle of a take if we didn’t give it adequate time to cool off. We had about 15 minutes of roll time before we had to shut it down and let it cool. Of course, there were also storage concerns, so we opted for the phones with the most storage.

In Filmic Pro, they offer a Filmic Extreme resolution, but we shot a step below to conserve space — I don’t think you can tell in terms of quality. Lighting setups were minimal. We used as much natural light as possible. If we felt like we needed a boost, we sent a Yongnuo 360 II LED video light, which was easy for the cast to turn on and bounce off of something. Natural light works best for the iPhone, in my opinion, but you want to avoid low light because it gets grainy fast.

What about capturing the audio? How was that done, and was it challenging with the actors recording their own audio?
We used the Shure MV88+ to capture audio, along with the Motiv audio app. Again, we dialed in settings in the app before we shipped the gear to the actors. We were able to monitor audio levels within Filmic Pro, so it was relatively painless. We asked the actors to turn their AC off if it was loud and be aware of any loud or distracting sounds. We couldn’t always hear everything over Zoom, so it was a team effort.

AppleTV+’s Mythic Quest had done a quarantine episode during the time you were making Distancing Socially and used a similar technique. Did the DP, Mike Berlucchi, offer any advice?
Mike was super-helpful. He walked us through their process, told us what to expect, what to watch out for, and gave us several examples of what not to do.

The first thing he warned us about was storage space. Then he told us about the overheating issues with iPhone. Thanks to Mike, we eventually arrived at the idea to have the actors sign into their Wi-Fi to upload all the footage to the cloud. That way, we could delete footage from the phones, but since we were shipping so many, it gave us access to the footage almost immediately. One of the phones got lost in shipping for over a month, but thankfully we had the footage from iCloud.

What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome once filming started?
I don’t know if there was one specific obstacle, but there were quite a few fires that we had to put out. While a handful of other people chipped in with the film, my DP, Josh Moody, and I were the only two full-time filmmakers on the project. We were spread pretty thin. At times it was stressful, so figuring out how to simultaneously wear every hat possible would be near the top.

Other than that, keeping everyone safe was our main priority. This was when COVID was still relatively new, and we weren’t sure how to combat it. This was pre-vaccine.

What tools did you use for post?
Adobe Premiere Pro, Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, Adobe’s After Effects and Photoshop. Beyond that, our friends over at Buffalo 8 in Santa Monica handled delivery and post sound.

When you wrote the script, you said you didn’t realize how many VFX you were going to need. Can you talk about that?
I thought I was writing a film that would be relatively simple to execute from a filmmaking standpoint, but I didn’t realize the detail we’d have to build into the world we were creating. The film takes place over a Zoom-like interface, so we had to build that interface from scratch — how it would function, what it would look like, how users would interact, built-in social media, etc.

Then there were desktop backgrounds, operating systems, clocks that needed to change within the scene, folders and a ton of other details that had to be specific to each character, all the way down to their contacts, their social media comments and suggested friends. Everything means something in the film, and there are subthreads throughout that tell their own related stories if you watch closely. We were lucky to work with Don Bitters III over at 3rd Films. He handled all the VFX and did a fantastic job.

Other than the tools, what helped this process?
Getting our VFX supervisor involved early was one of the best decisions we could’ve made. The characters had to be interacting with the make-believe software, and they had to know where to look and where their eyes should go as they were interacting. Of course, the actors were looking at the iPhone’s lenses. So bringing Don in early allowed us to really understand what we needed from the actors. We could get rough VFX templates made early and use them to test where we should have the actors look depending on what they were doing within the scene. Had we not had that, it would’ve been a mess! The whole thing was really cool.