You know those stunning “Shot on iPhone” commercials and short films Apple has been using to highlight the incredible cinematic video recording skills of its handsets for several years now?
Samsung has actually done a couple of similar publicity stunts of its own recently, giving among others an opportunity to “Stranger Things” star Millie Bobby Brown to make her directorial debut shortly after the launch of the Galaxy S22 series in early 2022.
Yes, Charlie Kaufman has a bit more experience behind (conventional) cameras than Millie Bobby Brown, having won an Academy Award for writing the original screenplay of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” back in 2005 and directing the critically acclaimed “Anomalisa” and “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” in the last decade.
Given his very… eclectic and unconventional filmography, you probably never expected to see Kaufman directing a Samsung commercial. Which is why it seems pretty safe to predict that “Jackals & Fireflies” will be nothing like anything we’ve seen come out of a mobile device before.
This is almost certainly a “proper” short film that Charlie Kaufman undoubtedly believed in, joining forces with the cinematographer behind such feature films as “Blonde” and “BlacKkKlansman” to ensure his unique vision will accurately and meticulously be delivered to the public using nothing but a Galaxy S22 Ultra… and a bunch of additional “professional equipment” and “professional” editing software.
Unfortunately, “Jackals & Fireflies” is not actually out yet, nor does it have an official release date attached to its catchy name, but both the 30-second trailer and 100-second behind-the-scenes video embedded above look absolutely and positively great. Admit it, you’d never think these were captured on a phone if you didn’t know the setup beforehand.
