First Music Video Shot Entirely on the iPhone 4 Debuts

Director Marty Martin and musician Flakjakt have debuted the new video “Cascades”, filmed entirely with the iPhone 4.

The music video business can be brutal. Some artists can spend millions of dollars on what amounts to just a few minutes of footage, and even then the chances of a large audience watching it have diminished as the reach of music videos has diminished. The production costs have skyrocketed, and the equipment needed to put on a traditional music video has grown to rival that of a TV show, leaving less well-known musicians to find more creative and cost effective ways to get their name out there. Seattle-based director Marty Martin and musician Flakjakt have found an interesting and creative way around buying or renting expensive camera equipment – they used an iPhone 4.

When faced with a task to get something done that typically demands a great deal of money, the creative will finds alternative ways to accomplish the same task. With just a $200 budget, and a limited reach, Martin and his friend Steve Failows (aka Flakjakt) needed to find a way that could draw a bit of attention to their project without sacrificing the quality. With the hype surrounding the iPhone- plus the 720p video camera- an idea was born.

“I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say that if it hadn’t said iPhone 4, people wouldn’t have watched it,” Martin says.

Using the iPhone 4 was sure to gain a little bit of added attention, but beyond that, Martin just wanted to make as good a video as possible regardless of how it was filmed, “My ultimate goal was to make it look as close to a film as possible.”

Over the span of two days, Martin filmed the video “Cascades”, using only the iPhone while accumulating roughly three hours of footage at nine locations. The footage took half a day to convert. Martin then spent the next 40 hours straight editing it using Final Cut Pro to edit the video into what you see below.

Martin and Flakjakt are hoping to strategically place the video to make it go viral. Using the iPhone 4 helped get a little much needed attention, but the duo is hoping that the quality of the music video, and the song itself will have people forget the medium and just enjoy.  Check it out below and decide for yourself.

Also, head to TheMartyMartin.com to see more works from the director.

Update:  Looks like Flakjakt’s was not the first iPhone 4 video to surface, but it may be the best.  We will try to contact the other video makers.