‘High Fantasy’ star on filming SA’s first selfie-style movie on an iPhone

Each actor had an iPhone and a gimbal to film their scenes while acting. According to Francesca Varrie Michel, who stars in High Fantasy, they had a few days to learn how to use the gimbal, a device which allows the user to capture movement in rotation, eliminating the jerky movements typical of handheld cameras.

Michel says each character had their own way of filming. For example, her character Lexi was interested “in the detail of close-ups and the vastness of landscapes”.

“Acting and filming wasn’t that difficult because our generation is used to filming pretty much everything, considering the nature of social media.”

The low-budget, indie film was named the Best South African Feature at the 2018 Durban International Film Festival and has showed at various prestigious festivals, such those in Toronto and Berlin.

“I think it was pretty badass that we pulled this film off with such a small team,” declares Michel.

“Spending [over two] weeks in 45 degree heat, no air con, 13 people in one farm house, sharing beds, one bathroom, no privacy, in the middle of nowhere, with no escape, was brutal. We laughed, cried, felt extreme anger and frustration, spoke brutal truths and discussed them. It was all worth it.”

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