China – At the Vogue China Forces of Fashion event in late October, bullet time videos featuring stars such as Liu Yifei and Zhong Chuxi ignited conversations across social media. The resulting videos created the illusion of time standing still as a virtual camera appeared to move around motionless celebrities, an effect generated not by an expensive Hollywood rig but by Media Storm’s custom built array of 60 iPhone 17 Pros, each running Blackmagic Camera app and paired with a Blackmagic Camera ProDock.
“Each celebrity could perform the action only once, so we essentially had no room for error,” recalled Media Storm Founder Tim Pan. “Traditional bullet time methods have clear limitations. High speed cameras can’t ensure consistent camera positions or body posture between takes, while still photo arrays don’t provide enough frames for post production to capture the perfect moment.”
Budget, venue size and time constraints also pushed the team away from conventional solutions built around high speed cameras and robotic arms. Instead, they took a bold, lightweight approach, building a camera array with 60 iPhone 17 Pros.
ACHIEVING MULTI IPHONE SYNC WITH BLACKMAGIC CAMERA PRODOCK
Synchronization is crucial in multi camera setups. Media Storm needed all 60 iPhones to operate in perfect sync to avoid frame misalignment. The team used Blackmagic Camera ProDocks to provide sync lock to every iPhone 17 Pro, ensuring each device captured footage with precise timing.
“We custom built support rigs to keep the spacing identical between each phone. After combining Blackmagic Camera ProDocks with the phone clamps, we mounted the entire system onto gimbals, then attached the gimbals to the rig,” Pan explained. “A single traditional cinema camera would cost more than everything we used here. And with smartphones, the rig is lighter, so we could adjust the camera path onsite and pack the cameras more tightly, making the movement smoother.”
BLACKMAGIC CAMERA BOOSTS MULTI CAMERA EFFICIENCY
All 60 iPhones ran Blackmagic Camera for video capture. “Configuring that many devices is always a challenge, but the Blackmagic Camera app’s LAN based batch parameter control let us unify resolution, frame rate, exposure and other settings across every phone,” said Pan. “It saved us a huge amount of time compared to adjusting each device manually.”
The team also built custom tools for iPhone control, enabling staff to trigger recording on all phones simultaneously over a local network and automatically send captured footage to a server via the Shortcuts app.
A HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro broadcast deck was used as a genlock generator to provide sync signals to all iPhones.
“We produced nearly 40 finished pieces this time, and on average, each video took only about five minutes from capture to final output. The entire project was completed by four team members within 24 hours. Using a conventional approach would have taken several times longer. All post production was handled in DaVinci Resolve Studio, which also delivered the final outputs,” Pan noted.
“Using 60 iPhones and Blackmagic Camera ProDocks may sound like a lot of gear, but the entire setup still cost less than a single traditional digital film camera. And compared with deploying the same number of digital film cameras, it’s far easier to transport and assemble, making it perfect for fast paced events like Vogue China Forces of Fashion,” Pan concluded.
