You knew this day would come. You’ve been dreading it. You’re now competing with your 14 year old nephew for the “Filmmaker of the Family” award.  It’s always been you, up till now. You’ve had your own production company for decades. You knew Timmy had talent by the way he shot that video of Grandma at Halloween. Remember that one? Maybe the seamless editing he did on his MacBook, your “fancy pants” brother-in-law bought him was a fluke. It wasn’t. You thought you had a tremendous advantage, knowing that he’d never be able to afford your camcorder and lighting equipment. You’ve got calibrated monitors and headphones that cost $150. One hundred and fifty dollars for pete’s sake!

That’s all changed now.

Timmy has an iPhone 4.0, and he finishes his homework early everyday. He’s out there making movies…directing. You don’t have the time. You’ve got a company to run, clients to BS, payroll to do. Payroll Timmy! People rely on you! You can’t just shoot movies in your spare time! Wait, what’s he doing over there? My god! He’s taped the phone to a toy train for a POV shot! You taught him how to do that! Now the little brat is going to make the whole family laugh roaringly at his stupid little movie, using your old tricks. You make the stupid movies in this family, ’cause you’re the professional, not him! Is this the future? Everyone with $199 in their wallet is gonna be Spielberg?

Ugh, you suppose everyone with an iPhone and a Vimeo channel is gonna call themselves a filmmaker now? Right?

Yup.

The first iPhone film, shot and edited on the phone with iMovie. Watch and weep.

“Apple of My Eye” – an iPhone 4 film from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.