"28 Years Later" Was Actually Filmed Using iPhones – Danny Boyle Explains Why

28 Years Later director Danny Boyle has opened up about his decision to shoot much of the film using an iPhone camera.

The horror sequel was released last week, and has already proven to be a big success with both critics and cinemagoers.

Danny previously helmed the original movie 28 Days Later, shot on hand-held cameras, giving the film the effect of looking like found footage, and his new offering used similarly lo-fi techniques.

In a new interview with YouTuber Matti Haapoja’s How They Filmed That series, Danny explained his motivations for using iPhone cameras (although it’s worth pointing out he didn’t just rifle in his pocket for his phone and start shooting, these were souped-up iPhones with impressive enhancements, with some shots requiring as many as 20 at a time to film) to record 28 Years Later.

“ allowed us to be very light, in our footprint, in areas of the country that we wanted to suggest hadn’t been touched for 28 years,” Danny said. “Now, a crew coming in with the normal equipment level, it’s going to make a big footprint.

“We used drones a lot, as well, so we could film sequences that cameras couldn’t possibly without terribly disrupting the landscape, and making it look like a herd of elephants had gone through.”