Fascinating reason 28 Years Later was filmed with hundreds of iPhones despite $75 million budget

28 Years Later may have cost $75 million, but the zombie blockbuster was filmed for the most part with iPhones.

This was done for a fascinating reason, with the production using hundreds of iPhones over the course of filming.

28 Years Later follows Spike, played by Alfie Williams, who lives on an isolated, infected-free community on Holy Island in the North East of England with his father, Jamie (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and Isla (Jodie Comer).

It follows him going on his first journey to the mainland with his father as he comes of age in the post-apocalyptic remains of the UK.

The most publicised use of the iPhones in the film is as part of ‘bullet time’ shots in the style of The Matrix. Rigs were set up with a multitude of iPhones, allowing them to film certain shots from a near 360-degree angle.

iPhones were used in the filming of 28 Years Later (Sony)

This was used at various points in the film when Spike and Jamie kill the infected, creating incredibly unique shots.

Whilst this is the main reason the iPhones used in the film have been discussed, it is not the only one, with director Danny Boyle speaking about it in a recent interview.

Boyle explained in an interview with WIRED that, while iPhones were the principal cameras used, this wasn’t exclusive.

He said: “We used lots of lightweight cameras, they allowed us to move without huge amounts of equipment.”

Filming took place all across Holy Island and the Northeast, with several shooting locations situated in largely remote natural areas.

Boyle said that the goal was to be able to move to areas of the countryside and ‘retain their lack of imprints of humans on it’.

The 28 Years Later director spoke about why they used iPhones (Tim P. Whitby via Getty Images)

The director has spoken in other interviews about how the natural progression of things over 28 years was a major factor in the film and how nature has reclaimed much of England due to the lack of civilisation.

He went on to say there was an 'immediacy' when it came to shooting with an iPhone compared to a traditional film camera, adding: "Because, although it's a recording device, people's familiarity with it actors are slightly different with it."

The 28 Years Later director then explained the array of iPhones they would use in rigs, up to 20, to film the 'bullet time' scenes.

He also spoke to IndieWire about the more abstract reasons he used iPhones, referring back to the cameras used for 28 Days Later.

The film, shot in 2001, has a retro feel in large part due to the use of Canon cameras.

28 Days Later was famed for its almost guerilla style of filmmaking (Searchlight Studios)

He said: "Using those cameras that we did, I felt very liberated by using them for that kind of story because it wasn't trying to mimic big, American action movies, and yet it turned out to appeal to big American action movie fans."

Whilst he said that he was 'very proud' of the cameras used for 28 Days Later, he also claimed that it would have been 'obtuse' to use outdated technology when 4k is available in most smartphones.

He went on to say: "You only have to switch it on in your settings, and you can have cinema-quality recordings. So, we wanted to use that technology."

All in all, based on the 89 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and box office topping result last weekend, the risk of using iPhones certainly paid off.