Apple posts behind the scenes video of '1.24.14' Mac ad
After posting to its website a video celebrating the Mac's 30th anniversary, Apple on Monday put up a behind the scenes mini documentary chronicling the effort taken to coordinate a full day's worth of filmmaking in 15 locations across five continents.
The minute-and-a-half short features director Jake Scott, who takes the viewer through the entire process behind Apple's "1.24.14" ad celebrating 30 years of Mac. Scott is the son of legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott, who directed Apple's first Mac commercial in 1984.
As noted earlier today, the ad itself stitches together iPhone footage from 15 different locations spread across 10 countries on 5 continents. Filmed over a 36-hour period, the sequence contains shots taken on Jan. 14 -- the exact date on which Mac first launched in 1984 -- in a worldwide effort starting from Australia and ending in California.
In the "making of" clip, Scott explains that 15 camera operators were equipped with one or several iPhones that fed video into a backpack-mounted receiver. The footage was piped back to a central editing facility, which ran a variety of Apple machines, from Mac Pros to iPads.
"So we're receiving the data that's being shot for this film through the iPhone," Scott said. "But then we're also simultaneously communicating via FaceTime with first assistant director, who is standing next to our cameraman."
Scott and his production crew were able to relay audio and visual information in real time, ending up with a finished product that would be nearly impossible to replicate without the iPhone.
Cut scenes show Scott, his father and Lee Clow collaborating on angles, framing and other artistic details. Also interspersed throughout the clip is footage from the film 15 individual film teams.
That Scott was able to coordinate an international effort to film in multiple locations on the same day, using hardware descended from Apple's first products, is a fitting tribute to the Mac's anniversary. Symbolically, it shows how impactful the computer has been on the world stage.
"It's exciting because it's spontaneous. And that's what I love," Scott said. "Capturing the essence of the moment and it being truthful as seen through the prism of this device is really rather lovely.
The minute-and-a-half short features director Jake Scott, who takes the viewer through the entire process behind Apple's "1.24.14" ad celebrating 30 years of Mac. Scott is the son of legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott, who directed Apple's first Mac commercial in 1984.
As noted earlier today, the ad itself stitches together iPhone footage from 15 different locations spread across 10 countries on 5 continents. Filmed over a 36-hour period, the sequence contains shots taken on Jan. 14 -- the exact date on which Mac first launched in 1984 -- in a worldwide effort starting from Australia and ending in California.
In the "making of" clip, Scott explains that 15 camera operators were equipped with one or several iPhones that fed video into a backpack-mounted receiver. The footage was piped back to a central editing facility, which ran a variety of Apple machines, from Mac Pros to iPads.
"So we're receiving the data that's being shot for this film through the iPhone," Scott said. "But then we're also simultaneously communicating via FaceTime with first assistant director, who is standing next to our cameraman."
Scott and his production crew were able to relay audio and visual information in real time, ending up with a finished product that would be nearly impossible to replicate without the iPhone.
Cut scenes show Scott, his father and Lee Clow collaborating on angles, framing and other artistic details. Also interspersed throughout the clip is footage from the film 15 individual film teams.
That Scott was able to coordinate an international effort to film in multiple locations on the same day, using hardware descended from Apple's first products, is a fitting tribute to the Mac's anniversary. Symbolically, it shows how impactful the computer has been on the world stage.
"It's exciting because it's spontaneous. And that's what I love," Scott said. "Capturing the essence of the moment and it being truthful as seen through the prism of this device is really rather lovely.
Comments
Pretty cool. A lot of specialized equipment and top notch professionals can make it happen.
Impactful is not a word.
Really? Using "Look Up" on the iMac yields the following:
impactful |im?paktf?l| adjectivehaving a major impact or effect: an eye-catching and impactful design.
Click on the "Debut" link in the post. The video is there.
In a way, this process redefines the meaning of "time" – as did the DVR!
-1
No one's going to mention the Microsoft Empowers Super Bowl ad? It's nearly identical.
Guessing we'll see the making-of video any day now. Did they use Lumias? :-)
No, this is really big!
Effectively, the director is on site at 15 remote locations simultaneously -- and in the studio at the same time.
There are no time delays.
There are instantaneous re-shoots when needed.
There are no dailies.
Source media is instantaneously available in the studio.
The Rough Cut and Final Cut Edits are combined into a single, on-going, almost real-time process.
"That's a cut", "that's an edit", "that's a print", "that's a distribution", "that's a showing" -- all are combined Into one seamless workflow... Quite amazing, really.
No one's going to mention the Microsoft Empowers Super Bowl ad? It's nearly identical.
Guessing we'll see the making-of video any day now. Did they use Lumias? :-)
Not really, the MSFT video was too artificial, too mechanical, too computerized. I couldn't stand the old school computer characters and weird 80s voice synthesis. Many scenes looked and sounded like something from the movie WarGames.
In other words, they still have no taste.
Excellent post. Also worth pointing out is they cut 70 hours of footage into two brilliant 1 minute finished videos in 11 days.
Yes! And, even with all the creative talent and technology, I bet they were under budget!
While it's an impressive effort and result, the statement "finished product that would be nearly impossible to replicate without the iPhone" is an exaggeration. Streaming media from a device is hardly new, and video chat is not rare or exclusive. I'm not sure by what measure it's "nearly" impossible to replicate with three other competing smartphone platforms, let alone if you pull real production platforms from Canon or Nikon into the project.
It is fun to watch though, and the resulting product is nice. It would be fun to be involved in a project like this.