Roger Fingas
Following a sudden power outage in the studio, part of the Saturday episode of a popular French talk show was reportedly shot on Apple's iPhone.
Power to France 2's equipment shut off around an hour and 45 minutes into the taping of On n'est pas couché ("We're Still Awake"), according to iPhon.fr. After three hours the crew eventually decided to make use of limited lighting and several Plus-model iPhones to continue shooting, the results of which were edited and broadcast, as well as uploaded to YouTube.
The incident may represent one of the first times a major TV show has been shot on iPhones without it being an intentional gimmick.
Apple often touts the quality of video recording on iPhones, particulary on the iPhone 6s Plus, which can shoot in 4K resolution with optical image stabilization. It's not clear though whether France 2 made use of that phone or the older 6 Plus, which records in 1080p and limits optical stabilization to photos.
Camera technology is expected to be a major emphasis of the new iPhones shipping this fall. The "7 Plus" should in fact come with a dual-lens camera, although Apple's standard 4.7-inch model should have camera upgrades as well.
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25 Comments
I don't much like this show. Not very funny at all. I wouldn't put it past them to have done this as a gimmick.
Especially since they had enough power for the lights, but not the cameras... cameras take a lot less power than lights do and usually have a place to attach big batteries (which are always on set in case you have to go mobile with a camera).
Ya, after watching it, it was probably not planned, but once they started it, they went with it.
They could have switched to batteries for the cameras and edited that footage instead of transferring all the iPhone footage, then editing.
Watching it renewed my dislike for that show.
As someone that works in broadcast engineering, I'm surprised the studio is not run on "tech power" (a UPS system that's backed up by diesel generators) that prevents any power outages. Emergency lighting is one thing, but some studio lights were also functioning which makes the outage seem suspicious. It's possible the power system they implemented wasn't properly tested.
I suspect what is seen in the clip above is not the first outage that occurred because they sure did handle it gracefully!