Apple touts iPhone 13 filmmaking prowess with Twitter 'hashflag'

Apple on Friday introduced a Twitter "hashflag" to promote the filmmaking capabilities of its new iPhone 13 series, a feature lineup made possible through improved hardware and software enhancements.

The rather verbose "HollywoodInYourPocket" hashflag debuted on Friday in a promotional tweet from Apple's official account, meaning it does not currently appear on the company's main feed.

Featuring a clapperboard embellished with an Apple logo, the hashflag takes a cue from Apple's "California Streaming" event where the company introduced a slate of new iPhone 13 camera features.

Along with across-the-board camera hardware upgrades, Apple is bringing a new "Cinematic mode" to both iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro handsets. Mimicking professional videography techniques, the technology uses machine learning algorithms to automatically shift focus to people, pets and objects, adding a depth effect for cinema-style shots. "Cinema mode" can anticipate when another subject enters the frame and users can manually adjust focus after footage is captured.

The new feature, enabled by Apple's A15 Bionic chip, is shown off in a video embedded in Apple's tweet.

Shift focus between foreground and background
automatically with Cinematic mode on iPhone 13 Pro. #HollywoodInYourPocket
— Apple (@Apple) September 17, 2021

According to researcher Jane Manchun Wong's Hashflag Browser, "HollywoodInYourPocket" should remain active through Dec. 17, giving iPhone 13 users plenty of time to shoot and share their own "Cinematic mode" content.

Hashflags.io first spotted the new icon.

Since first using the hashflag feature to publicize the launch of a refreshed iPad Air and Apple Watch Series 6 last year, Apple has activated the small Twitter icons to promote its Worldwide Developers Conference and hype the debut of the M1 iMac, iPad Pro, Apple TV 4K and AirTag. Most recently, the company purchased a hashflag for its "California Streaming" special event to go along with the "#AppleEvent" hashtag.

4 Comments

macapfel 575 comments · 15 Years

About 3 years ago

That’s great for all those movie makers out there. I’m unfortunately not one of them, and will wait what other new features Apple has planned for its iOS devices.

Xed 2876 comments · 4 Years

macapfel said:

That’s great for all those movie makers out there. I’m unfortunately not one of them, and will wait what other new features Apple has planned for its iOS devices.

I'm not disparaging the technology, but from an aesthetic POV I didn't care for how the transition worked in the demo film they showcased. It felt too harsh. Since you can change this after the fact, I hope the speed and effect are adjustable.

am8449 392 comments · 15 Years

There's something not quite right about the blurring that happens to the person in the foreground. It's a bit harsh and jarring, rather than the smooth softening that happens with analog lenses.

I think in time, Apple will fine tune Cinematic Mode so that it becomes comparable to analog. When this happens, this tech will surpass analog because it can be adjusted in post-production.

CarmB 91 comments · 4 Years

am8449 said:

There's something not quite right about the blurring that happens to the person in the foreground. It's a bit harsh and jarring, rather than the smooth softening that happens with analog lenses.

I think in time, Apple will fine tune Cinematic Mode so that it becomes comparable to analog. When this happens, this tech will surpass analog because it can be adjusted in post-production.

Looks to me that they made it more jarring on purpose to highlight that the effect was occurring. Filmmakers, on the other hand, wouldn’t want to take the audience out of the experience by applying such a jarring change of focus. It’s likely that if the focus shift can’t be done with more subtlety, most filmmakers will not be interested in such transitions.

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