William Gallagher
Apple's latest ad is "Swoop," a 30-second spot promoting the durability of the iPhone 15 because of its Ceramic Shield glass covering.
Like a stylized remake of Daphne du Maurier and Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," the new "Swoop" ad shows a woman being attached by a bird. She's cycling, using Apple Maps, and it is possibly drawn to her yellow helmet.
Ultimately, the cyclist is knocked off her bike and her iPhone 15 goes flying through the air. If the footage of the iPhone crashing to the ground is a practical effect, it's especially impressively shot.
Ceramic Shield was introduced with the iPhone 12 range and improves durability by including nano-ceramic crystals grown within its glass matrix.
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2 Comments
That specific shot of the phone flying toward the camera was not a practical, in-camera shot at all. Modern visual effects are capable of generating realistic particles and debris. Apple has extremely detailed 3D models of their devices used for marketing. Motion tracking in Nuke and After Effects is scary good lately.
Besides, if they didn't nail this shot on the first take, do you think they're gonna ask the actor to crash over and over again until they do? "Take 126!"
It's rare that Apple films a device in-camera, unless it's being used by an actor holding it. And images of the screen can be enhanced in post with sharper, more detailed ones. In fact, they usually have to do that because the color balance won't always be perfect.