The newly rebranded Apple TV has a five-second visual sting, and every frame was shot in a studio with live lights and practical glass lettering.
Apple has been mocked for dropping the plus from its Apple TV+ name because it means having to specify if you mean the streamer, the set top box, or the app. But the rebrand comes with a new animated logo — except it isn't animated.
The Apple logo and the "tv" letters are instead large cutout pieces of glass that were mounted in a studio. When you see the logo moving, it isn't. The camera is moving instead.
Equally, as you see lights seeming to play across the surface of the letters, there was actually a man there on the crew, physically moving the lights.
According to AdAge, the reason stems from Apple's Tor Myhren, vice president of marketing communications. As part of his continued celebration of creativity — unless you're a writer — Myhren said at Cannes in 2024 that Apple values human artistry.
Specifically, Apple intended to continue using humans even as it also embraced new AI tools.
AdAge has an exclusive behind the scenes video showing a timelapse recording of the making of the sting. It was made by firms Optical Arts, Finneas, and TBWA\Media Arts Lab — the long-time Apple ad partner.
It is ironic that Apple has turned to using practical glass even as it has toned down its Liquid Glass redesign of iOS 26.
But while most television uses digital visuals, Apple is also tapping in to a rich history of physical ones. The earliest BBC Television idents were of a practical spinning globe in front of a mirror, for instance.
Then even as late as the 1990s and up to 2000, the BBC used multiple idents featuring an actual hot air balloon over various UK locations. A little earlier on, MTV's idents could often be practical stop-motion effects.
