You can do whatever you want with Apple products in your movie. It only changes when Apple starts paying money for product placement.
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Director Rian Johnson: Apple Doesn't Let Bad Guys Use iPhones on Camera in Movies
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Why are you guessing? the article says product placement deals in the very first sentence.
Anyway, Apple can assert trademarks or copyright infringement if they feel aggrieved by the usage of an Apple product in a movie so prodictions will usually check in with manufacturers when featuing products on screen. This has been going on for decades with all sorts of brands. For example car makers often ask you don’t crash their cars, or show them being ridden illegally, or have people using drugs in them. Fast food brands won’t let you show their food being eaten by sick or obese people. You can go ahead and do it anyway, because the legal risk is quite small, but unless you have a solid artistic reason for taking the risk, why bother?
Isn’t this only for getting endorsements or financial backing for a movie? Like the disclaimers in the end credits like “computer equipment provided by Apple”. I mean, they can’t stop a movie wanting to have a serial killer called “The iPhone Killer” that bludgeons his victims with an iPhone, can they? Or a different movie with a character calling an Apple product crap or whatever.
EDIT: I can see that others have addressed this already. Goes to show you I should read all the comments first.
EDIT: I can see that others have addressed this already. Goes to show you I should read all the comments first.
It’s perfectly easy for a brand to refuse permission for their products to be used on screen. If you can’t find another product to use instead, it’s not their problem. In fact, if your work needs their product so badly they’ll frequently demand you pay them for the usage. See the videogame industry vs the weapons industry for a fine example.
China can demand whatever it likes seeing as they fund a lot of movies.
China's financial position allows them to do whatever they like.
If you ask me, they'd sell more if a great and memorable villain used Apple products
Hollywood knows and the audience knows so why wouldn’t Apple know who the bad guys are?
Product placement is the the death of suspending disbelief. It's like being at the theatre and hearing the prompter remind the actors of their lines.
When you've seen the same brand on the delivery truck parked next to the good guy in the car park, and a box of the product at breakfast then another delivery truck drives by the window as they are sitting in the cafe, and they talk about the product... It starts to grate.
The worst is you know if the good guy drives a BMW or Audi (or Ford) then the bad guy is going to drvie whatever they see as their main competition- usually Mercedes, GM.
Audi are particularly bad at this so all the good guys drive Audi and the unsuspecting tourist that gets caught up int the action: nice big Audi logoand the good guy's boss who turns out in the twist at the end to be a bad guy, well you've known since half way through the film he's a bad guy because he drives a Mercedes.
Check out the Mission Impossible films for this.
Just ruins everything.
When you've seen the same brand on the delivery truck parked next to the good guy in the car park, and a box of the product at breakfast then another delivery truck drives by the window as they are sitting in the cafe, and they talk about the product... It starts to grate.
The worst is you know if the good guy drives a BMW or Audi (or Ford) then the bad guy is going to drvie whatever they see as their main competition- usually Mercedes, GM.
Audi are particularly bad at this so all the good guys drive Audi and the unsuspecting tourist that gets caught up int the action: nice big Audi logoand the good guy's boss who turns out in the twist at the end to be a bad guy, well you've known since half way through the film he's a bad guy because he drives a Mercedes.
Check out the Mission Impossible films for this.
Just ruins everything.
Just my own interpretation:
Rian is halfway decent director. (Star Wars not so much), but ‘Knives Out’ was a unique film mixed with suspense and comedy. It plotted a great story, but was _way_ to long, it could’ve been shortened easily. But had an Excellent line of actors with good a setting, it just was drawn out longer than necessary.
What if the bad guy turns good at the end? Does he buy an iPhone to celebrate? Or... what if the good/bad nature of the guy is up to the audience, and can be interpreted in more than one way? Would Joker in the new Joker movie be considered a good guy or a bad guy? So many questions...
All the bad guys drive high quality German cars, so it's okay if the good guys have the bad phones. ;-)
The exposed mindset is as dystopian as the one in a recent post regarding a car crash. Now from Apple.
We are talking about grown ups aren’t we?
We are talking about grown ups aren’t we?
If Apple pays for product placement, I’d suppose they’d like the best posible light. It’s not like Apple is so scrappy that it NEEDS to pay for ANY type of product placement to get consumer attention.
besides, we all know villains love Android for the customizable wallpapers and home screen widgets.
besides, we all know villains love Android for the customizable wallpapers and home screen widgets.
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Sounds like something a bad guy would say.
jk/This is just marketing psy 101 nothing new really.
Edit: had to throw the best use of product placement in an ironic/not ironic way
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good!! please filmakers! none use Apple products, as they are marking with an "X" bad guys and good guys
(I'm pretty sure this is going to change from now…)
(I'm pretty sure this is going to change from now…)
This entire thread is great! Now to forget all of this knowledge so I don’t accidentally foresee movie plot twists.