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Upcoming 'Modern Family' Episode Shot Entirely on iPhone and iPad Cameras

george-brooks said:
I hate the strange narrative structures Modern Family has been using this season. I think this will be pretty stupid. Although its fascinating how overt product placement is becoming in this day and age. And I think consumers have become so accustomed to it that they have gone numb.
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For me it was always worse to see "generic" products in shows and movies. I also hate it when they are using real products but go out of their way to hide the logo or name (like an iMac with a sticker covering the Apple logo on the back).
 
Messages.app (formerly iChat) still has A/V webcam based video conferencing that lets you chat with like up to 5 people. It is awesome, amazing, and is the reason I came to Mac. It scares me because everyone thinks Facetime is the only video program, which probably means Apple will remove iChat A/V even though the quality of A/V and functionality is far better than Facetime (for example, try a FT call and an iChat A/V call and see which looks better).
 
MonkeySee.... said:
I'm not sure they need to do any "gimmicks" to get viewers.
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I agree. The show is still as popular as ever. I still like it.

Here's what's going to happen though. After it airs, all the TV truthers and pedants will pick apart every detail where the show took creative license with the functionality of the devices. I can see Gizmodo sharpening their blades in anticipation.;)
 
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I read a feature film at Sundance was shot on IPhones (instead of cameras costing tens of thousands of dollars). Imagine what this trend and capabilities mean to aspiring future movie and TV producers!
 
Chupa Chupa said:
That either going to be brilliant or epic shark jumping. Hope it's the former.
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I don't watch the show regularly, but reading the article, it seems like it's a social commentary on the various ways technology keeps us connected. The fact that it's Apple gear being used is only a result of the producer's like of Apple. It could have just as easily been Windows/Android/Google or just generic, unbranded technology
 
Watched this show once, got terribly bored and didn't find it funny. What's cool about this is professional movie studios aren't prejudice against Apple's specs and use them for what they can do, unlike the anti-Apple people here who feel super specs and large amounts ram on an Android device will win the hearts of many. Yeah. And I thought "Pros" don't want to use Apple's products anymore. Love this forum. :p
 
Is Apple paying for this product placement? All they need to do now is buy the commercials during the showing ;)
 
MH01 said:
Is Apple paying for this product placement? All they need to do now is buy the commercials during the showing ;)
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Nah, nice try though. Unlike MS who needs the throw the Surface in everybody's face to get people to buy them Apple's products are generally placed out of the movie studio's choice. You should already know that. Apple's products don't need shameless promotion tactics unlike Microsoft's non-selling stuff.
 
MH01 said:
Is Apple paying for this product placement? All they need to do now is buy the commercials during the showing ;)
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This is hardly Modern Family’s first brush with the cutting edge of technology. A first-season episode followed Phil Dunphy's (Ty Burrell) quest to get his hands on the new iPad for his birthday, a storyline criticized by some as an egregious Apple endorsement. But Levitan insists no money exchanged hands then, just as no money exchanged hands now. "There's no product placement or anything," he said definitively, adding: "This just came from life, and it made sense."
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/modern-family-plugs-apple-again-774239

And I agree. Apple logos tend to get covered in TV shows, but the products are there because it is art imitating life.

Even more interesting:

There are reasons to believe the Apple line. The credits in last night's episode suggested that Apple simply provided the devices. What's more, the show contained no ads from Apple during its run. Many product-placement deals include the purchase of traditional advertising along with the appearance or mention of a good or service.
Apple historically doesn't pay for appearances in programming, moreover, and it may not have to. Its gadgets and computers are viewed as status symbols, even cultural icons, so it's no wonder to see shows that want to make characters seem hip -- witness the perennial appearance of an Apple laptop in HBO's "Sex and the City" -- happily weave its goods into scenes and hands.
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http://adage.com/article/media/modern-family-ipad-abc-collect/143105/
 
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How is this a gimmick? They're telling a story in a novel way that relates to how the narratives of our own lives can sometimes (or for some, often) play out.

I don't mean to be captain obvious here, but it's called storytelling. Just because you don't see this done on every other show every other day doesn't make it a gimmick.
 
mono1980 said:
I do a lot. In fact, I made a grocery list on it and I can add items to my grocery list using Siri. It's pretty awesome.
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Exactly! It makes a great grocery list app and I share that list with my wife so she can add things too. I also use it for bills and work projects.
 
This just shows how incredibly powerful and feature-rich these iOS products truly are. No other smartphone or tablet would be capable of shooting an entire episode of a TV show. I can't wait to see the results.
 
dumastudetto said:
This just shows how incredibly powerful and feature-rich these iOS products truly are. No other smartphone or tablet would be capable of shooting an entire episode of a TV show. I can't wait to see the results.
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Really? You think NO other smartphone or tablet could be used. Yes. Ok.
 
MH01 said:
Is Apple paying for this product placement? All they need to do now is buy the commercials during the showing ;)
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HenryDJP said:
Nah, nice try though. Unlike MS who needs the throw the Surface in everybody's face to get people to buy them Apple's products are generally placed out of the movie studio's choice. You should already know that. Apple's products don't need shameless promotion tactics unlike Microsoft's non-selling stuff.
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Actually, Apple is paying for it. In this article, it says Apple provided ABC with iPhones, iPads, Macbooks, and a Mac Pro for editing and post production.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/17/8050553/modern-family-apple-mac-episode-connection-lost
 
snebes said:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/modern-family-plugs-apple-again-774239

And I agree. Apple logos tend to get covered in TV shows, but the products are there because it is art imitating life.

Even more interesting:



http://adage.com/article/media/modern-family-ipad-abc-collect/143105/
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"art imitating life" to an extent but its still product placement.

if you watch TV, you might be lead to believe that the prolification of Apple computers on TV, that it would be a similar real world spread.
This is however very untrue. While Apple doesn't pay for product placements, they do give freebies to television and movie production in order to get prominent display time.

Remember. Real world adoption of Apple computers is < 12%. Yet on TV it appears that everyone is using a Mac.


this is a case where the art doesn't necessarily represent the reality it is trying to showcase.
 
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