5 ms·

Snowbrawl [video]

29 points by sogen 7y ago

scrumper 7y ago
Haha that was great. That young lady is a future action star.
geerlingguy 7y ago
Apple has a short 'making of' video here, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAJwbyu-2mE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAJwbyu-2mE I think it's interesting to note that for the majority of these 'shot on iPhone' videos, there are likely hundreds of thousands of dollars of production work and accessories provided, including: - Production staff and crew - Location scouts / grips / etc - Stabilization gear / gimbals - Video monitors and edit stations It is nice to know that 'the camera you have with you' is of high enough quality to get decent 4K footage, but that has been the case (well, at least with 1080p) for the past few years. What makes videos like this watchable is the creative minds, the crew, and everything else you don't see in the final frame (well, besides the talented individuals doing the stunts and blasting each other with snow). I don't want to be negative, but it's kind of like saying "you can build a competent Kubernetes cluster with Raspberry Pis". Sure, you can (and I maintain one—see www.pidramble.com). But the Pi is nowhere near a professional tool that makes it _easy_ and as painless as actual purpose-built tooling. And if you're talking about having small cameras that can mount anywhere, something akin to a GoPro is even better suited for this purpose than your $1,000+ phone, which you also want to make sure is available for browsing HN later in the day (and wasn't crushed by a gnarly smash into a tree, then doused in melted snow).
- aggie 7y ago
  I feel like you're missing what 'shot on iPhone' is trying to convey. The point of the campaign is that the iPhone camera is good enough to be used in a professional shoot, not that it automatically makes high production-value commercials on its own. A RED camera would be 'purpose-built tooling' but would still require all the same production as using the iPhone camera.
  - geerlingguy 7y ago
    My point is that almost all consumer cameras these days are good enough to be used in a professional shoot—GoPro, heck even cheap consumer point-and-shoot cameras from Nikon or Canon can produce the same (or usually better) images, and are much cheaper than an iPhone.
- aaron695 7y ago
  Swingers for instance had to be shot on short ends. http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-swingers http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-swingers. A lot of other movies as well (It was mentioned in Dolemite Is My Name). Clerks was black and white because of cost. Gimbals, scouts, dangerous stunts and everything else can be done cheap. You can pirate editing software if you have to. I've seen nothing to say Snowbrawl had CGI or expensive post production applied. Cheap film has been the holey grail for a long time. Now we get to see did the artificial barrier of filming cost improve film quality, or did we miss out on great directors, actors and films. I see no proof either way yet.
Geee 7y ago
Why does it have Verizon's logo at the end? That's the first time I've seen another logo on an Apple advertisement.
- pvg 7y ago
  They paid for it. Just like broadcast Apple-produced iPhone ads are co-branded with some regionally-appropriate service provider.
drenvuk 7y ago
Looks cool. Does anyone know if the compression artifacts are from the camera or youtube?
- geerlingguy 7y ago
  YouTube, mostly; if you've ever watched SloMoGuys videos where they do things like explode paint or liquid things, you can watch the YT compression algorithm go bananas. It's not tuned for tons of small details moving erratically, and it shows whenever there's rain, snow, fire, things like that.
- zokier 7y ago
  The poor encoding struck my eye too; my guess is that is neither camera nor youtube but the editing in-between that is the cause for those. Feels weird that they go through all that effort to produce the ad and then stumble on the final step in a way that really compromises the whole thing.
xenophonf 7y ago
Here's the direct link to the video: https://youtu.be/cM8DcCoZulw https://youtu.be/cM8DcCoZulw
3pt14159 7y ago
Snowflakes are usually hard to capture. Most of the time very snowy scenes in photos or movies have some sort of post production or visual effects that either adds them or enhances them. Does iPhone render them differently in post processing or was this done in post production editing?
nikolay 7y ago
Well, not the "highest quality", according to DXOMARK [0]! [0]: https://www.dxomark.com/ https://www.dxomark.com/

29 points by sogen 7y ago

Haha that was great. That young lady is a future action star.

Apple has a short 'making of' video here, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAJwbyu-2mE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAJwbyu-2mE I think it's interesting to note that for the majority of these 'shot on iPhone' videos, there are likely hundreds of thousands of dollars of production work and accessories provided, including: - Production staff and crew - Location scouts / grips / etc - Stabilization gear / gimbals - Video monitors and edit stations It is nice to know that 'the camera you have with you' is of high enough quality to get decent 4K footage, but that has been the case (well, at least with 1080p) for the past few years. What makes videos like this watchable is the creative minds, the crew, and everything else you don't see in the final frame (well, besides the talented individuals doing the stunts and blasting each other with snow). I don't want to be negative, but it's kind of like saying "you can build a competent Kubernetes cluster with Raspberry Pis". Sure, you can (and I maintain one—see www.pidramble.com). But the Pi is nowhere near a professional tool that makes it _easy_ and as painless as actual purpose-built tooling. And if you're talking about having small cameras that can mount anywhere, something akin to a GoPro is even better suited for this purpose than your $1,000+ phone, which you also want to make sure is available for browsing HN later in the day (and wasn't crushed by a gnarly smash into a tree, then doused in melted snow).

aggie 7y ago
I feel like you're missing what 'shot on iPhone' is trying to convey. The point of the campaign is that the iPhone camera is good enough to be used in a professional shoot, not that it automatically makes high production-value commercials on its own. A RED camera would be 'purpose-built tooling' but would still require all the same production as using the iPhone camera.
- geerlingguy 7y ago
  My point is that almost all consumer cameras these days are good enough to be used in a professional shoot—GoPro, heck even cheap consumer point-and-shoot cameras from Nikon or Canon can produce the same (or usually better) images, and are much cheaper than an iPhone.
aaron695 7y ago
Swingers for instance had to be shot on short ends. http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-swingers http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-swingers. A lot of other movies as well (It was mentioned in Dolemite Is My Name). Clerks was black and white because of cost. Gimbals, scouts, dangerous stunts and everything else can be done cheap. You can pirate editing software if you have to. I've seen nothing to say Snowbrawl had CGI or expensive post production applied. Cheap film has been the holey grail for a long time. Now we get to see did the artificial barrier of filming cost improve film quality, or did we miss out on great directors, actors and films. I see no proof either way yet.

Geee 7y ago

Why does it have Verizon's logo at the end? That's the first time I've seen another logo on an Apple advertisement.

pvg 7y ago
They paid for it. Just like broadcast Apple-produced iPhone ads are co-branded with some regionally-appropriate service provider.

drenvuk 7y ago

Looks cool. Does anyone know if the compression artifacts are from the camera or youtube?

geerlingguy 7y ago
YouTube, mostly; if you've ever watched SloMoGuys videos where they do things like explode paint or liquid things, you can watch the YT compression algorithm go bananas. It's not tuned for tons of small details moving erratically, and it shows whenever there's rain, snow, fire, things like that.
zokier 7y ago
The poor encoding struck my eye too; my guess is that is neither camera nor youtube but the editing in-between that is the cause for those. Feels weird that they go through all that effort to produce the ad and then stumble on the final step in a way that really compromises the whole thing.

xenophonf 7y ago

Here's the direct link to the video: https://youtu.be/cM8DcCoZulw https://youtu.be/cM8DcCoZulw

3pt14159 7y ago

Snowflakes are usually hard to capture. Most of the time very snowy scenes in photos or movies have some sort of post production or visual effects that either adds them or enhances them. Does iPhone render them differently in post processing or was this done in post production editing?

nikolay 7y ago

Well, not the "highest quality", according to DXOMARK [0]! [0]: https://www.dxomark.com/ https://www.dxomark.com/