This spot will make you melt. The latest addition to Apple’s Shot on iPhone series, ‘Saving Simon’ shows why iPhone 13 Pro is the perfect tool to capture and preserve beautiful moments of connection, joy and family during the holiday season and beyond.
Oscar-nominated directors Jason and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters) highlight some of the newest features on iPhone 13 Pro – Macro and Cinematic modes – in a tearjerker holiday card to the world.
Featuring the song You and I by Valerie June, the story follows a little girl, who desperately wants to save in order to save Simon the snowman from melting. She puts Simon back home in the refrigerator before the end of the winter to ensure that he can see the snowman every day. And that is just what she does. We follow our heroine throughout the next three seasons. She plays trombone. Checks on Simon. Goes camping. Checks on Simon. Carves pumpkins. Well, you get the idea.
When next Christmas comes, she moves Simon back to the door again. The snowman still couldn’t escape the fate of being destroyed. But the family is there to fix things. Watch below:
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Jason Reitman, director, comments: “This is the greatest moment of all time to want to be a filmmaker. If you want to write stories, you pick up a pencil. If you want to write songs, you pick up a guitar. And if you want to make movies now you can just pick up an iPhone. This storytelling device is just sitting there in your pocket. It gives us a chance to tell stories no matter where you grow up and allows everyone to see stories from other cultures which brings us all closer. The idea that you can just pick up your phone and start filmmaking is one that thrills me.”
Apple also released a behind-the-scenes video that runs for almost three minutes and shows how the father and son used iPhone 13 Pro handsets to create a stunning ad that certainly knows how to tug at the heartstrings. And the fact it was created using the same iPhone 13 Pro that’s in many pockets makes it even more impressive. Watch the making of below:
“It was so impossible just to do sync sound when I was doing the opening films. It’s a lot of fun today. You could really try anything and do something that’s really professional with the iPhone,” said Ivan Reitman, director.
James Whitaker, ASC, director of photography, comments: “The cinematic mode is an excellent tool for racking focus from one character to another, focus our thought and helps us tell stories.”
The production team additionally built a super large refrigerator and a snowman, with the intention of capturing more details of the snowman in the refrigerator.
A 60-second version of the commercial will run on broadcast and online TV, with a longer form film on YouTube and 15-second and 6-second feature-specific shorts running on digital and social.
Colin Costello is the West Coast Editor of Reel 360. Contact him at colin@reel360.com or follow him on Twitter at @colinthewriter1
