Tonight, history is made as Modern Family becomes the first major TV show to ever air an episode shot almost entirely using Apple products — ranging from the iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 to MacBook FaceTime cameras.
But while Apple products are famously easy to use, the episode itself contained numerous challenges: taking more than three months to complete, and a variety of nifty filmmaking tricks. To find out more details, BuzzFeed News reached out to the show’s executive producer and co-creator, Steve Levitan, to get some added insight about the challenges of making this unusual show.
The behind-the-scenes video is available to watch online, or download via iTunes.
The clip is full of interesting insights like the fact that the iPhones used were kept in holsters by the cameraman, and that each actor had to keep their arm on the cameraman’s arm to make it look as though they were the one using the handset.
Interestingly, Levitan also reveals that other scenes in the show’s history have been filmed using Apple devices, noting that “In the past we’ve actually stuck in some shots with the iPhone that nobody knew [about], because we happened to have one with us when we were doing something, and we were like, ‘That worked!’ so we’ve used it.”
For instance, “there was a scene where Manny (Rico Rodriguez) was dressed as a mascot at a basketball game, so rather than recreating a whole basketball game, I quickly shot my son’s basketball game on my iPhone. Then we filmed Rico against a green screen, and inserted the shot into the episode.”
The fact that the shots were not discernible from those filmed with the show’s TV-standard cameras is just further evidence of how great the iPhone has become as a camera over its lifespan.
Although today’s Modern Family episode is a TV first, it’s far from the first time the iPhone has been used as a professional camera.
In May last year, Bentley debuted its new ad, which was shot using an iPhone 5s, and edited from the back seat of a car using an iPad Air. In the lead up to Christmas 2014, photographer Brooks Kraft meanwhile snapped the festive decorations at the White House using an iPhone 6 Plus. Finally, earlier this year, a breakout hit film at the Sundance Film Festival, Tangerine, was revealed to have been shot using an iPhone 5s.
Entitled “Connection Lost,” today’s Apple-centric episode of Modern Family airs on ABC. In the meantime, you can check out BuzzFeed‘s video here, or else download an extended version from iTunes.
