Shoot Cinematic Apple-like Ads, a Syrp Tutorial

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by Olaf von VossFebruary 21^st, 2020

Even if you’re not a fanboy, you’ll have to admit that these Apple video ads are glorious. Shiny devices, lots of backlight, smooth camera moves. And the question is, how can you pull this off on your own, right? Syrp – the company behind the popular Magic Carpet Sliders and the Genie II – have released a video tutorial in which you get to learn it!

Image credit: Syrp

The video this article is all about is made entirely by the guys at Syrp. So be aware that they will use Syrp equipment to pull off most of the shots. Of course, you can use other gear and get similar results. There’s a lot of knowledge, useful advice and good, creative ideas within this video, so I wouldn’t label it as pure advertising. Using Syrp gear is one way of doing this, yet certainly not the only way.

Syrp Tutorial – Creating Apple-like Ads

A great deal of the magic here is created through the skilful use of lighting. A rather subtle but strong backlighting shapes the device and adds contrast. In combination with the movement of 1) the camera, 2) the device itself and 3) some of the lights, it creates cinematic shots. Watch the full tutorial below and let us know what you think!

The main takeaway from the video is –in my opinion– this: You don’t need uber-expensive gear, a crew of at least 50, and two truckloads of lighting gear in order to create stunning results. The clever combination of movement and lighting – especially contrast and post production – enables filmmaker to shoot really cool stuff nowadays, with only the imagination as the real limit. High quality LED lighting gear is pretty much affordable, and same goes for motion control equipment. Sub-10K cameras are very, very capable these days and some high-level post production tools are free to use.

The video above would have been near to impossible to shoot for a mortal indie filmmaker 5 years back. Now? No problem!

Image credit: Syrp

The video was published in tandem with a more in-depth article, which you can read here. Again, you may replace any dedicated Syrp gear with other products – there’s plenty of other decent products out there. I think it’s pretty cool for a company to produce tutorial videos like this for fellow filmmakers (even if they contain some product placements). The information delivered is simply valuable. If this is the future of advertising, I’m a happy man.

Links: Blog Post

What do you think? Is this video valuable for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!