Shot on iPhone 13 Pro ‘The Comeback’

Background

Apple wanted to mark the arrival of the Chinese New Year for the fifth consecutive year by making a film shot on the new iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Idea

‘The Comeback’ is a heart-warming movie about making a movie, designed to inspire and encourage everyone to never stop believing in their dreams, even if that dream is as remote as Mars. Shot by writer and film-maker Zhang Meng, the 23-minute film demonstrated many of the iPhone 13’s video features, including industry-leading stabilisation, slo-mo, time-lapse, and Dolby Vision. No additional lenses were used.

A young stunt-double, injured in a film shoot, travels home where he is persuaded to make a film that might bring the village internet fame.

The villagers all come together to make the costumes, build the sets and act in the story. Slowly the young man recovers his dreams of becoming a director.

The ‘making of’ film showed how Zhang Meng made the most of the iPhone’s Cinematic Mode, macro, and low light features.

Results

Not yet available

Our Thoughts

Welcome to the Year of the Tiger. The Chinese New Year began on February 1st and many Western brands wanted to let their Chinese consumers know they understand something of Chinese culture. They made videos and put out ads featuring tigers. This, by contrast, showed what millions of Chinese do for New Year.

Travel home. No tigers. Just the story of a bruised young man, his enterprising father and a village for far off the map it could easily have been on Mars. And therein lies the story, beautifully told and equally beautifully shot.

The title, ‘The Comeback’, doesn’t just refer to the guy returning home or to the renewal of hope in the village when he starts making his film but is, I think, a reference to the astonishing comeback of Steve Jobs to Apple to make the company what it is today.