Apple has unveiled its annual Chinese New Year film, ‘Glad I Met You,’ directed by filmmaker Bai Xue and brought to life via TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Shanghai.

The short film combines live action with stop-motion animation, captured using the iPhone 17 Pro.

The story follows Lin Wei and a lost, talking dog named Little White as they navigate a series of humorous and heartfelt experiences, in a story about finding family.

“The most important shot in this film comes when the dog, Little White, runs toward Lin Wei,” Bai Xue said.

“Using slow motion magnifies the emotional impact by extending the moment,” Xue added.

“When shooting, large devices tend to distract animals during takes, but iPhone is so small that it eliminates many of the hurdles we’d normally face,” lead animal coordinator Hao Shuai said.

Each character was built with custom internal armatures engineered to withstand thousands of micro-movements, while over 20 unique mouth expressions per character were 3D printed, hand-painted, and swapped frame-by-frame to match voice performances by Chinese actors.

“Everything you see on screen in the stop-motion portion was built by hand, with care and love,” BUCK’s creative director Ege Soyuer said.

“There’s something magical about knowing that what you see on screen actually exists in the real world, under lights, on a miniature set, moved millimeters at a time by real people”.

Credits:

Brand: Apple

Creative Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Shanghai

Production Company (Live-Action): Shooting Gallery
Production Company (Stop-Motion): BUCK
Character Design (Stop-Motion): Mackinnon & Saunders
Sound: CODA Music
Finishing: Heckler

Main Film:
Director: Bai Xue
Main Film DOP: Gao Weizhe
Main Film Director of Animal: Hao Shuai
Main Film Editor: Qiao Lin / Yuqing
Main Film Music Gao Xiaoyang / Varqa

BTS:
Director: Jason Kahgiap
Producer: Areta Mak
Camera Operator: Huang Hai Bo / Liang Jun / Sura Tian
Camera Assistant: Fan Fei
BTS Editor: Kang Kang

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