How Apple Filmed its Flashy MacBook Neo Video Using Handmade Props

When Apple unveiled its new low-cost MacBook Neo laptop in early March, it did so with the flashy launch video seen above. While some of it is CGI, much of it has very practical roots, as Apple revealed today in a new behind-the-scenes video.

Apple’s low-cost MacBook Neo has proven to be a smash hit for the Cupertino tech giant. Shortly after its launch, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook described the Neo’s launch period as Apple’s “best launch week ever for first-time Mac customers.” The $599 notebook has clearly struck a chord with customers, and shipping estimates for different colors and configurations are still weeks out.

Apple’s behind-the-scenes YouTube Short offers a fairly rare look at how super-polished marketing videos are shot and edited. Apple is no stranger to heavily relying on in-camera, practical effects, as it demonstrated with its new Apple TV logo splash screen last fall, but even still, it’s perhaps surprising just how much of the MacBook Neo intro video is real.

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As Apple itself describes the new BTS video, it gives viewers a “peek at some handmade magic,” and it’s certainly an accurate characterization. The video shows how Apple and its creative teams used real props alongside post-production magic to create an eye-catching final video. In a world where so much can be done solely on a computer, it is refreshing to see an advertisement rely so heavily on handcrafted materials and clever shooting techniques.

Apple’s team built a simulated trackpad, shot a stop-motion fireworks sequence, used LED strip lights, little confetti cannons, and more to create the final result. While there is plenty of CGI involved here, including various 3D modeling and post-production techniques, it all has real-world underpinnings.

As plenty of giant companies rely on newfangled tech and, unfortunately, generative AI to create marketing materials, it’s great to see a tech company like Apple take the longer and costlier path of hiring real artists to do actual work. In this case, a lot of work, as there is a wide variety of techniques utilized in the final MacBook Neo video, which is only a few minutes long.

Image credits: Apple