Emmy-winning TV show “Modern Family” has built a reputation for being progressive in its plotlines, so it was no surprise that cast and crew delved into a new-age form of filming by using only Apple technology, such as an iPhone 6 and an iPad Air 2.
The most recent episode, “Connection Lost,” premiered in Wednesday night’s line-up on ABC.
The episode was filmed entirely through the tech giant’s latest technology.
What better way to film an episode about failing to communicate than with technological devices that have elevated our ways of speaking with one another?
Comparing it to how it’s originally filmed, I found it to be somewhat refreshing to see a new format for the show. It was entertaining and interesting getting the chance to see how the characters interacted with each other online. For anyone who is just as invested in the show and characters as I am, this is an episode you have to watch.
From the start of the episode, we are invited inside character Claire Dunphy’s activities on her MacBook computer. The episode illustrated the communication issues Claire is having with her daughter Haley after a recent argument.
Claire is anxious and goes off on a tangent involving cyber-snooping and Facebook stalking to find out why Haley isn’t replying to her messages. Then comes the possibility of Haley being pregnant, and running off to Las Vegas to get married. But, as always, the writers show through social media that not everything is what it seems.
This isn’t the first show to use computer technology in place of original filming. Showtime’s “Web Therapy” starring Lisa Kudrow centered around a therapist conducting therapy sessions through online video chats with her patients.
Actor Rico Rodriguez, who stars as Manny, recently spoke in an interview on Good Morning America through a Skype chat (no surprise) about what it was like filming the episode in this unique way.
“Filming it on iPhones was kind of mind-boggling at first, but we all got the hang of it pretty fast,” Rodriguez said.
According to Rodriguez, the total film time it took for the entire cast and crew to make the episode was two days.
If more TV shows continue filming television in this format, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it and would welcome it.