There have been iPad commercials shot with iPads and feature-length films made on smartphones, so why not add a late night television show to the list of jobs smartphones are taking over.
Tonight’s episode (March 25, 2019) of NBC’s Tonight Show will be shot entirely on a Galaxy S10+ smartphone and its wide-angle camera, a bold move to turn not just 30 seconds into a commercial, but the entire episode.
As you might expect, the show won’t be taking its normal format though. Rather than sitting at his desk throughout the evening, Fallon, his accompanying band, The Roots, and a few guests will be taking a tour around his favorite locations around New York City, from The Django jazz club to singing with Conor McGregor at a New York Irish pub, it’s very much an on-location shoot designed to showcase the photo and video capabilities of Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone.
In an interview with Variety, Samsung’s vice president of marketing, Patricio Paucar, unabashedly says the move was done to combat traditional advertising avenues:
‘We know consumer attention is being pulled in so many different directions today. It’s really hard to break through the noise and get people to engage in a way that best communicates the benefits of your products.’
In addition to the Tonight Show, Samsung will be showcasing a high volume of commercials for the S10+ across various networks and television shows, including NBC’s Today, Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Telemundo’s La Vox and E!’s Snapchat show The Rundown.
From the sample video above, the footage looks promising. It’d be interesting to see what’s going on behind the camera though and see what sort of rig the camera is arranged on.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)