Apple and the Postal Service: Same director

AG, the music for the commercial is MOBY's - "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters"

I think it would have been a great idea to actually have used "Such Great Heights"

Even better, they should have used Iron & Wine's version of "Such Great Heights", but the I guess MARS Corp. could have sued for similarities to the M&Ms commercial.

I think everyone should just accept it for what it is and be done with it. Don't you people have anything better to do? SHEESH!

I'm surprised no one has mentioned they have already been down this road the LUGZ SHOES controversy.

http://www.tuaw.com/2005/10/26/lugz-threatens-legal-action-for-eminem-ipod-ad/

i just cracked up while reading #1's comment

that aside, they are very similar looking videos and the postal service vid i predict was produced way before the apple ad. both are good vids though :)

i just cracked up while reading #1's comment

that aside, they are very similar looking videos and the postal service vid i predict was produced way before the apple ad. both are good vids though :)

They just put the Postal Service video mentioned in this post on the music store. There is clearly a relationship between the videos (per this post) but this just solidifies that there are no hard feelings??

The iTunes Music Store now has the Postal Service's video for "Such Great Heights" for sale and in the top-and-center marquee position on the Home Page. The music in the ad is Moby's "God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters", which appears in the soundtrack release for the film, "Heat" (in iTMS also). Seems bygones are bygones, if there ever were any in the first place.

I own the copyright () to the color "red." Anyone using the color "red," even in mixtures, owes me royalties. You, with the RGB screen -- pay up. One third of what you see is mine.

I'm a commercial director so hopefully I can add some insight.

First, in the end the client (The Postal Service or their record label) owns the right to any images for its commercials/music videos. Not the director or the cameraman. They paid for it so they own it. There is almost NO CHANCE that they borrowed footage from the video. The legal issues and cost to license the footage is greater than just shooting it again. Sad but true.

Second, you wouldn't believe how picky ad agencies are about selecting a director or cameraman for a commercial. They are spending so much money and also, they want to cover their ass big time. If they're shooting a car commercial with a red can and the cameraman's reel doesn't have a red car he most likely won't get the job. They want to remove all fear by seeing their commercial already on a director or DPs reel. That way they know what they're going to get. So I can only imagine that when they wrote this spot and started looking for directors and saw that video on the reel they were overjoyed to 'see' their spot already on a reel. I'm also guessing that because Chiat/Day and Apple usually work with 2 different directors on most of their spots so this is a first for them.

Lastly, you cannot copyright an idea. People in a clean room is only an idea. You may feel like there is a lack of creativity, but it's not illegal. If it was, Steven Speilberg would be sued for stealing the boulder scene he used in "Raiders" from "Journey to the Center of the Earth" as one example of directors 'borrowing' ideas from each other.

They hired the directors to 'remake' their video in this commercial so it's no surprise it looks similar.

Controversy aside, I'd actually really like to know what the music is in the background of the Apple ad. Anyone know?

All I've said is that Chiat/Day hired Josh & Xander because their video worked. Josh & Xander retooled it for the Apple ad. They probably used much of their original footage (most likely because they own it) I don't think anything has been stolen. As it was stated above... the song & video were perfect for an Apple ad and Chiat/Day realized that and made it happen.