Apple Watch Series 4’s Newest Watch Faces Were Shot Using Live Video

A new interview and behind-the-scenes footage reveal the Apple Watch Series 4‘s new watch faces were actually shot using live video.

The Apple Watch Series 4 launch saw the debut of some attractive new watch face animations that really take advantage of that larger, edge-to-edge display. However, according to a new video from Cool Hunting, those beautiful new effects were shot using live video despite looking like CGI effects.

These animations were captured on an actual camera, shooting actual fire, actual water, actual vapour, and actual liquid metal. Apple deployed a flamethrower to create that roaring fire effect, popped a balloon in water, created an explosion of coloured power and placed a metallic liquid atop of a turntable of sorts.

“We probably could have done this digitally, but we actually shot all of this practically in a studio,” says Dye. “What I love about the fact that we did this is that it’s just so indicative of how the design team works. It was really about bringing together some of our various talents to create these faces. There are of course art directors, and color experts, and graphic designers, but also model makers who helped build these structures that we would eventually, you know, set on fire.”

When asked how these concepts were chosen, Dye said that “in terms of design in general, for everything we do there’s probably 100 things we don’t do and that’s just part of the design process.”

In case you missed it, be sure to check out our full review roundup of the Apple Watch Series 4 for some thoughts on the new watch faces, the Series 4’s larger display, and how this new release gives us a look at the future of the Apple Watch right now.

Make sure take a look at the video of the actual process — it’s insane: