If you're reading this article while instant-messaging a friend and getting ready to Skype your mom, the latest episode of Modern Family will really strike a chord. The episode of the hit-comedy, which aired on Wednesday night, was shot completely using iPhones, iPads, and Macbook pros to show how relatives today stay in touch with the help of their high-tech devices. Show producer Steve Levitan says he got the idea for the episode while talking to one of his college-aged daughters on FaceTime. Innovative: Wednesday night's episode of Modern Family  was shot completely on Apple devices (cast member Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell Pritchett is pictured) The episode titled 'Connection Lost' takes place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop (cast member Ed O'Neill who plays Jay Pritchett is seen in front of the iPhone camera) Innovative: Wednesday night's episode was to show how relatives today communicate with the help of their high-tech devices . Slice of modern life: The show takes place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop, as she waits at an airport and talks to various members of her family on her laptop . 'I had emails open, some websites... then my daughter showed up' Levitan recounted. 'I could not only see her, but I could see me, and there was something going on behind me, my wife or somebody.' How we live now: Modern Family's executive producer Steven Levitan says he got the idea for the episode while talking with his college-aged daughter over Facetime . 'I realized on that screen, you could tell so much about my life.' Apple apparently 'loved the idea' when he pitched the episode, and offered to provide devices for the show - though Levitan maintains that it is not product placement. 'This is the way my family communicates. We happen to be an Apple family. This is the technology that I know. 'If Claire started contacting everybody through Google Hangouts, it would have felt less believable to me because I don't know anybody who uses it that way. It doesn't mean people don't, but I don't. 'Samsung makes beautiful TVs. They make beautiful phones. It just so happens that I use Apple, so it's the way that makes sense for me,' he said. The episode titled 'Connection Lost' takes place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop, as she sits in Chicago's O'Hare airport waiting for a flight back to Los Angeles. She's trying to reach her daughter Haley over video message when other members of the family start popping in to say hi on her computer screen. 'You'll see how Claire navigates around the computer, the various sites she visits, the way she interacts with everybody through Facebook, Facetime and e-mails,' Levitan told USA Today. 'Somehow, we managed to get all 11 characters into the episode.' The computer set-up of the episode apparently provides for some pretty humorous situations. In one scene, Claire is talking to her brother Mitch when they talk about her birthday and the fact that she hasn't received a gift from him. Critically acclaimed: ABC's Modern Family has won the Emmy for best TV comedy the last five years running . Meanwhile, on Mitch's screen, he starts online shopping for a belated present. The episode took a bit longer to create since it involved more work in post-production to create all of the pages Claire is seen interacting with on her computer. However, Levitan says loyal viewers will appreciate the extra work. 'This episode is loaded with detail. There are little Easter eggs from past episodes and nods to people in our lives. My wife, for example, is one of Claire's Facebook friends,' he said. Viewers should also look out for a reference to Croctopus 4, a fictional movie featured in an earlier episode and Claire's daughter Alex's college application essay. The special iPhone episode of Modern Family aired on Wednesday night on ABC at 9pm ET/PT. The sitcom about three branches of a California family has won the Emmy Award for best TV comedy for the past five years. 'We happen to be an Apple family': Levitan (pictured) says the show was shot completely using only Apple devices, but that it's no product placement . For this week's "Modern Family," producers put down their expensive professional cameras and shot the episode with iPhones and other Apple devices. Seen through the eyes of character Claire Dunphy as she uses a Mac laptop, characters only appear on her computer's FaceTime video-calling app. The Associated Press spoke with series co-creator and executive producer Steve Levitan about the thinking behind shooting with a smartphone and lessons learned. The episode, "Connection Lost," airs on ABC at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday and is available online Thursday (Hulu Plus, cable or satellite subscription required until next week). Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length. Q. What did you find most surprising? A. We thought the actors would be their own camera person originally, but it's just a lot for them to have to get everything framed just right. We quickly devised a method where a camera person held the phone just in front of them. So that it didn't look like the phone was floating in space, we always had an actor put their hand on the cameraman's hand. That made it look like they were doing a selfie thing. Q. How does the iPhone compare with traditional cameras? A. When you have a controlled environment, it's easy to get nice-looking images. The challenge comes when you're dealing with extremes — extreme brightness and darkness. The cameras we typically use cost tens of thousands of dollars and use lenses that cost just as much. You're going to always get a better quality with those. But the phone's quality is quite good. It's just amazing what's happened to smartphones in five years. Q. Could you have achieved the same effect with professional cameras? A. We wanted it to look as real as possible, so rather than shoot it on this incredible camera and then dumb the image down a bit so it looks like an iPhone, why not just shoot it with an iPhone? This is certainly good enough for our purposes, and it made the most sense. Q. Where do you see this going, not just with iPhones but other consumer gadgets such as GoPro video cameras and digital SLRs? A. It opens up filmmaking to people who don't have the resources for expensive equipment. There's a movie at the Sundance film festival this year that was shot on an iPhone. You really can, if you wanted to, shoot a movie on an iPhone or a thousand-dollar camera and then edit it on your computer. If you're clever enough, it can look like an expensive movie. That said, filmmaking is not just about having the technology and the camera. It's also about having a vision and the story. That's always going to rely on good old-fashioned human ingenuity. Q. How do you avoid making the equipment the center of the attention? A. The really compelling part here is the story telling, not so much how we did it technologically. At the end of the day, this story needed to be told this way. It's an emotional story, and it's a funny story. Ultimately when you have that going for you, it keeps this from becoming a gimmick. While the iPhone thing is a nice headline, I hope ultimately people remember this as a compelling episode. Q. There are lots of Android and Windows users out there. Do you worry about criticism that you are focusing too much on Apple? A. This is the way my family communicates. We happen to be an Apple family. This is the technology that I know. If Claire started contacting everybody through Google Hangouts, it would have felt less believable to me because I don't know anybody who uses it that way. It doesn't mean people don't, but I don't. Samsung makes beautiful TVs. They make beautiful phones. It just so happens that I use Apple, so it's the way that makes sense for me. (After producers reached out to Apple, the company provided devices, but didn't pay for their inclusion.) Q. Any tips for budding filmmakers? A. Using this kind of technology is nothing but a means to an end. The more important thing is to spend time on the story and the characters and make sure you have something compelling that's worth actually using these devices for. If you don't, it's very easy to come up with beautiful images and fun camera tricks. The real difficult part is to have something worth filming. That's where you should put the bulk of your time and energy. Associated Press .
Wednesday night's episode takes place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop, as she talks to relatives via video messaging .
Show producor Steven Levitan got the idea for the episode while speaking with his college-aged daughter on Facetime .
Episode 'Connection Lost' was shot entirely on iPhones, iPads, and Macbook pros - but Levitan says it's not Apple product placement .
Will air on ABC at 9pm ET/PT .
If you're reading this article while instant-messaging a friend and getting ready to Skype your mom, the latest episode of Modern Family will really strike a chord. The episode of the hit-comedy, which aired on Wednesday night, was shot completely using iPhones, iPads, and Macbook pros to show how relatives today stay in touch with the help of their high-tech devices. Show producer Steve Levitan says he got the idea for the episode while talking to one of his college-aged daughters on FaceTime. Innovative: Wednesday night's episode of Modern Family  was shot completely on Apple devices (cast member Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell Pritchett is pictured) The episode titled 'Connection Lost' takes place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop (cast member Ed O'Neill who plays Jay Pritchett is seen in front of the iPhone camera) Innovative: Wednesday night's episode was to show how relatives today communicate with the help of their high-tech devices . Slice of modern life: The show takes place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop, as she waits at an airport and talks to various members of her family on her laptop . 'I had emails open, some websites... then my daughter showed up' Levitan recounted. 'I could not only see her, but I could see me, and there was something going on behind me, my wife or somebody.' How we live now: Modern Family's executive producer Steven Levitan says he got the idea for the episode while talking with his college-aged daughter over Facetime . 'I realized on that screen, you could tell so much about my life.' Apple apparently 'loved the idea' when he pitched the episode, and offered to provide devices for the show - though Levitan maintains that it is not product placement. 'This is the way my family communicates. We happen to be an Apple family. This is the technology that I know. 'If Claire started contacting everybody through Google Hangouts, it would have felt less believable to me because I don't know anybody who uses it that way. It doesn't mean people don't, but I don't. 'Samsung makes beautiful TVs. They make beautiful phones. It just so happens that I use Apple, so it's the way that makes sense for me,' he said. The episode titled 'Connection Lost' takes place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop, as she sits in Chicago's O'Hare airport waiting for a flight back to Los Angeles. She's trying to reach her daughter Haley over video message when other members of the family start popping in to say hi on her computer screen. 'You'll see how Claire navigates around the computer, the various sites she visits, the way she interacts with everybody through Facebook, Facetime and e-mails,' Levitan told USA Today. 'Somehow, we managed to get all 11 characters into the episode.' The computer set-up of the episode apparently provides for some pretty humorous situations. In one scene, Claire is talking to her brother Mitch when they talk about her birthday and the fact that she hasn't received a gift from him. Critically acclaimed: ABC's Modern Family has won the Emmy for best TV comedy the last five years running . Meanwhile, on Mitch's screen, he starts online shopping for a belated present. The episode took a bit longer to create since it involved more work in post-production to create all of the pages Claire is seen interacting with on her computer. However, Levitan says loyal viewers will appreciate the extra work. 'This episode is loaded with detail. There are little Easter eggs from past episodes and nods to people in our lives. My wife, for example, is one of Claire's Facebook friends,' he said. Viewers should also look out for a reference to Croctopus 4, a fictional movie featured in an earlier episode and Claire's daughter Alex's college application essay. The special iPhone episode of Modern Family aired on Wednesday night on ABC at 9pm ET/PT. The sitcom about three branches of a California family has won the Emmy Award for best TV comedy for the past five years. 'We happen to be an Apple family': Levitan (pictured) says the show was shot completely using only Apple devices, but that it's no product placement . For this week's "Modern Family," producers put down their expensive professional cameras and shot the episode with iPhones and other Apple devices. Seen through the eyes of character Claire Dunphy as she uses a Mac laptop, characters only appear on her computer's FaceTime video-calling app. The Associated Press spoke with series co-creator and executive producer Steve Levitan about the thinking behind shooting with a smartphone and lessons learned. The episode, "Connection Lost," airs on ABC at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday and is available online Thursday (Hulu Plus, cable or satellite subscription required until next week). Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length. Q. What did you find most surprising? A. We thought the actors would be their own camera person originally, but it's just a lot for them to have to get everything framed just right. We quickly devised a method where a camera person held the phone just in front of them. So that it didn't look like the phone was floating in space, we always had an actor put their hand on the cameraman's hand. That made it look like they were doing a selfie thing. Q. How does the iPhone compare with traditional cameras? A. When you have a controlled environment, it's easy to get nice-looking images. The challenge comes when you're dealing with extremes — extreme brightness and darkness. The cameras we typically use cost tens of thousands of dollars and use lenses that cost just as much. You're going to always get a better quality with those. But the phone's quality is quite good. It's just amazing what's happened to smartphones in five years. Q. Could you have achieved the same effect with professional cameras? A. We wanted it to look as real as possible, so rather than shoot it on this incredible camera and then dumb the image down a bit so it looks like an iPhone, why not just shoot it with an iPhone? This is certainly good enough for our purposes, and it made the most sense. Q. Where do you see this going, not just with iPhones but other consumer gadgets such as GoPro video cameras and digital SLRs? A. It opens up filmmaking to people who don't have the resources for expensive equipment. There's a movie at the Sundance film festival this year that was shot on an iPhone. You really can, if you wanted to, shoot a movie on an iPhone or a thousand-dollar camera and then edit it on your computer. If you're clever enough, it can look like an expensive movie. That said, filmmaking is not just about having the technology and the camera. It's also about having a vision and the story. That's always going to rely on good old-fashioned human ingenuity. Q. How do you avoid making the equipment the center of the attention? A. The really compelling part here is the story telling, not so much how we did it technologically. At the end of the day, this story needed to be told this way. It's an emotional story, and it's a funny story. Ultimately when you have that going for you, it keeps this from becoming a gimmick. While the iPhone thing is a nice headline, I hope ultimately people remember this as a compelling episode. Q. There are lots of Android and Windows users out there. Do you worry about criticism that you are focusing too much on Apple? A. This is the way my family communicates. We happen to be an Apple family. This is the technology that I know. If Claire started contacting everybody through Google Hangouts, it would have felt less believable to me because I don't know anybody who uses it that way. It doesn't mean people don't, but I don't. Samsung makes beautiful TVs. They make beautiful phones. It just so happens that I use Apple, so it's the way that makes sense for me. (After producers reached out to Apple, the company provided devices, but didn't pay for their inclusion.) Q. Any tips for budding filmmakers? A. Using this kind of technology is nothing but a means to an end. The more important thing is to spend time on the story and the characters and make sure you have something compelling that's worth actually using these devices for. If you don't, it's very easy to come up with beautiful images and fun camera tricks. The real difficult part is to have something worth filming. That's where you should put the bulk of your time and energy. Associated Press .
was shot completely using iPhones, iPads, and Wednesday night's episode of Modern Family  was 'Connection Lost' takes place on Dunphy family place on Dunphy family matriarch Claire's laptop, as she waits at an airport and talks to various executive producer Steven Levitan says he got the idea for the episode while talking with his college-aged daughter over Facetime . 'I realized Family aired on Wednesday night on ABC at 9pm devices, but that it's no product placement . For