At Apple, “Behind the Mac” is an on-going open brief; an ever-green platform for us to celebrate those who use our computers to create culture-shaping work. In Skywalker Sound, we found the perfect subject for the next iteration of the campaign. For decades, they’ve been pushing Mac to its technological limits to create the iconic sounds and soundscapes that score our lives. Step inside their central machine room and you’ll find over 80 Mac Pros daisy chained together, this network of computing power linked by wires and cables to the editing bays, mixing rooms, and foley studios where the cinematic sound for over 200 projects a year is created. By telling their story, we highlight the connection between our wonderful tools and the wonderful things that people create with them. And what could be more wonderful than the sounds of an entire galaxy?

We knew that Star Wars fans love nothing more than content about how Star Wars was made. And from our research, we saw that the actual process of making sounds was insanely interesting, mixing technological know-how with pure, unbridled creativity.

So our idea for the film was simple: show all the different ways that the artists of Skywalker use Mac to make the most iconic sounds and soundscapes in cinema history. Because our technology is so tightly integrated into Skywalker’s process, celebrating Skywalker would be celebrating Apple. Highlighting the artists' genuine passion and creativity while using Mac all we’d need to do to make a powerful and persuasive piece of branded content.

It was Star Wars fans themselves who created May the 4th (a play on “May the Force be with you”) as a day to celebrate everything that makes the franchise so special. This intergenerational, cross-cultural fanbase is famous for its devotion to every last detail of the history behind the making of the films, yet we realized that many of the stories behind the films’ sounds, and Apple’s technological contributions to those stories, remained untold. With Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound we could join fans in celebrating May the 4th, highlighting the creatives and their stories, while also celebrating the technology they used to build an entire sonic universe.

Our intention with the film was to take viewers on an auditory journey: In 16 minutes, you’d watch Al Nelson designing a sound from scratch; Chris Scarabosio breaking down a finished sound effect from Star Wars: Rogue One to show all the different elements that went into the final effect; Tom Myers deconstructing a mix, highlighting all the individual tracks used in a single scene. In the film’s final mix (done by Skywalker’s very own Jeff King), we further emphasized the emotional power of sound by initially stripping away the picture, proving that the iconic sounds of Star Wars are instantly recognizable, even without visual cues. At the end of our film, we removed the sound design from various clips, leaving only the visuals, capturing the sudden loss of an emotional connection to the films. But with the sound reintroduced, the scenes exploded with feeling, the worlds brought to life.

In the end, Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound received over 8.9 million views on Youtube, and got love from across the internet.

Overall, the film received 9.7 million views (7.9 million in the first week), generating over 700 thousand hours in watch time and 55 million organic impressions. On Youtube, the film received 58 thousand likes, was shared 24 thousand times, which helped bring over 10 thousand new subscribers to our channel.

People also showed us love from across the internet. Here are some of our favorite reviews from Twitter:

- What an incredible love letter to sound design! I have spent my fair share of time in studios, and if I had seen this early enough in my career this might have been my path instead - @JasperHauser

- 16 minutes and 40 seconds of geniuses flexing on us and I love it so so much - @brightsunsmedia