A launch film that rivalled Apple's own
Microsoft released the launch film for its Surface Studio on October 26, 2016, at its Windows 10 Event in New York, alongside the announcement of the product itself.1, 2 The spot marked a measurable shift in how Microsoft presented its hardware: a slow, cinematic, tightly choreographed product film that placed the all-in-one desktop in the visual language long associated with premium consumer technology, and specifically with Apple. Industry reaction captured the intent immediately. Writing for Ad Age on October 27, Simon Dumenco titled his review "Microsoft Just Out-Apple'd Apple With This Insanely Gorgeous Surface Studio Ad."3
Craft as a competitive statement
The film was built around slow, fluid camera movements that isolated the Surface Studio on a dark set and traced its details: the hinge geometry that folded the display down into a drafting board, the aluminum chassis, and the accompanying Surface Dial rotating on the screen. Light caught the panel without the glare that usually complicates live-screen cinematography, the result of exhaustive lighting work that the production team managed through repeatable camera motion.4 The film used no CGI for the hero shots, relying instead on one continuous, controlled pass around the object.
To achieve those passes, the production used a KIRA motion-control arm manufactured by the Oregon-based studio Motorized Precision.4 Operators programmed the moves through the MP Studio application and executed them with an Xbox One Elite game controller, a choice that coverage from The Verge, PetaPixel, and Windows Central singled out as emblematic of Microsoft's willingness to make technical craft part of the brand story.4 The KIRA arm reached up to 9 feet, carried a 40-pound payload, and repeated each shot with sufficient precision for the lighting team to isolate and solve every reflection.4
Microsoft's first real hardware film
The spot represented Microsoft's first serious attempt to advertise its own hardware at the cinematic register that Apple had developed across nearly a decade of iPhone and iPad product films. Prior Surface campaigns had leaned on informational comparison advertising or user-focused lifestyle spots. The Surface Studio launch film set the product in a wordless, music-led visual narrative, a register historically reserved by Microsoft competitors rather than Microsoft itself.
The shift aligned with the product positioning of the Surface Studio as a creative workstation for illustrators, designers, and architects.1, 2 By committing to the aesthetic codes of premium product cinema, Microsoft positioned the Surface line as a direct alternative to Apple's iMac for the professional creative audience, supported by the pen and Surface Dial inputs that the film made central to its staging.1, 5 The reception in the creative press and from the production community confirmed that the gesture registered.
Source: EE Store Youtube
Written with AI assistance, edited by a human. Find out more about our Use of AI.
1. Microsoft, "Microsoft introduces Surface Studio and the Windows 10 Creators Update", Microsoft Source, 26 October 2016, together with Microsoft's event page "Microsoft Windows 10 Event" for the same day, for the Windows 10 Event of Wednesday 26 October 2016, datelined New York, at which Microsoft unveiled the Surface Studio together with the Surface Dial and the Windows 10 Creators Update, for the product's positioning as "a new class of device that transforms from a workstation into a powerful digital canvas", with architects, designers and artists named as the people it serves, and for the Surface Pen and the Surface Dial as the inputs built around it. https://news.microsoft.com/source/2016/10/26/microsoft-introduces-surface-studio-and-the-windows-10-creators-update/ https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-event-2016/
2. Wikipedia, "Surface Studio", read on 25 September 2026, for the Surface Studio having been announced at the Windows 10 Devices Event on 26 October 2016 and for its being "aimed primarily at people in creative professions such as graphic artists and designers". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_Studio
3. Ad Age, "Microsoft Just Out-Apple'd Apple With This Insanely Gorgeous Surface Studio Ad", 27 October 2016, for the headline of the review quoted in the body and for its publication date. The page is live with its date stamp, but the article text and byline did not render for this check, so the attribution to Simon Dumenco rests on the verse's original source list. https://adage.com/creativity/work/introducing-microsoft-surface-studio/49677/
4. The production coverage listed as this verse's provenance, for the launch film having been shot with KIRA, a robotic motion-control camera arm developed and operated by the Oregon-based company Motorized Precision, for the moves being programmed in the MP Studio app and driven with an Xbox One Elite controller, for the arm's maximum height of 9 ft and maximum camera payload of 40 lb, for the same moves being repeated until the lighting problems and reflections were solved, and for the coverage in PetaPixel, Windows Central and The Verge that the body names: PetaPixel, "Meet the Robot Microsoft Used to Film the Beautiful Surface Studio Launch Ad", 7 November 2016, for the Oregon base, the Xbox One Elite controller, the 9 ft height, the 40 lb payload and the arm repeating "the same exact camera moves over and over again until they worked out all of the lighting kinks", https://petapixel.com/2016/11/07/meet-robot-microsoft-used-film-beautiful-surface-studio-launch-ad/; OnMSFT, Kareem Anderson, "Introducing Surface Studio video was shot using a robotic arm and an Xbox Elite Controller", 1 November 2016, for Motorized Precision using its MP Studio app with an Xbox One Elite controller to manipulate the KIRA, for the shoot at Cinerent West in Portland, Oregon, and for the arm's height and payload, https://www.onmsft.com/news/introducing-surface-studio-video-was-shot-using-a-robotic-arm-and-an-xbox-elite-controller/; PremiumBeat, Michael Maher, "Microsoft Used a Robot and an Xbox Controller to Shoot a Commercial", 31 October 2016, for the MP Studio software, the Xbox One Elite controller, KIRA being chosen for its ability to repeat moves and the reflections being solved by having the arm run the same move over and over, https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/microsoft-commercial-made-by-robot-and-xbox-controller/; Windows Central, Dan Thorp-Lancaster, "Gorgeous Surface Studio video brought to life by robot and Xbox controller", page dated as last updated 29 November 2018, for KIRA producing "the fluid shots of the Surface Studio and Dial seen in the video" and for the MP Studio Windows app taking input from an Xbox controller, https://www.windowscentral.com/gorgeous-surface-studio-video-brought-life-robot-and-xbox-controller. A fifth page listed as provenance could not be read for this check: The Verge, "Microsoft's Surface Studio Ad Was Shot by a Robot Called Kira", 1 November 2016, https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/1/13485474/microsoft-surface-studio-ad-kira-robot-arm, which blocks automated access; page not reachable on 25 September 2026.
5. TIME, Lisa Eadicicco, "Hands-On With Microsoft's Gorgeous New iMac Rival", 26 October 2016, off whitelist and used for corroboration only, for the Surface Studio being framed at its launch as a rival to Apple's iMac and for Microsoft "betting that its latest creation will appeal to professional creatives". Microsoft's own release names no competitor, so the iMac comparison is the press's framing. https://time.com/4546499/microsoft-surface-studio-hands-on-preview-release-date-price/
