Apple Stores will host a free Star Wars-themed session and workshops from September 1 to September 9. Apple, which is promoting the event as Force Friday II, will deploy augmented reality gadgets to bring fans into the store.
Star Wars-themed sessions at Apple Stores
A number of select Apple Stores have been advertising two main classes. The first is called “How To: Build Your Own Star Wars Trailer,” and it lets customers learn signature techniques for making Star Wars trailers through an exclusive video from the The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. In the process, the students will be able to use authentic footage and music from a number of Star Wars films to get a trailer done in iMovie on an iPad, explains AppleInsider.
“Then you’ll create your own trailer complete with titles, transitions, sound effects, and official Star Wars music using iPad and iMovie,” says the description on Apple’s website.
The other session is called “Kids Hour: Coding the Droids from Star Wars,” and participants will be able to program a Sphero robot and walk it through a self-designed maze.
“Using the same code developers use every day, kids will bring Star Wars droids to life by programming simple movements, loops, and more. Then they’ll design a maze and navigate their droids through the obstacles,” says Apple.
According to Reuters, during the Promotional event, fans will be able to see AR versions of various characters such as Rey and Chewbacca in the Apple Store and can even get their photos taken with them. It will be something similar to Pokemon Go, in which the virtual characters were shown in an app. Although Android users will be able to take their photos with the virtual characters too, only iPhone users will be able to shoot the video.
Fans can also get “data chips,” which could be names given to digital tokens for unlocking various other promotional items, such as video clips and character emojis.
How and where to participate?
Apart from the U.S., Apple Stores in all other markets (except for Brazil) are also participating in the Force Friday II series. Over 20,000 retail locations across 30 countries will hold the event next week, where fans will be able to find characters like Rey, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca and so on just by scanning the codes with their smartphones.
Other retail stores hosting the event include Target, Walmart and Best Buy. A number of Disney stores are also hosting the event. There is no word on the specific Star Wars figures and toys that will be available in the Apple Stores. Fans who want to participate in the event will have to download the Star Wars app onto their iPhones and check class availability via the Today at Apple website.
This is not the first time Apple is hosting such an event. Two years ago, the iPhone maker held a similar event around the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
