Connection Lost

While waiting for her flight at O'Hare Airport, Claire (Julie Bowen)—the uptight matriarch of the Dunphy family—attempts to contact her eldest daughter, Haley (Sarah Hyland), after a fight. She FaceTimes her husband, Phil (Ty Burrell), who says that Haley slept over at a friend's house. Meanwhile, Claire's younger daughter, Alex (Ariel Winter), sends her drafts of her college essay for proofreading, but Claire ignores them. Claire FaceTimes her brother, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), and his husband, Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), to inquire about Haley's whereabouts, as she babysat their daughter, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), the night before. They reveal Haley borrowed a suit, and Lily mentions that Dylan (Reid Ewing)—Haley's ex-boyfriend—had spoken with her, surprising Claire since she was unaware that the two of them were still in touch.

Claire uses a fake profile to check Haley's Facebook, where her relationship status reads "Married". Assuming Haley has married Dylan, she calls him, only to learn her fears are unfounded. Unable to reach Haley, Claire hacks Haley's iCloud account to track her phone, despite Alex's disapproval. When Google Maps shows Haley's phone near a wedding chapel in Las Vegas, Claire further panics, having no idea who Haley could have married.

Claire learns that Andy (Adam DeVine), a family friend, is also in Vegas for a wedding, leading her to conclude that Haley has secretly married him. When a copy of the book What to Expect When You're Expecting arrives for Haley at the Dunphy household, Claire fears that her daughter is pregnant with Andy's baby. Overwhelmed, she opens a slideshow of Haley's childhood pictures, which make her emotional, and FaceTimes her father, Jay (Ed O'Neill), apologizing for eloping at Haley's age. Jay reassures her by noting that her own elopement led to a happy family.

Claire finally receives a call from Haley, who has just awakened at the Dunphy household. Haley clarifies that she is neither married nor pregnant, explaining that the suit was for a friend's wedding; she left her phone in Andy's car; her Facebook status was a joke about a "Cronut"; and the pregnancy book was for her boss's fashion line. When Haley questions how Claire accessed her Facebook and tracked her phone, Claire pretends to lose the connection and ends the call.

For Modern Family's sixth season, co-creator Steve Levitan stated that the writing team focused on maintaining audience satisfaction while seeking ways to revitalize the series, including experimentation with narrative structure and format.^[1] "Connection Lost" is presented through Claire's laptop screen as she uses FaceTime, iMessage, and other social networking services to communicate with her family.^[2] This approach departs from Modern Family's typical mockumentary format.^[3] Levitan noted that communication via digital devices had become commonplace and his own family frequently used such technology.^[4] He developed the concept of presenting the episode through a screen while using his laptop to simultaneously FaceTime his daughter, browse websites, and check his email. His daughter later sent him the short film Noah (2013),^[5][6] which takes place on the computer screen of a teenage boy who experiences a breakup through message apps.^[3][7] The film provided him with the "proof of concept" that such an approach could maintain an audience's attention and could sustain a complex narrative.^[8]

Levitan co-wrote "Connection Lost" with Megan Ganz.^[8] They needed a storyline that would justify the screen-based format while still involving the main cast.^[9] Levitan "half expected it to fail", since they struggled to find a sustainable narrative.^[10] The episode was ultimately set with Claire at the airport just before her flight, to create a sense of urgency and opportunities for humor.^[9] Due to the unconventional format, editor Tony Orcena and motion graphics producer John Brown contributed to the pre-production process earlier than usual. They needed to plan all visual content based on the editing that would occur later. Orcena stated: "You're on that desktop for seven straight minutes without a single cut, so a lot of the challenge was to do that without it being jarring, so what you do in the first seconds has to make sense seven minutes later."^[11] According to Ganz, the new format allowed for different comedy styles.^[8] Claire's laptop screen includes many inside jokes and Easter eggs,^[12] including Croctopus 4, a reference to a fictional film that appears in the season-two episode "Our Children, Ourselves".^[4][13] To create an authentic atmosphere, digital elements, including articles and emails, was created from scratch. For Alex's college essay, Ganz wrote a "satire version" that "tr[ies] to say the least amount of information in the most amount of words".^[9] "Connection Lost" took certain artistic liberties with the technology. Claire calls people simultaneously on FaceTime and accesses Google Street View using Apple Maps—both of which were not possible at the time.^[14]

Levitan contacted Noah creators Patrick Cederberg and Walter Woodman for assistance, but they were unavailable due to their involvement on another project. The producers decided to use Apple devices due to their familiarity and recognizability to audiences.^[14] After the producers notified Apple Inc. of their plans, the company—which had an ongoing relationship with Modern Family^[5]—provided iPhones, iPads, MacBook Pros, and a 12-core Mac Pro.^[15] The show's team did not receive payment for their use of the products, with Levitan saying: "There's no product placement or anything. This just came from life, and it made sense."^[5] Prior to filming, extensive run-throughs were conducted with crew members to develop a proof of concept. During this period, they also troubleshooted and eliminated ways of capturing the ceiling or air as "dead time".^[16]

"Connection Lost" was filmed in late 2014.^[2] Levitan, who directed, called it Modern Family's "most labor-intensive" episode to date.^[5] To allow sufficient time for post-production, Levitan and his crew had to accelerate their filming schedule.^[9] They shot 95 percent of the episode within two days.^[5] The producers intended to shoot the episode as a screen recording on the Mac, but the quality was insufficient when displayed on a high-definition television screen.^[14] Instead, it was filmed with iPhone 6s, iPads, and MacBook Pros, because the creators believed it looked more realistic than recording and later modifying higher-quality footage.^[5] Although FaceTime calls use the front cameras, producers opted to film with the iPhone's higher-quality back cameras.^[14] The episode was shot using the Advanced Video Coding video compression standard.^[2]

During filming, the actors were supposed to hold the recording devices. To avoid recording the ceiling and other surrounding objects, however, the camera operators held the devices while the actors positioned their hands beside the camera operators', mimicking the appearance of a selfie.^[4] Claire's computer displays three separate calls occasionally; to give the impression that the characters were all communicating on FaceTime, those scenes were filmed all at once, with three sets being used simultaneously.^[7] Bowen filmed the episode alone in a curtained-off section of the sound stage against a green screen, using an earpiece to hear the other actors.^[2][17] An iPhone positioned atop the Mac's camera was used to record shots of Bowen facing the computer. This resulted in a more even eyeline for Bowen and clearer footage.^[14] As she could not see the other actors, she used monitors and tape to inform her eyeline.^[18] Bowen had to be careful when moving her eyes due to her close proximity to the camera.^[17]

The post-production process took four months, quadruple its usual length.^[17] The team used the Media Composer and Adobe After Effects applications. The footage was uploaded directly into Media Composer. However, when transferred to After Effects, the compression format "wasn't really cooperating". Thus, the crew used Media Composer to encode the material into the Apple ProRes compression format before importing it into After Effects. The standard color grading procedure was eschewed, and only greenscreen shots of Bowen were graded.^[2] Initially, Brown assembled the footage into a preliminary mock-up of Claire's computer screen. He planned to use screen capture software to create the final episode. However, the image would become blurry when zooming in on specific elements. Consequently, Brown had to reproduce and animate the whole Mac interface at a resolution of up to four times the standard one.^[6]

To simulate a computer screen with up to nine open windows, editors and motion graphics producers had to merge the footage with visual effects;^[4] they also needed to recreate the interface of the operating system OS X Yosemite.^[5] Brown and Orcena knew of the visual techniques required from working on Google campaigns, but employing them in a 22-minute television episode could become "very cumbersome and time-consuming", as well as chaotic.^[17] Orcena used the Mac Pro to edit, as the bins on his Avid computer were so large that they broke the autosave feature.^[15] Each act was designed to appear as a single continuous shot with no visible cuts. The team used several methods to conceal editing and cuts within a scene, including simulating connection issues (allowing them to switch between takes);^[11] moving the camera; and morphing from one shot into another.^[2] To make sure the episode remained up-to-date, the crew had to keep up with modifications to Yosemite, which Brown said was "frustrating".^[19]

In the United States, "Connection Lost" aired on February 25, 2015, on ABC.^[13] During its original American broadcast, the episode was watched by 9.32 million viewers and received a 3.4 rating^[a] among adults aged 18–49. It placed second in its time slot, behind Empire.^[20] After factoring in seven-day DVR viewership, the episode gained 5 million viewers and 2.1 rating points, for a total of 14.3 million viewers and a 5.5 rating in the 18–49 demographic.^[21]

"Connection Lost" received positive reviews from television critics. The Motion Picture Association described it as "one of the most discussed comedy episodes of 2015".^[11] Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club called it "one of the most entertaining episodes in recent memory" and gave it a grade of "B". She opined that the episode restored the show's "chemistry" by featuring the full main cast.^[22] Vulture writer Daniel Kurland said it was "without a doubt the most ambitious and stylistic the series has ever gotten".^[16] Vox's Brandon Ambrosino and Quartz's Jason Lynch stated that "Connection Lost" was representative of the creative risks Modern Family was taking during its sixth season.^[3][23]

Reviewers also remarked that the screen-based format complemented the narrative and humor. Writing for Slate, Jay Deshpande praised the use of multitasking as a unique narrative device,^[24] while Anick Jesdanun of the Associated Press said that the episode's storytelling benefited from jokes and plot twists within the digital format, setting it apart from Modern Family's typical mockumentary-style humor.^[14] The writing received praise as well, with Ambrosino describing the script as "a knockout" and asserting that it sustained action and audience engagement. He and Kurland also praised the attention to character development.^[3][16]

The use of Apple products in "Connection Lost" drew mixed reactions. While Ihnat criticized the episode as resembling a "giant infomercial",^[22] other critics opined that the product placement was well incorporated into the narrative. Lynch described the product integration as "truly organic", saying it contrasted with the promotional stunts often seen in television.^[23] Kurland commented that the use of technology occasionally felt heavy-handed, such as a scene where Claire nostalgically views baby pictures while listening to music on iTunes. However, he also argued that the devices served as "astute reflections of the characters", enhancing the authenticity of their interactions.^[16] Jesdanun remarked that any initial skepticism about the Apple-centric concept "quickly dissipated" due to the episode's strong execution.^[14]

According to Vulture, "Connection Lost" is often considered Modern Family's best episode.^[16] It has topped rankings by /Film and Rolling Stone Brasil,^[25][26] as well as appearing on top-episode lists by Entertainment Weekly (2nd),^[27] The Mary Sue (9th),^[28] the Chicago Sun-Times (10th),^[29] and The Indian Express (10th).^[30]

At the 67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, "Connection Lost" won Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation,^[31] marking Modern Family's third win—after "En Garde" and "Dude Ranch"—and sixth nomination in the category.^[32] It also received the Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Series – Half Hour and was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Comedy.^[33][34]