• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 2, 2024

Google goes back to the Super Bowl this year with a 60-second spot about a blind man who documents his life journey in photos, from finding love to starting a family.

The 60-second spot that will run during Super Bowl LVIII was developed and created by Google’s Creative Lab in collaboration with creative agency GUT and directed by blind filmmaker Adam Morse.

Morse is the remarkable man featured in the spot, Javier in Frame, who guided Google in developing the technology.

The AI-powered accessibility feature for the Pixel camera, Guided Frame, helps people who are either blind or have limited vision take selfies and photos.

“My territorial style for this commercial was inspired largely from my own point of view as a person living with blindness. Having said that, this film is not a representation of how I see exactly, but more an impression of my perspective to put viewers in the head of the character and translate the visual experience in a visceral way,” Morse told Google. “For me as a filmmaker, I’m excited and passionate about expressing impactful themes, and executing those stories in an original style.”

In the spot, Morse demonstrates Google’s Pixel phone technology built on artificial intelligence (AI), which allows the blind and visually impaired to take photos by guiding the photographer with voice commands into the ideal position based on markings integrated into the screen.

The screen identifies the faces in the frame, tells the photographer how to move the phone camera to capture the entire picture, and then takes the photo when all people are in view.

Since losing his eyesight, Morse has gone against all odds to break boundaries in the entertainment business by becoming an industry trailblazer for other differently abled artists. Morse’s feature debut as writer and director for LUCID (starring Billy Zane), was released on Amazon in 2020, and it was nominated for the 'Michael Powell Award' at the Edinburgh Film Festival and went on to win Best Director at the Gold Movie Awards in London.

Morse feels a passion to highlight accessibility features like Guided Frame because the technology empowers the global disability community and gifts back a way for users to express themselves and connect with others. 

“When we do this, we better the mental health of so many individuals and elevate the disability community, going against the stigma,” he said.