The evolution of Apple ads and videos

Apple is a master of visual storytelling in its ads, product videos and marketing films.

In addition to its memorable products, Apple is also known for its ads. The company uses video masterfully to sell itself and products. Apple’s ads, product launch videos and marketing films reflect thematic threads that the company has carefully spun throughout its history.

Its latest video, the WWDC short film « Appocalyse« , is a polished Hollywood-level satire about a future when apps stop working. The topical film shows just how far Apple has evolved comically, cinematically and emotionally in its ads and videos over the years.

Revolution via sledge hammer

« Appocalypse » wasn’t Apple’s first foray into a cinematic bleak future. The ad « 1984 » introduced the company and its Macintosh computer to the world, and threw a metaphorical sledge hammer in the face of IBM, the biggest maker of personal computers at the time.

« The ‘1984’ ad was a simple, brilliant, middle finger to the personal computer establishment of the day, » says filmmaker Patrick Read Johnson.

Cinematic visuals defined « 1984 », like the tracking shot passing rows of anesthetized people or the slow motion shot of the heroine in orange shorts running with a sledge hammer. The commercial looked like a science fiction film thanks in large part to its director, Ridley Scott (« Alien« , « Blade Runner« , « The Martian« ).

It also established a visual rule of not showing products or their specs.

« The ad didn’t tell you a damn thing about the computer, except that it would be different and revolutionary, » says Johnson.

Apple made the lack of products and specs an ongoing motif in its ads and videos in the 2000s.

Simplicity is a white backdrop

The 2006 « Get A Mac » campaign featured Justin Long and John Hodgman as a Mac and PC, respectively. They stood against a bright white backdrop, looked at the camera and said, « Hello, I’m a Mac. And I’m a PC ». No products. No dark dystopian futures. No complexity. Just two guys (rather two computers) having a conversation.

The spots looked like a designer magazine ad brought to life with white backgrounds that made Mac and PC pop off the screen.

« For me, clarity, individuality, humanity and authenticity permeate Apple’s ads, » says designer Michael Hauss.

That clarity and humanity was on full display in the « Get A Mac » campaign. The tone of the spots was friendly. Mac and PC chatted about their capabilities as casually as two good friends talking about hobbies. The viewer wasn’t bombarded by specs. Rather, they formed a loveable connection to Mac and PC, and ultimately Apple by association.

Before « Get A Mac », Apple had the 2002 « Switcher » campaign in which everyday people shared woeful stories about using a PC and why they switched to a Mac. Both campaigns used humor to contrast the differences between a Mac and PC. Both were shot on white backgrounds. And both feature people talking directly to the camera.

Apple’s keynote videos followed this recipe and featured executives like Jony Ive against a white backdrop introducing a new product. The simplicity of these product launch videos became iconic and spawned numerous spoofs with Conan O’Brien having done some of the best.

Apple has largely done away with this style of ad and video. « Appocalypse » was shot in various real world locations. The actors played scenes in a realistic manner instead of breaking the fourth wall and there are copious shots of Apple products being used.

About the only thing carried over from the white background dynasty was the use of humor. But all these changes didn’t vanish overnight. Sometimes you just need to add someone famous.

Celebrities are just like us

As the « Switcher » campaign continued from 2002-2006, the spots eventually replaced the testimonies of regular people with those of celebrities like Tony Hawk, De La Soul and Will Ferrell. But this wasn’t Apple’s first celebrity rodeo.  

In 1981, Apple’s very first ads featured talk-show host Dick Cavett. In 1995, Apple’s Power campaign featured George Clinton, Spike Lee, Marlee Matlin and more, each proselytizing about what power meant to them.

This culminated in 1997, when Apple launched its memorable « Think Different » campaign that made the move from celebrities to global and historic icons. Instead of selling computers, the ads were Apple’s siren call to people who thought « different ».

The original ad featured black-and-white footage of Albert Einstein, Martha Graham, Mahatma Gandhi, among others. This was the keystone video for Apple that connected spots like « 1984 » with later ads like « Shot On iPhone ».

The visuals of the ad aroused emotion. Its use of black-and-white film gave the spot a timeless, poignant quality. This was in contrast to Dell, which around this time was running its « Dude, you’re getting a Dell » campaign.

« At the center of Apple’s marketing mission, there has always seemed to be a concentration on our emotional connection to technology, » says Johnson.

Apple values how its products make their customers feel and its ads reinforce that by showing that connection between its products and a celebrity people admire.

The latest incarnation of celebrity ads started in the spring of 2012 with Samuel L. Jackson, Zooey Deschanel and John Malkovich using the iPhone 4S and continued with celebrities like Taylor Swift using Apple Music.

If « Think Different » embraced the passionate genius, these ads were more relatable: One wanted to be like Samuel L. Jackson and have Siri help make gazpacho. One wanted to be like Drake and lip sync to songs. One wanted to be like Cookie Monster and bake cookies.

The setting for the ads (a kitchen, living room, gym) was an evolution from the white backdrop that defined earlier videos. The walls and trim of the rooms were white or light colored. The environment looked curated like an Architectural Digest magazine spread and these ads marked Apple’s return to cinematic visuals.

Real people are more like us

In the last few years, Apple’s videos continue deeper into the cinematic vein. The company returned back to using real people in most of its videos. The « Shot on iPhone » campaign started in 2015, features photography and videos made by people on their iPhones. The images are inspiring and emphasize the grand possibilities of an iPhone.

Initially, Apple used a white picture frame around the images like the frame of a printed photograph. This is another evolution of the white backdrop.

In 2014, Apple released a series of ads and short films focused on everyday people doing extraordinary things like « Slow Roll » featuring Jason Hall the co-founder of Slow Roll Detroit who used his iPad to plan ride events.

These videos showcased people using Apple products in genuine ways and were not as overtly instructional as Apple’s contemporary celebrity ads. The documentary style videos could have easily been done in a generic talking-head fashion.

« Apple’s videos never just exist in the vanilla center of marketing communications, » says Hauss. Instead, these videos were imbued with a cinematic elegance and passion that matched the people they featured.

High end production values elevated these short documentaries. But to call them documentaries wouldn’t be entirely accurate. The films were a hybrid of documentary subject matter and narrative cinematic visuals. There were wide angle, time lapse, overhead and tracking shots; as well as beautiful closeups of people and the iPad. In this way, it’s easy to see the cinematic link between these short docu-narratives and « Appocalypse ». These films also showed just how far Apple had moved away from the in-your-face days of « 1984 ».

Romeo, Juliet and three barbers

Over the past year, Apple evolved its visual storytelling with a series of videos that balance cleverness, product use, emotion and humor. The iPhone 7 Plus ad « Romeo and Juliet » is a great example.

The ad starts out like an Academy Award winning period drama, but instead of adult actors, there are little kids in the roles. Halfway through the spot, it’s revealed that all this was a teary-eyed father’s perspective, who is filming his daughter’s school play on his iPhone 7 Plus. Without explaining the feature, Apple sells the benefit of the iPhone’s dual cameras simply through emotion.

Another recent ad, « Barbers« , uses a similar approach. But instead of relying on emotion, it uses humor and wonderful art direction. Of any ad Apple has made since « 1984 », « Barbers » is just as cinematic and full of style.

« ‘Barbers’ has a very Wes Anderson-y vibe, » says Hauss. « I see a lot of directorial trademarks used to create a filmic look. » Anderson’s meticulously filmed movies are revered for their highly stylized art direction.

And this can be said about the video « Appocalypse » which is is a wonderful bookend to « 1984 ». Both are cinematic, both depict a troubling future without Apple, and both are masterful in their message. But where they differ is that « Appocalypse » shows a mature Apple that can use the nuance of cinema to make a point instead of just throwing a sledge hammer at the screen.

Apple declined to comment for this article.

Prime Minister Theresa May has ordered a full public inquiry into the fire that engulfed a west London block of flats, killing at least 17 people.

That figure is expected to rise, as fire chiefs do not expect to find any more survivors in the burnt-out Grenfell Tower, in north Kensington.

People have been desperately seeking news of missing family and friends.

The PM said people « deserve answers » as to why the fire spread so rapidly and that the inquiry « will give them ».

Mrs May, who made a brief, private visit to the scene earlier, said: « [The emergency services] told me that the way this fire had spread and took hold of the building was rapid, it was ferocious, it was unexpected.

« So it is right that, in addition to the immediate fire report that will be produced and any potential police investigation, that we do have a full public inquiry to get to the bottom of this. »

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, also visited the site, telling community leaders « the truth has to come out ».

The BBC’s assistant political editor Norman Smith said if the inquiry followed the course of previous inquiries, it « may well be headed by a judge ».

« It will almost certainly hold its evidence sessions in public and those who will give evidence will include the local council, the builders, the contractors but yes too, I suspect the tenants and the relatives of some of the victims, » he added.

• Latest updates: Death toll expected to rise
• What we know so far
• Baby ‘dropped to safety from tower’
• Eyewitnesses recall harrowing night

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More than 30 people remain in hospital – 17 of whom are in a critical condition.

The Queen earlier said her « thoughts and prayers » are with families.

Firefighters were called to the 24-storey residential tower in the early hours of Wednesday, at a time when hundreds of people were inside, most of them sleeping.

Many were woken by neighbours, or shouts from below, and fled the building.

Fire crews rescued 65 adults and children, but some stayed in their homes, trapped by smoke and flames.

‘Painstaking search’

On Thursday morning, London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said her crews had identified a « number of people, but we know there will be more ».

Asked how many were still missing, Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy said it would be « wrong and incredibly distressing » to give a number.

« I know one person was reported 46 times to the casualty bureau, » he said.

A brief search of all floors in the tower had been carried out, but the severity of the fire and amount of debris meant a thorough search would be « difficult and painstaking », Commander Cotton said.

Sniffer dogs will now be sent in to search for evidence and identification of people still inside, she said.

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PA

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Temporary structures will be built inside the block in order to shore it up before more thorough work can begin.

The cause of the fire, which took more than 24 hours to bring under control, remains unknown.

Throughout the morning, only wisps of smoke were seen coming from the charred building, but flames were later seen flaring up again on a lower floor.

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London-born Adele and her husband visited the scene on Wednesday evening, and the singer was seen comforting people.

Singer Rita Ora pitched in by helping to sort donations outside the tower.

Photographs and messages in English and Arabic have been left for loved ones on a wall of condolence near the tower block.

Alongside them are words of anger and calls for justice, with people saying their safety concerns were not listened to.

• Student helps Grenfell residents before exam
• The man who filmed the Grenfell fire

The local authority – Kensington and Chelsea council – said 44 households had been placed in emergency accommodation so far.

Throughout Wednesday night, people donated food, clothes and blankets for those left without homes.

By early morning some volunteers said they had been overwhelmed with donations and were turning people and vans away.

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Twitter/@FourMee

BBC Newsnight’s Chris Cook says the type of cladding on the outside of Grenfell Tower, installed in 2015 during a refurbishment, had a polyethylene – or plastic – core, instead of a more fireproof alternative with a mineral core.

Similar cladding was used in high-rise buildings hit by fires in France, the UAE and Australia, he said.

The government has said checks were now planned on tower blocks that have gone through a similar upgrade.

Construction firm Rydon, which carried out the refurbishment, initially said in a statement that the work met « all fire regulations » – the wording was omitted in a later statement.

Fire risk assessment in tower blocks was « less rigorous » since responsibility for it shifted from the fire brigade to the owner, Sian Berry, housing committee chairwoman of the London Assembly, said.

Concerns have also been raised about fire alarms not going off and the lack of sprinklers.

It is still possible to build tall buildings without sprinklers, said Russ Timpson of the Tall Buildings Fire Safety Network, but he expected regulations might change soon.

Overseas colleagues are « staggered » when they hear tall buildings are built in the UK with a single staircase, he added.

Roy Wilsher, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, said that if the fire spread up the outside of the tower, sprinklers might not have made a difference.

Design and regulations for such tower blocks mean fire should be contained in a single flat, he said. « Clearly something’s gone wrong in this case. »

Meanwhile, stories continue to emerge from survivors and eyewitnesses.

One man, who lives in the neighbourhood, said he saw people banging at the window and children screaming.

He said he knew one family with five children under the age of 10 who were all missing.

« There are so many children that are unaccounted for. My daughter’s best friend has gone, » he told BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire.

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Ana Ospina

Meanwhile, appeals are being made on social media for news of friends and family who are still unaccounted for.

Among them are 12-year-old Jessica Urbano Ramirez and 66-year-old grandfather Tony Disson, from the 22nd floor.

Security guard Mo Tuccu, who was visiting friends in the tower to break the Ramadan fast, is also missing.

One family from the 17th floor has five people missing. Husna Begum and four other family members were last heard from two hours after the fire started.

Labour MP David Lammy is appealing for information about his friend, Khadija Saye, and her mother, Mary Mendy.

An emergency number – 0800 0961 233 – has been set up for anyone concerned about friends or family.

Read more about the missing here.

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Nobody in President Trump’s orbit stirs up headlines quite like Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of the right-leaning media outlet Newsmax and his longtime friend.

Since the early days of the administration, Ruddy has fashioned himself into something of an unofficial spokesman for Trump, a freelance translator of sorts with a unique insight into the president’s thought process and the workings of his inner circle. Put differently, he’s a Trump whisperer.

Ruddy has been a ubiquitous presence in Trump’s sphere over the past several months, the “Zelig” of the administration, as the Atlantic’s Rosie Gray wrote. He converses regularly with Trump and White House officials, and says he has given the president advice on everything from health care to Chinese relations to fake news.

On more than one occasion this year he has stirred controversy by inserting himself into conflicts among Trump’s staff.

But what has really put Ruddy on the radar lately are his frequent media appearances, in which he is fond of telling reporters, candidly and on-the-record, what Trump is thinking — or rather, what he thinks Trump is thinking.

That was the case this week, when Ruddy made the explosive assertion on PBS “NewsHour” that Trump was pondering whether to fire Robert S. Mueller III, the former FBI director tapped by the Department of Justice to oversee the probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“I think he’s considering perhaps terminating the special counsel,” Ruddy said Monday, adding that he believed the move would be a mistake. “I think he’s weighing that option.”

The remark made waves not only because Ruddy has become one of Trump’s most sought-after and loquacious confidants, but because he had visited the White House just an hour before heading to the PBS interview, leading some to speculate that he was testing the waters for Trump, as The Washington Post reported.

Though no one in the administration specifically disputed Ruddy’s claim, White House press secretary Sean Spicer responded that Ruddy had not met with Trump that day, saying he “speaks for himself.”

As Washington buzzed about whether Trump would indeed give Mueller the ax, Ruddy went on to give more interviews about the possibility of such a move. He also criticized the White House press office’s response, saying “it’s amateur hour over there.”

The dust-up was nothing out of the ordinary these days for Ruddy, who seems to have grown more bold about offering his perspective.

What sets Ruddy apart from other Trump allies is his dual role as a newsman and a close friend of the president. As the head of a prominent conservative news organization with a monthly audience in the millions, his takes on the West Wing carry more weight than they might otherwise. He is quoted almost weekly in The Washington Post, the New York Times and other outlets, and makes regular rounds on cable news.

Ruddy goes out of his way to say he speaks only for himself, even if his remarks come suspiciously soon after a meeting with the president or White House insiders.

“I’m a newsman, so I’m going to give my views,” Ruddy told The Post Wednesday. “I’ve never on a very confidential matter ever gone on a show and quoted the president on it. People sometimes make the false jump that ‘he met with the president, therefore he must be talking on his behalf.’ I’ve never spoken on his behalf.”

But it’s not always easy to tell why, or for whom, Ruddy so readily offers his insights.

“Perhaps Ruddy tries to have it both ways,” CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter wrote Tuesday. “He trades on his access to Trump but emphasizes that ‘I am not speaking for the president.’ ”

Ruddy, 52, grew up on Long Island, studied history at St. John’s University in New York, and received his master’s in public policy from the London School of Economics. His journalistic career kicked off in the early 1990s, when he made a name for himself covering the Clinton White House for the New York Post. His reporting and subsequent book about the suicide of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster won him star status among conservative commentators.

He founded Newsmax in 1998, catering mostly to right-leaning baby boomers through the outlet’s website and newsletters that quickly gained scores of subscribers, as he told Bloomberg in a 2014 profile. He met Trump shortly after. Both lived part time in Palm Beach, Fla., and would bump into each other intermittently, Ruddy said. Their friendship grew in the mid-2000s after Ruddy joined Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Over the years, Trump and Ruddy would discuss their views on a range of issues and occasionally bounce ideas off one another. In the run-up to the 2012 election, Ruddy said, Trump expressed his frustration with Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee, and said he was mulling a run of his own. Ruddy encouraged him.

“I don’t think he had really figured out what his political approach was going to be,” said Ruddy, who identifies as a Reagan conservative but is not a registered Republican. “I would say, if you run you’ve got to officially announce, and if you do, I’ll donate to your campaign. That was the Rubicon for him, the announcement.”

Since its founding, Ruddy’s Newsmax empire has steadily expanded. By 2014, it ranked as the most trafficked conservative news site on the Internet, topping 11 million visitors per month, as Bloomberg reported at the time. That year, Newsmax opened a new headquarters in Boca Raton, right down the road from Trump. Ruddy, then on the verge of launching NewsmaxTV, told Bloomberg that he was making a play to upend the conservative media landscape by shaving off Fox News viewers.

By 2017, Breitbart News had surpassed Newsmax as the Web’s leading conservative site, with more than 17 million visitors in January to Newsmax’s 7 million, as The Post reported. On top of that, it was Stephen K. Bannon, a former Breitbart chairman, and other Breitbart staffers who won seats in Trump’s White House, not Ruddy.

But Ruddy and Newsmax’s loyalty to Trump seem to have paid off in different ways. Ruddy said he has maintained an open line with the president since Day One.

“He’ll reach out to me and I’ll reach out to him,” Ruddy said. “I’ve been doing Newsmax for years, and the president used us as one of his platforms to reach his base. I’m not interested in looking for a job from the president and I’m not looking for financial gain from the president.”

Republican operative and Trump ally Roger Stone echoed those remarks in the Atlantic earlier this year.

“Newsmax is one of the earliest promoters of Trump,” he said. “They were in fact promoting Trump for president in 2012. Ruddy has always been a Trump promoter when others were not yet taking his candidacy seriously or his potential candidacy seriously.”

The squabble over the possible termination of the special counsel was not the first time Ruddy’s comments to the media have caused rumblings in Trump’s White House.

In February, Ruddy set off a media storm when he told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that Reince Priebus, Trump’s chief of staff, was “in way over his head.” He made the statements shortly after meeting with Trump for drinks, prompting questions about whether Trump was threatening Priebus through Ruddy. But Ruddy said later that he was only giving his opinion. A meeting with Trump, Ruddy and Priebus followed, and they appeared to smooth things over.

Another major reveal came in March, shortly after Trump baselessly accused President Barack Obama of wiretapping him. That weekend, Ruddy spoke with Trump twice and described the conversation in a column for Newsmax. He wrote:

I haven’t seen him this p‑‑‑ed off in a long time. When I mentioned Obama “denials” about the wiretaps, he shot back: “This will be investigated, it will all come out. I will be proven right.”

Trump has not publicly bristled at any of Ruddy’s commentary, even if it causes trouble for those around him. Ruddy said that may be because he always tries to be forthcoming with the president. If anything, he said, Trump seems to welcome his outspokenness.

“People who know us tell me that they think that because I’m honest with him in my assessments,” Ruddy said. “I think at the end of the day he respects it and values it.”

“We’ve had many frank discussions where we disagreed,” he added, “and it hasn’t changed the nature of our relationship one iota.”

More from Morning Mix:

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Law enforcement officials worked Thursday to piece together the final nomadic months of the shooter whose anger toward President Trump apparently erupted in a rage of gunfire that left House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and four others wounded on a baseball field.

Among the many questions for investigators is whether the gunman — James T. Hodgkinson, a 66-year-old unemployed home inspector from southern Illinois — had long planned Wednesday’s assault and possibly studied the movements of lawmakers in the months he spent living in his van in northern Virginia.

Hodgkinson died after a shootout at the Alexandria baseball field where Scalise and Republican colleagues were holding a practice for an annual congressional baseball game against Democrats.

Authorities said Hodgkinson used a rifle and a handgun in the attack. They were investigating whether they were obtained legally.

Scalise remained in critical condition, according to officials at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Four other people were wounded by gunfire and two of them were still hospitalized, including a lobbyist who remains in critical condition.

On Thursday morning, FBI agents swarmed through the Alexandria neighborhood. The baseball field, a parking lot and nearby YMCA facility remained closed, as did some streets in the area.

The shooting brought temporary displays of unity among lawmakers across America’s sharp political divide. But the attack also resonated far beyond the crime itself into possible reckonings over the country’s drift toward increasingly angry and uncompromising politics.

A major show of political solidarity was expected later Thursday at the Congressional Baseball Game, which organizers vowed to hold even in the chaotic hours after the shootings. Officials said there will be additional security at Nationals Park for the 108-year-old event.

Last year, an estimated 10,000 people were said to have attended game which has a long tradition. Trump does not plan to attend the game because of security and logistical concerns, according to White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

[The Congressional Baseball Game has been ‘a great bipartisan tradition’ for 100 years]

On Wednesday evening, President Trump and his wife Melania visited Scalise and spoke with his wife.

Hodgkinson, who had been living in his van in Alexandria for the past few months, had posted anti-Trump rhetoric on his Facebook page and had written letters to his hometown newspaper blaming Republicans for what he considered an agenda favoring the wealthy.

Several congressmen at the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria praised the officers who engaged Hodgkinson, including two Capitol Police officers who were injured. One lawmaker said the baseball team members would have been sitting ducks had the gunman been able to make it onto the field.

“It would have been a bloodbath,” said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.).

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), a retired Army general, said, the shooter was kept off the field by a chain-link fence, which was locked. “If he had been able to gain entrance to the field, it would have been a whole different story.”

A lobbyist, a congressional aide and a Capitol Police officer also were shot, while a second officer was struck by shrapnel. Rep. Roger Williams (R-Tex.) injured his ankle while helping others take cover.

[Gunman repeatedly criticized Republican lawmakers for favoring ‘super rich’]

Williams along with one of his staffers — Zach Barth, who was shot in the leg — described the incident and fear in an interview Thursday morning on NBC’s “Today” show.

“I was running for my life,” Barth said of how he ran to seek cover from the field to the dugout. Once in the dugout with several other people, he said: “I was trying to keep my head down and prevent anything else from happening.”

“We were just trying to stay alive,” he said.

Barth was treated and released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.

Williams described how he had just started to hit balls to Scalise when he heard the popping sound of shots being fired. He said he thought it was a car backfiring, but then realized it wasn’t and dove for cover to the dugout.

He said there were generations of people inside the dugout, including another congressman’s 10-year-old son.

“We bonded that day,” Williams said. “It was a scary day.”

He credited the two special agents with the Capitol Police who were members of Scalise’s security detail with being there. He described them as fabulous and said without them it would “have been a different” outcome “if they had not been there.”

Williams said that it also helped that a gate to the field was locked, preventing the shooter from getting onto the field.

“If he had gotten onto the field we would have had nowhere to go,” Williams said. “We had nothing but bats. … The Lord worked yesterday. He saved us.”

In a televised statement from the White House, Trump on Wednesday called for people to come together and commended the injured officers.

“Many lives would have been lost if not for the heroic actions of the two Capitol Police officers who took down the gunman despite sustaining gunshot wounds during a very, very brutal assault,” he said.

Lawmakers and bystanders described a horrific attack that began shortly after 7 a.m., when the shooter began firing more than 50 rounds from a military-style rifle and a handgun, taking aim through the chain-link fence.

Scalise was felled by a bullet to the hip as he fielded grounders at second base, witnesses said. Then the aide and the lobbyist were struck as the gunman moved methodically around the fence and toward the home-plate backstop. As Scalise crawled across the field, leaving a trail of blood, the gunman advanced toward a dugout, where several people were hiding.

Congressmen said the Capitol Police officers emerged from the dugout, moving toward the gunfire. A woman walking her dog said she heard a female officer scream, “Drop your weapon,” before the gunman “shot her and she fell to the ground.” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the officers “went out into the fire to draw the fire. The shooter was moving toward the dugout where the members were, and they were able to take him down.”

Authorities said five people were taken to hospitals, including Hodgkinson. Matt Mika, a lobbyist for Tyson Foods, was being treated at George Washington University Hospital, a spokeswoman said.

The House speaker’s office identified the injured Capitol Police officers as Special Agents David Bailey, who was treated and released from a hospital, and Crystal Griner, who was struck in the ankle and hospitalized in good condition. Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa said both are expected to recover fully. Police identified a third officer who participated as Special Agent Henry Cabrera. They did not say which officers fired their weapons.

Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown said two city officers who arrived at the scene opened fire, joining Capitol Police officers who already were in a gun battle with Hodgkinson.

Scalise’s office said in a statement that the congressman was in good spirits and speaking to his wife, Jennifer, by phone before he went in for surgery. Wednesday night, the hospital said Scalise was shot in the left hip and that the bullet fractured bones and struck internal organs. They said Scalise had lost a lot of blood and would need additional surgeries.

He has been in Congress since 2008 and represents a district that includes some New Orleans suburbs and bayou parishes. He and his wife have two children.

[Rep. Steve Scalise and the long, awful history of gunned-down lawmakers]

Verderosa said it “will take a while to sort through all the details” during the investigation, which is now being led by the FBI. Tim Slater, the special agent in charge, said it is “too early to tell whether anyone was targeted … It’s really raw now.”

But focus immediately turned to political statements Hodgkinson had made on social media, interactions he had with lawmakers, and run-ins he had with law enforcement officials near his home in Belleville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) told reporters that, just before the shooting, he spoke briefly with a man he believes was Hodgkinson and that the man “asked me if the team practicing was a Democrat or Republican team.” Duncan added, “I told him they were Republicans. He said, ‘Okay, thanks,’ and turned around.

“I’m shaken up. My colleagues were targeted today.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Hodgkinson volunteered on his 2016 Democratic presidential campaign, although an aide said that he had no formal role and that no one could remember him. Sanders denounced the shooting, saying on the Senate floor that he was “sickened by this despicable act.”

Hodgkinson had sent letters to his local newspaper in Illinois decrying income inequality, encouraging the government to tax the rich and supporting President Barack Obama, according to the Belleville News-Democrat. “A strong middle class is what a country needs to prosper,” he wrote in one of his letters to the editor. “The only thing that has trickled down in the last 30 years came from Mitt Romney’s dog.”

Police in Belleville reported responding in March to a complaint that Hodgkinson was shooting at the end of his street, firing 50 rounds “in the pine trees.” Police said that he had a valid license for the weapon, and that he agreed to stop when they told him to.

Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), who represents the district where Hodgkinson lived, said that Hodgkinson had contacted his office 14 times via email or by telephone and that although he never made threats, “he was always angry.”

Stephen Brennwald, a lawyer who lives in Alexandria, said he realized after seeing Hodgkinson’s photo on the news that he was the same man who had been hanging out for at least the past several weeks in the lobby of a YMCA adjacent to Simpson field. Brennwald said Hodgkinson would regularly show up first thing in the morning — about the same time the shooting took place — and look at his laptop or stare out the window.

“He never worked out. He never talked to anybody. He never did anything,” Brennwald said.

The shooting started at 7:09 a.m. at the popular park on East Monroe Avenue in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, near Old Town Alexandria and the Potomac Yard shopping complex on Route 1. The Republican lawmakers were holding their final practice before Thursday night’s game, a traditional event designed to bolster goodwill between two sides of the partisan aisle.

Scalise, who plays second base, was accompanied by members of the Capitol Police’s executive protection unit because as majority whip, he is the third-highest-ranking member of the House. His security detail was positioned behind the first base dugout; witnesses said the shooter started on the other side of the diamond.

About 20 people were on the field at the time, many catching fly balls from batting practice, and when the gunfire started, players and onlookers took cover in dugouts, under a sport-utility vehicle or in the open on the ground. Barton, the team manager, said the gunman, dressed in blue jeans and a blue shirt, shot at Scalise at second base and fired toward the third baseman, Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.).

Bullet holes were left in windows of the YMCA, and bullets were in the swimming pool. On Wednesday evening, about 100 people gathered at a church in Del Ray for a community prayer service. Trump, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, visited the hospital where Scalise and Grinerwere being treated. Aides carried in flowers.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Barton — managers of the respective teams — said they will still take to the field Thursday night.

“We’re united not as Republicans and Democrats but as United States representatives,” Barton said. “It will be ‘play ball’ tomorrow night, 7:05.”

Amber Phillips, Paul Kane, Tom Jackman and Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.