Martin Scorsese used iChat to direct The Departed 15 Jun 2007

According to Black Magic Design's interview with visual effects supervisor Rob Legato, Martin Scorsese used Apple's iChat video conferencing tool to direct the final "rat shot" from The Departed (which was shot in L.A.) from a Mac in New York:

"Scorsese requested a reshoot of the rat shot. By this time, the set had been struck and was not available, so Legato turned his basement into an insert stage. 'We staged the scene in my basement and I had my daughter do a storyboard that we sent to Marty,' Legato says. 'He said, 'Yes, that's the shot'. That was just previz, but now we had to shoot the real shot. It was easiest to shoot in L.A., but Marty wanted to direct the shot and he was in New York. So on the day of the shoot we aimed iChat at the video tap on the camera.' Across the country in New York City, Scorsese and director of photography Michael Ballhaus watched the action on a Mac. A speaker connected to the Mac was placed on the camera dolly, and iChat allowed...Scorsese to direct the scene with the crew listening to him in realtime."

Scorsese won the Oscar for Best Director for The Departed at the 2007 Academy Awards.

[via Macenstein]