These short six second scenes are used to give a sense of place an activity around New York City at midnight.  We want people to know it's OK to be up late. We originally built scenes using iStock video but most of those scenes were beauty shots of New York icons showing street traffic. I needed nighttime video showing activity with people so I decided to shoot my own video. 

 

Walking around New York at night I would see interesting shots but I only had my cell phone to capture the scene. I got really good at finding a discarded bottle to use as a tripod and I would set my phone down on the ground to capture the low angle scene. On very cold nights I would stand shivering overtop my phone so no one would kick it off the sidewalk. When composing the scene I have to allow space for the Nightline logo. 

 

The time lapse function on the iPhone creates a wonderful sense of time gone by. Using Adobe After Effects I'm able to adjust the speed of the video and animate the Nightline logo. I add a sense of drama to the scene with shadows and glows, saturated color and adjusted light levels. 

 

While The iPhone video quality is amazing it's nighttime lighting sensitivity is still lacking so I have to look for well lit scenes. I'm still waiting for that app that can shoot, edit, and apply graphics, while I check my inbox.

Roger White
Motion designer ABC Nightline. Nightline is taped live weeknights in New York at 12:35A.