Midnight, from every angle
Left on separate phones, midnight is a stack of countdowns nobody watches. On one tape they play back to back, earliest start first, so the film gets midnight from the kitchen, the couch and the balcony, one after another.
That only works if the phones aren't all pointed at the same television. Agree on the angles before eleven:
- The faces. One phone on the room during the countdown, not on the screen everyone's counting from.
- The clock. One on whatever the room is counting from, the television or a watch, so the film knows when it is.
- One person. The couple, the kid allowed up late, whoever always cries. A phone on a person, not the room.
Start a minute early: fumbling for the camera at "five" is how the countdown gets missed. And keep rolling for a couple of minutes after, because the hugs and the phone calls are the part you'll watch again.
The network jams at midnight. It doesn't matter: clips save to the phone first and upload in the background once there's signal.
Set it up before people arrive
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Start the tape and invite the seven who'll film
Tap New Tape and name it for the night, then tap Collab and Invite. A tape holds eight people, including you, on every plan, so give the places to the people who'll actually hold a phone up. Starting a tape needs an account; joining one doesn't. What to text them.
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Set up a corner for one question
Lean a phone sideways against something in a quieter corner, with REC on and the Camera app open, and ask everyone to stop by during the night and say one thing to it: the best thing about this year, or one thing about the next. Every answer lands on the tape before midnight.
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REC, then film like normal
Each filmer taps REC and shoots with the iPhone Camera app, held sideways. Horizontal clips land on the tape by themselves; vertical ones don't get added.
What to film on New Year's Eve
- The last hour of the year. Who's there, what's playing, who's already asleep on the couch.
- The answers in the corner. One sentence each about the year, from everyone who stopped by.
- The early countdown, if there are kids. Count down at eight or nine for the little ones, and film that too. It lands on the same tape, hours before the real one.
- The countdown, facing the people. Somebody has to film the faces instead of the TV.
- The first minute after. Hugs, phone calls, the song nobody knows the words to.
- The call to someone somewhere else. Whoever's phoning a friend in another city at midnight, and both ends of it.
- The way home. The cab, the walk, the 1 a.m. kitchen.
- January 1. Whoever's up, and the state of the place.
Everything on the tape counts toward its owner's 2 GB, about an hour of footage, until it's developed. What counts toward 2 GB.
Filming a party in the dark
Midnight happens in the worst light of the night: a room lit by a television and a string of lights, or a street lit by nothing at all. A phone does its best and the faces still go grainy. A few habits help.
- Turn a lamp on before midnight. One light near the people does more than any setting on the phone.
- Film the people, not the fireworks. Fireworks come out as bright smears on a phone. The faces they light up are the shot.
- Tap a face to focus. It sets the focus and the brightness on the person, which helps when a bright screen or window is in the frame.
- Get close for the toast. A room at full volume drowns out anyone more than an arm's length from the phone.
- Stay sideways. A tape only takes horizontal clips, and the film gets watched on a wide screen.
Develop it on January 1
Once you're up, anyone on the tape with an account taps Develop. Everyone's clips come back as one film, in the order they were recorded, in everyone's own Tape Cabinet. What Develop does.
Share the link with whoever spent midnight somewhere else. It plays in any browser, with no app and no account. And keep it for next December 31: last year's midnight, watched an hour before this year's, is a good way to start the night.
Questions before midnight
Will the midnight clips play over each other?
No. Clips play one after another in the order they started recording, so three phones filming the countdown give you three countdowns, back to back. There's no split screen.
How do I film fireworks on a phone?
Mostly, film the people watching them. Fireworks on a phone tend to come out as bright smears on black, while the faces they light up are the shot you'll want later. Keep one short clip of the sky for the sound, and spend the rest on the crowd.
What if more than eight people want to film?
A tape holds eight people, including you, on every plan, so put the seven most likely to hold a phone up on it. Anyone else can send their original clips to someone on the tape afterward, who adds them with +. They land at the moment they were recorded, midnight included.
Does everyone need the app?
To film into the tape, yes: the VideoBro app on an iPhone, and joining from your invite doesn't need an account. Watching the finished film needs only the link, in any browser.