Why Drive Electric

2019 · Contest · Director, Animator, Editor

Directed, filmed, and edited this fun educational video promoting electric vehicle adoption in New York. My two other teammates and I were awarded the Grand Prize at the 2019 NYSERDA High School EV Video Contest, along with $5,000 and tickets to the Brooklyn Formula E race.

I was inspired by my favorite show, Top Gear UK, to provide our test drivers (friends and family) a series of challenges they had to complete, such as a 0-60 test, visiting a charging station, and EV trivia to create authentic scenes.

The hopeful stats presented in the video are much different now, so if you need to quote something, verify it first.

Thank you to contest sponsors and supporters such as Ron Kamen, Jason Choi, NYSERDA, Nissan of New Rochelle, and Sustainable Westchester.

Filming with the workhorse Canon C100 from 2012 and Abhi's custom-built FPV drone, which he piloted while seated in a moving car.
Onboard from the FPV drone — the overlay is the goggle feed's own readout.
The finished Final Cut Pro X timeline for Why Drive Electric, four minutes ten seconds long, with the full stack of video, title and audio tracks.
The finished cut — 4:10:10 in Final Cut Pro X. Miraculously I was able to edit 5TB worth of footage on an i5 Macbook Pro with 8GB RAM.
A desk set up for shooting hand-drawn charts, with a camera rig mounted overhead and a laptop showing the graph being copied.
All charts and diagrams in the film were drawn by hand, shot under this rig. Other animations were overlaid in post.
Color grading can be peaceful.
Bob Elliott shaking hands with a member of the winning team at the awards ceremony, two teammates in medals standing behind, in front of a screen reading 2019 High School Electric Vehicle Video Awards Ceremony.
Bob Elliott congratulating the team at the ceremony.
The team photographed in the New York Power Authority control room, in front of a wall of energy monitoring displays.
In the New York Power Authority control room after the ceremony.
Three contest winners wearing 2019 first-place medals and name badges, beside New York Power Authority EVolve NY signage.
The 1st place team: Abhi Weltig, Jaden D'Agostinis, and Oscar Pak, 2019 NYSERDA EV Video Contest.
Contest participants in Sustainable Westchester video contest shirts watching the Formula E race from the grandstand in Brooklyn, with the Manhattan skyline behind the track.
Contest participants at the Brooklyn Formula E race.