Chris and I got to do something fun over the last two days….
Someone had posted on another forum about “sportbike riders” needed for a video shoot. It was for a training video for law enforcement agencies throughout the state of FL, sponsored by the DOT, to educate police officers on some of the newer motorcycle and scooter related laws (i.e. the under 21 tag, helmets, tags and such), to be shown statewide at meetings and during roll call. It was last minute, but I contacted the woman from the production company, and she asked me to come out the following morning and meet her at UNF for the shoot (I mean, it’s not like I’ve got a job or anything, so why not?)
Met up with the whole production team, as well as a few police officers (the “talent”) and went over the plans for the morning’s shoot. We set up on a small road off Kernan, where I got pulled over (repeatedly) for making a right on a red without stopping. We shot this… I dunno… 4 or 5 times (different angles, close ups, far away, etc…).
The next shot, they actually instructed me to commit some moving violations, and followed me in a police car with the camera rigging on the roof, and another cameraman in the car (so they could capture me, the light bar, and the speedo in the car). This was the most fun part… they asked me to (so long as I felt safe) make a right on red without coming to a complete stop, make some lane changes for no reason, with no turn signals, and without looking over my shoulder, and then ride faster then the posted speed limit (they told me “Have fun with this! This is the only time you’ll get to do this with a cop in your back pocket!”). For this segment, they didn’t want me to pull over…so I kept doing stuff, and they’d hit the lights and sirens, and I’m sure traffic around us was wondering WTF was going on…. LOL… it was hilarious. When we got back, they were all laughing saying they were afraid a good Samaritan was going to tackle me at a stoplight or something for not stopping!
Then we went back to the first location, where another rider met us. We shot a segment where we got pulled over for riding 2-abreast (not staggered). The most realistic part of this shot was that I (the female) didn’t get a “ticket,” but the male rider did….
I didn’t have any speaking lines (the cops all did), other than “Yes, sir… Yes, sir… Yes, sir…. I’m sorry, sir.”
From there, I left, and the other rider went on to shoot some footage on a major highway.
The second day, we met up with the crew out in Jax Beach (Chris came out for this day of shooting as well, and we met two other riders – one of them a local police officer).
Our first segment of the day was one of the riders and I riding scooters (I was on a 125cc, he was on a 50cc) all around Jax, Neptune and Atlantic Beach. Since he's under 21 (and has the appropriate Under 21 tag), this shoot was done with helmets. I have to say, if I lived at the beach, I’d SOOOOO have to get a lil scooter! So much fun, and so easy to maneuver around the narrow streets at the beach!!
Next we went back to base camp, and did a second segment with Chris and I riding the scooters (heh… he got stuck with the 50cc), this time without helmets. We mainly tooled around a bunch of residential and smaller side streets. After a while, you just forget you’re following a camera truck with 6 people staring at you… lol….
The next shot was the 4 of us (Chris, Me, Daniel and then the JSO officer with the production assistant riding as his passenger), riding through some back streets of Atlantic Beach, and then up and down Mayport Road. This was just a causal, group ride shot, and we each got a chance to rotate up to be at the front of the shot/the focal point. Well, halfway through this shot, it started raining… A lot. We got drenched… lol… just soaked to the skin. And then *poof* just like that, the sun was back out. We broke for a late lunch, then Chris and I headed out for a bit to get dry clothes/gear.
We met back up with the crew up at the boat launch on the south end of the Nassau Sound Bridge; two other guys we know came out for this shot as well, and we did a group riding shot crossing the bridge at sunset. They were SUPPOSED to have the bridge completely closed down for the shot, however apparently the officer who was supposed to close it for us was waiting at the wrong bridge. Lol…..
But then once again, the rain came, so they wanted to cut us loose before the weather got too bad, so we wrapped up the shoot.
All in all, it was just a ton of fun. Nothing glamorous, we didn’t get paid or anything, it was purely voluntary, but we met some really interesting people who are involved in motorcycle education in the state of Florida, learned a lot about different laws, and also got an inside look at the whole production end of things (hey, it’s the closest we’ll ever come to being in a movie… lol)…. It was just cool to be a part of it (and MAYBE, just MAYBE if we ever get pulled over, it’ll be by a cop who’s seen the video, and he’ll let us go… lol… )
They’ll be sending us DVD’s of both the completed video, and all of our own footage; they also had a photographer out there who got TONS of pics throughout both days, and she said she’ll get some of those to us as well.
Here's a few pics:
One of our Co-stars (we had a couple officers from Miami, one from JSO, and then one from UNF)
The camera truck - this thing was bad ass!
Me and 125cc of fury!
For the first scooter shot, Chris rode in the chase vehicle; you can see the camera truck in front of us.
Scarlet, all dirty after our first bout with rain
Out at Nassau sound; they were getting a solo shot of the JSO officer on his bike, crossing the bridge
Just some pretty oaks out there at the bridge
Brian, Chris, Chris and Al
Chris
I'll post more pics once we get them.