A Small Rant

Not sure if this really applies in the US, but as there's a lot of other
nationalities here, too, it's still relevant...

I've just spent the last five hours or so doing the final edit on a vid
for Streetfighters' magazine (don't panic if you've seen the other five
- we had absolutely nothing to do with those. This one's actually worth
watching ) where I've been removing all of the rider's number plates so
that identifying them's not easy if Officer Dibble decides he's not
happy with their attitude towards the laws of the Queen's Highways

Now, those of you who edit will know that, although this isn't hard, it
is somewhat time consuming. Which brings me to the point of this...

In the UK there's a couple of people who make 'Judgement Day' style
videos - and what I mean by that is that the vid's a compilation of
different riders, teams and events rather than it being about a single
crew. The people who make the vids say they're supporting the scene by
publicising it. As these people are not actually capable of pulling
stunts themselves (unless a static burnout counts, which I don't think
it does), they rely on rider's good will to allow themselves to be
filmed. Indeed, at least one of these vid makers goes seriously out of
his way to antagonise riders into stunting for him - almost exclusively
on public roads, such as outside the Ace Cafe, the vid for which I
posted a couple of weeks ago.

Now in the UK, stunting on public roads is a serious offence that can,
and often does, result in real jail time. It's not a simple bollocking
offence but something far more serious that can result in you losing
your licence, job and even liberty - yet these so-called 'supporters' of
the freestyle road riding scene are more than happy to make cash off the
backs of these riders without bothering to take the simplest of steps to
make identifying them as hard as possible for the enforcers of the law.

If you're making a film about you and your mates and you don't mask
anyone's identity then that's up to you and your mates. If you're
filming people you don't really know, OTOH, then you either edit the
footage in such a way as to make them unidentifiable, or you tell them
that for technical reasons you can't hide their reg. plates etc. and ask
if they're still willing to be filmed - exactly what we had to do two
years ago with our very first vid. We simply didn't have the technology
to mask people's faces or reg. plates, which resulted in us losing the
opportunity to film a couple of the very best riders.

Basically, the whole point of this is simple: If someone's making money
by filming stunting in general, yet they don't show the slightest
consideration for the people they're filming, then do they deserve to
get their slimy hands on your money? If it's someone's first or even
second vid, then you may feel they deserve the benefit of the doubt - a
worthy, and righteous attitude - but after that there are no excuses,
absolutely none!

If these people can't be bothered to show the slightest damn respect or
consideration for the riders, then don't give them anything either -
especially your money!

 

This has always been a concern for me while shooting for our crew. You have to think ahead on this stuff.

 

Yeah removing the plates is a biatch !!! I use a program called Alamdv, its a cool fx program that does a good job of masking the plates as well.
www.alamdv.com

Cheers
SK

 

If ya know that your going to stunt just take your plates off your bike, if the cops say anything just pull it out of your jacket and tell them that it fell off and you were just about to fix it LOL its worth a try right?

 

Variations on this are what many riders are starting to do now. But it still pisses me off that these people who claim to support the scene and care about the riders are happy to take the cash while providing the Old Bill with video evidence that they can use in court to send these riders down...

 

just become friends with a few of the local law enforcement who enjoy riding and have them give you ideas where to go, better yet just become a popo and then find the areas yourself and tell your fellow bros not to patrol there

 

if you have already shot the footage and didnt decide to take off the plate before hand, all you have to do is Motion Track the plate, the technology has been there for years. so by time consming i assume you are rotoscoping.. which is yes.. more work than it needs to be

Secondly, if these riders are being cashed in on.. maybe it would be in their best interest to look out for themselves, and not leave it up to some crackpot A/V wanna be to keep their best interest in mind ( right behind his of course )

 

just become friends with a few of the local law enforcement who enjoy riding and have them give you ideas where to go, better yet just become a popo and then find the areas yourself and tell your fellow bros not to patrol there

works everytime

 

FTP!!!!!!!!

 

I thought you were against PWing???


ANd that does suck!!! But If the riders are getting pissed they should know not to let people like that video them... I wouldn't if I knew that kind of crap was goin on!!

 

The ones in the know are learning quick - it's the new riders that need educating over here now

 

But if you're filmed in a public area, eg street, park, etc, someone can use that footage without your consent.