“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.”
Mark Twain’s words came to mind as I did my best to survive a bike ride through downtown Los Angeles. Cars came within inches of me as they darted around, swerving from lane to lane. Buses lumbered along and pushed me further into the mix of traffic while I dodged potholes and road construction. Why did I ever agree to make a video about the hazards of urban biking?
As part of a proposal to a client for an urban bike plan, my wife, a former corporate video producer, and I were asked to create a short public outreach video that would juxtapose the benefits of sound bicycle planning with the dangers of poor bicycle planning. Rather than create a typical public service announcement, we were tasked with making a story-based video that would be easily relatable.
We storyboarded potential biking scenarios, discussed the overall message and the best way to reach the audience. During the weekend, we set out to film with our bicycles, DSLR camera, tripod, GoPro, and chest harness.
Chaos happens naturally in downtown LA. We spent several hours planning different scenarios that would communicate the hazards and chaos of urban biking. However, after strapping on the GoPro, we were able to capture all of the various scenarios within just 15 minutes of biking. Car doors flew open right in front of me; trucks cut me off; someone ran a red light. A small piece of gravel even hit me in the eye. How fortunate!
That was the easy part. We then had to find examples of good bicycle planning in downtown LA. While it was a much bigger challenge, we encountered a few examples. I filmed my wife riding on the same green bike lane from different angles to make it look like she was riding through different parts of downtown. For other shots, she rode through a pedestrian plaza because we couldn’t find any other examples of good bicycle design.
Following a few days of creative editing, the video came together just in time for the interview. After seeing the video, several members of the client team said that it captured the experience of urban biking well and highlighted many of the reasons why the bike plan project was necessary. As bicycle planning continues to improve, Mark Twain’s quote will hopefully evoke more belly laughs than nervous chuckles.
Watch Kyle’s video here.
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