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Yes, it’s true… out of well over a thousand videos, mine was selected as one of the final fifty contenders.
I’m very grateful to FireCritic (as well as Captain Wines of Roanoke City Engine 9, who originally passed it on to FireCritic) for plugging my video on his site; all that remains until the contest is over is for everyone to vote on it. Audience participation is held in high regard, so please help me out and give my video a ratings boost!
Damn, first we’re in a (most excellent) short film, and now a TV show! Well, almost.
Thursday evening, a film crew came by the firehouse to shoot a segment for Extreme Forensics, a show on the Discovery Channel. The subject matter was D.C. area arsonist, Thomas A. Sweatt, who started a wave of fires several years ago in Maryland and the District. One of the 37 fires he admitted to was a two-alarm in June of 2003, in which an 86-year-old woman lost her life.
Extreme Forensics, realizing that E-26 had responded to that particular location on Evarts St, NE, showed up and asked if some of the guys who were actually on that fire could re-create a bit of the action—you know, run to the engine, put on boots, jump in, pull out with the lights and sirens going.
Wait a minute. Does some of that scene sound familiar to you?
(Yeah, the guys were a lot more amenable to following their directions than mine… damn this red tag! Hey, I got it done under more extreme circumstances. There were more than a few “creative directions” that ended up on my cutting room floor…)
I can only assume from watching those forensic shows that the footage will be either heavily vignetted/put in black-and-white (so the audience knows it happened in the past); slowed by about 50% (to add dramatic tension); and given an over-the-top voiceover by a man with a pleasing baritone voice.
It won’t air until next year, but supposedly the production company will provide us with a copy of the episode.
What’s next?
I’ve just completed and uploaded my official submission for the Nikon Festival “A Day Through Your Lens” competition (this might explain the absence from blogging for a bit, eh?)
In keeping with contest rules, I’m not supposed to upload the video anywehere for public viewing except through the contest website, so I’ll just have to link it:
Twenty-Four Hours: A Day With Raising_Ladders
It was a hell of a project, but I’m glad to finally have it completed and sent in—now I can take a much-needed break from editing.
Thanks to everyone who helped, including my family, my friend/editor Sean, and the entire crew at E26 #2.
/RL
The first question is very specific: ”Is anyone on the list [of recently graduated recruits] being assigned here?”
The next question is more general, and includes an air of devilish curiosity:
“So, what’ve you heard about them?”
It happens to everyone, I suppose. From our first few days in the Academy, stories began to compile and fledgeling nicknames started to stick—from what I’ve heard, sometimes these things can hang around for your entire career. When the guys in a house get wind that Probationer So-and-so is on his or her way, people start asking questions. Usually, somebody knows something about them.
Half the fun of the Academy, after all, was the people you were around all the time—it’s only fair that you have something entertaining to call them, usually with a story to accompany it. “Hightower,” “Kitty Kat,” “Country,” “Greg Brady,” “Nipples,” various alterations of last names/first names/middle names/nonsense names…
Of course, the funny stuff is just the tip of the “what’ve-you-heard” iceberg. Are they a good worker? Are they a loudmouth or are they kinda shy? Lazy as hell, didn’t do anything in the Academy? Go-getter type, but gets frustrated easily?
Nobody is immune to it. Besides, it seems as if word travels faster via firefighters than by any other means of communication. Remember the movie Waiting? Even though Ryan Reynolds’s character was referring to the restaurant industry, he got it exactly right:
Monty: “Are you gonna take the Assistant Manager job?”
Dean: “Wait. How the hell do you know about that?”
Monty: “Are you kidding me? You know this place. People with a day off already know.”
—————
Speaking of the Academy: one recruit class just recently graduated, while another fresh batch started in the machine this morning. Notably, two friends of mine are in this new class; I can just see them driving nervously down Shepherd Parkway in the five a.m. darkness, as excited and uncertain as I was exactly three-hundred and sixty-four days ago.
Best of luck, guys. I hope your first week goes well!
Oh, and one more thing: find someone in the class who likes taking pictures.
(Seriously, what other advice would you expect me to give?)
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