Possibly the worst Video EVER

[Bill Zens]

OK, so here's the situation.
Just behind my house there is a DOT construction project, and they are using a previously unused piece of state land in order to dump dirt and push it around. Unfortunately, they say they can only do it at night (due to lane closures), and in spite of an entire neighborhood complaining, the state of Washington and the contractor have been ignoring our complaints about the excessive noise. They've been telling us to (essentially) suck it up, they need to finish their job, and after all, sleep is really over rated.
Last week, they started at about 10:00, and finally at about 3:00 I started shooting video. I mounted my camera (a Canon 5D) to my tripod, put out a light, and took several shots. Unfortunately, the very best shot was my first one, and it is poorly lit, and terribly out of focus. But it was perfect.
I recorded the audio on the camera, and my Zoom, but decided to not use my Zoom audio because it did not have the overwhelming effect of the tractor and dump truck, and quite frankly, plural eyes couldn't sync it up because of the constant tractor noise. Hooray for crappy HDSLR audio!
Why am I posting this? The next day, the state called almost in a panic. They have temporarily halted operations in the yard, are changing equipment, and reevaluating their night time operations. We went from total ignore, to a "we need to fix this" by the state.
We have been complaining for 8 months, and it only took a minute and a half video to finally get our point across. I am still awed by the power of video, and YouTube in making this happen.

Sleepless in Kirkland - WASHDOT Noise - YouTube

[Shaun Roemich]

Brilliant. And terrible.

Terribly brilliant?

Congrats on getting the attention of the State.

[Noa Put]

What iso was used to shoot this? :) Here is a fine example where the power of youtube actually lies, if you would have posted this on Vimeo you'd only get "likes" and maybe be picked out by the staff.
Good for you to stand up all alone against the mighty contractor and the state, if this would have been a movie they'd send a demolition robot over to your house :D
I hope you and your neighbors can finally get some sleep now.

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Bill Zens

OK, so here's the situation.
Just behind my house there is a DOT construction project, and they are using a previously unused piece of state land in order to dump dirt and push it around. Unfortunately, they say they can only do it at night (due to lane closures), and in spite of an entire neighborhood complaining, the state of Washington and the contractor have been ignoring our complaints about the excessive noise. They've been telling us to (essentially) suck it up, they need to finish their job, and after all, sleep is really over rated.
Last week, they started at about 10:00, and finally at about 3:00 I started shooting video. I mounted my camera (a Canon 5D) to my tripod, put out a light, and took several shots. Unfortunately, the very best shot was my first one, and it is poorly lit, and terribly out of focus. But it was perfect.
I recorded the audio on the camera, and my Zoom, but decided to not use my Zoom audio because it did not have the overwhelming effect of the tractor and dump truck, and quite frankly, plural eyes couldn't sync it up because of the constant tractor noise. Hooray for crappy HDSLR audio!
Why am I posting this? The next day, the state called almost in a panic. They have temporarily halted operations in the yard, are changing equipment, and reevaluating their night time operations. We went from total ignore, to a "we need to fix this" by the state.
We have been complaining for 8 months, and it only took a minute and a half video to finally get our point across. I am still awed by the power of video, and YouTube in making this happen.

Sleepless in Kirkland - WASHDOT Noise - YouTube

That's awesome, way to go!

[Bill Zens]

Noa, I shot it with an ISO cranked up all the way to 12,800, F4 (as fast as my lens gets) at 1/60th.

[Noa Put]

I wasn't serious about the iso question :D

[Ralph Gereg]

Originally Posted by Bill Zens

Why am I posting this? The next day, the state called almost in a panic. They have temporarily halted operations in the yard, are changing equipment, and reevaluating their night time operations. We went from total ignore, to a "we need to fix this" by the state.
We have been complaining for 8 months, and it only took a minute and a half video to finally get our point across. I am still awed by the power of video, and YouTube in making this happen.

I think they knew it's only a matter of time before the local news media would find out about your video and then they would have a much bigger PR battle to face.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Great results. This also reminds us that at its most basic, videos are a form of communication. High production values devoid of content often falls flat. However, we try for higher production values, often giving less attention to the content.