Episode 3: NoVA Dashcam Compilation - Bad Drivers

The people around here drive so bad, that I decided to make a third music video out of it. Hopefully you find it entertaining, as I enjoyed putting it together.

This is the last compilation I will make using the SunPak Click 'n Stick as my camera mount. The flexible aluminum doesn't hold up in the heat, long term, and you can see in some of the clips that there's a lot of forward/back camera movement as I go/stop in some areas. It was much more stable when new.

As with my other two videos, the point here isn't to harass the drivers of Northern Virginia (at least not individually). This is a hobby. A project, where I teach myself video editing. As a side effect, I'm also learning how to use Paint Shop Pro.

The song Carbon Black is by a music composer that goes by MoozE. If it sounds overdriven (like it does on my craptop), it's probably because you're using crappy speakers. Plug in some headphones. If it's still overdriven, then your sound card probably can't handle the bass. There's probably nothing easy you can do about that. I've been a fan of MoozE ever since I impulse-bought the FPS PC game Firestarter in 2004, where the music in the game morphed it from an average game to a really fun one. He is best known for his (incredible) atmospheric work in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. You can download the song featured in this video, as well as others, here: http://www.game-ost.com/albums/653/mooze_-_2006_selected_works_promo_%28g-ost... If you get familiar with the album, don't be surprised if you recognize another one of the songs in a future video on my channel.

Picking a song really was the hardest part about this. I'm open to suggestions, but the criteria has to be: The song can't be well known (best bet is by going for a song that isn't published, and is free). The song has to be good. The song has to be fast paced. I have to like the song (this is probably the hardest part). Also, the song must be mostly, if not completely instrumental.

The second hardest part was dealing with Sony Vegas (Movie Studio 9) crashes during rendering. The result is I finally settled on a WMV 9 codec that, if the video is rendered in 1.5 minute chunks, Vegas will not crash. I suppose that having 1920 x 1080 video files crammed to 2.5 - 4.0x their normal speed uses up more memory than the program can handle. I have 6GB of RAM, but because I'm on WinXP I can barely use half that (though Vegas dies when it gets to about 1.1 GB of use). Unfortunately, there are flaws with this codec, that if you have a really good monitor you'll be able to see quite clearly as areas of solid color appear noisy.

The third hardest part is blocking the plates. I could type ten paragraphs and still not be done, ranting about how using an image to block plates is easier, but looks worse than pixelating the plates (which is 3x the pain in the rear that using an image is).

The fun part, is getting the clips, putting them together in a way that (reasonably) reflects the music, and then watching the video from beginning to end, seeing my effort come together, producing something that I myself actually enjoy watching.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Northern
• Virginia
• NOVA
• Fairfax
• Springfield
• DC
• Metro
• Maryland
• automobiles
• cars
• drivers
• suck
• bad
• dash
• cam
• dashcam
• driving
• stupid
• oblivious
• fail
• dangerous
• driver
• traffic
• Kodak
• ZX5
• camera
• wide
• angle
• fisheye
• Carbon
• Black
• PC
• game
• music
• MoozE
• soundtrack

[djjoe9000]

You changed lanes in the intersection at 6:12.

[NOVAdashcam]

@djjoe9000 Strange how after everything I've put in this video, this is all you have to say. That intersection is a downtown bypass intersection. Both right turn lanes flow into both left turn lanes at the next light. If you notice, the car in front of me moved the same path, and the gold car in the left right turn lane ended up in the left left turn lane. The black SUV did have a moving violation, as it went to the far left lane from the far right lane immediately.

[djjoe9000]

@NOVAdashcam I saw many moving violations. The Jaguar, the SUV, the Mustang, and you all went into the wrong lane. When you turn from one road onto another, you turn into the lane you came from unless it's otherwise marked. If there are two right turn lanes, and you are in the rightmost right turn lane, you enter the rightmost lane on the road you are turning onto. If you're in the second lane from the right, you enter the second lane from the right on the road you're turning onto.

[NOVAdashcam]

@djjoe9000 Thanks for the tips. However, I will continue to use that intersection in the way it was intended, as I described.

[djjoe9000]

@NOVAdashcam Okay, and I'll continue to use that intersection according to how it's signed, and how the road is marked (or lack of markings in this case). If it were intended to be used the way you and most people seem to use it, then why isn't there a dotted line that continues through the intersection to show which lane goes into which?

[NOVAdashcam]

@djjoe9000 I doubt you will ever use that intersection, but if you decide to, use it in the way you describe, you will surely cause an accident. I cannot answer for Fairfax City's decision to not ensure that dashed lines are properly painted.

For what it's worth, this video isn't about people doing insignificant illegal things. This video is about people who don't know where they are, or where they're going.

[shnto7]

good editing and a lot of work was made behind this video which is why its unique and original. thank you :)

[cars12341000]

Funny

[NOVAdashcam]

@ClassicCar94 I have a Bracketron GPS pad sitting on my dash, and for these I used a SunPak Click 'n Stick. I think they're discontinued though (super bad reviews due to suction cup not working for people) but I bought it from Best Buy. For my next one I've been using a RAM mount... and there's a long story behind problems I was having with it but they've been fixed.

[ClassicCar94]

@NOVAdashcam What type of mount did you use for the camera? Love the vids!