"Rendez-Vous in Tornado Alley" Season 2 - French Series !

[Christophe Asselin]

These are mainly speeded up videos with a few "true" time lapses, as the shelfcloud from June 5th for example. We often shoot videos instead of photos because we don't want to miss any lightning or developping event, and we want to be able to keep the sound. However, photography time lapses have a way better quality... so, this is an everyday tough decision!

 

[Jeff Turner]

Very good stuff for sure. I'm in Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and we recently had a drill where a "simulated" F5 created mass casualties. We did several "simulated" medical triage exercises. The RACES folks were in on it sending casualty reports back to the EOC. nd two other local cities also participated. The local Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in downtown Fort Worth got a surprise when their power was purposely cut off to see if the back up generators would come up - they worked as designed. OKC was very lucky, if the Reno twister did not turn their way and last longer their CERT teams would have been in a live situation and not an exercise as we were part of. But our day is coming too unfortunately.

As an aside I still wonder how your European audiences react to your films and how we handle severe weather here in the USA. Do they react with some disbelief? Obviously it is quite real to us as you can see for yourselves.

 

[Jeff Turner]

I noticed on the Moore episode that the local police told you to go back when you offered to help. There is a simple reason for that. The US NIMS/ICS - National Incident Management System and Incident Command System - teaches you that "self activated volunteers" can be a hindrance to an organized response to a "complex incident" like a big twister is. One major issue is that untrained folks sometimes get injured or even killed. So they are turned away in favor of the specifically deployed first responders (fire, police) and trained volunteers (CERT, Red Cross, etc...).

So it was not a bad thing for y'all to ask to help but the way incidents are managed now means unless you are literally in the middle of it you will be discouraged or prohibited from entering the effected area. CERT folks are taught not to "self activate" either unless for example your own neighborhood gets hit and you can do something for your neighbors or organize them to help other causalities.

 

[Jeff Turner]

So when will y'all put these on a DVD that you can buy? It is all very well crafted material.

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Another fine episode, Christophe. Thank you.

 

[Christophe Asselin]

As an aside I still wonder how your European audiences react to your films and how we handle severe weather here in the USA. Do they react with some disbelief? Obviously it is quite real to us as you can see for yourselves.

People here often wonder how people in the mid-west can live with the permanent tornado threat. It's not easy to explain and show them how much it really impacts the populations and how it is handled. But I hope our series gives some clues about that.

I noticed on the Moore episode that the local police told you to go back when you offered to help. There is a simple reason for that. The US NIMS/ICS - National Incident Management System and Incident Command System - teaches you that "self activated volunteers" can be a hindrance to an organized response to a "complex incident" like a big twister is. One major issue is that untrained folks sometimes get injured or even killed. So they are turned away in favor of the specifically deployed first responders (fire, police) and trained volunteers (CERT, Red Cross, etc...).

So it was not a bad thing for y'all to ask to help but the way incidents are managed now means unless you are literally in the middle of it you will be discouraged or prohibited from entering the effected area. CERT folks are taught not to "self activate" either unless for example your own neighborhood gets hit and you can do something for your neighbors or organize them to help other causalities.

Yes, that's what we figured out. The police reaction was totally understandable, especially considering that a lot of rescue teams were already there. But, well, we couldn't just walk away without offering our help.

So when will y'all put these on a DVD that you can buy? It is all very well crafted material.

There'll probably be a DVD but it will depend on the ratio costs vs incomes we can get (music rights are expensive!).

 

[JeffGonzales]

Christophe, when you do video are you mainly in manual mode or do you do auto mode? If manual, what do you find are the optimal settings that you switch between?

 

[chrisbray]

People here often wonder how people in the mid-west can live with the permanent tornado threat. It's not easy to explain and show them how much it really impacts the populations and how it is handled. But I hope our series gives some clues about that.



Yes, that's what we figured out. The police reaction was totally understandable, especially considering that a lot of rescue teams were already there. But, well, we couldn't just walk away without offering our help.



There'll probably be a DVD but it will depend on the ratio costs vs incomes we can get (music rights are expensive!).

Let me just say I will buy every season you put out there on DVD!!

 

[James Hammett]

Wow! This is a great series and it really sets the standard for how these things ought to be done. The pace and the storytelling are just excellent. My silver car made a cameo in S02E06 @13:49 http://youtu.be/iwNujfkkKBU?t=13m49s and your vehicle appeared in my video several times that day:

Great job!

 

[Christophe Asselin]

Christophe, when you do video are you mainly in manual mode or do you do auto mode? If manual, what do you find are the optimal settings that you switch between?

It depends. If I shoot in "action mode", paning the camera quickly in several directions with different lights, I'd rather use an auto mode. If this it a tripod shot or at least a very defined and well-thought-out shot, I'm gonna use manual to be sure I'll have the best settings, which also depends on the conditions. If there's enough light, I tend to close my f-stop to get a better depth of field and sharpness. If the light's missing, I try to keep my ISO as low as possible so I will open my f-stop. For these tripods shots, I also set the white balance myself because cameras always have a hard time finding the good one on such complex skies. I still make mistakes all the time though, giving the stress and excitment level

Wow! This is a great series and it really sets the standard for how these things ought to be done. The pace and the storytelling are just excellent. My silver car made a cameo in S02E06 @13:49 http://youtu.be/iwNujfkkKBU?t=13m49s and your vehicle appeared in my video several times that day:

Great job!

Thanks for the comment and the picture. I remember this moment! Our car was already so dirty, haha.

 

[JeffGonzales]

Thanks Christophe,
Also, I love how through out the series you use real time radar data and plot your location. Are you saving the data your self, or are you getting the data from a site and if so where do you go? Excellent series and has been my favorite online series so far. Great Job!

 

[Christophe Asselin]

I downloaded the radar data from the NCDC website (http://hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/plhas/has.dsselect), then opened it in Grlevel, and saved each image, then I worked in Adobe After Effects to make an animation with this data overlaying a Google map and our location. I Hope you understand what I mean!

 

[John Wetter]

I've watched all of the episodes now and thoroughly enjoyed them, great job!

 

[chrisbray]

Are there any more episodes form the 2013 season that you are making? Or was Breaking Bad the last one

 

[Christophe Asselin]

Are there any more episodes form the 2013 season that you are making? Or was Breaking Bad the last one

Yes, there are! Two more left. And I'm coming today with one of them! I slowed down a lot in the making, 'cause of work and first storms of the season here too, but the last episode might arrive sooner!

SEASON 2 EPISODE 10 : "COLORFUL COLORADO"

Watch video >

As usual, all criticisms are welcome!