Time for action

[Jake]

NEWS FLASH!!!

Had a fab idea on the way to work. I know its prob too late, but hey. I got hte inspiration from a lorry i saw today. So...

POV of a cylcist approaching lorry. Wirrten on the left hand side of the lorry is "gamble". Pan over to right or just middle, "don't gamble". Cylcist goes for gamle and you get the classic fruit machine view of the three wheels, one has a picture of his girlfriend (i know its sexist and straight), second is house, and third is a picture of something like an angle, coffin, ambulance. hmmmm, those images came to mind through loosing all of them if you died. Maybe the pcitures could be a bike crumbled, as by a lorry, a guy in plaster, or the death one again.

on the don't gamble, you could have images portraying life such as kids, playing football getting married etc.

Are you a gambler?

 

[Origamist]

It seems to me that you have the opportunity to do something both constructive and important with this video - but as the content and form is key, a wait of a couple of days for guidance might help to crystallize the project.

After that, get on with it - set deadlines, factor in slack, draw up a Gantt chart - all the dull things project managers do...

 

[CopperBrompton]

So far we have 31 pages of discussion with just one board on one forum. Now imagine opening it up to another organisation. 62 pages later, a few die-hards would still be disagreeing about the ideal message and approach and the idea would be as dead as the cyclists crushed by the trucks.

 

[magnatom]

Ben,

I think it won't do any harm to have someone from LCC to have a look at this thread and offer advice. I also think it is absolutely vital to have support from these types of organisations. However, what could make this campaign different and get the interest of media etc is that it is ground route driven, i.e. cyclists, not CTC or LCC. That is not to say they can't help and advise and back us of course.

 

[magnatom]

NEWS FLASH!!!

Had a fab idea on the way to work. I know its prob too late, but hey. I got hte inspiration from a lorry i saw today. So...

POV of a cylcist approaching lorry. Wirrten on the left hand side of the lorry is "gamble". Pan over to right or just middle, "don't gamble". Cylcist goes for gamle and you get the classic fruit machine view of the three wheels, one has a picture of his girlfriend (i know its sexist and straight), second is house, and third is a picture of something like an angle, coffin, ambulance. hmmmm, those images came to mind through loosing all of them if you died. Maybe the pcitures could be a bike crumbled, as by a lorry, a guy in plaster, or the death one again.

on the don't gamble, you could have images portraying life such as kids, playing football getting married etc.

Are you a gambler?

It's a good idea, but yes I think it's too late! I think we should go with the Lorry crush idea as a number of the group have said they like it and it would take time to get any agreement on anything else.

Of course if anyone disagrees with this...
What we need is a video that can incorporate the lorry crush slogan at the end (Ben, should we not include it in the video?).

 

[magnatom]

I echo what Origamist says.

Sorry Lee, I don't quite follow you.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I think it won't do any harm to have someone from LCC to have a look at this thread and offer advice.

My own experience of these things is that the more opinions you get, the less chance of anything ever being done. (Either that, or the video gets so watered-down by trying to please everyone that it is as dull as the police one and no-one will ever watch it.)

But it's your thread and your call.

 

[magnatom]

What he has said about the LCC.

Yes but I was agreeing with him in that some advice wouldn't hurt.

 

[magnatom]

My own experience of these things is that the more opinions you get, the less chance of anything ever being done. (Either that, or the video gets so watered-down by trying to please everyone that it is as dull as the police one and no-one will ever watch it.)

But it's your thread and your call.

Oi! Don't put me in a position of being in charge! Yes I started this, but my job now is general cajoler!

I agree with you, which is why I've tried to put my foot down (in a cajolling way) to finalise on a slogan which seems to get a fair amount of approval. I think LCC's advice will be along the lines of getting the message out, etc, not the content of the video. Video content is decided here, by us.

There you go, I said it. Put my foot down...oh no, I'm not taking charge am I!

Right.

That's it. I'm getting the hang of this.

The slogan for our campaign is:

This Lorry has a crush on you.

With a secondary and related slogan for the HGV drivers of:

Your Lorry has a crush on that cyclist.

Let's start getting a video together.

I think the storyboard that Ben mentioned is sound, except we should adjust it a little to fit the new slogan. I think it could incorporate a beating heart somehow, representing the crush (Love), and the life of the cyclist.

Lorries often have teddys etc on the front grill. How about having a heart on the front grill, a flashing one, that as it crushes the cyclist stops flashing/beating.

We have the slogan now lets focus on video details.


(Ok, some quite heavy handed cajoling! )

 

[ttcycle]

Magnatom-that's the spirit +1 +1 - we got a slogan!!!Woo F@:@@ hoo!

Am on now just before I leave the old smoke - Ben I think it is important to have LCC and others on board to help - opinions are also good but lets move this forward and get people on board.

The focus is the vid but I've said a few things as well which can add to the campaign I'll write them here so people can chip in etc and I'll check it out when I'm back:

1.Posters and flyers- flyering people and bikes- LCC and CTC useful for contacts and people to help with this?
2.Talking with people -cyclist and HGV
3. Getting a huge number of cyclists out - possibly link it with national media ie maybe get critical mass involved across all the large cities where they're held.
4. Writing a press release and promoting the vid/ideas in Broadsheets/national media
5. Guerilla stickering a sticker on back of buses - this needs lots of people to do it otherwise the stickers will just be removed.

Anyway gotta go- good luck with the chasing up of contacts etc -I'm all on board with this and will link in people and contact I know as well as planning - God I even know how to do a Gant chart...hahah

 

[charlie_lcc]

Hi, Charlie from LCC here. I haven't followed up all of this thread yet but we are interested in anything people are doing to raise awareness of the HGV x Cyclist problem. We will be expanding the HGV section of our website, linking to all the films out there, including the metpolice, rospa, robin webb etc. It is really difficult to get all the important messages across because there is a wide range of risky interactions with lorries, not going up the left when there is any possibility of change is the most important.
Transport for London have made their own video, in a 5 minute and a 14 minute version presented as a dialogue between drivers and cyclists. It is supposed to be released today but I haven't seen the release yet. The short version is pretty good, definitely worth looking at and then seeing if we can do better. I will post a link as soon as it is publically available.
At the 'changing places' exercise in Hackney this week 400 cyclists got the chance to climb up to the driver cab and experience what a driver can and cannot see. There will be more of these events, in Russell Square on July 22 and possibly at the Hounslow Skyride on 9th august.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I wouldn't personally mess around with the video storyboard to try to squeeze in references to the slogan. A 30-second video needs to carry a single message and be very focused on that. However, there's no problem having the slogan appear at the end:

2-sec video clip of cyclist on wide, empty road
Caption: Plenty of room

2-sec video clip of cyclist taking primary in left-hand filter lane, cars in straight-ahead lane to right
Caption: Plenty of room

2-second video clip of cyclist taking primary in straight-ahead lane, cars in left filter-lane to right
Caption: Plenty of room

Still photo of lorry at lights, wide gap to its left, cyclist heading for gap
Caption: Plenty of room?

2-sec video clip of cyclist cycling up the left of the lorry and stopping at the lights

In-cab shot of driver checking wing mirror and looking above the cyclist, no cyclist visible

In-cab shot of driver applying left-hand indicator

In-cab shot of driver pulling away and turning left

In-cab shot of wing mirror, showing lorry centimetres from railings, but still looking above the height of the cyclist

Freeze video

Cut to still of mangled bike beneath wheels
Cut to still of crushed helmet
Cut to still of other debris

Video of sheet being pulled over body under lorry

Fade out to caption:
[Cyclist version] Don't let a lorry have a crush on you
[HGV driver version] Don't let your lorry have a crush on a cyclist

 

[Origamist]

TFL 5 min vid:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11687.aspx?lid=switcher#beware

 

[CopperBrompton]

It's better than the Police and RoSPA ones, for sure. I'd say that's a decent video for the more committed cyclists, and as someone with an interest in vehicles of all types, personally I liked the graphics showing the blind-spots.

I would say the chances of more casual cyclists watching it are pretty low, so I think there's definitely still a role for the more hard-hitting 30-second video we're proposing.

 

[magnatom]

I wouldn't personally mess around with the video storyboard to try to squeeze in references to the slogan. A 30-second video needs to carry a single message and be very focused on that. However, there's no problem having the slogan appear at the end:

2-sec video clip of cyclist on wide, empty road
Caption: Plenty of room

2-sec video clip of cyclist taking primary in left-hand filter lane, cars in straight-ahead lane to right
Caption: Plenty of room

2-second video clip of cyclist taking primary in straight-ahead lane, cars in left filter-lane to right
Caption: Plenty of room

Still photo of lorry at lights, wide gap to its left, cyclist heading for gap
Caption: Plenty of room?

2-sec video clip of cyclist cycling up the left of the lorry and stopping at the lights

In-cab shot of driver checking wing mirror and looking above the cyclist, no cyclist visible

In-cab shot of driver applying left-hand indicator

In-cab shot of driver pulling away and turning left

In-cab shot of wing mirror, showing lorry centimetres from railings, but still looking above the height of the cyclist

Freeze video

Cut to still of mangled bike beneath wheels
Cut to still of crushed helmet
Cut to still of other debris

Video of sheet being pulled over body under lorry

Fade out to caption:
[Cyclist version] Don't let a lorry have a crush on you
[HGV driver version] Don't let your lorry have a crush on a cyclist

Fair enough. Just wonder if the slogan could be tweaked at the end

[Cyclist version] Lorries could have a crush on you
[HGV driver version]Your Lorry could have a cyclist crush

Just a thought.