u/party_and_bullsquid

30-second bike chase that occurred a few days ago.

Since the computer the cameras run thru has access to a dozen different angles, it looks at all of them to determine what is occurring and then proceeds with tagging. This sequence was tagged with "dirt bike", "police car", "speeding", "chase", and "cat & mouse" - which all seem mostly accurate after review.

Edit: Cameras are Reolink PoE and run continuously. Original purpose was feral cat tracking but now they do a bunch of other stuff.

Edit Edit: Made for looping, so it ends with how it began.

Context: I live on a busy intersection that sees way too many close calls, accidents, fights, and random acts of bullshit. I refer to it as my own personal "random content generator". Could be a close call or a cut-off. Could be a 3-car accident. Could be a pedestrian getting tossed from the hood of a car. Could be a police chase. A brawl. Could be some lunatic stealing flowers, etc, etc...

TL/DR: Woman aggressively snaps off my sunflower and tries to flee. I hunt her down on a bike and reclaim what was taken from me. Also spliced in a random (terrible) U-turn because it shared a similar duration.

Last week while in my dining room, I spotted a child approaching my sidewalk library for books thru the window. Adorable. Upon further inspection, they were actually going for my sunflower. As I hustled my way to the side door, I cleared my throat and made a fist in preparation of shouting and waving from the door until they bolted, like they do on TV.

As I got a better look thru the open side door, I realized it was not a child but a grown woman - and she had already snapped the flower off and pulled the plant out of the soil...

I still shouted loudly from the door, but was ignored. So, I grabbed the closest pair of Crocs and women's jean shorts and headed outside to the garage to grab my bicycle. I took off after her.

As I left the driveway, she was already about 3 or 4 houses down the sidewalk. I pedaled super hard at first to make up some distance and get a better view of her from behind. I noticed she was holding my flower in her left hand, and swinging it across her chest with each step, so it kept popping out her right side as I got closer and closer.

She was walking in the center of the sidewalk, so I couldn't make a silent approach. So, I pedaled real hard at her and quickly passed her on the right while riding on someone's front lawn. She heard the bike chain rattle as I entered the grass to pass her, so she got to make brief eye contact with me as I grabbed back what was mine.

Video Notes For Nerds:

• Cameras are all Reolink PoE cameras - hardwired into network. This specific video contains footage from the Duo 3, 16x PTZ, 5x Telephoto, 5x PTZ, TrackMix PTZ, and 12MP. Cameras all run 24/7.
• Cameras mainly used for security monitoring as well as feral cat tracking. They all feed into Home Assistant, where they are given specific tasks such as "watch for cats", "listen for horns", "track intruders", "trigger this", "trigger that", and so on.
• Cameras shoot from standard 1080P up to 16MP. Typically edited in a 720p/1080p/24p timeline for easier movement between camera angles when possible.
• Edited in After Effects by layering different events from same cameras and masking out the non-important areas. Allows for the merging of multiple events for faster digestion and increased sense of chaos.
• Sunflower voice audio extracted from all the yard microphones. lol

I’ve shared a compilation edit here previously and have returned with another.
You can look at my post history to view other recent Reddit shares.

Everything captured here is completely organic.
New Jersey drivers are really this awful. 

ATTENTION EUROPEANS:
This is your [TRIGGER WARNING]!
Take your "roundabouts" elsewhere.
This is America.
lol...

Cameras Used:

[CAM A] 12MP - Mounted 2nd floor, intersection end of home. 
[CAM B] 16x PTZ - Mounted 1st floor, opposite end of home.
[CAM C] Duo 3 - Mounted 2nd floor, intersection end of home.
[CAM D] 5x TP- Mounted 1st floor, middle of home.

Notes 4 Nerds:

Cameras are typically static when recording - no motion/PTZ activity. This allows for easy dragging/dropping into an After Effects comp while maintaining position and alignment of layers. Masks are drawn and animated around events as they occur, making it possible to have multiple events unfolding in quick succession. Layers are quickly blended/feathered to reduce sharp mask lines. 

Since the Duo 3 footy is super-duper wide, I export a TIFF and bring into Photoshop. I crop expand the frame to 7680x4500 and generative fill the bottom grass and top sky. I then make an AE comp to match the 7680x4500 res and drop both the Duo 3 clip AND the expanded freeze frame. I mask around the road of the Duo 3 clip, revealing the freeze frame everywhere outside of the road/sidewalk/action zones. This allows for easy zooming out to show the entire width of the image without forming black letterboxing above/below.  

All car/traffic-related events are unaltered.
Only the timing has been altered.
Random events/animals dropped in for brain bleach.

Random assets are dropped in so my little cousin can spot them when he watches these videos. We call them "Christophereggs". Mainly N64, WWF, music, Millennial references. You'll see some here.

The house across the street is blurred, turned into a White Castle, or replaced with a static image of itself to avoid capturing kids playing in the front yard. Just depends on what camera is being used and what the footage is like.

Favorite device is definitely the 16x PTZ for detailed shots and the Duo 3 for "big picture". Everything has a SD card and is ether-netted in. The mobile app is the main source of video retrieval. Overall editing done in Adobe Premiere, but outsourcing to After Effects for masking/key framing.

Some edits are hidden within a zoom/pan motion (see mocking bird's transformation to a blue jay at the end). This edit technique is also used to hide dropped frames, but thankfully did not need to deal with that in this edit. If needed, two separate camera angles of the same event may be stitched together and concealed in a zoom/pan motion if it makes sense/adds to overall context of scene.

General

This footage is recorded, assembled, and shared to Instagram to help spread awareness to residents. The intersection in question sees over 6,000 vehicles per day - likely much higher, especially during school months. The middle/high school are 0.2 miles down the road, just outside of the camera’s eye. There are two residential homes, one museum, and one park/memorial residing here. Just off screen is a massive apartment complex with over 1,000 units. It's a very busy, wide intersection. Hundreds of kids pass thru on-foot during school days and are likely oblivious to the lunatics around them.

For a quick glimpse at how bad these drivers can be, observe how they handled the in-street crosswalk sign.

Media Coverage
Media Coverage

another week of intersection captures.
another head-scratcher...

duo 3 + 12mp + 16x + 5x

this is my intersection. there are many like it, but this one is mine.
this specific video is mostly from a duo 3 and the 16x ptz
this is one of the more tame edits.

instagram collection

youtube collection

additional background:

• roads are both 25mph
  • drivers regularly go 40mph+
• the main road doesn't have stop signs.
• 10k+ cars a day
  • used heavily by emergency vehicles
• middle and high school 0.2 miles beyond this intersection
  • dozens of kids pass through twice a day on foot
• been actively monitoring since 2021
  • accidents, close calls, people getting run over while in the crosswalk, fights, animals, bunch of wacky shit honestly.
• town is aware and has been responsive
  • added 'cross traffic does not stop' signage
  • repainted crosswalks, lines
  • added a in-road crosswalk sign (since 'retired' by the drivers)
  • added trailer-style radar and speed display
  • recently had a traffic counter installed nearby for a week