High School Code Red Exercise
I was lent out by the City to document a Sheriff’s Department training of a Code Red exercise at a local high school. They assigned a deputy to me as I got some footage of the staging area, gun disabling (zip-tied handgun and rifle triggers and blue-taped the open-end of the barrel) and their last minute instructions, all of which never went into this video. This edited video wasn’t even requested by the Sheriff’s Department. I shot the event, and later, they received a DVD of my raw footage. I took a copy home and after a few weeks, decided to edit the piece.
When I shot the piece, I was standing outside one building at the school waiting for the announcement on the radio of the start of the exercise. I did record the audio of the radio announcement just as it would sound if it was called in and the dispatcher was notifying the Sheriffs in the field. Part of that audio was used at the beginning of the video and got the video started. Without it, how would you set the scene?
BTW, the air horns replace the sounds of gun fire.The teams comprised of four deputies and two observers for grading purposes. It was sometimes awkward to get some shots as it was my first time working with the law enforcement community. At one point, I ran to the end of a building to get a shot of a team exiting the building, and the lead officer did a double-take when he noticed me (I wasn’t wearing anything distinctive to state I wasn’t part of the exercise), and when the deputy that was assigned to me came around the corner to catch up to me, another officer swung his pistol towards her and immediately pulled it back!
What really helps me shoot is my awareness of what you need in editing to tell a story. You establish the scene, show the details, show relative and contrasting action, and try to show the emotion or feel of the moment. I will admit that I recreated one shot, that of the gunman with the injured student. This event was shot several years ago, and I don’t know if I used it in this piece, but it was close-up shots of the gun in the hand, the gunman’s face and the gunman standing over the student.
Towards the end, I went back for a battery and got more b-roll of the command center (it is in this piece). And, although the organizer said I can shoot more footage like having them come charging in with the teams on hanging on standing on the footrails of their Suburbans with lights, I didn’t. I have found it difficult to shoot and also direct many people.
equipment: sony dsr-500 and a tired hand and sore shoulder.
