Advice for siren video posters.

[Reedsiren1]

Also not singling anyone out, but please once the siren starts, hands off the camera until it winds down. Seems there's a trend on a lot of videos of people zooming in and out as the siren is sounding, sometimes multiple times. Zooming out after the siren winds down to show how far you were from it, or zooming in on rotor(s) spinning is ok, and I rather enjoy that. Again not targeting anyone, just some friendly advice that's all, no hard feeling intended 8) .

Well said, very well said.

[Bedford_1003]

Always start recording a minute or two early just in case.

[Mysterious T-Bolt 111]

It's always a good thing to make sure your batteries are really charged before wandering out to your specific siren. I can't tell you how bummed I was one time when I went to check my camcorder's battery status (which had about an hour left) and to when the time came to start recording that it mysteriously said low battery and quit.

[floor-a-matic]

What about fire chief pressing siren button at firehouse?

[Chicagosirenhunters]

Here is a pretty good one. Try to know how far away the siren you are testing is from your house so you can have plenty of time to get there. I had a very close call when testing a T-135. We got stuck behind a paint truck and by the time we got there, we were a mere 15 seconds from activation.

[SirenMadness]

Heh. Pray for good luck that if you're filming a siren located in the middle of a railway yard a train does not get in your way. I remember the first time filming Sarnia's Modulator, the train cleared my camera not even five seconds before the system went into voice.

[Mark N]

If you are filming a siren going off for a real call, be mindful and make sure you are out of the way or at a safe distance away from the Fire Department, so they can get down to the fire

[Spencerlovestrains]

This is more for editing, but if your video turns out shaky, use a video editing software to stablize it. But be careful on where you want it stablized. My 1003 video frame went all over the place when zooming out, so I didn't stablize it.

[freebrickproductions]

2. Don't force viewers to watch two minutes of movie-style credits before a thirty-second siren clip. Your film will never make it big in Hollywood or online, so just get to the point and spare the big production stuff. All we want to hear is the siren.

Another thing to keep in mind: just about any information that can be put in a intro can be put in the title and/or the description. Because of this, you can put any stories or extra information (like the history of a town's system, when this particular siren you were recording was installed, or where in the town the siren is) in the description. The intros should be short, sweet, and contain probably no more than the day/time of the recording, the siren model, and/or who recorded it.

[Spencerlovestrains]

If you have to do something that makes a bit of noise while recording, move away from the camera so nobody watching the video can't hear you. (Breathing, clearing your throat, whispering, etc...)