On ride-movies?

Heres a creative yet dumb idea for a coaster, on-ride movies! Simply hook up a camcorder on the train and it records the entire ride with you screaming on it. Then you can purchase a copy of the tape at the end of the day.
*** This post was edited by Superman: Ultimate Escape 1/5/2003 11:50:11 AM ***

Few problems here...

First off, you wouldn't be able to put cams on everyone. So there would only be a few seats they could do it on. Now imgaine the lines for those seats.

Second.. after it was taken, imagine the amount of time for them to go through each tape to make sure it's safe to sell. They block out on-ride photo's with rude gestures and other things and video's shot at RipCord that contain profanity are not allowed to be sold.

Now you have to go through a min plus of video for EACH person to make sure it's ok..

Logistically it's a pain and probably not worth the amount of $ they would generate off them.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

Seeing the creativitey people can do in one picture, i can imagine what people would do in a video!

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~Cody
Mantis Photo Crew 2002 "Welcome back Mole Riders!"

That just won't work. As RGR said.

MrScott

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"If we go any faster, she'll blow apart for sure!"

I got my copies on MF, Magnum and I would have WT if a certain TV station in southern ohio would give me a dub.

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magnumdan
magnum count: 2233
www.cpthrillology.com

Well aren't you just so special Dan!?!

Want a french fry?? ;)

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

But Rob...

Are you not aware that this has already been done? Indeed! I think they might have done away with it a couple of years ago when they re-did the ride...but Hersheypark had a set of cameras stationed around the course of their rapids ride. Every boat that went out was videotaped all the way around the course, onto videotapes that had been prepped with an opening graphic sequence.

Today it would be even simpler, as the entire process could be done digitally...the fastest, most cost-effective way to do it would be to digitally record all the rides, and if someone wants to buy a copy, burn it onto a DVD. A five-minute program, provided the MPEG-2 files were encoded real-time during the ride, would take about two minutes to burn to disk. It takes that long to print the video photos and mount them in their paper frames!

At IAAPA in 2001, a couple of companies were pushing a concept that went even further. The park customer would be issued an RFID card to carry around the park all day, and strategically located cameras would record the customer's movements around the park. The park could then sell a standard 'park image' DVD, say a half-hour or so, but for any attraction where the customer had participated, the system would substitute the video shot of the customer for the generic 'park image' video. Again, a neat idea, and computers these days are powerful enough to pull it off.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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RideMan said:
At IAAPA in 2001, a couple of companies were pushing a concept that went even further. The park customer would be issued an RFID card to carry around the park all day...

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That is, by far, the most interesting concept I've heard in a long time. I wonder what the initial investment in such a system would be. Granted, I think we'd probably see something like this in a Disney park before anything else.

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gravity: down to earth, without the sugar coating.

www.geocities.com/gravityjmb

Sounds like a great idea Dave but the problem still remains of inappropriate things being put on the tape. Someone would have to edit and screen the video which is a very time consuming thing if you're looking at inserting it into stock footage.

The cost of the RF trackign equiptment and camera's would be pretty expensive and labor intensive to maintain (not that I wouldn't mind it) but you also open up the can of worms that peopel will want this, and a camera goes down or something along those lines.

You now have a customer who was expecting thier video to be flawless but now has decided they don't want it because of certain moments were not covered. Hence ALOT of wasted resources.

ALso, the idea of being "followed" in the manner it says, even if by choice, is kinda creepy.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

If something is innaproriate, why show it to everyone? If someone is interested in purchasing it, they can view it for themselves and the park does not have to show the video to everyone else. There could be certain "viewing rooms".

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Turkeys, the only animal smarter than man

Again.. you're adding costs to your overhead..

It's a family park... remember.. it just would bring up too many problems to make it worth the money you'd make on the investment.

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June 11th, 2001 - Gemini 100
VertiGo Rides - 82
Technical Services 2002
Fright Zone Screamster 2002

Mmm... yeah... problems do arise in multitudes.

If the cameras are snapping stills of the entire area you are in at the time... imagine the sea of people surrounding you, and how many of those people you'd rather not have in the photo--not to mention what anyone could be doing at the moment that picture was taken. The mind reels at the disgusting possibilities.

Then you have the people who will ***** and moan that it's an "invasion of privacy" and such. It does sound rather "Big Brother"-ish.

Well, it sounded cool... but now that I've thought it out more... doesn't sound likely.

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gravity: down to earth, without the sugar coating.

www.geocities.com/gravityjmb

The "inappropriate" thing could be solved with up-front waiver forms. As far as getting other people in the video, that's just a risk you take. The park could mitigate the risk by making the cameras reasonably visible so you know when you're being filmed and can strategically position yourself. If it gets popular you will end up with many RFID's being located near cameras simultaneously, so somebody has to think through that issue as well. I would also think you should be able to switch the RFID tag on & off so you can control when you are being filmed.

On the whole I think this is more feasible than some naysayers are giving credit for, and has some good revenue potential, especially in an era when attendance at most parks is capped out and the biggest growth area is in-park spending. The biggest obstacle is the willingness of some park to be a guinea pig since the first installation will undoubtedly have oodles of problems that need to be worked through. Clearly a phased implementation is called for.

-- Harley

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CP fan since 68.

It doesn't matter how many tags are present at a camera location. The idea is that the camera is running all day long, dumping video into a hard-drive based video bin. When an RFID tag appears, the record for that tag is opened in its master database and an entry is created to indicate location and starting and ending timecode. The database is then used as an EDL for seamlessly cutting the final customized video product for that customer. Depending on how popular the system is and how much the customer is willing to spend, it might even be practical to let the customer choose from multiple shots for certain scenes. Say the person rode Magnum four times...there would be an option to pick the best of four shots to include as the train goes over the lift peak. Something like that.

If you want to get really sinister about it, there are other companies working on anonymous non-cooperative surveillence systems. That is, the system would track you through the park, and while it wouldn't know who you are, it could pick you out of a crowd. That is to say, it wouldn't be smart enough to identify "Dave Althoff", but it would be able to identify me as "Guest #28031234" and would be able to identify "Guest #28031234" on successive cameras. You know, just like we all do when playing RCT. Imagine if the park operators could plot the exact traffic pattern for each customer and therefore know such things as how many *unique riders* each attraction has versus re-riders...that sort of thing. At the moment the technology is too expensive for any park to see much ROI from such a system. But the possibilities are there none the less! And before you get started on privacy issues, I should mention that the park *is* private property...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Your explanation makes sense. I guess I was thinking that the camera would somehow adjust for an individual (re-aim or re-focus) but that is not feasible. I don't think there any serious new privacy issues raised here; this is just another example of ever-increasing surveillance in our society and is not conceptually worse than having your face filmed every time you use an ATM, go into a 7-11, gamble at a casino, or shop in a department store. In fact, I would be surprised if there were not already surveillance equipment in many or most parks for security reasons.

-- Harley

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CP fan since 68.

one word stalking!

My point is, I wouldn't want a video capture of me walking down the midway with some guy behind me picking a wedge, and the fat lady in front of me adjusting her tube top.

I doubt many families would, either.

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2003 - Ride Operations

When I first saw this topic, I thought it meant you watch a movie like "Kangaroo Jack" while riding a coaster. Thats a good idea!

By the way, Mr. Point, has returned. thank me for naming mileneme forse, because I lost my watch on the mantuis!

Gravity, then just sit there and have more fun making fun of those people instead of saying "Oh Dear Lord, that fatass' ass is showing! Whatever shall we do?" You'll get a good laugh if you look at what stupid things people will do if they don't think they are being watched.

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Turkeys, the only animal smarter than man

You might not want a video capture of you in a lot of situations, but believe me it happens a lot already and furthermore you don't really have any legal recourse as things currently stand. My only point was that CP (or any other amusement park) could set up the proposed video system without legal concerns, and probably without much fear of outrage from a jaded and wildly videotaped public. The ethical and moral issues around invasion of privacy due to the incredible growth in private surveillance over the last decade are bigger societal issues and not really good material for a CP forum.

-- Harley

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CP fan since 68.