Thursday, March 29, 2012

Bikesploitation Ideas

Having been to a fair share of film festivals (including producing the Bicycle Film Festival in Memphis) I want to remind everyone of the oft-overlooked entry: the Public Service Announcement (PSA). PSA's are relatively easy to produce and can be done in very little time with a relatively small (sometimes no) budget. And since I'm involved with a project this year I thought I'd throw out a few ideas so that they don't go to waste.

1. Traffic Jam - A man sits in a car. All shots are interior, tight and below window level. Bicycle bells are heard in background. Man wears suit pants, shirt and tie. Man tunes stereo, taps steering wheel, shaves with electric razor, eats breakfast (pastry or pop-tart), tunes stereo, talks on phone, eats packed lunch, rolls up sleeves, fidgets with phone, rolls down window, money is handed out, food is handed in. Exterior, high vantage point shot of traffic jam with bicycles weaving in and out, delivering goods. Fade to black. Give it a smart tagline like, "Stop living in your car, and start living." Partnership for Bicycles or some-such organization. Boom. Done.

2. Bodies - Accident scene. A car has hit a bicyclist. Car driver being lectured on the dangers of texting while driving by police officer. Show mangled bike and cyclist laying on ground unconscious. Cyclist wears cycling outfit. Same scene, outfit changes to fireman, doctor, judge, chef, man, woman, child etc... in succession. Black bar across bottom with tagline, "Texting While Driving. You never know who you'll run into." Done.

3. The How-To - This one can go either way; serious or parody. "How to Ride Bikes in Memphis."

The deadline for entries is April 20th. You can get the submission form and all the info at the Live From Memphis website. If you need any help just get in touch and I'll see what I can do.

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