Today, material for video and audio recordings can come from almost anywhere. About two weeks ago, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., police department released footage of the aftermath of a fatal accident in April at an apartment tower project in the city. There was a “bridgecam” reel showing near-ground-level views of a tower crane mast section plummeting over cars on a carriageway; police body camera tapes of officers running to the scene; images of county police helicopters; and, notably, police body camera recordings of interviews with site workers about a crane rigger who fell to his death.
When I saw local TV stations in South Florida playing one-minute mashups of those tapes after they were released on July 18, I thought there might be something valuable going unshown. What I found was moving and a little overwhelming, and I knew I had to write a story about what I saw and complete an edited video for ENR.com showing what had happened.
Of the 57 separate video files I received from the police, 10 were in a Windows file that I couldn’t play on my Macbook Pro, so I contacted BNP Media’s director of video production, Drew Lockwood, which turned them into a form that I could review. While taking notes for an article based on the videos, I prepared a script that helped Lockwood craft a four-minute video that can be viewed in a player within the text of my story on ENR.com or at our video channel, ENR. .com/videos.
Shortly after this first story was done, additional interviews and research, including a photo from the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Department, the written police report and a discussion with tower crane expert William Neeley, showed that another story that focused on potential was needed. cause of the tragedy. ENR California editor CJ Schexnayder also created social media posts about the media material, alerting us to how to package it for maximum impact on key channels like LinkedIn. With the input and help of talented colleagues, the online package was put together, as well as a print version of the story (see page 14), so that ENR can share the wide range of material with our audience in this issue and enr.com/videos. and enr.com/media/podcasts.
Richard Korman
Deputy Editor
In a podcast and video, ENR Senior Editor Aileen Cho talks with Brian Kelly, the outgoing CEO of the California High Speed Rail Authority, about winning hearts and minds (and settling lawsuits) .
ENR Senior Editor Jeff Yoders discusses GIS and BIM and how Esri and Autodesk are working together to make data transfer more seamless in a conversation with Amy Bunszel, Executive Vice President of AEC at Autodesk .
Original icons by Getty Images/V-Graphix and /-VICTOR-
