Damn. They sure got the word out. There must've been 2 dozen people there. What a tremendous wasted opportunity.
I'd say 120 or so were there by the time I showed up. Maybe a few more. Up until yesterday afternoon, the city council hadn't approved the permits to film on the city streets. That considered, I think it was a decent turn out...
Excuses. Someone F'd up HUGE. Someone did enough logistical work to fly an f1 car from europe to Texas, and bring Coulthard with a moderate sized engineering team,... Tavo couldn't get a permit in advance. No one bothered to publicize the event. Does this inspire confidence in anyone?
Yes, they could have promoted it more. Up until 5 pm yesterday, the word was, filming was canceled, and only a display of the car at the history museum. This led a lot of people to cancel their plans to attend (read the posts here for a few) also more on the Friends of Formula 1 Austin Page. Also this weekend is back to school, and the state runs a sales tax holiday, so I'm sure a lot of casual fans that might have attended were busy with that. If it were me, I would have waited the few weeks until Austin City Limits music festival, and filmed it then, and also display it. A run From Zilker, up Congress to the Capital would have been nice. Then again, good luck getting permission to do that..... No real complaints here though, just wish they would have been more detailed on the schedule of when they were going to run it.....(just barely missed it). Going to go out on a limb here and say this trip came out of Tavo's pocket, and not Red Bulls. Still no mention of it on the RBR website.
The simple fact that you or I would have done a better job of this speaks volumes. Tavo is an amateur who has no clue what he is doing... Sad and discouraging...
Who knows, they might not have wanted too many people there. It was mentioned as being a 'closed set' probably to discourage public attendance. I'm just waiting for the national press to pick up this story, and run with it. Seeing as how Perry is running for president. "Texas giving private company $250MM to build race track for rich people" or something like that sure would get some ratings. (despite being innacurate) and probably would neglect to mention all of the claw back provisions......
First paragraph is dead nuts on. Thisbwas a full scale film production. I was one of 5 people standing between the Capitol and the pit area, for the first few shots it wasnt a hig deal due to angles but then they told us to clear out from that spot because we were in the shot. From the helicopter. Despite 2 state troopers on every corner, oblivious pedestrians kept wandering into the hot zone. They had a hard enough time controlling the oblivious and the hardcore 200 fans who ignored the "not open to public." Those who cared enough to try to get close enough just to hear, ended up with better access and view than 95% of F1 fans will ever get. Only additional access they could have given me would have been climbing into the car. The production staff were nice about it, but they were constantly askung people to get out of the shot.
I'd have around $4?? Not excuses. observations I use to make the conclusion that they weren't trying to get the public there for the filming. The film permit was filed on the 12th of this month. Don't know what it takes to plan a trip like this, but its probably at least a month out. And yet no mention of it on COTA's or RBR's website. Up until Friday evening, the filming was said to be canceled. When announced, it was said to be a 'closed set.' That being said, if I'm the one paying for the trip, I'm going to try my best to get maximum value out of the expense. Mismanegement? Hardly.
Sounds like a blast. Wish I would have made it down there in time....*sigh* I wonder if they'll be done with post production in time for next weeks race? -- Looking forward to watching it.
I just don't see it the way you guys do. The purpose of this event was to get people excited about an F1 race in Texas correct? F1 cars race in front of fans. Having fans cheering in the background would be a plus IMHO. In today's technology I'll buy the argument that they'd rather put "fans" in digitally, but to want clear shot for production value... is this for the next Tom Ciruise Mission Impossible movie or an F1 promo? If they had advertised this, they would have gotten 5k people there... and it would be on CNN, and FoxNews all night long. It would also be on MSNBC for scarring a few boll weevils, but I digress,... This event was for PR,... Now or in the weeks / months to come. To give up a massive amount of free press that would have went national on the MSM and reached millions of people who don't watch F1 was a colossal blunder IMHO.
Closed set might not have been entirely about production value.....from a recent Red Bull Promotion.....: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvW7vOEdHzI[/ame] As for the free press. I think they're trying to keep a low profile right now. At least until the check clears from the Comptroller. Keep in mind, Perry first got involved with this back in 2008. Not going to go to far into politics, but a few posts up I presented a rather easy way the press would 'spin' this to protray him unfavorably.
How about a $1 for every time you've been wrong thus far, starting from the original thread title and concept "USGP cancelled" Pretty clear there's going to be a race. Turns out they had that covered. Dang: http://www.statesman.com/news/local/construction-finally-under-way-on-austins-f1-facility-1154979.html Seem like a lot of activity going on for a dead, financially impossible project with no real backers.
I think you have it wrong. The event WAS supposed to be an event to raise awareness with a public F1 demonstration. The permit for that was not approved because they didn't request the permits soon enough. The permit that was approved was to a "closed to the public" commercial shoot for Red Bull. I'd imagine they have known this for some time and so therefore didn't advertise like crazy to get people to the public viewing that they were hoping for.
I'm disappointed now.....*sigh* Oh well, perhaps the commercial will be used to promote the tickets when they go on sale? It was still nice to see one up close though. I bet I could have fit in it
My camera didn't capture this well, but Ill paint you a picture.... The magic hour 8am light, the capitol behind the cresting street, the wail as the car appeared suddenly over the crest, first your eyes are focused on the capital, then the car, and then the capitol starts to look like a mirage as the heat waves flowing from the car altered the light...
Were you there? Did you speak to the producers and event organizer to establish this opinion...or are you just seeding this thread with half-truths based internet gabber and speculation as you have done in the past? This event was a shoot and certainly NOT a public PR event, anyone that is familiar with any RB or has hosted PR events would understand that. Your comments are just the usual (boring and tiresome) rhetoric about the imminent failure of the project. I know that you are dying to be proven right but sorry, it's happening whether you like it or not.
I agree with everything you said... How did I have it wrong? Seems to me someone screwed up and missed a golden opportunity.
