My Submission to Union Pacific's "Great Big Rollin' Railroad" Video Remake Contest

…or The Last Six Months of My Life

At the beginning of the year I came across this press release disclosing the fact that the Union Pacific Railroad would be holding a contest to launch the celebrations for their 150th year. It sounded like a perfect opportunity for me to expand my foray into railroad graphic arts so I eagerly set about to create a submission for the contest:

Omaha, Neb., January 03, 2012 – As part of the launch of its 150th anniversary celebration website, Union Pacific Railroad will award more than $35,000 in prizes to the top entries that remake the company’s classic 1970s television commercial, “We Can Handle It.”

Video remake contestants can find information, rules, sheet music to the commercials Great Big Rollin’ Railroad theme song, and other resources at www.up150.com. Entries are encouraged from all music genres including blues, reggae, pop, country, rock, hip hop, rap, jazz and others. The grand prize winner will receive $15,000, two finalists will receive $5,000 each and six runners up will receive $1,000 each. One entry each month also will win receive $1,000. Entry deadline is July 1, 2012, and contestants must be 18 years of age or older.

The original We Can Handle It television spots featured hand-clapping, foot-stomping employees from across the Union Pacific network singing the Great Big Rollin’ Railroad lyrics in a variety of settings, some more on key than others. Several different versions of the commercials were produced and aired. Still popular today, the Great Big Rollin’ Railroad ring tone has been downloaded more than 100,000 times.

Upon reaching the web site dedicated to UP’s Anniversary, UP150.com, I discovered the “assignment” was as follows:

• Show your railroad pride by remaking the classic Union Pacific Great Big Rollin’ Railroad commercial.
• Create and submit a spot that is no longer than 60 seconds in length featuring the song used in the original Great Big Rollin’ Railroad commercial. You can perform the music in any style you wish, but you cannot change the original lyrics.
• Your Submission should be in commercial form consistent with these Official Rules.

It seemed simple enough except for a few things:

1. I am not musically inclined whatsoever.
2. I lacked the skills necessary to produce the vision of the commercial that I had in mind.

Joe’s Video Submission for the Union Pacific’s “Great Big Rollin’ Railroad” Video Remake Contest

My vision was to have the commercial based around a museum setting that showcased some key Union Pacific exhibits and remain close to the historical significance of the various milestones in the Union Pacific story. To that end I knew that I would have to virtualize most, if not all of the commercial. I was OK with doing just that since I love technology but the issue was I that I had never done something like this before.

I spent the next few months, (totally neglecting most other aspects of my life like this blog), learning how to build 3-D models and sets and render the same. I learned about animations and key-framing as well as motion graphics and, much to my surprise, how to edit and assemble a musical track. I owe a great deal of thanks to my daughter Jessica and her beau, Joe, for giving me their well-meant musical criticism and suggestions along the way. They are the voices singing the jingle in the commercial and give warmth to the effort.

Eventually the finished effort took shape and the hard part of fine-tuning and tweaking the edits came and went. Just a couple of days before the deadline I was able to submit my entry.

I am happy with the way it turned out except for some saturation issues in some scenes that I can only attribute to the encoding and cross-encoding of the video to shrink a 1.1GB file under the 200MB submission limit imposed by the rules.

I would love to get your feedback on my effort so jump over to the Union Pacific’s 150th Anniversary GBRR site by clicking on the image on the right and check out the video and let me know. Also be certain to look at the other submissions as there are some amazing and some funny videos to be sure!

Update on Friday, June 29, 2012 at 9:56AM by Joe Perry

UPDATE

I am getting feedback that the voting process requires you to create an account and log-in first. That is understandable since the need to “validate” each vote cast. However, some inidividuals say the process is cumbersome and others have voiced privacy concerns. Here’s my suggestions:

1. If You Want an Easy Process — Use the “Sign In With…” option and choose either Facebook or Twitter, provided you have an account with those services.



  

2. If You Are Concerned With Privacy — Use the “Sign Up” and create an account on the UP150.com site directly. This will require you to validate your email address by clicking on a link in an email that the site will immediately send you upon signing up, but you don’t have to worry about the site having access to your Twitter or Facebook accounts.

UP 844, a Mountain, a Mob, and Me

As I described in in my previous post, ““UP” for a Chase? 844 Comes to California,” Union Pacific’s famous steam engine, the UP No. 844, is in California and garnering quite the attention in the process. On Saturday, November 19, 2011, the UP 844 lead the Centennial Tour train eastbound from West Colton, California to Yermo, California. The route the train was scheduled to take was over BNSF rails up and over the scenic and challenging Cajon Pass. It was the making of a perfect photo opportunity and I headed out early Saturday morning, almost dutifully, to get in position.

I had settled on a location just south, geographically, from Cajon proper, where the rails round a bend at the curved bridge over Zuni Creek. I found a safe spot to park my rig and made sure that my radios (data and voice) where in working order and then watched the traffic flow as I cranked the heater in the cab of my truck. It was 5:00AM and the outside temperature was 40 degrees. 

The weather was not ideal as there was a low moving into the area and this brought low clouds and fog into Cajon Pass. I actually welcomed the the fog because it would add “atomsphere” to the photos but the lack of direct sunlight would make for less than stellar shots—at least from me.

I took a few test shots of a some passing BNSF intermodals and the westbound Southwest Chief to test out all of the possible spots and settings. As I did this I began to meet other folks that had come to see the train. During my discussion with of them I realized that I did not know which of four possible rails the train would be on. Three of them were side-by-side and didn’t present an issue, but the fourth rail did because it was obscured by a cut at my present location.

In a frantic fit, I posted a question on the Trainorders board to ask if anyone knew the exact route the special would take. Minutes turn into an hour and I began to second guess my prime spot. Ultimately I got a few responses that lead me to decide to move further up the hill, and I am glad I did.

As I drove east along SR 138, towards Summit, I passed one grouping of motorists after another pulled off onto the shoulder at every conceivable wide-spot in the road that might afford a glimpse of the train. It was quite the turnout for sure.

After learning the 844 was delayed leaving West Colton, I took a little extra time to find that “just right” spot. I didn’t want to shoot from some of the more obvious locations, for example at Summit. I eventually settled on Martinez, where the tracks converge from three main tracks to two. I leveled my camper and took my gear up to roof. The additional height was necessary to get me near the height of the grade at this spot.

Eventually the 844 began her assault on the hill and would be passing me within the hour. 

While I waited, and waited, the radio traffic betrayed the fact that there was a need for the 844 to “hold the main” at Martinez while a responder performed some sort of servicing. This was a surprise to both, the BNSF dispatcher and me. It also laid my plans to somewhat waste because the train would not be traveling at track speed as she came by my location. Oh well, so it goes, sometimes, when you chase steel.

Little did I know that it would get worse. Since the train was now scheduled to stop at Martinez, just west of me and out of view around a curve, that gave time for all of the folks, that so desired, the time to catch up with the train and continue the chase. This led to more than usual traffic that came along with the train and soon the area around “my spot” was filled with cars and people all over the scene.

The 844 eventually came into view and it was cool to see, no doubt. I took my shots, best I could because I found myself pausing to take it all in a little too long.

When I looked at my shots later that day at home, I was disheartened to see that many of my shots contained people in them right along the rails and on the right-of-way. Bummer. I could “remove” them in post-processing but, fortunately, my best-friend CJ was also on the hill chasing steel.

CJ gave me copies of his photos and I thought they were spectacular so I asked his permission to use them in this post. Of course he agreed. So, it is with great pleasure, and relief that I present the photographic work of CJ Hokanson of the UP No. 844 pulling the Centennial Tour train over Cajon Pass:

A short movie to set the mood…

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Here are a few of my photos to round out the event:

BNSF Unveils a New Site for "Friends"

Friends of BNSF
BNSF’s latest web offering for the community at large.

A few days ago BNSF unveiled a new web offering called “Friends of BNSF.”

According to John Ambler, BNSF vice president, Corporate Relations, 

“Friends of BNSF will allow us to keep the community informed about issues that are important to freight rail transportation and its role in the U.S. economy. Rail fans, freight rail advocates, members of communities in which BNSF operates, and of course our employees and retirees are all welcome at Friends of BNSF.”

The website, which is free to join, will contain material from BNSF’s extensive historical archives — historical photos and videos, authentic maps and documents, and classic brochures and advertisements.

Friends of BNSF will be updated with new content regularly and members can elect to receive e-mail notifications when new content is posted in their selected areas of interest.

BNSF’s Arizona Fact Sheet
An example of some of the content available.

Members will be able to view special news articles and videos, explore a one-of-a-kind resource library packed with company information, download exclusive wallpaper, ringtones and a screensaver.

BONUS: The first 10,000 new members who complete their profile including mailing address will receive a free 2012 BNSF calendar, which displays a collection of spectacular photos of BNSF trains taken by BNSF employees.

I have joined the site and I have found the content interesting and informative. My only gripe, thusfar, is that the opportunity to have one of your photos chosen for the calendar is open to employees only! :-(