A day at Six Flags, by Luis Arteaga

As my final project for the Master in Media & Arts I decided to go with video once again. This time, I wanted to show some of the things that I enjoyed the most during my stay. I had a couple ideas on mind, but the opportunity never arose. So, I finally restricted my choices to what I had in my hand and was accessible. I didnt want to talk about the same things to do in LA, and even if where I went is included in every tourist guide of SoCal, not that many people has the chance to enjoy it. Be it because the distances or because theyre to afraid to take the risk.

So, I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain with a mission. Ride every rollercoaster of the park. Ride them always in the first row. And record them completely for the world to see.

In order to accomplish this task I had to go on a weekday. Theres no way I could have done it with a thousand people in lines. Lucky enough for me, the day that I went the park was always empty and the most that I had to wait were 5 minutes, just because I needed to be in the front row. As a matter of fact, I could ride Superman 4 times in a row without leaving the cart. Thats a feat that not that many people can claim.

The biggest challenge was how to film it. First, I didnt have a camera but my cell phone. And second, even with a decent camera, I couldnt sneak it pass the security checks on the rides. And third, there was risk involved to expose a delicate electronic device to all the twist and turns without losing it and smashing it to the ground. So the best solution I found, was to film with a photo camera. Obviously this had its drawbacks, like the poor quality of the sound, but fortunately, my roommates camera has an amazing HD picture quality. We both filmed all the rides, him with his camera and me with my cell phone. But after my phones battery died mid way, we reshoot all the intros with the HD to have them in the same format. The only shot from my cell phone that I ended up using was during the uphill part of Goliath, as I talked to the camera while going up and about to face the biggest drop of the park.

So, after a complete day on the park, we managed to ride every roller coaster but one. The mighty X2, the sole reason why Six Flags has a huge staple in my mind, was closed. But on the other hand, I finally had the chance to ride on Déjà vu. The scariest ride Ive ever been to be honest. Sadly, the ride was so hectic that all the footage turned out to be non usable.

Even though I had filmed every ride, I decided to use only five of them on my video. I choose the ones that had the most memorable experiences, as they are totally different from one another. In order to give my video a little more of a pro look to bypass the terrible sound and the amateur way to produce it, I looked at the data and statistics from the rides. Theres a totally different approach to them when you dont really know the facts. And I think that those details can make the experience more enjoyable or more terrifying.

In overall, it took me one day to shoot and about two days to edit it. It was kind of complicated due the HD footage and I spend a lot of time on renders alone. But in the end, I think it was pretty decent considering how it was done and that it was a solo project without any formal script or equipment.




Directed Edited and Hosted by Luis Arteaga
Camera by Michiel Laflrere

Recorded entirely with a Panasonic Lumix photo camera, that's why the sound sucks... but nice HD quality though... (less info)