Vehicle Security - Slowing Down the Bad Guys OnStar Connections

September 9, 2009

That’s a Wrap: Slowing Down the Bad Guys

A new commercial dramatizes Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. Take a behind-the-scenes look at how it was made.

By OnStar

OnStar has just filmed a new commercial showing a dramatization of Stolen Vehicle Slowdown^®1, one of the latest enhancements to their Stolen Vehicle suite of services.

OnStar shares a stolen vehicle’s exact GPS location with law enforcement. When police identify the vehicle and let OnStar know it’s in the clear, an Advisor will send a remote signal to reduce engine power, slowing the vehicle down gradually. This kind of assistance to police helps prevent high-speed chases, reduce property damage and save lives.

To make the 30-second commercial, shot on a Detroit freeway, the producers used five professional stunt drivers, one helicopter and five cameras, worked closely with the Detroit Police Department and the Michigan State Police, who supplied cars and traffic control, and shot hours of film.

Check out a sneak peak at the commercial and continue reading to find out how it all came together.

A well-coordinated effort

Andre Bond, of RedOrange USA and the producer of Cop Cam, says it took RedOrange USA and his four-man crew about three weeks of production work prior to filming the Cop Cam commercial. The one-day shoot included a crew of 25 and 10 hours of shooting time. “Challenges included scouting a location, logistics, preparation, rehearsals and working with the police to help d_128x128_edition_2 coordinate the rolling blocks — where the police would drive together across all the freeway lanes to keep other traffic away while we filmed. Before we had a rehearsal on the freeway, we drew a map of the road and used miniature cars to rehearse exactly what the drivers would be doing and how the rolling blocks would work. When we filmed, the police only had to close the freeway for about five minutes for the scene where the stolen Tahoe and the police car pulled off the road. It took a lot of planning and coordination but it went very smoothly.”

Every lane change was planned

e_128x128_edition_2 Dan Lemieux was the stunt coordinator and driver of the “stolen” Tahoe — the bad guy — in the commercial. Dan’s been a stunt driver for 15 years and he says the commercial was a lot of fun to work on. “It all went really smoothly. First, we went over the storyboards with the director and figured out how many drivers we needed. Then we started mapping out our strategy. Any car movement you see on camera is choreographed just like a fight or a dance sequence. Our part in the actual filming took about nine hours. When we were ready to shoot on a Saturday morning, the Detroit police did a rolling block and we did our thing. By the way, to see Stolen Vehicle Slowdown work firsthand was amazing. It’s really ingenious.”

Everyone’s got to be on the same page

Nicholas McMahon, from McMahon Helicopter Services, piloted the helicopter. Nick’s been flying for 10 years. “There’s a lot of downtime when you’re filming a commercial. The fun part, of course, is the flying. But there are a lot of people involved in the whole process and it’s critical that everyone be on the same page. After all the time and work invested in the process, it’s always interesting for me to see the final product — the few seconds that make the cut.”

a_128x128_edition_2 For the OnStar commercial, Nick says they used a GyroCam — a stabilized camera mounted to the nose of the helicopter. “It can turn 360 degrees, which is really helpful. My job is to line up the helicopter for the subject in the shot and the camera operator focuses on and tracks the subject. Everyone on the ground has handheld radios and we’re in constant contact with them. We were in the air about two hours total for the shoot.”

Nick says from a pilot’s standpoint, Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is a great idea. “We’re involved in TV news locally and car chases are the trickiest for us to film and often do not have happy endings. We’ve seen the end results — there have been a lot of deadly crashes. With Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, you can help prevent these tragedies.”

A great moment: watching the signal slow down

OnStar Advisor Aisha Bright is eager to see the new commercial. She recently handled several Stolen Vehicle Assistance calls in which the vehicles were equipped with Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. She says it’s both exciting and very satisfying. “You know the police are going to get the bad guys because they are driving the stolen car at that moment. It hasn’t been abandoned. And we can hear the play-by-play between the police and the dispatcher. Once the police are within sight of the stolen car, we can flash the lights to make sure they’re behind the right vehicle. Then they ask us to go ahead and slow it down. And then it’s over — just like that.

“OnStar is the only company that offers this service. Each time I’ve worked with law enforcement to bring these situations to a successful end, I’ve thought to myself that everyone involved teamed up to avoid a deadly crash resulting from a chase.”

¹ Stolen Vehicle Slowdown is available on select 2009 and newer GM vehicles. Visit onstar.com for details. Success varies with conditions.

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