RocketTree Art

Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

I created this video – everything from the writing to the narration to the art to the editing – to support the Bicycle Transportation Alliance‘s effort to pass a law that would allow people on bikes to treat stop signs like yield signs: carefully, and if and only if they have the right of way. Blowing through a stop would still be illegal, and under this law would have carried an even stiffer penalty.

It was a fun project, and an interesting challenge in that I had to make most of basic 3D graphic techniques, within an extremely limited schedule. I wrote the script (with much input from the BTA), did the voice over, and edited the the piece together with some wonderful music by Lucas Gonze.

Surprisingly enough, this video that was mainly intended to educate a few state legislators about a relatively obscure law managed to go a little bit viral, at least by bicycle activism standards. 67k views at last count! It showed me the potential for this medium’s ability to explain things that are otherwise difficult to convey.

My work on the Idaho Stop led to a work on another bike-themed video, called On the Right Track. It talks about Portland’s new experimental cycletracks and buffered bike lanes, and how road users should use the new infrastructure.

My role on this video was strictly animation; the video was written, directed, and shot by Matt Giraud of Gyroscope Pictures.

On the Right Track from Mayor Sam Adams on Vimeo.

A Common Sense Alternative to the CRC from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

I was asked by veteran transit and anti-freeway activist Jim Howell to create this video illustrating his and architect George Crandall‘s idea for a more practical and less expensive alternative to the proposed mega-freeway project known as the Columbia River Crossing.

This came about after Jim saw an earlier video called The CRC: A Boatload of Questions, in which I put simple computer graphics to work illustrating some of the aspects of the project that are more difficult to grasp.

The CRC: A Boatload of Questions 1.1 from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

Here’s an edited segment showing the sheer quantity of money being thrown at the project:

3.6 billion – is that a lot? from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.