Ever been accosted by Barney Fife while shooting - or 3 of them?

mainstreetprod

mainstreetprod

Veteran
Was hired today ( by the Japanese public TV network) to shoot a hearing of a nuclear regulatory agency at a plant in Alabama. The meeting was uneventful other then some environmental types expressing their concerns. Went outdoors to shoot some B Roll of the plant and before you know it was surrounded by 3 "Security" SUV's, flashing lights, and Barney Fifes in sunglasses. We had to erase existing footage and shoot the plant to their specifications (could not show certain security related items). Anyone else had this, or something similar, happen?
DonKnotts-BarneyFife.jpg
 
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Not quite the same. It was an "industrial" for a corporation that sells the nuke plant chemicals- a friendly situation (our security had been arranged in advance). But yes, their security asked to see our footage, and they watched all 60 minutes worth. This was about 2 years ago, post 9/11
 
Yeah, I was shooting commercials for the airforce, and at the time clinton was in town, he arrived on the marine helicopter. We were told by the 24 hr guards( that do nothing but stand in front of the copter straight as a board) we are not allowed to get footage of the hanger it was in , or the copter it's self. An Air force guy, fairly high rank, went up to the the guard and asked if he could look inside, not thinking it was a big deal because he is also in the armed forces. The marine guarding it pulled his side arm and pointed it at the airforce guys head, and told him if he didn't back up now, he was going to be blow his head off. Needless to say he backed off real friggin quick. The whole incident was bizarre to me, because I thought the same way as the airforce guy. I mean their all in the military. I guess not all are privy to be near the presidents copter. The marine took his job very seriously, but then again he should.
 
I was doing some civilian work for a military base over seas many years ago. We were taken to a hanger that would be our workshop for the next week. Just before we entered the door for the first time our guide called over two guards with side arms, shouldered rifles and two very healthy looking German shepherds that patrolled the perimeter. We were shown a yellow line painted on the pavement just outside the door. The explanation was that should we ever cross that line unescorted we would be told to freeze only once. Looking at those dogs I never once thought to test it out.
 
Crafters:
Same exact thing happened to me shooting a Boeing commercial on an air force base in South Carolina. The line was the same color: yellow. It was pointed out to me and the crew. We were told that if we crossed it, "deadly force was authorized." He then pointed to the nearby roof of the adjacent hanger. Sure enough, there were 2 men with scoped rifles looking at us. Rifles weren't aimed, but they were watching.
 
cyclone said:
Crafters:
Same exact thing happened to me shooting a Boeing commercial on an air force base in South Carolina. The line was the same color: yellow. It was pointed out to me and the crew. We were told that if we crossed it, "deadly force was authorized." He then pointed to the nearby roof of the adjacent hanger. Sure enough, there were 2 men with scoped rifles looking at us. Rifles weren't aimed, but they were watching.
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That situation......I can tell you there were "special weapons" on site. They do not mess around with those in play. Was this a SAC base?
 
I have a friend who is one of the "Barney Fife's" at the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant in Eastern WA... you do *not* want to mess with them. Seriously, they aren't "Barney Fife's", the security SUV's probably had armor plating, and somewhere you may or may not have had a sniper pointing a rifle at your head without you knowing it. Post 9/11, nuclear security is no joke. My TV station sent a crew to Hanford a month ago to do a story about safty post Japan earthquake, and there was a lot they weren't allowed to shoot (that ended up being a part of the story) for security reasons. My friend at the plant didn't realize it was my station there, and told me later it was the first time he can remember in a long while they allowed anyone other than dignitaries to take a tour of the inside of the plant, let alone media getting footage from inside.

Mcgee is right, nuke security and presidential security is nothing to be trifled with.
 
They may not be Barney Fifes, but they're not (necessarily) Secret Service caliber (Get it? Caliber? ha ha).

A nuclear plant down here has had numerous security lapses such as:
Sleeping guards
Guards being alerted to "invasion drills" so they would be ready (more ready than their usual state of readiness, one would assume)
Unauthorized people allowed into the control room, etc.

On a semi-related note, one of the coolest locations I've ever shot (not scenic, pretty dark, not much to see, but just mind boggling where you were) was back in the 80's inside the second reactor being added to a plant, just before it went online. The control rods and everything were in place... just add fuel!
I should have written some graffiti on the container wall for someone to read in 10,000 years, a nuclear cave painting!

And once on a presidential visit, after the gear had been searched by the Service and dogs, on the camera platform I called out to a friend "Do you have the shotgu... I mean Sennheiser?" The agent assigned to the platform (probably 25-27 years old) laughed and said "What do you have, an ME64, 66, or what?" He knew his gear...
 
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groveChuck said:
They may not be Barney Fifes, but they're not (necessarily) Secret Service caliber (Get it? Caliber? ha ha).
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http://instantrimshot.com/index.php?sound=rimshot&play=true


And once on a presidential visit, after the gear had been searched by the Service and dogs, on the camera platform I called out to a friend "Do you have the shotgu... I mean Sennheiser?" The agent assigned to the platform (probably 25-27 years old) laughed and said "What do you have, an ME64, 66, or what?" He knew his gear...
Click to expand...
Nice... I'm guessing you weren't the first person to have that slip of tongue in his presence. :)
 
groveChuck said:
And once on a presidential visit, after the gear had been searched by the Service and dogs, on the camera platform I called out to a friend "Do you have the shotgu... I mean Sennheiser?" The agent assigned to the platform (probably 25-27 years old) laughed and said "What do you have, an ME64, 66, or what?" He knew his gear...
Click to expand...

That's great!
 
Mike Harvey said:
I have a friend who is one of the "Barney Fife's" at the Hanford Nuclear Power Plant in Eastern WA... you do *not* want to mess with them. Seriously, they aren't "Barney Fife's", the security SUV's probably had armor plating, and somewhere you may or may not have had a sniper pointing a rifle at your head without you knowing it. Post 9/11, nuclear security is no joke. My TV station sent a crew to Hanford a month ago to do a story about safty post Japan earthquake, and there was a lot they weren't allowed to shoot (that ended up being a part of the story) for security reasons. My friend at the plant didn't realize it was my station there, and told me later it was the first time he can remember in a long while they allowed anyone other than dignitaries to take a tour of the inside of the plant, let alone media getting footage from inside.

Mcgee is right, nuke security and presidential security is nothing to be trifled with.
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My definition of a Fife is someone who lets a bit of power go to their head and likes to play big shot. Two of these guys were pretty nice, but one was definitely a Barney. No armor plating on these SUV's, and anyone could drive right in the facility, no gate, at least to the part we went in.
 
Was shooting shots of the James River Corporation paper processing plant, right on the edge of their property, and a security guard came up and told us to stop. We weren't even on their property, but he just stood there with his car in the way. So we drove completely around to a different location, and what do you know, same guard shows up.

Presidents, nuclear power plants, airports. I can understand high security. But a paper mill?

I think that qualifies as a Barney Fife.
 
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