A few threads popped up about movie car chases and i got to wondering, "what makes them good?"
I can say, without a doubt, that editing, sound and composition is a huge part. But are there specifics that you look for?
let's just say I'm doing my homework....
physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
*not* i'm driving neck and neck with my rival for 10 seconds, we've both got it floored, yet somehow i'm able to rocket away after UPshifting.
That's a really good question.
I'd have to say that some of my favorite chase scenes feel grounded and realistic-ish in their execution.
I'm less interested in seeing an unstoppable hero blasting through billboards, and more interested in watching a driver push themselves and their car to the limit.
Bonus points if the actor does some of their own driving, but that's not a requirement.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:*not* i'm driving neck and neck with my rival for 10 seconds, we've both got it floored, yet somehow i'm able to rocket away after UPshifting.
I second this answer.
sound - its got to sound like 70s uncorked F1 cars.
What it cannot be are 85 mile long runways with 12 stage nitrous and 38speed transmissions
Since it's for research, I feel like this is a good place as any to share one of my favorite YouTube channels:
The chase scene in Bullitt really still is the prime example, largely because of the sound quality (big block v8s). That movie did a great job of being quiet until some E36 M3 hit the fan. The approach was excellent for keeping viewers in tension.
I sold an LT1 to a guy who was a sound editor on like a zillion movies; I wish I could remember his name . . .
Sound. (There is going to be a weird landscape for car chases in the EV future.)
Actual realism and tension: No upshifting a dozen times, no smashing the back of a FWD car off and driving the front around, no smashing through chain-link fences, etc.
I want to say that a couple of the Bourne movies did it pretty well. I also often tend to feel a bit more engaged when the chases are in normal-ish cars as opposed to exotics or fancypants customs or whatnot.
In reply to rustomatic :
I was just going to mention that word: tension.
Sure, the footage of Mustang and Charger screeching around San Francisco is legendary, but it’s the setup that always sucks me in–especially the music and then how it instantly goes away the second the tires start spinning.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Or "We're in a heated chase and are neck-and-neck and NOW I decide I'm going to pin the throttle!" (Cut to shot of the driver going from 1/4 to full throttle as if it hadn't occured to either of the drivers to use more pedal.)
It's the automotive equivalent of "We're pointing guns at each other in a heated standoff and one of us is about to fire a weapon, so now is the time to show I'm serious by racking the slide and chambering a round!"
It's easy to make a chase bad for dramatic effect, it's tough to make it good and satisfying for the car dorks who watch it and notice things like 38 speed transmissions and 12 stage nitrous kits.
Whoever edits the drag races for Street Outlaws does a great job (IMO), they take a 4 second race seem to last much longer and usually much closer than they really are. So playing with film speed and changing between in car vs out of car camera angles.
Cars should be relatively evenly matched against each other. A Suburban is not going to catch a Corvette.
Motorcycles are stupid, if they are chasing what are they gonna do if they catch the other vehicle, fall over? And generally if they are the chasee, they should be able to get away pretty quick if they are well piloted.
rustomatic said:The chase scene in Bullitt really still is the prime example, largely because of the sound quality (big block v8s). That movie did a great job of being quiet until some E36 M3 hit the fan. The approach was excellent for keeping viewers in tension.
It should be mentioned the sound of Bullitt's Mustang was dubbed in, I believe from a Ford GT40. I agree the lead-up to the chase really added to it, the suspenseful music was great.
i have to say, that while Cruise was a weird choice to play Jack Reacher, the car chase in that movie did not disappoint. There were some real moments there where the challenge of managing the heft of a full muscle A body at full song while trying to haul itself around city streets chasing a modern import was on full display. The stall/flood when he nosed into a barricade that was hard to recover from was probably not scripted. The back end going all over the place on wet streets also felt very real. Those are elements that made the chase feel compelling and exciting.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
YES!
Tires don't squeal on dirt roads. And my big pet peeve is when the RPM fx don't match what the vehicle is doing. I also hate when they blatantly use a zoomed and shaky shot of a car going 15 mph and try to pass it off as really fast.
Sounds like everyone agrees that technical accuracy is pretty important. Its like in a movie/show when you see a fully automatic bolt action rifle that cocks like shotgun.
At least for me: NO MUSIC!!!!!!
Nothing blows a potentially great car chase more than some stupid thumping rave music!
Note the Bullet clip above. Subtle music to set up the scene. One the chase begins, NO MUSIC, just engine sounds! Works great!
Directors tend to fall back to tropes, because they are either effectively cowards or just not that good. Music is mostly only needed in movies where the directing cannot present the action / tension properly. Subtle background music can be effective (see flight scenes in Dunkirk), but still really not necessary (planes make interesting sounds also)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
I'll add the corollary of geography and spatial relationship, and adherence to the boundaries thereof.
Watch the To Live and Die in LA chase. Friedken does an amazing job of always keeping the geography and relationship of the cars in mind, even while cycling between multiple lenses. That sequence combines longs and mids to give good spatial relationship info on the car, then cuts in long-lens close ups to ramp the tension,and even some long-lens mids to compress the distance between the cars and create even more tension.
I think any chase needs to reflect the reason for the chase as well. Stories start with characters and I think sometimes directors forget how much we can reveal about a character through their action beats. Too many chases simply turn into street races where the point of the chase seems to be "We got into a car chase to show each other what great drivers we are while setting aside our other differences." Is your lead running for their life? Running toward their quarry? Is the car a character or a tool? All of these sequences are going to look different based on the motivations of the principals and the stakes involved. The chase/race in Against All Odds does a fantastic job of fleshing out two characters during the course of its run. Likewise, Reeves directs the Batmobile reveal in The Batman more as a horror movie than anything, turning the car into a real force of menace. I think the question that needs to be asked before any chase begins is "What do our characters gain when this chase ends?" That answer kind of sets the tone for how it proceeds.
Also, at some point one of the cars needs to hit a cart loaded with fruit. Sorry, it's the law.
Personally, I want the chase to seem plausible and relatable. If I could see myself doing what the actor is doing then I tend to be more engaged. Bullitt, Ronin, Bourne, these all feel real and possible and they all stand out for me. Classics for a reason and all that.
I agree with the above comment about normal cars too. Bond movies kinda fall down for me because of that. A fast sedan is perfect in this regard. Ronin's M5 is peak awesome but I have a soft spot for old Bimmers.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
One more thing to add to that, perceived drivers skill. While it's cool to some people to see massive drifting, that's out of the skill level for most drivers, so it makes my eyes roll. Add to that, people who do any minor amount of racing ( read just local autocrossing) all know that drifting is very much not the fast way. And if you are trying to get away or catch someone, you should be trying to go as fast as possible.
note- when I say drifting, I do mean the spectacle kind, not what you see on dirt tracks or rallying.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
My friend's kid was watching one of those F&F movies. Cars were being dropped out of airplanes at speed from a fairly good height onto scrub land. The cars bounced with no suspension movement and just sped along in the desert.
He thought it was cool. I thought it would be better if it showed the cars suspension disintegrating on contact, like what would happen in real life, and then the drivers suddenly had to deal with the consequences of their monumentally bad idea.
IIRC, when The Dukes of Hazzard was being filmed, they reused a lot of footage because every time you saw the General Lee get air, that was a car totaled.
JG Pasterjak said:AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
I'll add the corollary of geography and spatial relationship, and adherence to the boundaries thereof.
...combines longs and mids to give good spatial relationship info on the car, then cuts in long-lens close ups to ramp the tension,and even some long-lens mids to compress the distance between the cars and create even more tension.
... any chase needs to reflect the reason for the chase as well. ...
... at some point one of the cars needs to hit a cart loaded with fruit. Sorry, it's the law.
JG for President.
also, Bourne car chases seem to adhere to these rules.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:JG Pasterjak said:AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
I'll add the corollary of geography and spatial relationship, and adherence to the boundaries thereof.
...combines longs and mids to give good spatial relationship info on the car, then cuts in long-lens close ups to ramp the tension,and even some long-lens mids to compress the distance between the cars and create even more tension.
... any chase needs to reflect the reason for the chase as well. ...
... at some point one of the cars needs to hit a cart loaded with fruit. Sorry, it's the law.
JG for President.
also, Bourne car chases seem to adhere to these rules.
My only exception to the geography rule is a simple one. I don't care if your car chase takes place in downtown Auckland, NZ. At some point your ass better dip down into the LA River or I'm walking out of the theater.
Creative stunt driving gets my attention, like the opening chase in Baby Driver.
KyAllroad said:Cars should be relatively evenly matched against each other. A Suburban is not going to catch a Corvette.
Setting up a chase in a particular location can make this interesting, usually because the protagonist has to deal with traffic.
Otherwise it'll be like the chase scene in Knives Out
There are so many "Exotic Car Driving Experience"s that let you drive a McLaren 720 around a racetrack but zero that let you drive a Ford LTD through the LA River and I think that's a huge fail on the part of capitalism and society in general.
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