Vehicular motion. One of the things I think that gets lost with modern vehicles is motion. Body roll, wheels turning, etc. Think about bullitt. The body sway when a car fish tails around a corner. Losing a hubcap (like 7 times). A wheel coming up over a curb. The little intricacies that get lost with modern, planted vehicles.
In reply to jfryjfry :
I find it really humorous that you are asking this question, considering some of your work (like Baby Driver) is some of my favorite car chase scenes of all time!
Did you hit home runs before by accident, so now you are doing your homework?? 😂😂
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
Honestly, I hated that.
How fast are they supposedly going? I can barely hear my passengers with the top down at speed. And the dynamics of it all seem.... weak.
In reply to j_tso :
My complaint with Baby Driver (and other movies like it) is that there are always portrayals of, say, an ABS-equipped car locking up the brakes and skidding through an intersection, an AWD car doing a RWD drift somewhere, and general tomfoolery that would not be plausible with that or those particular vehicle(s). I know that this is done for dramatic effect through fairly invasive methods (hacking out or pulling the fuses on ABS modules, clamping off brake lines, removing drive shafts, etc.) but it does take me out of the moment.
In reply to brandonsmash :
Willing suspension of disbelief 😉
Everybody has covered the main points well, but I'll amplify or add a few thoughts:
This is not related to car chases per se, but it is a personal peeve:
In reply to brandonsmash :
That reminds me of when Top Gear "helped" film a chase and Clarkson insisted they show the driver disabling the traction control by holding down the button for 10 seconds.
Lay off the CG. This is a major contributor to unrealistic looking car chase scenes.
I realize there are things in a movie like Baby Driver that are not realistic for stock OEM cars (like rear wheel drifting in an AWD car) but they DO NOT defy the laws of physics. There is no CG in that movie- every stunt was actually driven (and you can tell).
Fast and Furious is just plain stupid at times.
In reply to SV reX :
I also find myself out of the moment when text appears on a computer and there's a BEEPITYBEEPITYPBEEP sound effect, when there's a dial tone on a cell phone, when knives swinging through the air make incessant SCHWING! sounds, when every firearm makes a revolver-hammer-being-cocked sound as it is unholstered, when EVs make combustion noises, etc. I am apparently an irritable, demanding customer.
JG Pasterjak said: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.
If you look at the fines and legal fees as the cost of the experience (like paying to drive that mclaren around a track), you are free to go do that tomorrow!
In reply to brandonsmash :
That's fine. But for me it's a movie. I appreciate the craft of great movie making.
I don't care if an OEM car can't do it (easily). I respect the stunt people's skills (including modifying cars). Just don't defy the laws of physics.
If I wanted perfect realism, I wouldn't be sitting in a movie theater. I'd be at an F1 race.
One of the best scenes in the Bullit car chase, was where the Dodge lost him in the hills only to see him in the rearview mirror - the next scene with the bad guy putting on his lap belt - then you knew it was ON!
JG Pasterjak said: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.
Funny you say that. If I was given the choice of lapping Daytona in a McLaren or jumping a old Ford in the LA River id definitely take the Ford.
cars with column shifter in Park during any driving scene also ticks me right off
David S. Wallens said: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.
After re-watching this clip, I think the answer is hubcaps.. And, unfortunately, that era has passed.
Cars can't lose hubcaps in chase scenes, and I think the world is poorer for it.
1. Realism.
2. Sound.
3. Tension.
4. Incidental Contact; cars making light contact makes it clear it could go wrong at any second.
5. Fear of dying. This is the most important part as it ties the other elements together. It has to be done in a way that I the viewer believed the chase is really sketchy.
Bullet, French Connection, To Live and Die in LA, just to name a few, made us feel this way.
Fast and the Furious and The Blues Brothers are the same chase.....only difference is F&F want us to take it seriously.
4cylndrfury said:cars with column shifter in Park during any driving scene also ticks me right off
I make sure to point that out to DW any time I see it.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
YES!
Tires don't squeal on dirt roads.
They sure can. Happens a lot at rallycrosses.
Heck, I saw a WRC stage test a few days ago in Kenya, where you could clearly hear tire squeal.
MiniDave said:One of the best scenes in the Bullit car chase, was where the Dodge lost him in the hills only to see him in the rearview mirror - the next scene with the bad guy putting on his lap belt - then you knew it was ON!
Or the same in Ronin, when Gregor was in the BMW.
Wasn't it in Payback when a character said something to the effect of "I noticed something... they didn't put their seat belts on." Five second foreshadowing
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
I'm sorry, I'm to lazy to go find the clip, but there next time you watch Dazed and Confused, pay attention to the bronco towards the end. Gets in, puts it in gear, drives away from the football field slowly, while the tires squeal. This is just the big one that sticks out in my head, but it happens a ton.
It's one thing on dirt at speed, it's another thing when it's just someone randomly driving away.
For the original question, the first two Transporter movies come to mind. Part of that is my mancrush on Jason Statham, but some of the chases stick out to me as really well done in a modern setting.
I don't really have an answer, it's like the music video/porn trials from the 90s. I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.
In reply to RevRico :
Tire squeal in general is way overused, I do agree.
Both when just driving normally AND when driving massively. I mean, when at the burnout box at a dragstrip, you don't hear squeal until the tires are close to hooking up...
This is a lot, I think, why Days of Thunder was heavily panned. People could turn on their TV most weekends and see that NASCAR wasn't like that.
aircooled said: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)
I agree that music can ruin it. But Bullitt got it perfect. I'm not even a fan of jazz but that lead up to the chase was spot on. It just ratcheted up the tension until the baddies dropped the hammer. There were a couple of different scenes in it that had great jazz. But the target audience was probably a bit too old to appreciate rock style music.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:physics, and adherence to the laws thereof
YES!
Tires don't squeal on dirt roads.
They sure can. Happens a lot at rallycrosses.
Heck, I saw a WRC stage test a few days ago in Kenya, where you could clearly hear tire squeal.
Absolutely. They will squeal on hard-packed dirt just like on asphalt or concrete.
Come on Curtis. You let me down man. :-)
In reply to rustomatic :
I've always enjoyed the noises and the camera work behind the yellow Camaro in Gumball Rally. Despite Gary Busey pissing in a bottle.
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