The People’s Choice Award

As I mentioned in an earlier post, VaRaces.com annually holds competitions for achievements in movie car chases. One of these awards is the people’s choice award. This award is solely based on which car chase people enjoyed the most. Votes were based on the visitors of the website, who participated through the net.

For 2006, these were the nominees:

“Cars
This animated blockbuster was long awaited by just about everyone with even a passing interest in automobiles. The crew at Pixar did a great job in bringing to life some classic models and archetypes. And they didn't stop there, Cars featured some flatout thrilling race scenes that rival anything 'real life' movies could muster.

Crank
When the main character of the film has to keep his heart rate elevated just too stay alive, you can be sure that a chase scene isn't going to be long in coming.

Dejavu
When is a chase not a chase, but still a chase? The mind bending chase sequence where the hero attempts to follow a car in the past while dealing with traffic in the present was a favorite of many chase fans.

Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
The 3rd entry into the Fast and the Furious series was named Tokyo drift for a reason. Some of the best drifters in the world were on set to put the cars to the test.

Final Contract: Death on Delivery
The Mercedes A-Class isn’t the type of car you think of when you picture a great chase Scene. Final Contract changed all that with a sequence that encompassed the street, rooftops and everything in between.

Waist Deep
It was a surprise when a car chase turned up at the end of this urban thriller. It was an even bigger surprise when the chase turned out to be one of the best of the year.” (From VaRaces.com)

The winner is… DeJavu. I agree. Its rare to see a car chase that is really… Impossible to explain for people who haven’t seen the movie. The film evaded conventional theatrics and delivered a knock-out car chase. Me and my buddies are still talking about it. It’s been two years already!

Sources: VaRaces.com

Knight Replicas

If you’re an enthusiast of the 80’s then you’re probably familiar with the famous TV show Knight Rider. It aired on television from 1982 to 1986. It was even converted to a feature length film by Universal Studios in 1991. As the plot goes,

“Michael Long, a police officer, was shot in the face by the criminals he was investigating. Rescued from death by a terminally ill industrialist Wilton Knight, Michael was convinced to continue his fight against crime and injustice with a new face and a new identity. Michael Long was pronounced dead, and Michael Knight was born. As part of his new life, Michael agreed to become the primary operative for FLAG (Foundation for Law And Government) and was given a new car. A car unlike any other, the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT); the fastest, safest, strongest, and smartest car in the world” (Knight Replicas.com)

Well, rumors are spreading that the TV series is going to make another debut. I’m not sure if it’s going to be on TV or at the movie house. Anyways, do you happen to know what Knight Replicas are?

I was browsing through car movie websites and I stumbled upon Knight Replicas.com. It features replicas of vehicles used in the Knight Rider series. Most of the replicated vehicles are KITTs. It is amazing how crazed fans will travel long lengths to imitate KITT.

As to the extent and accuracy of these replicas, they can be classified into four types: (1) Façade replica – which means only the exterior look is reproduced (2) Accurate replica – includes reproduction of exterior and interior, however some parts are strictly for display only (3) Authentic replica – means the parts used were the exact parts of an original KITT and finally (4) a functional replica – this version does not only look like a clone of KITT, it also talks like KITT. It has functional controls and features that make you feel like David Hasselhoff!

Go KITT crazy!

Sources: Knight Replicas.com

Car Scenes with Fake backgrounds

Yes.

We have all seen lame car scenes at the theater, at least once. You know those car scenes that have a moving picture as a background. It seems logical – it just uses a computer to plant one picture behind another. However, it always ends up looking fake and lame. Most especially in older movies. For some people it actually gives the film a more vintage feel.

But nevertheless, there is apparently some method in this madness.

During the old days, film equipment weighed a lot heavier. Cameras housing 35mm or 70mm roles were very heavy. Whenever movies were filmed in this type of camera, the rolls cause shakes inside. It made the film itself, blurry and unstable. So directors opted to shoot car scenes inside a studio. In a studio, cameras could be planted in a tripod to assure film quality.

The website Ask the Van expresses,

“In the old days, with the big, heavy cameras, the easiest kind of shooting that could be done was inside in a big soundstage. That way you can control the lighting, noise, and all the other variables.

People put cars in the soundstages, took the windshields out, and filmed actors sitting in the cars. To make it look a bit as if the car was moving, some scenery was projected on a screen in back of the car. This gives a really really hokey effect as you well notice. The main problems are that the actors are a little too stationary as the scenery bounces up and down. Or worse yet, the actors are told to bounce up and down, and their bouncing has nothing to do with how the scenery moves. If the scenery indicates a turn is happening, and the actors don’t seem to show the effects in how their hair blows or moves, or their bodies move, you notice the problem right away. I don’t think using computer image compositing would help, if it were done with the same kind of thing in mind.

Even worse tricks were used in some of the lower-budget movies of yesteryear. Sometimes if you look at the background scenery, you can see it repeat and repeat and repeat. Yick. Or the magnification wouldn’t be right -- say the background was shot with a lens with a different zoom setting than the people in the car.”

Nowadays, car scenes are less cumbersome. Since the inception of digital cameras, on-location car scene shooting has been easier.

Next time you see a fake car scene and somebody quips about it, tell him why it’s like that. Be a servant of the car movie world.

Sources: Ask the Van