How to edit A Chase Scene
The BASICS of Filming a CHASE Scene
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hey what is up my name is rubidium today
we're looking at chase scenes how they
work how the pots that they're made of
and how to build those pots into a
complete whole I am NOT the world expert
on chase scenes I have filmed quite a
few of them I really love them I feel
like they're pure cinema they're
exciting I'm about to do a much larger
project that has several in it so I
wanted to go back to the drawing board
study the chase scenes that I really
loved look at what makes them great and
sort of break down how to shoot them or
how I'm planning on shooting them not an
expert I'm just a huge admirer of other
directors work and hopefully the things
that I've learned along the way will
help someone else out there they'll at
least help me to organize my thinking
about them so maybe someone else can
benefit from that the chase scenes that
really stuck with me and my memory
mainly food chases Point Break would be
the the immortal one when Johnny Utah's
chasing Reagan through the streets of
Venice or wherever they're they're
running there's also a couple of great
car chase scenes but for this video I'm
gonna restrict myself to foot chase
scenes for reasons that I've got to go
into the chase scenes are made of pretty
simple building blocks usually cut
pretty quickly though there are one shot
chase scenes out there you have a runner
and a pursuer someone who's trying to
escape someone who's trying to catch and
there aren't that many angles to capture
someone running somewhere and we're
gonna look at a couple of them in Maya
so I can kind of explain how the what
the building blocks are and then how you
take those building blocks and build a
more sophisticated scene here we are in
Maya I've created a little scene where a
little red man runs a little blue man
follows him down the street and then
they get to the end so very simple
illustrative kind of construction here
so I'm going to break down different
types of cameras that you could the
different ways that you can cover this
very simple motion and then how you
combine those simple ways to make more
complicated moves so our first one is a
clothespin and if I play this the
cameras mounted on sticks and then as
the red man runs past the camera pans
with his motion so that the background
moves he stays sort of Center framed and
the background whizzes by so you can see
here amount of 35 mil lens what I do
like about this is that you don't need
any fancy movement you can do this
anyone who has a tripod can tripod can
do this this is probably the most common
shot you get in chase scenes next camera
is all the way over here so it's the
same movement but it's on a 400
millimeter lens so it's gonna do the
same thing you're gonna see it down here
it's gonna pan with the leading man look
through the eyes of it it's a little bit
tilted it's gonna pen with the guy as he
races past you see that background whiz
by because we're on such a long lens but
essentially it's a it's the very
different variation of this next one is
over here so you can see this is looking
straight down the street that they're
running along and it's on 700ml lens you
could just use a 400ml and put the lens
down blur on and the reason that this
gets used a lot is because it's such a
long lens that people don't look like
they're moving so you can get the two
guys or whoever is chasing the other
person in frame at the same time and
they look like they're running but not
going anywhere which is great for
getting a shot of their expression
seeing what they're looking like seeing
the action and and the emotion of the
chase
[Music]
well they're the main ways that you can
capture a chasing on sticks which for a
long time was the only way you could do
it the next one we're going to look at
is the tracking cameras which is a whole
different class of cameras and you're
gonna see this this one that's green now
he's gonna be in front of the guy the
red guy and pull backwards with him as
he runs so let's see what that looks
like in the camera so guys running I'm
moving with him and then he pauses the
camera so you probably guess the next
one is exactly the opposite shot where
we're following this time the blue man
from behind this one's a little bit more
off to the side so you we see the
distance between them we get motion and
we get action so this would be on a
Steadicam or it could be handheld if you
feel like venturous and you know want to
get old pull green grass with it or it
could be on a gimbal which would let you
move a lot faster and it's probably how
most independent filmmakers are going to
make this
[Music]
the last way of using a moving camera
movie building block of the of the chase
scene is the track dolly so this is
going to move alongside the action and
their mustard the way that you see this
done in a lot of movies is in a car so
cameraman stick sees camera at the
window
they drive with the guys running and you
getting this nice dolly shot they're
really the only ways you can shoot the
basic building blocks of shooting a
chase scene where you get creative is by
combining those two so you see this
camera here it's gonna start tracking
backwards with the lead guy he's gonna
catch up to it it's gonna pan with him
and then it's kind of follow behind him
and this is a really common move it's
probably the the most common of the
compound movements like any of these
camera movements you can put together
but this is the one that usually ends up
in chase scenes the very reason that
very few people can run backwards as
fast as someone can run forwards so what
you do is you get the cameraman backing
back as the runner catches up with him
he pans with him and then he runs behind
him and as the run I'll kind of leave
him behind
[Music]
are you amazed a ways to create a
capture the movement of a chasing but
that alone does not make a great chase
scene you can see all these that I've
Illustrated here are on a perfectly
linear line that's not a very exciting
trajectory for a chase scene what you
want is people going down alleyways up
stairways changing levels dropping down
things you want that dimensionality into
your chase scene so that you can get all
these kind of cool interesting effects
where these same moves like a pen then
becomes a follow because they the runner
comes towards camera and then turns and
goes off in a different direction you
want to get a good chasing you want to
constantly have the environment create
problems for the runner and the follower
but then also for them to create
problems for each other is a great in
the Point Break scene there's a great
scene where Regan or Patrick Swayze
playing Bodie
locks the door to kind of keep Utah out
and Utah doesn't skip a beat and smashes
the window with a flowerpot which is
show which goes to show it's like a
conversation between the the runner and
the pursuit
it's like them challenging and
overcoming one another then it's the
same it's right after that that Bodie
throws it to pitbull at Johnny Utah and
without missing a beat he dropped kicks
the dog no you know pretty pretty me
hearted scene but it's really showing
that that's how bad Johnny Utah wants to
capture the bank robbers he's gonna
dropkick a pooch to get to him
and so the chase more than just being
motion and action reveals things about
our characters reveals the choices they
make it lets them try and outsmart one
another especially the person who's per
being pursued they're really setting the
problems that they're setting how fast
they can run their happen you know what
obstacles that prepared to go over
each time they take a turn or jump over
a fence they're betting that the person
behind them will have a harder time with
that than they would so it's sort of
like a test that's two people testing
one another and then you have to each
chasing has to end with the guy catching
or the guy getting away think about all
these things the camera movements
themselves aren't that complicated
in most chase scenes it really is how
you've set up the drama between the two
characters how you've set up the the
stakes which eat what each one is
willing to go to to either escape or to
capture that person so in a sense a
chasing becomes just like another scene
it's there to not just advance plot but
to reveal character so that was my chase
scene 101 exploration I'll hopefully do
a little bit more of a previous go out
and shoot real people running places and
you get a better idea of what I mean by
combining these but this was part one
hope you enjoyed it leave your questions
in the comments thanks for watching I
will see you next time
oh can I just say that I'm really proud
of how I lit this it is a here's a quiz
a tube on a live stand with just a
little folded piece of black wrap that
sits along the along the length of it
kind of Flags it off and creates a
little hat so it illuminates me but not
the wall behind me I'm it's just kind of
proud of that
you
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