The director of “F9” and other “Fast & Furious” films narrates a look at some of cinema’s coolest chases sequences.
The director of “F9” and other “Fast & Furious” films narrates a look at some of cinema’s coolest chases sequences.
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transcript
Justin Lin on 5 Great Chase Scenes
The director of “F9” and other “Fast & Furious” films narrates a look at some of cinema’s coolest chases sequences.
Hi. This is Justin Lin. I’m a filmmaker, and I’m currently finishing my fifth Fast and Furious film, “F9.” Here we’re watching one of the most famous chases in cinema from “Bullitt.” What I love about this sequence is that there is no music. The choice of really having the engine noises, the engine sounds, be the score. And also, what I love is that we’re at an age where I think everything is cut, the shots are cut so tight. Here, the sequence— you really get a sense of environment. It feels very authentic. Everything’s practical. You see a camera that’s on the car. They’re not speeding it up, and you actually see Steve McQueen driving a car. I think that’s one of the— for filmmakers doing action sequences, that’s kind of one of the gold standard shots that we always try to get, because it’s obviously very dangerous to put an actor in a high speed vehicle. And to be able to design a shot that feels effortless and have them in the car, it takes a lot. And here, obviously, Steve McQueen is a great driver. And, you know, they’re able to really kind of take us into the sequence. Here we’re seeing the sequence from “French Connection.” It has a similar approach to Bullitt in that there is no score. I love the fact that it’s trying to kind of take you into the moment. There’s obviously two narratives going. One of the things I like about this sequence is that it’s introducing a point of view of the car. They literally— they’re just mounting cameras on the cars, and they’re just running them through the streets. And that’s one of the things that I’ve learned, that, you know, with all the technology, you cannot fake practical. Just speed. There’s something about the physics of having a car going at high speed that, even if you try to replicate that in C.G., you just don’t get the rush. Now, this sequence from “Terminator 2,” I think James Cameron and the crew, they did a couple of things that I think was brilliant. One of the things that, in the construct of this sequence, that I love is how controlled it is. And this is to kind of set the tone of the two Terminators. The fact that, you know, they’re so unphased, that in the midst of all this craziness and action, there’s a calmness to it. And that when you see this, everything, that every shot, it’s so controlled. And it really does tonally come together. Here, this long lens shot of the truck coming down. That, to me, was great, because it really kind of sets you up with a close up of John Connor. And to be able to get that sense of distance and the lens choices here, it was so figured out. And it’s just one of those things where you don’t know why it works, but when I break it down, I could tell you, it’s not by accident that it’s so great. That you could tell that James Cameron and Arnold had a great relationship with the crew, and there was a lot of trust. Because when you go in these sequences, you’re trying to challenge each other. And there’s a lot of danger and there’s a lot of prep. And you’re always pushing each other to see if you can just kind of eke out a few more frames. So here we have the sequence from “Fast Five.” What was important about this, and it was a big moment for us as a franchise, is the decision to actually do this practically. There were a lot of talks about, hey, let’s do a CG vault, and this and that. And I just didn’t want to do that. I think that was going to take out all the fun to what we can potentially accomplish. And so I remember having the stunt guys take out two cars, and we built a frame, and we just pulled it with the cable. And the footage that was coming back was unbelievable. It was taking out sidewalks. And, by the way, there’s my son right here. He was a year and a half old. That was actually one of the hardest shots to get, because to drag a vault and have a one-year-old trying to look at it, that was take three. So we actually had a vault and the two cars dragging it. We had a vault when it was drivable. It was actually a vehicle that, you know, for certain shots, we would have that. And then there was a light vault. And so, as you can see here, it made all the difference in the world. Because it is so insane to, you know, to have this sequence of two cars dragging a vault. And the choice to say, hey, let’s really plan this out and do everything practically, and let’s build the sandbox, let’s build the rules and how we’re going to do that. Because there were a lot of shots that was designed, but you just didn’t know how the vault was going to interact with the street, with the concrete. And, you know, I’m proud of that sequence because it helped kind of redefine the franchise. So here we’re seeing the chase sequence from “Rhythm Section.” You know, I love this sequence because it’s a decision by the director that, you know, you’re just going to stay with the character in real time. You know, the choice to be able to put that in— put the camera in the passenger side, I thought it was a great choice. And I think there’s probably a couple cuts. But to be able to design the shot where you’re in real time and you’re not seeing the cuts, it does kind of bring back the choices of “Bullitt” and “French Connection” in that there is a sincerity to the sequence. Because I always feel like when we edit, it’s a cheat. It’s literally a cheat. And so I always— when I work with my editors, we always say that if we’re going to cut, even if it’s within a second, we have to earn that cut, you know? And here, the choice of not at least appearing that there is any cuts in the sequence is important, because it’s telling you why you’re in the situation with the character.
Justin Lin on 5 Great Chase Scenes
The director of “F9” and other “Fast & Furious” films narrates a look at some of cinema’s coolest chases sequences.
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