Filming a low-budget car chase

Hi, I've never participated in an independent film before, but I've always wanted to make one.

I was wondering if anyone here has ever tried to do a car chase for an indie film and if they had any advice. The one I was planning on doing is sort of "Bullitt Style", it would happed on some back roads then finish on an interstate. I'm not totaling any cars, just busting a couple bumpers and setting up an effect that looks like the radiator is cracked and spewing from under the hood.

My biggest problem with this is that I would need to close down about 3 miles of interstate and I was wondering where I would need to go to get permission, and what I'd need to do: like film on days/times with little traffic, set up detour signs, get police to help, etc.

The chase would be continuous and each shooting would last less than 2 minutes, so I figured I might be able to have a few police officers holding stop/go signs that hold the traffic up, let us shoot, then once were far enough away, the interstate can be moving again. So the highway would be held up for like 60-120 seconds at a time once every 15-30 minutes within a 2-3 hour window. Hopefully all the shots we keep will have been done in the same day so that it looks/feels consistent.

I'm not planning on doing this chase for a while, but its very important to the movie that this chase is in it. I'll set up some practice car videos (non-highway) so that I know what I'm getting into and so that I have something to show for what I'm trying to do. And yes, when I said "Bullitt" style, I meant the chase is between a Ford and a Dodge (but not necessarily like the ones from that movie) :cool:
 
One trick that people use is long focal length lenses.. this compresses space and you can use it to trick the audience into thinking there was a near miss… objects appear closer than they really were.


Another thing.. french connection was filmed quite illegally.. and one of the cars he crashes into was just a guy backing out of his driveway. lol
 
A) Ditch the whole "shutting down the interstate" part.

B) Surely somewhere in the county are some two-lane back roads that'll have little to no traffic on a Sunday morning.
Shoot it then and there.

C) And if you can spare a little charity in this film project consider a low-speed car chase like was done in 'Safety Not Guaranteed.'
(A wonderful indie film, BTW.)
 
should you do somehting thats been done a million times but with no money?

Of course not. Which is exactly why I'm doing something that hasn't been done before. It will be a 100% realistic, no CGI, no Fast & Furious inconsistencies, pure, plausibly-set car chase. It will obey the laws of physics and science.

The highway chase will feature a Thunderbird, a used police Dodge Charger, and a real shotgun with rubber bullets. The passenger of the Dodge will shoot through the Thunderbird's rear bumper and puncture a fake gas tank filled with colored water. I will make sure there is some sort of "plate" to protect the Thunderbird's real gas tank.
 
Of course not. Which is exactly why I'm doing something that hasn't been done before. It will be a 100% realistic, no CGI, no Fast & Furious inconsistencies, pure, plausibly-set car chase. It will obey the laws of physics and science.

You think that hasn't been done ?
Best car chase of all time is the second car sequence of Ronin.
No CGI, no inconsistencies. Plausibility is questionable because of how intense and badass it was
 
I figured I might be able to have a few police officers holding stop/go signs that hold the traffic up, let us shoot, then once were far enough away, the interstate can be moving again. So the highway would be held up for like 60-120 seconds at a time once every 15-30 minutes within a 2-3 hour window.

You want to shut down an Interstate? :hmm:

You're gonna need more logistics than just a couple of coppas waving slow/stop signs. How many millions did you say your budget was, again?



(...) I'm doing something that hasn't been done before. (...) The highway chase will feature a Thunderbird, a used police Dodge Charger, and a real shotgun with rubber bullets. The passenger of the Dodge will shoot through the Thunderbird's rear bumper and puncture a fake gas tank filled with colored water. I will make sure there is some sort of "plate" to protect the Thunderbird's real gas tank.

Sounds legit to me. :bag:
 
A) Ditch the whole "shutting down the interstate" part.

B) Surely somewhere in the county are some two-lane back roads that'll have little to no traffic on a Sunday morning.
Shoot it then and there.

C) And if you can spare a little charity in this film project consider a low-speed car chase like was done in 'Safety Not Guaranteed.'
(A wonderful indie film, BTW.)

The film will feature one cruising scene, one brief police chase (no damage), and a car chase between the protagonist and the antagonist (damage to both cars).

The police chase will be largely "slow speed" (only driving 5-10 MPH over speed limit)

I'm not going to start with the highway chase, but it probably will consume most of the movie's budget as I'll need to hire "fake traffic" to weave between. It will also require a fake custom-fit "gas tank", a fake "radiator" that can be remote controlled to spew steam, a fake remote-controlled airbag that looks convincing but doesn't hurt the driver and can be reused several times, and a few spare front bumpers for the Dodge and a few spare rear bumpers for the Thunderbird.

I'll also need to have some people standing by in the area where the bumper gets shot so that they can sweep up any large chunks of bumper before the traffic is resumed. I might have a van in the area with its flashers on with the "sweeping crew" pretending to "fix" it. Because the chase is continuous, I have to camouflage almost everything.

I already have the Thunderbird and I know someone with a used police Crown Vic I can use. I'll be keeping an eye out for a Dodge police car for a good price, something in the $3,000 or less category.

It's not a perfect plan, but it's one I've been working on for the past 2 years and will continue to work on for at least another. I have several friends that would be interested in participating, but I have to have a script ready. The acting will be okay but far from sublime, however, the car chases synchronized to music should more than make up for it.
 
Rick this is one hell of a first film. Holy crap dude.
Fake traffic, clean up crew, etc.

I couldn't get someone to hold my boom mic. I had to direct and record audio at the same time
 
Forget the first line of my previous post because legality is surely the least of the issues with your plan...

The highway chase will feature a Thunderbird, a used police Dodge Charger, and a real shotgun with rubber bullets. The passenger of the Dodge will shoot through the Thunderbird's rear bumper and puncture a fake gas tank filled with colored water. I will make sure there is some sort of "plate" to protect the Thunderbird's real gas tank.

This is just plain unsafe -- and frankly stupid if you don't have all of the following:

  • Big insurance policy
  • Professional Stunt drivers
  • Permits
  • Professionally built/tested stunt vehicles
  • Fire & Emergency crews on set for the (probably inevitable) catastrophy
... umm I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things.

Are you hoping to win some Darwin awards?
 
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Forget the first line of my previous post because legality is surely the least of the issues with your plan...



This is just plain unsafe -- and frankly stupid if you don't have all of the following:

  • Big insurance policy
  • Professional Stunt drivers
  • Permits
  • Professionally built/tested stunt vehicles
  • Fire & Emergency crews on set for the (probably inevitable) catastrophy
... umm I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things.

Are you hoping to win some Darwin awards?

Thanks for the advice. Please keep in mind that this is only a collection of ambitions that I would like to go for, nothing is set in stone. I figure its better to shoot for an awesome indie but settle for a decent one after culling out what isn't feasible or logical.

I am trying to keep the movie as a whole cheap so that I can dump every last penny I have into this scene. Finances is something else I need to consider, but as I'm stuck in college right now, I don't have an accurate idea of how much money I'd have or be willing to spend sometime in 2016.

It all sounds really awesome in my head, but as I've never really gotten anyone's opinion on this stuff, I figured today was a good day to start.

Please keep the comments, opinions, facts, suggestions, and ideas coming. I'm really excited. ;)
 
You should not be relying on an expert marksman shooting a small target out of a moving vehicle.
You'd be better off with a remote detonator and then faking a muzzle flash with vfx

And if you're going to be brandishing a gun on the highway make sure the police are aware … because i am assuming you're not going to shut down traffic on BOTH sides of the highway. cars on the other side will see someone with a shotgun and call 911

ps bts means behind the scenes
 
What kind of budget range are we talking about here? You'll probably want to start at your local film commision for the city/county/state where you plan to shoot. They can give you information on the required permits and pre-requisites for getting those, as well as help you estimate costs for things like having police on-site. You're going to need liability insurance before you can get the permits, so once you've found out how much they require you can start getting quotes - you'll likely need more than just a general production policy, so make sure you're getting quotes that specifically cover stunts. What's your plan for drivers? The insurance policy may specifically require you to use professional stunt drivers so you'll want to start looking for those. They may well not be interested in driving your friend's crown vic, so you'll want to know before hand if you'll need to get cars specifically prepped for precision/stunt driving. At minimum they'll probably want roll cages and harnesses installed - which means you'll likely need two of each, one 'hero' car for close-ups and interior shots and one kitted out for the actual stunt driving.

Interior shots during the chase are going to be a challenge too - usually you'll do these on a rig that tows the car behind a camera truck. An alternative is a right-hand drive vehicle set up with a fake left-hand steering wheel, so that the stunt driver can drive safely while your actor concentrates on their part. In either case it's going to take some budget to rent or build the required rigs.

Then there's the shooting part - I'm not clear on the rubber bullet idea, are you actually expecting to shoot the bumper off with those? That sounds like a terrible idea for a lot of reasons. You're really going to need to rig squibs into the bumper, so you'll probably need a pyrotechnician and an armorer to handle the guns.

So my advice would be to start figuring out what all that's going to cost you and make sure it works within your budget. Then I'd got an experienced stunt co-ordinator on board because they'll be able to give you a lot better help with the actual logistics of the shoot than anyone around here is likely to.
 
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Not to be perpetually pimping my own stuff but it's pretty "on the nose"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAxiyp1M7zU

Good vid, I think I've looked it up once before.

Several car-chase vid tips I've seen recommend as you recommended, filming the insides at the same time, filming all the outdoors at the same time, etc.

One of the "runs" down the interstate would have cameras mounted on the chasing car, then another run with them on the car being chased, then another run with cameras INSIDE both cars.

Each run would be 90% of the chase. The last 10% will be the shotgun scene which will only be done like twice (most expensive part) which involves bumper damage to both cars.
 
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