Question about directing action sequences.

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harmonica44

I am writing a script I would like to make my first feature, when I am ready for it. It's a micro-budget action movie, but I don't want all the action scenes to be indoor fights, to save money. I want a couple to be different and go outdoors and onto the street. I'll use the final chase scene from Green Zone as an example. It was mostly on foot, some cars, and done all on ground level, so therefore, no acrobatic stuntmen will be needed to leap from building to building and what not. However that movie was shot from multiple angles and the streets were booked off.

Booking off streets can be quite costly. What would audiences rather see? A chase that is done from all the best angles, or is it okay for a low budget movie to shoot action scenes lower budget style? So would distributors go for an action movie it had a chase, just as high budget as Green Zone in terms, of what happens, but the camera angles were not as good and it was shot very quickly without the streets booked off? You can shoot people running without booking off the streets, but not from near as good of angles.
 
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Thanks, but I didn't ask the angle question specifically. I'll try to think of ways to circumvent not getting the best angles. I'm in the process of shooting practice chases. It seems that every rule can be broken though, so would audiences not mind the best angles perhaps, since other microbudget movies have cheated before with success? Not that I am going against the advice given to me, but I would like to find a way to cheat the rules with success like other films have.
 
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Well are there any online examples of chase sequences made that way, in movies? I can't think of any movies specifically. I have checked out the books recommended to me on filmmaking. Are there any books on shooting microbudget chases?
 
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Shoot to your abilities. If you can't have long chase scenes then don't. Shoot what you can at the best of your abilities. You won't know if the angles are good until you try them. Plus, the movie your referencing and the types of scenes you are referencing are very subjective as far as "audience enjoyment".
 
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Okay. I have written a short film with the chase in I wrote for the feature. It's basically similar but as a stand alone story. I would like to make this short after the one I am currently going to shoot. There is a guy wanting to get into CGI who has shown interest in it. He said he is looking to build his portfolio, and would like to work on my car chase. That means CGI cars, explosions, etc. Yes it is a car chase as well as being an on foot chase. Now I would like to work with him but not sure if I or he is ready to do a convincing CGI chase for a short. But we'll try, if it is do-able.

But then again there seems to be no clear cut rules. In the movie Fail-Safe (1964) for example, the filmmakers got away with doing a fighter jet action scene, without any sound effects, and the jets didn't even look that real. Not saying that would necessarily fly in today's world, but with that in mind, who knows what you can get away with on cheap filming, and still have success.

Or what I could do is just choose to be overconfident and make up my own rules(within logic) without asking for much advice, and see if that still works in the industry. Do others just film action scenes to the way that suits them best, even though it goes against the standards and see if they can get away with it, after all the money's spent?

One option of course to would be to film a chase on the streets better is too not actually show the street in the shot. that way I can shoot it somewhere else but make the audience believe it's actually on the street. If done very well of course.
 
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I guess it depends where your location is. If I were filmming the type of scene you are describing or at least my interpretation of it, and I was shooting in my hometown, I would go back behind all the stores downtown into the sort of sketchy-er back ally areas and film there. They are mostly barren people wise, so you can get whatever angles you want, and it's sort of an interesting back drop. Of course this must be a foot chase, no cars will work in an area like that.
I don't know if that helps, but hopefully it does at least a bit :D
 
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You can make an intense chase/fight anywhere if you're good.

I think the most intense "chase" (maybe you can call it that) in the first Bourne is the sniper vs shotgun in an open field. One of the new Bonds had a killer chase in a construction area. The Raven (short being made into a feature) is back alleys and what not. I could do that in my city without permits (no guns).

How about a grocery store? School? Farm?

Find some local Parkour athletes (Parkourers? Parkourists? What do you call them haha?) and offer sweet video of them chasing eachother through town and saying a few lines.

Remember, you're new, this is an exercise of practice, not an attempt at an Oscar. Go try something. First action thing I ever shot wasn't planned until we got there. I invited a ton of people, and when 5 showed up to act I decided to do 1v4. Had a basic locAtion, then we decorated and mapped out the sequence. It's not the best way to go about making a movie (with zero planning) but it was a hell of a lot of fun and we all learned a lot about shooting action. It's in my signature if you want to see it, "Sixty Seconds".

Stop planning buddy. Run out and scrape your knees and learn and have a blast doing it.
 
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K thanks. Yeah that chase in that Bond movie is a good example. Would audiences still like it if it was filmed from far locations, since the low budget prevented the crew from going up the construction, and getting all the good angles? That's an example of what I mean.

But yeah I will go out there and try to shoot this chase. I met a CGI guy who wants to add CGI cars in it and all, and he is telling me what I would need and what not. He says to get in my car shoot the road while driving, and have the camera on a mount. Then when doing the car chase he can splice CGI cars into the footage and speed up the footage to make it look like the cars are going faster probably. I don't know how real that would look but we can try it. Some movie car chases the film looks obviously speed up though, and audiences don't complain.
 
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Tight shots are a staple of action. You need some shots wide enough that people can see the geography of the scene and know who is where, but other shots tight on the cool crap that is actually going on.

Some action scenes are like 96% super tight and it's hard to tell what's going on. It's done on purpose because it creates some tension. I don't like it, but i'd still err on the side of too much tight. Shoot your wide safety than move in.

Wide is easy, and almost every beginner/amatuer video on YouTube is a series of wides composited. Good tights cut together well feels like a higher production value (to me anyway).

If you can't stick a camera in you actors face, you're in the wrong location.
 
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Hum,
a fight scene is like any scene, there should be a value change ...

What is the value\emotional state of the main character when the scene starts and what is the value\emotional state of the main character after the chase? If they are the same, then rewrite your scene, its waste of time. Chances are with a chase there is a value change, the guy gets caught, etc.. so that might not be a big deal, but just pay attention to it..

A chase is a story, there should be ups and downs, advances and retreats etc..
 
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the farther you get away from people running, the slower the action looks.. so, if you can get a shot of dodging lots of obstacles, blocked traffic for example, then that looks interesting, cause its not the speed were interested in. Maybe you dont mean quite that wide,

this chase from an IT sometime contributor is a good example of what you can do around a typical city....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmVxHc_rhaI


something you might not think of... the shots dont have to be contiguous locations. You can go in one door on one street, and come out in what in reality is a completely different part of town, or turn the corner down a street and have the next shot be a completely different street..
 
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Thanks that was a good chase scene to learn from. I don't know if I'd be able to get that close up without booking off streets. I know I can use different streets and make them look like they are connected. If I can't get too close in, what about zooming in, in post? I was told I could do that, on here before, but would it work for this?
 
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harmonica44 said:
Thanks that was a good chase scene to learn from. I don't know if I'd be able to get that close up without booking off streets. I know I can use different streets and make them look like they are connected. If I can't get too close in, what about zooming in, in post? I was told I could do that, on here before, but would it work for this?
Click to expand...

Zooming in post is generally a horrible idea unless you have a camera capable of shooting in a resolution higher than your delivery resolution.
 
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But finding an m42 mount very long zoom lens is easy and cheap. Heck, its a crop sensor, so a 200mm lens is almost 400mm in reality.. long lens pan is a stable of chase scenes..

setup your camera across the street from the action ... set it up so there are objects visible in the foreground, lots of with lots of stuff. Have the actors round the corner and run down the street, if cars are going by all the better, pick one of the actors and center him in the frame as you pan. The stuff in the foreground will seem to whip by and be blurry which helps the sense of speed a lot..

Regarding getting close in.. why cant you get close in? A T2i is about as unobtrusive a camera rig as you can find! What the difference between two people running down a street and three people running and one has a camera? Of course youll NOT want to be running with the cam, station your self along the route the actors will follow and shot from a fixed position.

This is a good one to think about continuity editing. If an actor leaves the frame on the right side, they need to come in on the next shot from the LEFT side ... .
 
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