Running Scene in Woods

Hi

Im in pre-production for making my first proper short film and I need to make a good looking chase scene in a woods. So I need to do some research on what types of things I should film but I really cant think of some films that have any tight action running scenes in woods, i know there are many but cant remember any at the moment.

Does anyone remember any films that have this?

Many thanks

Oli
 
Off the top of my head, the last Harry Potter film (the Deathly Hallows, Part One) had a great chase through a forest…

Here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_WnATef8Dw

Quite a few shots in there that would be hard to pull off on a budget, but some good ideas to get you started nonetheless.

Obviously the context and overall style of the film are quite important here - it may be more helpful to look at chase scenes that are similar stylistically or in genre rather than in location.
 
If you can watch the BTS on that scene in Deathly Hallows.

Obviously it would be impossible to produce without a big budget but it's damn cool movie making and I'm sure that there are 'indie ways' to get around not being able to shell out the big bucks.
 
I always think Evil Dead when I think of running in the woods scenes, though that was a very specific shot (camera zooming through the woods, catching up to person running off in the distance), and not so tight, so probably not what you're looking for. Though a great shot and clever use of low budget: long board, camera in the middle, person on either end, running through the woods together to get a smoother shot than one person holding it, and also to achieve a sort of "flying" effect. Great stuff!
 
One way to get a "fast" looking shot without going hand-held is to plant the camera on a tripod that has a decent fluid head, have the actor running left to right or right to left (counter-clockwise or clockwise or both) about 50-100 feet away, zoom in pretty tight and follow them as they run. You get a lot of motion and trees whipping by that is good for editing in and out of. As long as they run along an imaginary circular perimeter, using the tripod as the center, it should be easy to stay in focus.

Just a thought!

Maybe do a test and see what you get? Good luck!
 
I always think Evil Dead when I think of running in the woods scenes, though that was a very specific shot (camera zooming through the woods, catching up to person running off in the distance), and not so tight, so probably not what you're looking for. Though a great shot and clever use of low budget: long board, camera in the middle, person on either end, running through the woods together to get a smoother shot than one person holding it, and also to achieve a sort of "flying" effect. Great stuff!

I consulted on a movie where we replicated that Evil Dead look. As you say take a 1" X 6" board about 3' long. Mount a cheap cabinet handle on each end. Drill a hole in the middle and put a 1/4" bolt (can't recall pitch, it's the size to fit the bottom of your camera) through it. Mount the camera on the board via the bolt. Now put a person on each end of the board holding the handle and have them run.
 
Nice idea, Flicka. It could be kind of fun to try out something with a zip line, too. As long as you've got autofocus, that is :)

I have a feeling that some of that sequence from the Deathly Hallows used a cable cam, funnily enough. If you've got a fairly wide angle lens and a decent amount of light, you might be okay even without remote/auto focus.
 
I have a feeling that some of that sequence from the Deathly Hallows used a cable cam, funnily enough. If you've got a fairly wide angle lens and a decent amount of light, you might be okay even without remote/auto focus.

Yep it did. I can't find a good image of it but here's a bad one:

deathly_hallows_forest2.jpg


In related news people in the UK should pick up this month's Empire magazine (even if you usually hate it) because they have a beautiful feature booklet on the Potter series with great BTS anecdotes and photos.
 
I need to do a chase scene too, handheld works well for chases, but unfortunately, hand held can be a big problem for all these CMOS sensor cameras as you get that awful jello vision. So then you can go the stedicam route, I've been looking to that but they seem to be a big headache to get balance and working right.
 
I need to do a chase scene too, handheld works well for chases, but unfortunately, hand held can be a big problem for all these CMOS sensor cameras as you get that awful jello vision. So then you can go the stedicam route, I've been looking to that but they seem to be a big headache to get balance and working right.

See the "flying cam" directions above. It actually works pretty well.
 
Yes, I remember seeing that on the EVIL DEAD bonus material. Has anyone here tried that on a CMOS sensor?

I have. I consulted on a VERY bad horror movie (had them strike me from the credits) where we used it on a 5D2 and it actually looked pretty good. Because the movement is not horizontal across the frame, but just objects getting closer in the middle of the frame it didn't really jello out.
 
I have. I consulted on a VERY bad horror movie (had them strike me from the credits) where we used it on a 5D2 and it actually looked pretty good. Because the movement is not horizontal across the frame, but just objects getting closer in the middle of the frame it didn't really jello out.

Thanks, that's good to know. I'll try it. Isn't their a name for that wooden rig?
Link to the horror movie you used it on?
Thanks.
 
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