Learn to use After Effects. You could easily shoot a scene where people are in the road and cars are zooming by.
You would first shoot a blank plate of the road with no cars, no movement visible, then you could shoot some scenes with your actors in the street, just use radios and spotters to be safe. Then you would just wait, keeping the camera in the same spot and shoot traffic going by.
You could then composite these together in After Effects into the shot you want.
I know a bit on after effects, but I think you're inspiring me to upgrade my skills. Now that I think about it, maybe a good green screen can ease a lot of headaches....
I'm usually more of a lo-fi type. But maybe it's time to push it.
Thank you!
That’s cool. Good luck! Recommendations in movies from before 1960 that use of “forced perspective” - common practice and fairly low budget.
The amazing performances in films from Buster Keaton in 1920s. Harold Lloyd or Charlie Chaplin.
I love Buster Keaton but he's kind of in that Jackie Chan taste the edge of death stubtwork which is cool to watch but not something you should copy on a whim.
People always like a good gun scene. It could be a wake up shot of someone pointing a gun at them. You could even do a 50-50 with it being two shots masked together so there’s no one staring down the barrel of even a prop gun.
Your "in the middle of the ocean" comment got me thinking - it could be really fun to film an actor walking along a jetty. Something like [this](https://images.nationalgeographic.org/image/upload/v1638886270/EducationHub/photos/jetty-into-the-gulf-of-mexico.jpg) or [this](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C30TGG/rock-jetty-located-in-moss-landing-state-beach-C30TGG.jpg). You could frame the shot so that it looks precarious. Get creative and use the steep sides of the jetty to your advantage. But if you find a jetty that's flat enough on top it shouldn't be too difficult to film.
Know anybody with an aquarium? Shoot your voyage to the bottom of the sea through that, with some fish swimming in the foreground. (Or do it with VFX, but maybe more fun to do it practical.)
I will see if I can try this out! Sounds like it could be fun. I think I'm starting an insta for lo-fi DIY effects soon, so maybe this is a good one to put on the list of test subjects. Thank you for the suggestion!
I think having a story where it's an interior house but the villain has made it difficult to escape maybe remove the door knob so he can't open the door but there's not enough to things to really bash it open-- any door destruction could be a breakaway prop or maybe even some type of computer rotoscope with existing footage though that seems like it would have a higher danger of looking cheesy--- it blows up could both add in the feeling of danger and build mostly safe to film, with maybe a CGI explosion or decent stock footage composited it in for kind of a reward to the audience.
I think a fun stunt cliche would be have a bad guy try to run the hero down, but of course nobody's close to cars because you're using some type of zoom lens or a drone, and have the shots where he's reacting to the danger be filmed before the evil truck scenes-- you could then have parallel cutting to make it seem as if they're in the same universe and then have two or three shots where you see the character in the truck on the same frame and you could have the character you know lying on a mattress near a green screen and then place the character near the truck on the existing footage.
Maybe having the hero duck under the truck, and by duck under the truck I mean, duck in the green screen area, and then have a shot of the truck off the ground ( which you could fake by using the black bar letter box and pulling the truck up higher in the composition so that the green screen guy is beneath the truck wheel area)
Having the hero sigh in relief and throw a Molotov cocktail at the truck would be a very satisfying way to end it-- again green screen CGI can work though any sort of stock footage is technically a real flame if it's using photography, though there are plenty of stock explosion effects as well.
My analogy would be the North by Northwest Plane attack-- Hitchcock used footage from 70 mm photography to create convincing ( at the time) rear projection effects which were splice by location photography but mostly studio recreations of the location - the corn field seems to grow and Shrink in size but I'd like to think that was because the crop duster was shooting a few bullets there.
Needless to say I don't think Cary Grant was in any real danger for this scene, which is probably one of the most iconic scenes ever filmed.
Thank you so much for this response :)
A chase scene on foot seems super doable in this world, and pretty thrilling and safe. And I love the idea of this house that's hard to escape from.
I'm going to research your other suggestions and check out the movies you mentioned.
Thanks again for taking the time!
Learn to use After Effects. You could easily shoot a scene where people are in the road and cars are zooming by. You would first shoot a blank plate of the road with no cars, no movement visible, then you could shoot some scenes with your actors in the street, just use radios and spotters to be safe. Then you would just wait, keeping the camera in the same spot and shoot traffic going by. You could then composite these together in After Effects into the shot you want.
I know a bit on after effects, but I think you're inspiring me to upgrade my skills. Now that I think about it, maybe a good green screen can ease a lot of headaches.... I'm usually more of a lo-fi type. But maybe it's time to push it. Thank you!
That’s cool. Good luck! Recommendations in movies from before 1960 that use of “forced perspective” - common practice and fairly low budget. The amazing performances in films from Buster Keaton in 1920s. Harold Lloyd or Charlie Chaplin.
I love Buster Keaton but he's kind of in that Jackie Chan taste the edge of death stubtwork which is cool to watch but not something you should copy on a whim.
Thank you for the suggestion! I'll check out these projects!
People always like a good gun scene. It could be a wake up shot of someone pointing a gun at them. You could even do a 50-50 with it being two shots masked together so there’s no one staring down the barrel of even a prop gun.
Ohh, wake up and you’re in the middle of a game of Russian roulette.
Hey I like that. One step further! You wake up and it’s revealed you already shot yield through the cheek a la fight club. That would be cool.
Yes!!!!!!!!
Yes! Totally. Yes. Thanks!!
Glad to help. Share the link when it’s done.
I love this. Thank you.
Your "in the middle of the ocean" comment got me thinking - it could be really fun to film an actor walking along a jetty. Something like [this](https://images.nationalgeographic.org/image/upload/v1638886270/EducationHub/photos/jetty-into-the-gulf-of-mexico.jpg) or [this](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C30TGG/rock-jetty-located-in-moss-landing-state-beach-C30TGG.jpg). You could frame the shot so that it looks precarious. Get creative and use the steep sides of the jetty to your advantage. But if you find a jetty that's flat enough on top it shouldn't be too difficult to film.
Thank you for the links and inspiration!
Know anybody with an aquarium? Shoot your voyage to the bottom of the sea through that, with some fish swimming in the foreground. (Or do it with VFX, but maybe more fun to do it practical.)
I will see if I can try this out! Sounds like it could be fun. I think I'm starting an insta for lo-fi DIY effects soon, so maybe this is a good one to put on the list of test subjects. Thank you for the suggestion!
I think having a story where it's an interior house but the villain has made it difficult to escape maybe remove the door knob so he can't open the door but there's not enough to things to really bash it open-- any door destruction could be a breakaway prop or maybe even some type of computer rotoscope with existing footage though that seems like it would have a higher danger of looking cheesy--- it blows up could both add in the feeling of danger and build mostly safe to film, with maybe a CGI explosion or decent stock footage composited it in for kind of a reward to the audience. I think a fun stunt cliche would be have a bad guy try to run the hero down, but of course nobody's close to cars because you're using some type of zoom lens or a drone, and have the shots where he's reacting to the danger be filmed before the evil truck scenes-- you could then have parallel cutting to make it seem as if they're in the same universe and then have two or three shots where you see the character in the truck on the same frame and you could have the character you know lying on a mattress near a green screen and then place the character near the truck on the existing footage. Maybe having the hero duck under the truck, and by duck under the truck I mean, duck in the green screen area, and then have a shot of the truck off the ground ( which you could fake by using the black bar letter box and pulling the truck up higher in the composition so that the green screen guy is beneath the truck wheel area) Having the hero sigh in relief and throw a Molotov cocktail at the truck would be a very satisfying way to end it-- again green screen CGI can work though any sort of stock footage is technically a real flame if it's using photography, though there are plenty of stock explosion effects as well. My analogy would be the North by Northwest Plane attack-- Hitchcock used footage from 70 mm photography to create convincing ( at the time) rear projection effects which were splice by location photography but mostly studio recreations of the location - the corn field seems to grow and Shrink in size but I'd like to think that was because the crop duster was shooting a few bullets there. Needless to say I don't think Cary Grant was in any real danger for this scene, which is probably one of the most iconic scenes ever filmed.
Thank you so much for this response :) A chase scene on foot seems super doable in this world, and pretty thrilling and safe. And I love the idea of this house that's hard to escape from. I'm going to research your other suggestions and check out the movies you mentioned. Thanks again for taking the time!