Directing the Camera

by Gil Bettman

  There are forty-seven setups in this foot chase, and it lasts for three minutes, but only two of those setups, lasting a total of twelve seconds, show both Reeves and Swayze in the same frame at the same time. Therefore Bigelow worked overtime exploiting strategy #3 above to jack up the energy level in this chase. Montage generates energy. If you film someone chasing someone else the length of a football field and you do it in one, continuous shot that shows both of them, such as is depicted in Figure 7.001, then the shot has to stay up on the screen for the amount of time it takes a man in street clothes to run one hundred yards — about twelve seconds. That would be a very long, boring shot. But if you do it in two shots — one on the man in the lead from behind (Figure 7.002) and a separate shot in front of the man in pursuit (Figure 7.003) then you can cut back and forth between the two shots two or three times, so each shot only lasts two or three seconds. That is going to energize the hundred-yard chase and make it seem to go by in less than twelve seconds.

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  Even better, with two setups, you do not have to see them run the entire hundred yards. In editorial, using the two distinct camera angles, you can perform a series of ellipses, so that they make it from one end zone to the other in five or six seconds. To do this you start the chase on the leader running from the goal line to the ten-yard line (Figure 7.002 and 7.002a), cut back to the chaser running from under the goalposts out to the goal line (Figure 7.003 and 7.003a), and when you cut back to the leader he is crossing midfield (Figure 7.004 and 7.004a). Cut back to the chaser approaching midfield (Figure 7.005 and 7.005a) and when you cut back to the leader he is almost in the opposite end zone (Figure 7.006). All of the above could be accomplished in about six seconds, much faster than the twelve seconds it would take to see both of them cover the hundred yards in the same shot. And with every cut you shift your vantage point. This gives the viewer the impression that he is jumping from one vantage point to another on the field. This is much more visually exciting than standing back at a distance and watching the two men run the hundred yards in one, long, boring twelve-second shot such as is depicted in Figure 7.001.

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  Most of the strategies you can use to energize a foot chase can also be used for vehicle chases. In fact, Strategy #3 above — shooting the participants in the chase in separate setups, and cutting between them — is exponentially more valid when applied to car or vehicle chases. Anyone who has actually directed moving car stunts knows it is about twice as difficult and time-consuming to get a good, in-focus shot of both the cars involved in the chase going the right speed, the right distance from each other, at the right place on the road than it is to shoot each vehicle in a separate setup, and then create the illusion in editorial that one is right behind the other. Such shots in which you see both vehicles in the same frame — tie-in shots — cost you more and give less because (as explained above in the metaphor of the men running the length of the football field) they eliminate the possibility of accelerating the action in editorial through the use of ellipses and quick cuts. Therefore, I urge all first-time directors, in the strongest terms possible, when shooting a chase, do not to shoot tie-ins!!! Put Strategy #3 above to work to energize your chase.

  I made this same point on page 118 of Chapter 6 as a sort of disclaimer for why I drew Board #13 (Figure 6.003) as a tie-in shot showing both Lance and Ragnar in the same frame. I broke my own rule in this case because Board #13 depicted the kind of event in an action sequence when it is worth the time and trouble to shoot a tie-in. Specifically,

  ● It is worth the trouble to shoot a tie-in to establish or re-establish the spatial relationship between the participants in an action sequence.

  In this case, the tie-in acts as a sort of master and establishes the geography of the chase or action sequence. Board #13 (Figure 6.003) established the geography of the ambush at the dam by showing that Lance could not see Ragnar, and so, the farther Lance drove out onto the dam, and the closer he got to Ragnar, the greater the likelihood that Ragnar could successfully ambush him.

  Similarly, Kathryn Bigelow used only two tie-in shots, one at the beginning (Figure 7.007 to 7.008) and one toward the end (Figure 7.069 to 7.075, p. 146) of her foot chase in Point Break to establish the geography of this chase. In the other forty-five shots in the chase the two participants are each in a separate frame. This enabled her to energize the action through quick cutting, thereby putting Strategy #3 to the best use possible. To view a video clip of this entire chase sequence from Point Break, go online and follow this link: http://hollywoodfilmdirecting.com/directing-the-camera.html

  THE STORY OF THE CHASE

  Kathryn Bigelow was aided in this approach by the story of her chase. The bottom line of the story of this chase is that FBI agent Johnny Utah (Reeves) and bank robber Bodhi (Swayze) are equally matched, top athletes in peak condition. Swayze has a five-stride lead going into the chase, so Reeves is never going to catch up to him, unless Swayze makes a wrong move. He never does. At the end of the chase, Reeves takes a bad fall and blows out some tendons in his knee (Figure 7.097 to 7.101, p. 148), so Bodhi gets away.

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  To make the chase suspenseful Bigelow turned it into an obstacle course. She littered the path of the chase with roadblocks, so, first Swayze, and then Reeves, while hurtling forward at top speed, kept coming smack up against barriers that could have stopped them or knocked them down, unless they made lightning-fast side steps and other adjustments to their forward process. Each time they come up against an obstacle, the race could be lost for either the leader, Swayze, or the chaser, Reeves. This heightens suspense.

  STRATEGY #1 — WIDE-ANGLE LENSES — POGO CAMS — NARROW SPACES

  Bigelow’s other strategy of choice to make this foot chase thrilling was #1 above:

  1. You use the wide-angle lens in narrow spaces and make sure the action passes right in front of the lens.

  My guess is that she did this primarily to save money. Putting it simply, shooting action with the telephoto or long lens is time-consuming and expensive. By comparison, shooting action with the wide-angle is cheap and easy. Wide-angle lenses have extensive depth of field. As explained in detail in Chapter 5, this means that everything or almost everything is in focus. Some wide-angle lenses, such as those found in the GoPro line of cameras, are designed specifically to keep everything in the frame in focus. And, as was explained in detail in Chapter 5, wide-angle lenses have great field of vision, so if you are following a moving object, it is easy to keep it in frame. Finally, the wide-angle lens does not show vibration in the camera. This greatly simplifies and speeds up the process of shooting a chase or an action sequence, because you can handhold the camera when shooting a foot chase and you can use wheel mounts and other mounted cameras when shooting a vehicle chase.

  The foot chase in Point Break was shot almost entirely with handheld cameras mounted on a camera rig called a Pogo Cam. The Pogo Cam is essentially a foot-long, flat piece of metal mounted on top of a two foot-long pole, with a counterweight attached to the bottom of the pole. This is an entirely low-tech piece of equipment. In the beginning, grips made them in their backyard, and they still do. But you can also buy or rent more high-tech, high-performance versions, some of which are equipped with video tap and monitor, such as the model in Figure 7.000.

  The operator grasps the Pogo Cam by the pole right under the camera, holds the rig away from his body, and runs. The operator is not impeded by having the camera on his shoulder and by having to keep his eye in the eyepiece. He can hold the camera out in front of himself and run pointing the le
ns at one of the participants in the chase and get a good, well-framed, in-focus shot. Because the wide-angle lens does not show much vibration, the counterweight under the camera will steady it and produce a satisfactory image so the audience can tell what they are looking at.

  Using the Pogo Cam, Bigelow’s strategy of choice was Strategy #1:

  1. You use the wide-angle lens in narrow spaces and make sure the action passes right in front of the lens.

  But the wide-angle lens will not show much speed unless you have the narrow spaces. Somebody has to go out and find all those narrow spaces. Bigelow could not have shot a legendary foot chase in Point Break without the help of a brilliant location manager.

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  Location scouting is not exactly rocket science, but it takes a lot of hard, tedious searching on foot to find enough hallways, alleyways, and passages between buildings to string together to make a good long chase. And these alleyways and narrow passages have to be within walking distance of each other, so the crew can stay on foot and work out of one base camp, keeping the number of times they have to load up into trucks and move base camp to a minimum. Never underestimate the value of a great location scout. If you are going to do a great foot chase, you either need a great location scout, or you have got to burn the shoe leather and do it yourself.

  Once you have found the narrow spaces to route your chase through, you run your chasers through the spaces (one at a time) and send your operator running after them shooting them with the Pogo Cam. In most of the great shots in the foot chase in Point Break, like the shots in Figures 7.018 to 7.024, the camera is chasing Reeves and Swayze, because it is easier to run forward than run backward, especially if you are carrying a camera. If the camera is backing up, it is usually backing up in a straight line, as in the shot in Figures 7.015 to Figure 7.017, because unless you have eyes in the back of your head, it is hard to run backward and go around corners. Although the operator can run backward for a few steps and then go around a corner backward, if he has a camera assistant in front of him with a hand on his shoulder running interference. This was probably how Bigelow and her crew got the shot in Figure 7.112 to 7.121.

  All the energy in the frame in these shots comes from the way the walls of these narrow spaces pass through the frame when seen through the wide-angle lens. As seen in Figures 7.015 to 7.024, the bricks on either side of this narrow passageway go from being very small in the distance to very large as they come up to and by the lens. This makes the walls whip past the lens, creating the impression of great speed.

  The narrow spaces are absolutely key. It is much easier to run through super-tight spaces like this with a Pogo Cam than the bigger, bulkier Steadicam rig. More importantly, the added money for a Steadicam and a Steadicam operator would be wasted. The way the camera bounces slightly on a Pogo Cam adds to the frantic energy in the frame and makes the chase seem more fast-paced than if it were shot with a vibration-free Steadicam.

  STRATEGY #2 — LONG LENSES IN OPEN SPACES = MORE EYE CANDY

  Of the forty-seven shots in the foot chase in Point Break, the great majority — thirty-two — are run through narrow spaces utilizing Strategy #1. But, a sizable minority — fifteen — shots are run through more open spaces. When the chase goes into an open area, Bigelow utilizes Strategy #2 to jack up the energy level in the frame.

  2. You use the long lens in open spaces and make sure the action passes on the X-axis, across (perpendicular to) the lens.

  For example, in the middle of the chase, as seen in Figures 7.025 to 7.067, Swayze emerges from the maze of narrow passageways, alleys, and backyards into an open front yard. He jumps onto the hood of a parked car and into the street in front of the yard, hangs a hard right, and runs across a T intersection. Reeves follows right on his tail. All the shots in the sequence were done using medium long (around 70mm) to extreme long (around 300mm) lenses.

  Why did Bigelow switch from Strategy #1 to Strategy #2 in the middle of her chase? My guess is necessity. Narrow passageways like the ones she routed her chase through in Figures 7.015 to 7.024 and Figures 7.112 to 7.121 are just too few and far between. If you wanted to shoot your foot chase only in such narrow confines you would have to keep loading the company into trucks and moving your base camp to get from one tight spot to another. This burns time and money. Better to minimize company moves and maximize time spent at an established base camp by shooting up all the narrow passageways within walking distance, and then, before packing up the company and moving, route the chase through a couple of nearby open spaces.

  As explained in detail in Chapter 5, long lenses force perspective by using the telescopic properties of the lens to blow up or enlarge objects in the background and middleground and make them look almost as large as objects in the foreground. (See Figure 5.003, Figure 5.003a, p. 94; Figure 5.007, p. 93; and Figure 5.0019, p. 98.) This makes them appear closer and seemingly squishes everything in the frame together into the foreground. In Figure 7.058 to 7.067 Bigelow and her DP use one of the longest lenses manufactured — the 300mm — to shoot Reeves pursuing Swayze across the top of the T intersection in the open space mentioned above. When shot with an extreme long lens, everything in the distance behind the white garbage truck in the foreground — the parked cars, the stop sign, the telephone poles — is blown up and squished into the foreground. The longer lenses also have a narrow field of vision. So what can be seen from one side of the frame to the other is limited and the frame appears narrow. Because the frame is narrow, when the camera pans to keep Reeves in frame, all the background objects that have been squished into the foreground — the parked cars, the stop sign, the telephone poles — rapidly appear in frame and then are equally rapidly swept out of the frame. The same is true of all the foreground objects. The garbage collector that Reeves knocks down, the front of the garbage truck, the white stucco house, and the wooden, plank fence also rapidly appear and disappear out the right side of the frame as Reeves charges forward, camera left, in pursuit of Swayze. Since the camera is panning or moving laterally, objects with strong vertical planes in them, like the front of the garbage truck, or the wood fence, seem to appear and disappear most rapidly and dynamically.

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  Therefore, when using strategy #2, the more verticals you can pack into the frame, the more energetic the chase. Your location scout can find you open spaces with lots of vertical planes, for example, sidewalks that run next to chain-link or picket fences. But the director and the production designer can jack up the energy in each long lens shot by filling the space with as many objects as can be sensibly located in that spot. The more strong vertical planes in those objects, the better.

  This is why when Swayze jumps up onto the hood of a white El Camino and runs across it to get into the street, there just happen to be two additional cars parked side by side, next to the El Camino (Figure 7.031). As Swayze runs across the hood of the El Camino, the vertical lines of the Jeep and the sedan parked next to it strobe through the frame, generating eye candy and speeding up the action. This is also why when Swayze jumps off the hood of the El Camino and into the street, Bigelow makes sure that a surfer on a bicycle with his big yellow board strapped to his back suddenly breaks frame left and strobes through the frame (Figure 7.043 to 7.045). And finally, this is why when Swayze runs across the T intersection mentioned above, Bigelow makes sure that, at that very moment, a huge white garbage truck pulls to a stop smack in the middle of the intersection. (Figures 7.048 to 7.051) Bigelow shoots the garbage truck squarely front-on with a 300mm lens, so when Swayze runs in front of it, he strobes through the frame. And then, Reeves comes along in hot pursuit, running past all of the objects she has packed the frame with — the surfers, the parked cars, the garbage man and the garbag
e truck. She holds Reeves in frame and pans with him, past all these added objects, so they all strobe and blur through the frame (Figures 7.052 to 7.067) generating a great deal of eye candy and energizing the screen.

  You use Strategy #2 when shooting a chase for all the same reasons that you route your actors along the X-axis in front of as many large, bright, vertical objects as possible when shooting a dialogue scene. This generates the maximum amount of eye candy and energizes the frame (see pages 39-40, Chapter 3).

  Bigelow ran the chase out into an open space and resorted to Strategy #2 only one other time in this foot chase and, again, this was probably out of necessity. She set the rules at the beginning of the chase. Swayze and Reeves were evenly matched, so the race was going to continue until one of them fell. In order to create a rock-solid, logical reason why a top athlete such as the one portrayed in this movie by Reeves would go down and not come up, Bigelow chose to make this happen when he jumps off the fifteen-foot-high concrete rim of the Ballona Creek storm drain. So, she had to route the chase out of the narrow alleyways and across the open embankment that leads down to the Ballona Creek. Swayze drops down into the creek and across successfully, but when Reeves tries to do the same, he takes a bad fall and blows out his knee (Figure 7.088 to 7.101). This makes Swayze’s escape entirely plausible.

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