What camera would be best for me when it comes to color grading?

[Brian Drysdale]

Given that the camera car has decent suspension. you should be able to shoot with an 85mm lens from a car,

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but if a car is better than why didn't other directors do this in their movies? For example, in The Good the bad and the Ugly, why did the director choose a tripod for the running shots, instead of a circular track and dolly to follow the actor on? Why is the car better than a tripod panning shot? It was said before that a car could make the parking lot seem bigger, but couldn't a panning tripod shot do that as well? I guess I am just not seeing what advantage driving around in a car has, compared to panning on a tripod.

If moving the camera from spot to another is better than panning, then why did Sergio Leone for example choose to pan, on a tripod? I thought that keeping the camera operator in one place if I can was a good thing?

[Brian Drysdale]

This is comparing apples and oranges.

I gather Sergio Leone was heavily into circles at the time, so shooting a circular crematory the way he did makes sense. The scene was about searching for a grave among thousands, so the method he used worked dramatically, without being boring, which is the visual reality of looking for a grave in a large crematory (which tend not to be circular).

There aren't that many circular parking lots around, you have to let the location speak to you, not impose things onto them.

[Paul R Johnson]

Why do you always over complicate things before even giving the whole thing some thought.

The circular cemetery - why did he use a static camera and pan rather than lay down miles of camera track? Because it is simple, effective and gives the feel he wanted. Can you not see the differences?

An car driving along a packed car park isn't remotely the same thing as panning from a single place. Neither is bad - just different.

You see everything so contrasty. You don't think about the camera op staying in one place, you think of the result, and work backwards. You're trying to create by using your rulebook again - this clearly does NOT work for you. You see problems everywhere, and never solutions.

The compression you talk about - you've just got it all misunderstood. The compression is because of perspective. There is no real compression visible in the cemetery chase because the background is completely blurred in the fast movement shot. Without background or foreground objects perspective is irrelevant. Where do you get these ideas from?

Let's start again. Explain the scene to us properly. Details of the location, the size, the actors and the movements they are planned to make. Clearly if the layout is all squares, then all the circular running stuff is out the window!

[Brian Drysdale]

You have to think what the scene is really about and how you can use the location to tell it.

#ThisIsHowWeDoIt - YouTube

Get Carter 1971 Car Park Scene - YouTube

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Ever notice that every scene Ryan requires super telephoto and compression. Intimacy...compression! Speed... compression!

Good movies tell a story in a visually interesting way. In the GBU look at the variety of shots and how they all work with the location and enforce the point of the scene.

I try not to spend too much time because its a waste. He doesn't listen or can not comprehend.

Ryan instead of asking us these questions, go to the locations and try them out for yourself.

[Ryan Elder]

Sorry, I am trying to comprehend it.

As for the parking structure, it is very square shaped with pillars. I said a few pages before that I don't think the circular motion was do-able, but it was then replied to me to do it anyway and not be so picky, so I was trying to do it anyway therefore.

However, in this test shot I did, before, with my friend running through, the park, she is not running in a circular motion. She is doing it in a straight line, and the lens can pan with her for a bout 14 seconds:

lens running test 2 - YouTube

That's plenty of time, for a shot to last I think. So even in a straight line, the focal length can hold for plenty of time it seems.

Their are two main chases in the script.

One is outdoors, in the woods and the other is in a parking garage. The parking garage is mostly the police closing it make arrests and the villains running away, and a firefight starts during the chase.

The outdoor one is more of a simple chase between three people, without guns.

As for a long focal length not being able to make the actor look like the are running faster if there is no objects for them to run past, the parking garage has plenty of pillars in though, so wouldn't those be the background and foreground objects to create that effect with a long focal length?

[Brian Drysdale]

You can do something with a telephoto lens, but having the camera tracking in a confined space is much more dynamic for a chase. It doesn't even have to be smooth and steady.

Your telephoto shot is just for jogging, it's not a chase shot. It'll work if they're running through moving cars and between moving cars, with everything moving, but not the way you're planning. There;s no danger in that.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Why did you ask us about the panning chase in the park? You filmed a test and seem to be happy with it. You wasted our time on something that wasn't a problem. The parking garage is a completely different situation. Why don't you go there and do a similar test and stop asking us these what if questions. I can see the restricted space and low light are going to be factors you will have to discover for yourself.

[Ryan Elder]

Well I wanted to do a test there but it costs a lot to shoot there, and that would be an extra day of costs to do a test. I tried just going there to do the test without it being a shoot day, and just see if I could do it, but they would not let me. That's why I didn't choose there. But I thought that the park test, would also suffice for the outdoor chase as far as tests go.

When you say there is no danger in the way I am planning it, what do you mean specifically. How is there no danger in the way I am planning it?

When you say that a tracking shot will be more dynamic, if this is the case, then how come other directors do not use tracking shots for chases? Like for example, off the top of my head, why did the directors who made Seven Samurai, and Ben-Hur, chose for their cases, to be panning shots, instead of tracking ones?

[Brian Drysdale]

There's no struggle, no overcoming obstacles, it's just running,

Here's a walking chase scene that has danger.

Marathon Man (7/8) Movie CLIP - I Know Who You Are (1976) HD - YouTube

Things have moved on since the Seven Samurai and Ben Hur.and you're aiming at a different market.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, but I thought that in mine that when the police are shooting at you and you are shooting back, as in my scene, isn't that danger? More so than Marathon Man, if there are bullets flying?

[Brian Drysdale]

This is danger from Ben Hur.

Ben-Hur (3/10) Movie CLIP - The Chariot Race (1959) HD - YouTube

The danger in Marathon Man was him, a Nazi walking through crowds of Jews being called out for what he is and the possibility that they may turn on him.

You need more than just bullet and shooting guns for a chase scene in a thriller. Westerns for kids have had that since the Lone Ranger from way back.

[Ryan Elder]

Well I felt there is more than just bullets flying. Characters are killed during and two other characters are effected by it. So I thought there was danger going on, but we are talking about types of shots, or the story danger?

[Brian Drysdale]

Everything, because the story will affect the type of shots, as will the location and what is happening in the location apart from the chase, People getting killed is par for the course in these things, you need more than that for a good chase scene,