Worst driving scene ever filmed? (1 Viewer)

[Raider Nation]

This was on the The Alfred Hitchcock Hour last night.

Stationary car + projector screen + moving scenery =

Is that the best they could do in the early '60s? The only thing missing from that background is Sasquatch.

 

[Mr. Retukes]

I liked how Bo & Luke would repeatedly turn the steering wheel from side-to-side.

 

[mr roboto]

Manos Hands of Fate.

 

[Mister CIA]

Herbie is in the conversation.

 

[squistion]

This was on the The Alfred Hitchcock Hour last night.

Stationary car + projector screen + moving scenery =

Is that the best they could do in the early '60s? The only thing missing from that background is Sasquatch.

Although he may not have directed the above, Hitchcock loved back projection and used it in many of his films (See To Catch A Thief and North by Northwest) and used it again in his last film Family Plot in 1976 (which critics complained about at the time as being dated).

 

[Ilov80s]

This was on the The Alfred Hitchcock Hour last night.

Stationary car + projector screen + moving scenery =

Is that the best they could do in the early '60s? The only thing missing from that background is Sasquatch.

Although he may not have directed the above, Hitchcock loved back projection and used it in many of his films (See To Catch A Thief and North by Northwest) and used it again in his last film Family Plot in 1976 (which critics complained about at the time as being dated).

NBNW is a great movie but that drunk driving scene is terribly dated. I'm not sure what viewers made of it at the time, but it's so bad by modern standards.

 

[apalmer]

Twice on episodes of "Crisis" this year, they showed driving scenes where the car went past the same background twice in the same scene. Pretty bad when they can't even find two minutes of driving background and have to loop it.

 

[Sarnoff]

This was on the The Alfred Hitchcock Hour last night.

Stationary car + projector screen + moving scenery =

Is that the best they could do in the early '60s? The only thing missing from that background is Sasquatch.

He swerved so much she almost spilled her drink!

 

[Sarnoff]

Twice on episodes of "Crisis" this year, they showed driving scenes where the car went past the same background twice in the same scene. Pretty bad when they can't even find two minutes of driving background and have to loop it.

Haven't seen the specific show, but done enough of the type. There's basically no way to not loop it. Just have to hope the audience doesn't notice.

Spoiler

A decent rear-projection setup is better than the alternative, which is green-screen. Green screen is expensive, labor intensive, and takes a lot of time to turn around. Most of the time they'll do rear-projection instead.

To do rear projection, then set up 3 screens in a U shape around the car. Two on the side and one in the back. They'll either have filmed the "backplates" some time before with a camera truck, or, rent a ready-made set of backplates from a stock footage company. Backplates are tricky, because of a speed illusion. Basically, if the rear shot is filmed going 30mph, you want the side shots filmed at 15 or 20mph. If the speeds match, the scene won't work, for some reason it just looks weird... like the sides are a blur and the rear is in focus. So you need to go about half-speed on the side shots.

Anyway, the thing is, you can't really film a long backplate. How many roads are there where you can drive a long time at 30mph without stopping for a stop sign or red light? And where the beginning of the trip would look the same as the end? Because what happens is, they'll shoot a scene in a bunch of takes, and the actors are concentrating on acting and can't see the background behind them. There's no way to get them to deliver a line at the same spot in the stock footage... like "say it when you pass that tree" or "when you pass that restaurant sign" or whatever on every single take. So they just let the background plates roll over and over, and they might spend 30 minutes or an hour or even two shooting takes in the car. Eventually, it's gonna loop, and it's just dumb luck if people notice or not.

If they really don't want the loop to happen, they have to shoot it with greenscreen and put the background in afterward to make sure it doesn't repeat. But greenscreen can be even more jarring to see than a loop, so most of the time they just gamble on it.

 

[Raider Nation]

Sepinwall complained almost weekly about the obvious green screen in the True Detective driving scenes.

Sarn, what year did it become routine to remove the rear-view mirror from the windshield for road scenes? I watch Adam-12 reruns all the time, and they had the rear-view mirror. You rarely see it these days, as it obstructs the faces of the actors.

 

[dgreen]

SNL really should have tried harder in the Toonces The Driving Cat driving scenes.

 

[ATC1]

Speed

 

[Sarnoff]

Sarn, what year did it become routine to remove the rear-view mirror from the windshield for road scenes? I watch Adam-12 reruns all the time, and they had the rear-view mirror. You rarely see it these days, as it obstructs the faces of the actors.

Personal pet peeve of mine. I believe I saw some old Rockford Files where the mirror had been removed, so at least that far back. Of course, they left the big black attachment point in place, so it was just as distracting.

Old production designer I worked with hated having it removed, and flipped out when the transpo crew took it out unasked. By then it was too late. I much prefer them to replace it with a smaller mirror so that it is at least still there, but can be moved out of the way.

Occasionally, the reason there's no rear-view mirror is the entire windshield has been removed. Easier to light the faces when there's no angled, curved piece of glass in the way.

 

[IC FBGCav]

Cannonball Run movies.

 

[Hot Diggity Dog]

Airplane!

 

[Aerial Assault]

Twice on episodes of "Crisis" this year, they showed driving scenes where the car went past the same background twice in the same scene. Pretty bad when they can't even find two minutes of driving background and have to loop it.

I am so glad to know I am not the only person who suffered through that utter trash heap of a show, and yep, the driving scenes jumped to my mind immediately upon seeing the thread. I knew the show was trouble when, in the first episode, the greenscreen shots out the windows of the school bus looked like something even the protagonist, dumb as nails kids would have laughed at.

There was also an ep of Mindless Criminals this season (yep, I watch lotsa crap) in which Jeanne Tripplehorn and her character's bro were out for a leisurely drive in a residential neighborhood. As they calmly conversed, the greenscreened exteriors were flashing by at a speed commensurate with the car driving at about 80-100. It was supposed to be a serious scene and I was helpless with laughter.

 

[zamboni]

Worst and best all at once

 

[Sinn Fein]

I thought this was about johnnycakes filming his wife driving.

 

[bryhamm]

Cannonball Run movies.

Sidebar. Was looking on IMDB for Jackie Chan movies and lo and behold ... Cannonball Run. Had no idea he was in that.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Toonces the Driving Cat

 

[Jayrod]

SNL really should have tried harder in the Toonces The Driving Cat driving scenes.

After reading the OP, I was thinking of this. Used to be hilariously bad....no doubt on purpose.

 

[grateful zed]

adam 12 used to get towed for the shots.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Speed

Exactly, they weren't even driving very fast.

 

[ATC1]

Speed

Exactly, they weren't even driving very fast.

Maybe if we had Arnold instead of Keanu "You gotta be kidding me" .

 

[saintfool]

Damon Wayans did a crummy movie back in the day called "Mo Money" with the very choice Stacey Dash. There is a car chase at the end that is pretty damn awful.

 

[Tom Servo]

Manos Hands of Fate.

You can't forget about the soundtrack.

 

[dickey moe]

The scene with the guy on the bike getting hit in Airplane! is classic.