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  • car chases make up some of the most thrilling scenes in movie history. We've

  • seen them in some form or another since the early days of moviemaking

  • We talked to Wade Eastwood, a stunt coordinator who most recently worked on

  • "Mission Impossible: Fallout." One of the movies best scenes was a car chase

  • through Paris. We asked him: how do you train to be in a car chase,

  • how do you plan one, and when the day comes how do you actually shoot it?

  • Here's a little peek into how an epic car chase is brought to life.

  • Before a shoot stunt drivers will drive around in a variety of different

  • vehicles to get the feel of how each of them drives. Training most often focuses

  • on improving drift and precision skills. Actors and stunt drivers will drive

  • around surrounded by cones to keep them on mark. Being a stunt coordinator

  • doesn't just mean planning action scenes. Productions sometimes pour millions of

  • dollars into a given car chase so it's necessary that it is done as safely as

  • possible.

  • [Wade] Before I start testing I have to look at what we want to do and see

  • how much risk I can eliminate and then during the testing phase we evaluate

  • my risk assessment and when I get to a place that my risk assessment is

  • not a high risk assessment it's a medium to low risk then it's a doable stunt.

  • They have to assess the surface they're going to be shooting on.

  • [Wade] Terrain

  • plays an important role when building a car chase. The cobbled streets in Paris,

  • obviously slippery surfaces. Cobblestones

  • can move you've got you know then

  • you keep transitioning from cobbles to tarmac, asphalt, so you've got different

  • grip levels and you might be on a mountain road that's dusty because the

  • winds have blown. When I'm doing a sequence I'll always try and sweep the

  • roads and clean them so there's consistency to the surface. [Narrator] Once the casting

  • crew is thoroughly prepared it's time to film the chase

  • To capture the most dynamic chase scene it's important to shoot it from every

  • possible angle. It's not unusual to see a car covered in cameras. Camera mounts are

  • attached to a car as well as lights.

  • The cars in Fallout were free-driven. In some

  • instances though the car being filmed will be towed. This is usually done when

  • there's a lot of dialogue and a need for the driver to concentrate on their

  • performance. It's also best to do this if the performer's vision is too obscured by

  • all the cameras mounted to the hood of the car. To get every angle imaginable a

  • crew will use a 'Russian arm' camera tracking system. In addition Eastwood

  • swears by a tracking motorcycle that he uses. He mounts a stabilized camera to a

  • bike which can go from one inch off the ground to seven feet off the ground in

  • just two seconds. A lot of the car chases you see are done practically. Sure visual

  • effects have to be used for certain details but it's rare you'll find a car

  • chase done completely in front of a green screen. You'll really only see that

  • for certain stunts that are too dangerous to do in real life

  • Even when a car chase is shot practically there will always be an element of

  • visual trickery involved. [Wade] Making fifty miles an hour

  • looked like a hundred miles and look exciting which is the trick that we have

  • to do in film because for everyone to keep up with you at a hundred miles an

  • hour cameras and things happen far too quickly and accidents would happen.

  • So we have to tone things down but make the car look exciting.

  • [Narrator] But making a good car chase is about more than just producing thrills, driving fast

  • and conquering the most impossible of terrains. [Wade] That's not always the big

  • spectacle for me with a car chase, it has to be story. If I'm invested in the

  • character in the car, then what happens with the car is immaterial to me but it's

  • more about going on the journey with that character in the car. [Narrator] It's why

  • Tom Cruise, Vin Diesel, and audiences everywhere will never be able to get

  • enough of a good car chase.

car chases make up some of the most thrilling scenes in movie history. We've

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