Post by klep on Jul 3, 2017 6:47:44 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 7/3: Raiders of the Lost Ark
CHASE WEEK!
So there's a weird thing that happens in the big truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it's something you might not notice unless you were paying very close attention to the chase in order to, say, write a piece about the movie for an ongoing feature taking a week to talk about films with great chases. Indy is driving the truck, and a jeep full of Nazis with guns is pulling up alongside. He rams into them, and they go off a cliff. What's weird about it? There's no prior indication there was a cliff there. And sure enough the chase goes right back into the trees and it's like there's no serious terrain at all. Now, is this sequence of geography impossible? No, but it is highly improbable. So why did it happen? Why doesn't it stick out like a sore thumb?
Because Stephen Spielberg directed the film, and he knows we don't care. Not only don't we care, but unless the geographical oddity is a blatant error, we probably won't even notice as long as he's doing his job correctly. Spielberg's job in a chase scene is fourfold: establish where the chase objective is, establish the obstacles the hero must overcome to attain the chase object, establish the consequences for failure/the danger in the chase, and then clearly show how those dangers are faced and obstacles overcome (or ultimately not, as the case may be).
By the time Indy forces that jeep off the cliff, we've already done the first three things (the fourth naturally won't be complete until the end of the chase). We know the Ark is in the truck. We know there are Germans in the truck and in other vehicles before and behind it, and that Indy must somehow deal with them all before he can secure the Ark. And we've already seen a number of the chase's perils, particularly the danger of the sides of the road.
Several times in the opening moments we see buildings or scaffolding at the roadside that vehicles run into, establishing that roadside is not safe. We see the truck driver get knocked out of the truck off the side of the road, taking him out of the chase. And we even see Indy force some people off of the road, taking them out of the chase and crashing their vehicle. So by the time we reach the cliff shot, we're already primed to accept forcing someone off the road as dangerous. When we finally see that jeep go off the cliff, we don't notice the geography because we're expecting something like it to happen.
Spielberg is a master of doing things like this; understanding what is truly important about a scene or shot and making sure those things are done correctly. He is one of our greatest filmmakers, but it's likely we're still underrating him.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 7/10: The Battle of Algiers
SIGHT & SOUND TOP 50 WEEK!
For next week's venture into the Sight & Sound Top 50, you guys have selected The Battle of Algiers. I haven't seen this one yet, so I'm very excited to settle down for it and share it with you guys. The Battle of Algiers is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 6/29: It Comes At Night
The excellent new paranoid thriller It Comes At Night closes out last week's podcast, and we'll have a thread to discuss it Wednesday. It Comes At Night may still be in a theater near you.
CHASE WEEK!
So there's a weird thing that happens in the big truck chase in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it's something you might not notice unless you were paying very close attention to the chase in order to, say, write a piece about the movie for an ongoing feature taking a week to talk about films with great chases. Indy is driving the truck, and a jeep full of Nazis with guns is pulling up alongside. He rams into them, and they go off a cliff. What's weird about it? There's no prior indication there was a cliff there. And sure enough the chase goes right back into the trees and it's like there's no serious terrain at all. Now, is this sequence of geography impossible? No, but it is highly improbable. So why did it happen? Why doesn't it stick out like a sore thumb?
Because Stephen Spielberg directed the film, and he knows we don't care. Not only don't we care, but unless the geographical oddity is a blatant error, we probably won't even notice as long as he's doing his job correctly. Spielberg's job in a chase scene is fourfold: establish where the chase objective is, establish the obstacles the hero must overcome to attain the chase object, establish the consequences for failure/the danger in the chase, and then clearly show how those dangers are faced and obstacles overcome (or ultimately not, as the case may be).
By the time Indy forces that jeep off the cliff, we've already done the first three things (the fourth naturally won't be complete until the end of the chase). We know the Ark is in the truck. We know there are Germans in the truck and in other vehicles before and behind it, and that Indy must somehow deal with them all before he can secure the Ark. And we've already seen a number of the chase's perils, particularly the danger of the sides of the road.
Several times in the opening moments we see buildings or scaffolding at the roadside that vehicles run into, establishing that roadside is not safe. We see the truck driver get knocked out of the truck off the side of the road, taking him out of the chase. And we even see Indy force some people off of the road, taking them out of the chase and crashing their vehicle. So by the time we reach the cliff shot, we're already primed to accept forcing someone off the road as dangerous. When we finally see that jeep go off the cliff, we don't notice the geography because we're expecting something like it to happen.
Spielberg is a master of doing things like this; understanding what is truly important about a scene or shot and making sure those things are done correctly. He is one of our greatest filmmakers, but it's likely we're still underrating him.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 7/10: The Battle of Algiers
SIGHT & SOUND TOP 50 WEEK!
For next week's venture into the Sight & Sound Top 50, you guys have selected The Battle of Algiers. I haven't seen this one yet, so I'm very excited to settle down for it and share it with you guys. The Battle of Algiers is available on Filmstruck's Criterion channel and for rent on Amazon Video, though it is not free for Prime members.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 6/29: It Comes At Night
The excellent new paranoid thriller It Comes At Night closes out last week's podcast, and we'll have a thread to discuss it Wednesday. It Comes At Night may still be in a theater near you.