From the start, both Stallone and Harlin knew they wanted not only to put the audience in the driver's seat, but inside the driver's mind as well. For Harlin and his filmmaking team, this meant creating new ways to move the camera freely in order to present a point of view that has never been accurately captured on film before.
"I always seek the best point of view and sometimes that means a point of view where the human eye can never be, or a perspective we never see," Harlin said. "In 'Driven,' I saw the camera moving all around the car and the drivers, like a bird flying and swooping. From the prototype chase sequence to the crashes to the driver's POM, I want to give the audience a head-spinning experience. I want them to know what it's like to be a participant, not an observer.
Stallone and Harlin enlisted help from several of the top drivers in the world today. including F-1 world champions Mika Hakkinen and Jacques Villeneuve; F-1's top ranked Mika Salo, David Coulthard and Jean Alesi; and, Indy/CART drivers such as Max Papis, Kenny Brack, Christian Fittipaldi, Mauricio Guggelmin and Paul Tracy. Using the drivers' detailed descriptions and keen observations, the filmmakers fine-tuned the story and action sequences. Specifically, they created shots simulating what it feels and looks like "in the zone," the intensely focused mindset and visual distortion drivers experience while traveling at extremely high speeds.
"No film has ever truly depicted what the driver sees at such high speeds," said Stallone. "We want to give the audience the terrifying, thrilling experience of what it's like to be sitting on top of all that horsepower."
But the view from behind the wheel isn't what your average Sunday driver might expect. "Usually, filmmakers mount a camera on the back of a car in an attempt to simulate a driver's point of view, but it's not accurate," Stallone insists. "Instead of one continuous shot focused straight ahead, a driver's true perspective is much different. His eyes are constantly moving from side-to-side and shifting focus. Renny uses a range of aperture settings and camera angles to capture the chaotic visuals a driver really experiences."
Harlin's desire for unconventional camera angles and freedom of movement dictated in the earliest stages that he would have to augment traditional storyboards with more detailed materials. "Once we started talking about how Renny wanted to cover the driving sequences and crashes, we realized it never had been done before," explains visual effects supervisor Brian M. Jennings. "It involved another level of figuring out how to pull this stuff off. The only way to convey it like Renny visualized it was in three dimensions."
To this end, Harlin and his team developed a process called "pre-visualization," whereby they broke down the logistics of shooting each action sequence. Initially, each sequence was planned out on traditional storyboards, which Harlin would review and change. These storyboards were then adapted and put into a computer, where they could be further modified. Using a visualization technique known as animatics, a computerized version of the boards was then created, allowing Harlin to move his camera, set. actors. cars, props, lighting, etc. around in three dimensions, accurate within an eighth-of -an- inch. With this technique. Harlin worked out complex camera, action and stunt sequences, modifying angles and testing different movements long before shooting ever began. Such extensive, detailed planning enabled Harlin to blast through three major races and six weeks of action-packed filming, shooting 1,500 set-ups in 39 days with what he calls "0 excuses."
Movie Database
In Theaters
