gavriil

Fans of all-action car chases are in for a 14-minute celluloid sensation this month. Film critics at last week's debut of The Matrix Reloaded in Cannes, France, reckon it has the most spectacular driving sequence ever made. One said: "It has taken 35 years, but Hollywood has finally come up with a scene to top the car chase in the 1968 Steve McQueen classic, Bullitt."

The action, which cost £30million and took 40 days to film, was shot on a purpose-built 1.6-mile freeway in California and involved more than 90 stunt drivers. Among the 74 GM cars featured are a Cadillac CTS and Escalade EXT. Actor Laurence Fishburne, who plays good guy Morpheus, even ended up taking a Cadillac home after the shoot was over. This is the first time Caddy has lent so many cars to a film as it tries to boost its image with younger buyers. The movie's producer Joel Silver said: "I believe it will be a great connection for Cadillac." The Matrix Reloaded opens in the UK on 23 May.

Sarlacc

A little known fact, that entire chase sequence and most of the sfx scenes in that film where shot on HD

It has gotten that good.

SiGGy

Everyone is pretty much filmed in HD... has been for 20 years or so.

Sarlacc

What the hell are you talking about?

High Def video has been around for about 20-25 years yes, but its hasnt been used commercially until the last 5 years. On top of that really only primetime TV and commercials have been utilizing HD. Small indie features have been using it. Every other kind of video you see (which is quite a bit) is still standard def.

Aside from the new Star Wars no one has really touched HD in the world of big budget feature film making. And the Episode 2 used older software of the Sony F900 camera. Its been 2 years and the F900 camera has 2 newer generations of software and accessory support taking the format to a whole new level.

And Episode 3, will utilize the all new sony F950 uncompressed HD camera for absolutely amazing quality.

So i thinks its a pretty big deal that the matrix used HD and it intercut with film flawlessly.

So yes HD has been around, but not in a commercial use and definately not at the level it is at today.

DigiBeta and Beta and DVcam etc etc ARE NOT HD.

HD is HD, its own viable aquisition format.

I am a professional cinematographer and I have been making the transition to working with HD also. So I tend to think I know what I'm talking about with all the time and research and workshops and shooting I've done.

AgentDSS

I honestly think the chase was not that awesome

Obviously cool for what it was, but there are better out there.

DISRUPTV

i haven't seen this movie yet so i can't comment on it BUT



the chase in the transporter was pretty sweet

Davediego

i think the chase scene is the highlight of the entire film

AcuraFan

I don't think it was all that great. A chase scene on straight stretch of freeway isn't all that exciting. Plus most of the action and crashes were so blatantly CG it was hard to suspend my disbelief.
The scene gave me more respect for the CTS but it didn't make me want one. Some car chase scenes make you just want a car (like the BMW videos, The Transpoter, Ronin, etc) but not this car. It was like "a Cadillac getting shot at, big deal."

IMHO

AgentDSS

Yea, Transporter and Ronin had better scenes (hell, maybe even a better movie -=Ronin=-)

CG is taking over the latest films, and I don't like it

Moog-Type-S

Bullitt & Ronin chase scenes are the best...because they are REAL chase scenes...no CGI and no people jumping from car to car..etc...I don't think you can compare the Matrix Reloaded freeway chase scene to Bullit & Ronin...they are apples and oranges!

CL22

Haven't seen the Bullit chase scenes, but Ronin and possilby the last chase in Gone in 60 Seconds are my favorite. The Matrix chase scene was alright...nothing to be named 'the best' IMO.

chef chris

Anyone ever seen 'Jade".

Had a Mustang flying through San Fran at about 1000 miles an hour. It was a 10 minute chase...pretty fuckin awesome in my opinion...

(Movie sucked donkey tits though).

AcuraFan

I guess what bothered me about the Matrix Reloaded chase scene (besides the CG) was that it was on a bland, boring freeway. There were no bistanders to get in the way, no buildings, no cross traffic or even fruit carts...OR EVEN TURNS! Just a little weaving and the occasional leaping agent. yawn

Loseit

iTrader: (1)

i thought that the chase scene was spectucular!! Especially on the motorcycle. Amazing.

neoprufrok

Well, I thought it was the best chase scene I have ever seen. Yes there was CGI, but unless you were focusing on that fact, you couldn't fully tell it was. The slow motion integration with amazing stunt sequences was beyond anything that has been tried. The motorcycle chase sequence was filmed beautifully, and the fact that Carrie Anne Moss actually does ride the bike like that for this sequence shows us how risky it was to film the sequence.

Second to do some of the stunts they did in that movie, they had to build a dedicated 2.5 mile stretch of freeway near my house in Alameda, CA. Thus, they could not include the surrounding environment.

Caddy©

I agree, Transporter Chase Scene was VERY good

as was the MATRIX Chase scene

SiGGy

LMFAO, i forgot about this thread...

sorry your a tard.

Shows and most programming especially movies, have been in hidef for 20 years justa bout.


HIDEF= 1680x1080 if you speaking TV hidef, and um ya just about everything recorded professionally in the past 20 years is high def.

If you knew what you were saying you would have said it was partially recorded in DIGITAL HI DEF. Which is a big thing because of storage limitations when using a DIGITAL camera...

i.e.

normal TV uncompressed is

(720*480)*3 (8bit per raster RGB) @ 30FPS

31,104,000 MB (megabytes) a second... Thats just standard TV uncompressed... HIDEF digital rates are insane...

maening their digital sotage device needs to be able to maintain some crazy xfer rates. Be it tape or hard disk storage... Whatever it is they chose to use. Most I have seen are hard disk... And they can only do about 20 minutes on it.

Sarlacc

I'm glad you can read you film and video magazine and yet youre still wrong.

the digital broadcast standard (ATSC) for the US is 704x480 for CCIR-601 (your basic television set) and 640x480 for VGA. Both run at a standard 29.97 fps (30fps) but can also support 60I, 60P, and 23.98P (24P) Now these are standard parameters set up for digital broadcasting.

Good old NTSC that most everyone knows and hates is a 525 line system Interlace system at 29.97 fps. This is the format that the majority of Americans are watching on there cables systems today.

720x480 is DV format and that is a completely different video set up.

HD has two formats set by the ATSC that will be used in the US when all programing goes HD and everyone buys the currently outrageously priced HD decoder boxes for their currently outrageously priced 16x9 HD capable televisions.

1080 - 1920x1080 (which is really 1125 but there is a slight loss in top and bottom)
720 - 1280x720

Now almost the TV shows that have converted to HD in the last 3 years shoot in 1080 at 59.94fps. The show is then downconverted for NTSC.

Yes high def has been around for 20, commercially for almost 10 BUT under the terms of being a higher definition video that still records in NTSC.

So Yes I AM referring to DIGITAL HD which has been in commercial use for the last 3-5 years and has taken over the mantle of what we now call High Defiinition.

And the there is storage for uncompressed HD. You info is not only incorrect but outdated as well. 1-2 years ago, youre right there was no means of storage which is why cameras such as the Viper floundered because hard drive support would cost 2 million for one feature film. But Sony has created a new camera the HDW-F950 shoots HD 1920x1080 at 23.98fps progressive and records it TOTALLY 4:4:4 (22:22:22) sampling UNCOMPRESSED to TAPE at 52 minutes a tape in 23.98.

Now I can school you in this shit all day if need be. the fact remains you might be some home theater nut thats reads his magazines I WORK IN THIS INDUSTRY, I deal with these formats, changes, education, processes, production, post production EVERYDAY. Its my job to know this stuff.

Yes, Beta SP, DigiBeta, Beta SX, Some DV can all be called high definition video because of the resolution and sampling rates BUT they are not refered to as HD.

At this point in time in hollywood when some says HD, they are refering to digital HD which has 3 major cameras the Viper (hardly used), the panasonic varicam (crap) and the sony HDW line.

That is what I meant when I said it was shot on HD, and if you werent trying to be some holier then thou video dick you would have picked up on that,And maybe you did and thought you try and play the smart guy. Either case you fucked up.

I can point in the right direction of literature, manuals, documents, people to back everything I said up. Cause I got to tell you you issues of home theater magazine just arent cutting it.

To further elaborate on my original comment of the chase scene being filmed in HD. The matrix is a feature film and one of few major studio motion pictures to incorporate HD into its production. Most feature are still shot on film and will be for a very very long time.

You reply of "everyone is pretty much shot HD" refers to telelvision a completly different area of the industry. And not only television but news, gameshows, live events, and soap operas.

Most sitcoms and primetime dramas up until 1-2 years were still majority shot on film too.

So next time you want to call someone a tard, make sure youre not the one who ends up dropping the ball. Cause its pretty obvious you dont have your shit straight.

Sarlacc

Now I have just gone back and reread my posts.

And I made it perfectly clear i was talking about the wolrd of FEATURE FILMMAKING. Which as described in the title are all shot on guess what...FILM. Aside from the new star wars film, the sfx in the matrix and spy kids 2 and soon to be 3. No other big studio has put out a an entirely HD shot feature film. Now there are some still in post that will soon be released (once upon a time in mexico to name one) but its filmmaking and things are shot on film for the most part. My previous about all that is quite valid and true. and this even includes TV movies of the week.

Now you want to pretend they were all done on video you can keep smoking your crack and living in an imaginary world.

But hey dont take my word for it, go do a little research and find out for yourself cause next time you are going to come on here and tell me celluiod hasnt been used in decades and the holocaust never happened once again proving you havent a clue.

SiGGy

FILM IS HD. In fact most everything shot in the past 20 is HD. Which is all I was saying.

period...

lol, what you MEANT to say was it was recorded in digital, not on FILM.

Start a thread in ramblings OKE DOKE MR. I don't want to slam this thread with your ramblings.

HD any > than regular TV resolution.

My calculation was for datarates cheese ball... And it's very accurate. Don't bother replying to this. Start a thread in ramblings. I won't reply this one anymore. (those digital tapes you metioned have bitrates to them which they can achieve, which is where calculating the datarates would apply... and deciding how to store the data) Most HD digital film goes to HUGE storage array (of hard disks). Lots of equipment needed. Also I haven't read any magazines to get *any* of this info. Bastic stuff here...

asumming 8 bits per RGB, would be for example...
(640*480)*3 would be one frame of video... Then multiply that be 30 (rounded off) would give datarates for one second of 640x480 video with a 8 bits ber RGB, 32bits per pixel. (this would be in Bytes, one could calculate for bit rates with a little additional caluclations)


Read what I quoted. Where does it say DIGITAL recording? That's all I was correcting...

It says HIDEF, film IS hidef. LOL

And um, video would refer to it being recorded via CCD device, I haven't seen any major films recorded that way. However I could be wrong, I don't know much about CCD devices.

You have NO clue what I do for a living LOL... Don't make uneducated assumptions. An educated person would realize they DON'T have a crystal ball. I only corrected your statement above. Which was false. If one had included a few extra words I wouldn't have said anything. I'm regretting I did now. A little insecure about your line of work aren't you? (for anyone reading this besides him, this paragraph was in reply to his PM to me)

Want pics of video headends? transmitters? D-VHS recorders?

I didn't mean to piss in your cheerios guy...

b.t.w. clean out your PM box.

SiGGy

Ya, they were good

I'm not quite sure about the movie as a whole yet though... I wasn't too pleased with the storyline or plot. Awesome effects though...

Sarlacc

What this is a gigantic miscommunication in terminology.

In the professional world film is not refered to as high def.
Everyone knows that film is far superior in quality to any other medium out there at this time.

High def is a term reserved for the video world (Anything above standard def or 800 lines.) And nowadays high def or HD is generally reserved for digital HD.

So when I say the sfx scenes in the matrix were shot on HD im saying they were all recorded on a digital HD camera using ccds.

And in my other posts I listed a few of the major films that have been shot using HD. There are more on the way.

The technology behind digital hd is growing and expanding at incredible rates and has become a very viable form of aquistition for feature filmmaking. And the storage is more then there at this point in time, and only getting better. That is what I was saying.

Insecure in my line of work, no, im quite confident. But part of my job is being an educator and enjoy that aspect. But when you come on here and start calling me names I will be an asshole right back.

As for transmitters and the like I dont need pictures I've seen and used it all before. D-VHS is a prosumer format that is very likely not to take off. It is in the same likes as SACD of DVD Audio. Its for videofiles with too much money to spend.

You want to see pics of the best highend professional equipment let me know I'll send you pics of HDW-F900s, HDW-F500s, DVW-A500s, DSR-2000s etc etc etc. I use them everyday. Hell even the manuals if you want.

You didnt piss in my cheerios but you told me I was wrong when in fact i am quite right about what I was saying.

You're not necessarly wrong, but it seems we are on two completey different subjects due to this complete miscommunication. i still wonder where you get 1680x1080 for highdef. it is 1920x1080.

So hopefully this sets the record straight and puts an end to it.

SiGGy

I tried to send you a reply to your PM, but your mail box is still full...

yes, agreed...

I was just tossing out #'s. Your right, I wasn't sure of the horizontal resolution only the vertical. Always 720p blah blah 1080i yadda yadda. I don't know the horizontal #'s. Was a guess (and too lazy to look it up) thanks for correcting it...

Might want to clean your PM.

re:pics
Nah, I work in a division of my company who broadcasts crap. We don't record but we have tons of playback equipment... 13 video headends... Seen so much of it. Video is not my job though.

bkknight369

NOOO keep the flames going...it was just getting interesting!!! VIDEO NERDS FIGHT

sarlacc23 you have to look closer at what siggy was saying...I think when he said "Clean your PM", hes really saying FUCK YOU
sarlacc23! Are you going to let him say "Clean out your PM" to you like that ?!

Sarlacc

Thats FILM NERD to you. with a minor in video.

And my pm box is finally cleaned out. Glad we got this whole thing resolved peacefully.