Wednesday, July 21, 2021

James Garner and "Grand Prix," 1966 -- Technical Innovations Developed During the Filming


John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix (1966) was a European racing spectacular of this period, but was far more slow-moving than Le Mans. What Frankenheimer contributed to the genre, however, was technical; his use of NASA-developed cameras and microwave systems, monster camera cars that were capable of 150 mph, and helicopters, were imitated in other films, and set a benchmark in terms of realism.

In the 2011 autobiography The Garner Files: A Memoir (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), Garner had this to say about the making of the film: (p. 106-7)

Frankenheimer wanted to put viewers in the car and give them the sensation of speed. But he didn't cheat anything: no rear projection, no process shots, no speeded up footage. The technology he needed to get the realism had to be invented. Special effects man Milt Rice rigged a motorized, swiveling cockpit for closeups of spinouts, and devised a tubular catapult charged with compressed nitrogen that was in effect a cannon for Formula One cars. In a split second, it could launch a mock-up car -- with or without a dummy in it - from a standstill to 120 mph.

Because Freankenheimer was obsessed with details, the movie is almost a documentary in terms of racing. Someone called it a "porno film for gear heads," with tight close-ups of instri=ument needles, spinning wheels, drive shafts, suspensions, gear changes, heal-toe pedal work. the sound is deafening, with the thundering roar of engines and cars surging off the line. Sound effects editor Gordon Daniel prerecorded a whole library of motor sounds with Phil Hill driving on a straightaway in California. Phil simulated hundreds of gear changes specific to the corners on all the circuits. Gordon then matched them in postproduction to what the drivers were doing on htescreen, so aficionados heard the exact sounds they expected at every corner of every track.

Former World Champion Phil Hill drove the camera car, a Ford GT-40, a Lemans-type racer capable of hitting 200 mph. Some fo the camerawomen techniques invented for Grand Prix are still in use today [2011], including helicopter shots, some of which were taken from only ten feet above the action. There were complaints about it flying too low, so they backed off for a while...then went back to flying low again. How low? The cameraman, John Stephens, would hang out of that chapter with his feet dangling, and at the end of the day, his pant legs would be green from brushing the trees.

Lionel Lindon was the cinematographer, but Saul Bass directed the second unit and designed the multiscreen montages. the technique first appeared in the 1960s and soon became a cliche, but at the time uit was revolutionary, and all the more striking in Cinema, a process that doubled or tripled the size of the screen and curved it around the audience. With a high-quality sound system and advanced cinematography, some viewers actually got motion sickness.

NASA developed special microwave cameras to be mounted on the cars. Johnny Stephens put cameras over the wheels, on hoods, in drivers' laps. Those big, heavy, 70mm cameras -- housed in special plastic shields to protect lenses from picked up pebbles and rain- were difficult to work with. Mounted on the chassis, they upset theaerodynamds so much that the cars had to be counterweighted. Sevens rigged special remote controls for them and experimented with anti vibration mounts. He finally decided to let the camera shake because it looked sexier. Today's cameras are so tiny they can fit several in the cockpit without bothering the driver, and television viewers are used to seeing the driver form the cockpit. But in those days, Frandkenheimer struggled for months trying to shoot from the driver's point of view until Bell ball created a camera that could be strapped to the driver's helmet.





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