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The cars behind the camera
4 years ago
Sometimes this spoils the magic somewhat; I’ve only just about forgiven him for telling me the Aston Martin DBS in No Time to Die was added in post-production after filming ended and even looks different in the trailer and the final film (what kind of person even notices that?); but mostly it has taught me to be appreciative of how much work and ingenuity goes into filming. Camera cars certainly fall into the latter category. While they usually lurk in the shadows of movie sets and go largely unnoticed to us mere mortals outside the industry, they are extraordinary pieces of engineering.
One of the most impressive types is the ‘arm car’. When first invented in the 1980s, this type of camera car was originally named the ‘Autorobot’. However, the original name never really took off, with it becoming widely known in Hollywood as the ‘Russian Arm’. For context, the invention came around at a time of political tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union with the Cold War still bubbling in the background. Some people even said that its inventor, Anotoliy Kokush, had been inspired by Russian tank turrets for its design.
"Camera cars are often painted fully matte black, which makes them look even more badass. This is less of an artistic choice and rather to ensure that they give off the least amount of light reflection"
However, the reason for the ‘Russian Arm’ nickname was more likely the result of Americans trying to make an ill-informed joke in reference to Kokush’s birthplace. This ended up being a bit of a misnomer, as Kokush was actually of Soviet Ukrainian nationality, which to most was not as big a deal then as now.
But what goes around comes around, and in the light of the recent events, the world’s film industry has universally elected to rename the arm car to keep with the times – it is now widely known as the ‘U-Crane’, which is more befitting of its inventor’s real heritage. And a rather wonderful play on words too.
U-Cranes can be easily spotted by the presence of a gigantic 12 to 20-foot telescopic crane arm mounted to the roof, like an antenna. The crane can rotate through 360 degrees in eight seconds flat and lift the camera from the floor to the arm’s maximum height in less than two seconds, and do so while the car is travelling at high speed.
"They need not only to keep up, but often drive faster than the car they’re filming. Additionally, they have to do it while driving well off the optimum line, with hundreds of kilos of electronics and filming gear on board while carrying up to five people"
For reference, a single professional camera setup can weigh between 20 and 50kg, Imax or 3D cameras easily weighing in excess of that. Any movement of the camera has to be controlled extremely smoothly and accurately or footage will end up resembling a shaky homemade submission to You’ve Been Framed. This requires additional systems based on a combination of mechanical gyroscopic stabilisation and accelerometer sensors that ensure the camera remains at the correct height, pitch and horizon even if the car itself pitches fully forwards and backwards under maximum acceleration or braking, while at full telephoto zoom. If you think about it, it really is extraordinary.
Remember, too, that these cars also need to provide seating for crew members. First, you clearly need an experienced driver. Then, you will need someone to operate the camera head, someone else to operate the arm itself, the director to ensure his or her vision is coming to life and, finally, a focus puller, often relegated to a special seat mounted in the boot.
Each crew member will have small but very expensive monitors in front of them and they will be operating all manner of joysticks to control the camera, crane and focus to try to capture the hero car’s next movement, all the while being furiously thrown around a race track or city street at speed. The thought alone is enough to leave me feeling motion sick, which tells me I am not cut out for the job.
On the surface, what camera cars are asked to do seems almost impossible, which is why I find them so fascinating. For a start they need not only to keep up, but often drive faster than the car they’re filming. Additionally, they have to do it while driving well off the optimum line, with hundreds of kilos of electronics and filming gear on board while carrying up to five people. Oh, and they need to do it all day long with minimum downtime. So, how do you go about finding the right tool for the job? Simply put, you can’t. So you have to build it.
While there are no hard and fast rules around what makes a suitable camera car, given the prerequisites fast SUVs like the Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Macan Turbo, or the Mercedes ML63 AMG, are popular choices. Fresh out of the box they come with plenty of power, decent handling, handy air suspension and generally tick the box for the load-bearing capacity. Then they are further improved: reinforced roof rails are welded on, power systems upgraded to 48 volts, screens are fitted, and brake pads upgraded to cope with the vastly increased weight.
However, tyres are often left standard because the raised centre of gravity means operators would far rather the car slide than fall over, which would become more likely with every additional ounce of grip added. That said, these cars are still remarkably manoeuvrable and rollovers are extremely rare.
The cars are also fitted with intercom systems, so directions can be given clearly in real-time, not only within the camera car but also to the precision driver of the hero vehicle, ensuring they know where they are needed in the shot. Camera cars are often painted fully matte black, which makes them look even more badass. However, this is less of an artistic choice and rather to ensure that they give off the least amount of light reflection – plus, it makes them easier to blur out in post-editing.
But in the film industry, you often need to be creative and think outside of the box. Certain jobs certainly require a bit of extra imagination and camera cars can end up taking all kinds of forms. Remember my point about camera cars having to be able to keep up with the machines they are filming? What if they are really, really fast – like supercar fast?
Precision driver and automotive filmmaker Mauro Calo found himself in this very predicament. In 2020 he was tasked with documenting the new Nissan GT-R Nismo, but even fast SUVs were running out of breath trying to match the pace of Godzilla. Which got him thinking. ‘When I started to think about developing a high-performance camera car, I quickly realised the Nissan GT-R was the only car that would meet my criteria.’ After all, it had four seats (just), all-wheel drive and the right type of lively, easily tuned engine, so Calo went ahead and crafted a bespoke tubular structure design to turn an ‘ordinary’ GT-R into his ultimate vision of a high-speed tracking camera car.
Calo, a friend of The Intercooler, and his adapted GT-R have been recruited at the very highest level in the film industry, capturing breathtaking footage for some of the world’s biggest action movie franchises, like the Mission: Impossible series.
Bugatti also had to follow a similar approach when trying to film the Chiron 250mph record run in 2017. After all, how do you film the fastest production vehicle in the world? Once more, fighting fire with fire seemed the best solution. This was exactly what my partner and his crew ended up doing when they stuck a camera to another Chiron – making it possibly the single most expensive camera car to date.
There are other remarkable examples, too. I can’t help but smile at the sight of the Citroen DS Safari camera car used by the BBC to film horse races back in the day, a duty now undertaken by a Land Rover Discovery. Outside of the car world, there are camera motorbikes, boats and even CineJets. These are, as you might imagine, jet aircraft with cameras attached to them, and were used extensively for the stunning dogfight footage in Top Gun: Maverick.
"Calo and his adapted GT-R have been recruited at the very highest level in the film industry, capturing breathtaking footage for some of the world’s biggest action movie franchises, like the Mission: Impossible series"
More recently, electric cars have been used and there are some obvious advantages on film sets. Their lack of exhaust emissions means they are ideal for use in enclosed studios, where the crew has to work closer to the car. Also, the fact that they operate almost silently means that the sound team no longer has to worry about the noise of a turbocharged V8 thundering past when they are trying to record a Ferrari V12. Electric cars often have enough pep to keep up with most other vehicles, too.
Presumably the sheer weight of an electric car, especially when loaded up with a U-Crane and camera equipment, would be an issue. But, as we know, film crews are a creative bunch and I am sure they will come up with some ingenious EV-based solution. In the meantime, I will enjoy watching the magic that they bring to our screens every day, the way it was meant to be: sat back on my couch with a bowl of popcorn and a huge appreciation for how effortless they make it all look, when it really isn’t effortless at all.
Special thanks to Al Clark for his knowledge and patience, and for answering my hundreds of technical questions to make this article possible.
