Rigged vehicle carrying camera mounts for chase sequences — from dolly cart to multi-cam rigs. Delivers stable, dynamic tracking shots with vehicles in motion.
On set, for real car chases, you need more than just a cameraman in the truck bed. The camera vehicle — often called Camera Vehicle or Picture Vehicle in English — is the workhorse for dynamic driving shots. It's a dedicated, specially prepared vehicle that carries the camera and moves parallel to the talent vehicle. The goal: constant image composition, stable focal length, controlled speed.
The range extends from improvised solutions to highly specialized rigs. A simple dolly on a regular van works for slow, uncomplicated scenes — you position the camera to the side or front of the other car and drive parallel. For demanding Hollywood chases, you need a Chapman Crane or a custom rig with a multi-camera setup: multiple cameras simultaneously from different positions, gyro stabilization, wireless remote control. The camera vehicle then becomes a four-legged link in choreographed traffic acrobatics.
On-set practice demands precision: drivers and camera operators must be synchronized. Before the take, you define the speed, the camera's distance to the talent vehicle, and the desired focal length. Every centimeter counts — one meter too close, and you'll see the B-pillar of the other car in the frame; one meter too far, and your protagonist sits isolated in empty space. Lighting conditions change during the drive: shadows from bridges, reflections on glass — you have to anticipate all of this and compensate in real-time. That's why such scenes are often shot multiple times, with different positions of the camera vehicle.
Safety is not optional: a co-driver monitors the surroundings, distances, and traffic situation. With a gimbal mount or fluid head on the camera vehicle, vibrations from the truck bed can be largely compensated for — important when filming on rough roads. Digital cameras with high frame rates also allow for post-production stabilization in the edit, but no tool replaces a smoothly driven shot directly from set.